. Reading Response(on Menand, hooks, and Lee)
Please answer each of the following questions, drawing from the readings where applicable. Responses to each question should be a minimum of 100 words.
- What reasons does Menand offer for why the Beatles were so popular in the United States? Which of these reasons do you find the most meaningful or important, and why?
- What connection does bell hooks draw between Sarah Bartmann and Tina Turner? How, from this discussion, does hooks demonstrate the relationship between enslavement (and colonization) and popular music aesthetics?
- As Kimberli Lee explains, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Floyd Westerman were both involved in American Indian resistance movements that were a part of the broader Civil Rights movement of the 1960s; how do their political involvements affect the circulation of their music in popular media, and how does this expand (or contextualize) our understanding of the Garofalo reading from last week on music and the Civil Rights movement?
2.write a short forum post regarding the song; this is not about judging whether the song is “good” or “bad” but rather reflecting on how it demonstrates or exemplifies our lecture/reading material and how it relates to your own life experiences.
In addition to making a post, you will be expected to make a peer review to other students’ posts. Again, these responses are not about judging goodness or badness or rightness or wrongness, but about exploring the relationships between concepts (course themes), media objects (songs) and life experiences.
In these posts and responses will be graded both for:-your understanding of the course concepts and how they relate
to this song-your ability to engage constructively and respectfully with your fellow students.
– just write a paragraph on both post, nothing too long.
- song’s Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs_ObaVU3tE (Odetta “waterboy”(1954))(Have you heard this song before? Or parts of it? This musical/lyrical materials are from the southern folk/blues/hollers tradition that Malone discusses, as we read this week. Any thoughts/responses are welcome, but here are a couple more questions just to prompt discussion: Does this performance fit into a genre category? What musical/lyrical elements can you identify that link to our discussion of blues, rhythm and blues and gospel? How does Odetta’s performance demonstrate some of what Malone is talking about in terms of the circulation of musical material? What do you think of the way the stage is set up with the spot light? How does this stage set up affect the meaning of the music?)
- peer review: This was my first time hearing this song, and I felt the emotion in the way Odetta was singing the song “Waterboy.” As I was listening to the lyrics, it seemed to me that she was expressing hard feelings rather than trying to tell a story. I can tell from the facial expressions that this song had a lot of meaning to it. I did background research of the song, and discovered that the song represents the brutal experience that black slaves are still forced to do. With that in mind, I do believe this song fits into the blues genre because of the emotion she exhibited throughout the song, and the slow-like strumming of the guitar.
peer review example:
Initially when I listened to the song, I heard it as just a story, but you bring up a good point of how she is expressing hard feelings, as her emotion is very powerful throughout the song. I also like that you did research on the song and that allowed you to pick the genre you believe it fits best into! That is super cool and I definitely agree with you, that it fits into the blues genre.