ANNOTATED PLAYLISTS

Dan Anderson, University of North Carolina

The subsequent text presents a digital analytical writing assignment utilizing a music playlist.  It was developed and shared with the Jacobson Center in preprint form by Dan Anderson, University of North Carolina.

 

Writing Assignment An Annotated Playlist

Compose a playlist that represents a person, idea, or thing. Begin by identifying a subject for your playlist. You might focus on a friend, a relative, or a public figure. You might choose a key event in history-the moon landing-or you might choose an important personal event-the birth of a sister. You could select an issue you are currently addressing in life or in school. Conduct any research necessary to learn more about your subject and then create an annotated list of eight or more songs that represent your subject. If songs contain lyrics, excerpt passages from them to help convey your message. For every selection, analyze the musical elements of the songs and create explanations connecting the details of the songs with your subject. You can compose this list and explanations in a word processor or in an online space like a blog or a class Web site. You can also make links to any song samples available online and to copies of the songs’ lyrics. 

Ask Questions and Make Decisions Exercises for Composing Annotated Playlists

• Browse through some playlists collected online, identifying several that seem particularly meaningful. Write a paragraph discussing common characteristics among the playlists you have identified.
• Recall a song that resonates with a particular moment in your life. Listen to the song several times, making a list of musical or vocal elements that stand out. Use your list to prompt a freewriting session in which you compose for ten minutes about the ways the sounds in the song help convey its meaning.
• Work with a group of peers to think about the relationship between music and lyrics in songs. Compare several songs that vary in their reliance on lyrics to deliver their messages. Consider instrumental music, too. Create two lists, one cataloging strategies that might be used to analyze lyrics and the other with strategies for analyzing the instrumental elements of songs.
• Look again at the Jane Eyre example on pages 000-00. Think about the playlist in terms of rhetorical situations. In what circumstances does it make sense to compose such a play list? Hold a discussion with classmates about the genre of the annotated play list.

Plan It Invention Strategies for an Annotated Playlist 

As you begin planning your play list, keep in mind the need to connect songs with a specific topic. In fact, before even selecting any songs, you may need to spend some time getting closer to the subject of the play list. Conduct research or prewrite to ensure you have strong ideas related to your topic. When you begin to identify selections for the list, you will need to explore a range of music and zoom in to analyze the songs. And when you begin thinking about composing the annotations, you will need to zoom out to articulate connections between the songs and your subject. Here are some steps to get you started:

Think about what makes a good playlist. Is it enough that lists simply include songs you like, or is there something else that sets them apart? What qualities should you expect from a playlist? Look also at the annotated playlist on pages 000-00. How does this playlist differ from a playlist you might normally put together?

• Brainstorm about a subject for the play list. As you explore possible topics, think about themes you might emphasize, issues you might consider, or people and events you could explore.
• Go in search of songs to include in the playlist. Consult iMixes or song collections online. Ask friends for recommendations in line with your playlist idea. Consider whether instrumental songs might fit well within your list. Don’t limit yourself to what’s familiar. Sample a variety of music, and then identify songs that might work well for your subject. Make a list of possibilities.
• Connect the songs you are considering with their contexts. Find out the story behind the · songs. Was a song inspired by an event in the life of the song writer? Was it created as part of a movie soundtrack? Think about what the music says about culture or life.
• Look for patterns or motifs among the songs you collect. Do excerpts from a song’s lyrics resonate with other songs on the list? How are the sounds of the various songs related?

Compose it Create an Annotated Playlist

When you compose your play list, you will focus both on music and on the subject of your playlist, exploring connections between the two. The key is taking your engagement beyond the level of simply listening to what you like and extending it to think critically about the details of music (zoomed in) and the meanings and connections afforded by music (zoomed out). You will need to be deliberate about describing what you hear and explaining why it relates to your subject. Don’t assume that readers of your playlist will hear songs in the same way you do or see the same connections between the music and your topic. You need to spell it out. Follow these steps:

• Concretize your selection of songs. Don’t get caught thinking that choosing the music is the easiest aspect of composing a play list. Every choice should be deliberate, and you should be able to explain your thinking as you put the list together.
• Adjust the sequence of the songs in the list. Think about the subject as you order the selections. Are you exploring a person or event? Perhaps a chronological organization will work? Are there difficult questions related to an idea you wish to examine? Perhaps you can adjust the organization to help you bring out these complexities. Ask questions and make decisions about putting the songs in order.
• Identify the medium you will use to compose the playlist. If you are composing on a blog, class Web site, or some other online space, learn how to integrate song samples, images, or other materials into your posting. If you are using a word processor, learn how to create links to online materials.
• Decide how you will introduce the playlist. Consider what background information you need to provide to situate the topic for readers. You might go ahead and draft this opening, or you can compose the introduction after you have put together some of the playlist.
• Create an entry for the first song on the play list. Create a link to a sample of the song online. If the song has lyrics, locate a copy online and create a link to it. Excerpt lyrics that might help you develop your annotation of the song.
• Compose the annotation for the first entry. Spend some time analyzing the song. Act as the ears of your readers, discussing tempo, instrumentation, and vocals. Use adjectives to describe the musical elements. Zoom in and get at the sonic details. Zoom out to connect these details with the subject of the play list. Explain why the song is a good match for your topic.
• Compose entries and annotations for the other selections of the play list. Think about the flow that is created by your organization of songs. Make any adjustments needed to allow the list to hold together. When you have a draft of the list ready, share it with peers, and then revise it based on their feedback.

Revise it Strategies for Revising Annotated Playlists

• Be sure that the play list has a deliberate choice of subject and area of focus. You need a focused angle to hold everything together.
• Make sure you are considering not only the titles and lyrics of songs but also their musical elements. Listen to the songs on your list as you make decisions about revisions. Are there songs that seem right, but sound wrong? Will you need to provide more description of elements of sound in the list to help readers make sense of your choices?
• Think about the selection of the songs that make up the play list. Ask peers for suggestions for alternative songs that might make the list stronger. Think about the coherency of the collection of songs. Are there songs that seem out of place among the other selections in the list?
• Think also about the arrangement of the songs. Does the sequencing create a narrative that helps organize the message you want to present? Is there a kind of movement from song to song that might create musical textures in the list? How can you revise the sequencing to both explain and discuss the subject and develop the musical coherency of the list?
• Consider how you weave together excerpts from the lyrics, analyses of music, and explanations about the selections. Will your list benefit from a standard approach to weaving the elements together (e.g., song name, lyric excerpt, analysis, explanation)? Or, will more variety in how you integrate these materials make the list stronger?
• Revise the playlist several times to develop the song selection, sequencing, and explanations. Make sure links to any samples of the songs online or to lyrics are functioning. Also make sure that you have authors and performers of the songs. Polish the playlist, tightening the language, eliminating surface errors, and adjusting the formatting.

Push it More Possibilities for Playlists

• Create an audio essay, using a playlist as a starting point. Use an audio editor to cut samples from songs on the playlist. Use a microphone to record narration offering analysis and explanation of the songs on the list. Make decisions about the fair use of audio materials (see pages 000-00). For more on audio essays, see Chapter E4.
• Incorporate images and video clips into your play list. Just as you can link to song samples, you can also insert images or links to online video clips in a play list. If you are composing your playlist on a blog or class Web space, you can embed these elements into the list.
• Bum your playlist to a CD. Use publishing software (e.g., MS Publisher) to create a CD jacket. Translate the message you have constructed in a playlist so that it can be presented in the medium of the CD jacket.

Zoom Out Reflecting on Playlists

• Playlists increase your abilities to understand music. By listening more closely to the details of songs, you learn to “read” music, developing audio literacy in the process.
• Play lists should also further your understanding of your subject. Your song selections and explanations should tell readers something worth knowing related to the person, thing, or idea about which you are writing.
• Your understanding of genres, mediums, and rhetorical strategies should be extended by working on play list projects. Playlists can compare, analyze, describe, explain, entertain, and persuade, to name some of the possibilities.
• Composing playlists online allows you to use song samples and other media resources in your writing. Using play lists to write about topics demonstrates the flexibility of genres and mediums.
• Playlists should spur critical thinking. You must zoom in and out to analyze and synthesize as you compose a play list. You must also practice evaluation as you put together your songs and explanations.