Assignment No. 4

Recently the list of the 2013 Grammy nominees was released.  If you have never heard of the Grammys (or the Grammy Awards), it is a trophy presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of more popular categories are presented in a widely viewed televised ceremony. It is the music equivalent to the Emmy Awards for television and the Academy Awards for movies.

This year's nominee list for Song of the Year:
Song of the Year
» Ed Sheeran - "The A Team"
» Miguel - "Adorn"
» Carly Rae Jepsen - "Call Me Maybe"
» Kelly Clarkson - "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)"
» Fun. - "We Are Young"

Only one of these songs will be named the "Song of the Year" and win the Grammy.  Who do you think it will be?  Pick the song that you want to win and give me three musical reasons why it should win.  Be detailed in your responses and please respond in full sentences.  If there are any songs on this list that you have not heard, click on it to watch the music video on YouTube.

You can answer by posting in the comments section of this post, by e-mailing me at aguilmette@wsd1.org or by writing it down and giving me your responses in class.

Assignment No. 3

Welcome to Term 2.   For our first Term 2 blog we are discussing old songs re-done by newer artists. In all genres of music bands and artists often will cover the song of another artist.   Examples of this are Brittany Spears's cover of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' "I Love Rock n Roll," Madonna's cover of Don McLean's American Pie or Maroon 5's cover of the old jazz standard "The Way You Look Tonight."   Performing another artist's song in a new way is common place in music.

In this week's blog we will examing two songs, the original version and it's modern rebirth. The song that we will be looking at is "I Want You Back" originally performed by the Jackson 5 (featuring a very young Michael Jackson) but recently re-done by Colbie Caillat
. Jackson 5

Jackson 5 - I Want You Back .mp3

Found at bee mp3 search engine

Colbie Caillat
Click to listen

Please listen to the tracks and answer the following questions for each song:
1. Name the artist and the song name.
2. List the instruments you hear.
3. Is it a solo, duet, small group or large group?
4. What does this song remind you of? (Sights, sounds, smells, etc.)
5. What is this song about? Please listen to the lyrics and give a brief summary detailing the song's content.
6a) Do you like this song?
6b) Please give a musical reason why or why not?
7. Please compare and contrast these two songs. What aspects are similar? What aspects are different?

Assignment No. 2

The following five songs appear on the Billboard Canada Hot 100:

We Are Never Getting Back Together - Taylor Swift
One More Night - Maroon 5
Diamonds - Rhianna
Good Time - Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen
Skyfall - Adele

If you were creating a music chart of your own, how would you rank these songs on a scale of 1 - 5 (1 being your top song)? Please explain in musical terms your reasoning for the song's position on your chart.

Assignment No. 1

You Tube provides us with access to a wealth of videos of our favourite artists, musicians, bands and groups. For this week's assignment, go on You Tube, find a live performance of one of your favourite songs. 
As an example, here is a live version of a favourite song of mine.  This video is Janelle Monae performing Tightrope at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival. 

 

Post the link in the comments section and answer the following questions.

1. Name the artist and the song name.
2. Is it a solo, duet, small group or large group?
3. Why do you like this song? Please explain using musical reasons.

First Day!!

Welcome to the first day of class! We're going to have a great year!