SOUNDS AND MEANINGS IN YOUR NAME
Transcribe the sounds in your name, using visual means. Write at least a page discussing the sonic structure of your name together with the relevant social or cultural information it conveys.
The goal of this assignment is to represent visually the timbral, structural and associative meanings of purposely composed sonic entities – the sounds of your name, or names. To accomplish this, it is necessary to give the same very close consideration of the sounds as was required in Assignment One. In this case however, we are not considering the sounds individually, with their lone meanings and affects, nor are we trying to associate the sounds by category. Instead our goal is to consider the way sounds in language combine in a carefully arranged sequence.
To represent these sounds visually, assemble a transcription, using line, shape, color, texture, shade and any other artistic means to visually describe the sounds. Consider the rising and falling inflection of the voice, the segmented architecture of the syllables, and the affective power of the phonemes in structuring your drawing. Try to endow your drawing with both the logical power of a diagram and the expressive power of an abstract painting.
After creating the transcription of your name write up to two pages about your name and the transcription experience. Below are a few questions to guide your sonic analysis.
What are the various sonic forms of your name?
Where are sounds stressed or unstressed?
Which sounds are elided, or separated?
How do the sounds begin and end?
Do the sounds have associations or literal meanings?
Are there sonic patterns in your name?
What is the contour of the voice when it says your name?
Have you visually amplified all the meanings and information conveyed by the sounds of your name?
Music G205 ASSIGNMENT TWO: ELECTIVE CHOICE
MUSIC IN THE PHRASE
Assemble a list of twelve proverbs, aphorisms, sayings or verses that demonstrate the juxtaposition of musical features with a cultural message. Explicate and analyze the proverbs, providing commentary on how music and message are mutually arranged.
The goal behind this assignment is to consider the cultural meaning in the proverb in light of the sonic construction by which it is expressed. The best examples and analyses will connect the meaning with the structure.
Using any resources you can find, collect a dozen aphorisms that appeal to you for analysis. The premise of the assignment is that proverbs are expressed in a memorable musical package. Thus translated proverbs would be difficult to work with unless you know the language, and the original sounds. (Note: if this applies to you, you will need to include at least a translation, if not also a transliteration of the proverb)
The Student is urged make use of simple visual means (underlining, font sizes, color boxes, etc.) to illustrate the sonic features of the phrase. These can be drawn right on the page over the phrase.
For each phrase provide a few sentences explaining how the sound and the meaning work together. The types of sonic features to look for include those small details of language sound that we discovered in the first two assignments. Here the sonic constructions are longer and contain lexical entities (words) that contain definite meanings, rather than simply sounds that inspire associations.
Together with questions posed in the other elective assignments, the following questions may be of some use in considering your analyses.
Have you chosen sayings with distinctive sonic features?
What are the possible meanings for the phrase?
Are there natural structures on the sound imposed by language?
Is there a pulse, meter, rhythm or a surprise stress in the phrase?
Does the phrase contain alliteration, assonance, rhyme or other euphonies?
Does the phrase contain parallelisms, mention opposites, or refer to numbers
