Reflection Question No. 2

Your answer should be at least 300 words
in length, single spaced, and in Times New Roman (or equivalent).
Please remember that you
have a maximum of 400 words to craft your answer. P
recise diction, clear syntax, and good
rhetoric are all essential
parts of the assignment as well as a logical and factual answer
.
Poor
employment of language may have an adverse effect on your grade.
Recently we
read an excerpt from a book by the
renowned American composer
A
aron Copland.
In this book,
What to Listen for in Music
, Copeland makes the claim that
“t
he destiny of a piece
of music
…
depends on the attitude of
the listener.
”
MUS
–
107 is a class specif
ically designed to
give you tool
s
to better able you to critically listen to music and evaluate its artistic and aesthetic
value, to more cogently express why you like or dislike a piece of music or more critically evaluate
your opinion given the suspension
of your own expectations and desires, listening to
and
understanding
the music on its terms rather than your own
.
The Question:
Briefly reflect on and write about
what
you generally
expe
ct
from the music you
listen to.
Do you have expectation
s from m
usic? Should it
always
have a
function to your life or
can it be valuable on its own terms?
Take a look at your recently graded listening journals. Find a
few pieces which you did not li
ke, which you might have found
“
boring
,
”
“
too sad,
”
“
too long
,
”
“
too religious
,
”
“
to slow
,
”
etc. Critically evaluate your own evaluation. Ques
tion yourself and your
feelin
gs.
F
or
example, s
hould Gregorian Chant be more exciting? Should a Catholic
Mass have
“
a
good beat
”
? Are these perhaps
unrealistic
or
unthough
tful expectations?
Maybe, but maybe not.
Reevaluate some of your thoughts in regards to pieces you didn
’
t like. What did you not like
specifically
? Does this ultimately reflect the intent of the music
itself
?
If you chose to
support
your evaluation of a piece of music (which
is fine), it
is
just
expected that
you give specific examples
or quotations from class texts or other
authoritative
sources
to prove
your point and demonstrate your knowledge.
For example, i
f a chant isn
’
t exciting enough, and
you
genuinely
think that it is the goal of that music to be exciting, then prove it.
This is not
necessarily an invalid argument.
Good arguments can be made for either side. However, a
response witho
ut critical evaluation and support
will
be weak, which will reflect in its apportioned
grade.

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