Music Technology

Recording Techniques Analysis

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles

 

EXTRA CREDIT Assignment Due 12/02/03

 

Objectives

1.      Students will gain practice listening and analyzing recorded music from a recording technology point of view.

2.      Students will organize and articulate the results of this analysis.

3.      Students will practice presenting these results in a professional manner utilizing modern word processing skills.

 

Student Tasks

 

1.                  Listen to the recorded album, taking notes on each of the 13 tracks.   (13 pts.)

a)                 Indicate in your notes any and all sounds you notice that may have particular interest from a musical, technical, or historical point of view.

b)                 Make note also of any pertinent commentary made by the instructor during this listening.

2.                  Turn those notes in to the instructor to be credited toward the project’s final grade.       (13 pts.)

3.                  Watch the video “The Making of Sgt. Pepper.” (15 pts.)

a)                 Take additional notes on each of the 13 tracks from the commentary/demonstrations given by George Martin, the album’s producer, and any of the other interviewees.

b)                 Note the two additional tracks also discussed.

4.                  Open Microsoft Word.

a)                 From the Start menu, go to Programs

b)                 Highlight Microsoft Word and let go.

5.                  Create a header and apply page numbering.  (2 pts.)

a)                 In the task bar at the top, open the View menu

b)                 Select Header and Footer

c)                  In the Header, type a title for your report and highlight it by dragging your mouse across it (or by holding Shift while using the Arrow keys).

i)                    Apply a slightly larger font than the default.

ii)                  Make the title Boldface, using the “B” button in the task bar.

iii)                Center the title, using the button second to the right of the “U” (underline) button.

d)                 In the Footer, click on the # sign in the toolbar.

e)                 Center the resulting page number.

6.                  Under the Header, double space and type a short introductory paragraph, describing the purpose of your report and its contents.  (3 pts.)

a)                 Return to the original default font size

b)                 Turn the “B” (boldface) off.

7.                  Double space and type a numbered list of 15 song titles. (7 pts.)

8.                  Add the number 16 and follow it with the word “Conclusion.” (1 pt.)

9.                  Double space and type a short paragraph about the sounds and techniques you heard in the first track. (3 pts.)

a)                 Name the track in the process.

b)                 Include a one-sentence comment on the significance (or insignificance) of this piece and its recording or

c)                  provide any other facts about it that you have learned.

10.             Skip a line and type “Back to Top.”

11.             Repeat steps 9 & 10 for each of the 15 songs. (42 pts.)

12.             Double space and type a short paragraph or two in which you offer your opinions and concluding facts about the entire recording, referring to any part or parts of it as illustrative examples. (3 pts)

13.             Create Hyperlinks from the song list to each of the paragraphs. (16 pts.)

a)                 Triple-click on the first line of the paragraph pertaining to the first song. This should highlight the whole line, and, hopefully, will include the name of the song.  If not, do this highlight with your mouse or with the Shift & Arrow keys.

b)                 Make a Bookmark

i)                    In the task bar, open the Insert menu, and go to Bookmark.

ii)                  Give the bookmark a name by using an abbreviated form of the song’s title, leaving NO SPACES (i.e.: “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” becomes “SgtPepper”)

c)                  Triple-click on the first entry of the song list.

d)                 Open the Insert menu again, this time choosing Hyperlink.

e)                 Highlight the bookmark you just created.

i)                    in MSWord 97, this is found by clicking the SECOND “Browse” button.

ii)                  in MSWord 2000, it comes up by default.

f)                    Do the same for the remaining songs’ paragraphs and to the “Conclusion” section.

g)                 Based on what you have learned about bookmarks and hyperlinks, turn all of the “Back to Top” entries (at the end of each paragraph) into hyperlinks that lead back to the top of the song list.

14.             Run the Spelling and Grammar Checker from the Tools menu and make corrections as nessesary...nesecary...neccesary needed.  (5 pts.)

15.             Create a title page for the front. (3 pts.) This gets tricky, working with or around the header. I have left it to the end, but, of course, it should be cut and pasted to the front of your report.

16.             This report is NOT to be printed, but will be turned in either as an e-mail ATTACHMENT to rbruning@lausd.k12.ca.us, or on a virus-free, high density, Windows formatted diskette which you will provide and which will be returned to you.

a)                 The file’s title is “031202_Yourlastname”

b)                 The file’s TYPE is NOT .doc or .wps, but .rtf (rich text format). If this poses a problem for you, send me a message explaining what your problem is and I will help you sort it out.

c)                  Saving to the Electronic Music Lab’s PCs is allowed temporarily only.

i)                    Save only to a clearly marked folder on the computer’s desktop.

ii)                  Files for this assignment remaining on the PC desktop after fifth period on 12/02 will be deleted without examination.

d)                 It is advised that you keep a backup copy of this file on a separate diskette or on your home computer, should any corruption occur to the disk you have turned in.

17.       Like any good term paper, yours should credit your sources of information. www.easybib.com can help you with that.

17.               Scoring criteria for this assignment is as follows:

 

Sgt. Pepper Score

Instruction

Points

#

Earned

Possible

Percent

1 Listen to CDs “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” & “Magical Mystery Tour”

0

13

0%

2 Take Notes on each track (providing evidence in class)

0

13

0%

3 Watch Video “The Making of Sgt. Pepper’s”

0

15

0%

4 Open MSWord

0

0

0%

5 Header & Footer

0

2

0%

6 Introduction

0

3

0%

7 Song List

0

7

0%

8 Type "Conclusion"

0

1

0%

9 First track – In–depth analysis; objective, not opinionated

0

3

0%

10 Type "Back to Top"

0

0

0%

11 Remaining Songs – In–depth analysis; objective, not opinionated

0

42

0%

12 Conclusion – summary of the facts plus personal opinion

0

3

0%

13 Hyperlinks & Bookmarks

0

16

0%

14 Spelling

0

5

0%

15 Title Page

0

3

0%

16 File Name

0

0

0%

17 Bibliography

0

4

0%

Subtotal

0

130

0%

0

day(s) late

-5%

0

Grand Total

0

points or

0%

 

A score in the range of 90 – 100% will guarantee a 20-week letter-grade score improvement.