1. Vickie L. Mobley
EDU652
Instructor Linda Ellington
June 17, 2013
SO YOU WANT TO BE A MUSIC
CRITIC

2. SUBJECT CONTENT AND DETAILS
 For this assignment the class will be divided into
groups of 4-5 students.
 The subject content is music
 Each group will choose three songs from a specific
genre. One team may choose Jazz while another
chooses Pop etc.
 The groups will use iTunes or Youtube to listen to
each song and upload it onto the class Blog entitled
“So You Want To Be A Music Critic”

3. SO YOU WANT TO BE A MUSIC CRITIC!
 For this learning activity each team will choose three songs from
one of the following genres (below are examples) listed below:
 Rock and Roll (Elvis Presley, The Beatles)
 Jazz (Miles Davis, Max Roach, Duke Ellington)
 Blues (John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf)
 Country (Johnny Cash, Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood)
 R&B (Sam Cooke, James Brown, Jennifer Lopez)
 Alternative (Soundgarden, The Kills, White Stripes)
 Pop (Katy Perry, Adele, Amy Winehouse)

4. THE PURPOSE OF THE GROUP CRITIQUE
 The group-critique is the most complex form
of original-work activity. Group critiques
have learners help other learners to refine
their work. Group-critique activities take
advantage of discussion forums to help
learners learn from other learners. In the
simplest form of group critique, a learner
prepares an individual answer to a
question, posts it for others to critique, and
then revises it before submitting the final
version (Horton, 2011).

5. CRITIQUE REQUIREMENTS
 Introduce the titles of the
piece(s), composers, place of
performance, recording date, and performers
involved.
 What was your overall reaction to the song?
Like it? Love it?
 What was the strongest element of the
performance? The beat? The harmonies?
 What was the weakest element of the
performance? The beat? The harmonies?
 Be respectful and considerate when critiquing
others (Vahl, 2013).
 Be sure your critique is specific to the song that
is being discussed.

6. CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE CRITIQUE
 What did you think about the songs that were chosen?
 Do you think these songs are good examples of their
respective genres or would you choose someone else?
 Would you recommend these songs to a friend or listen
to them again?
 Did you learn about a genre that you find interesting?
Will you research and continue to listen?
 Do you think the critiques were fair?

7. REFERENCES
 Horton, W. (2011). Group critique. William Horton
Consulting. Retrieved June 14, 2013, from
http://www.horton.com/portfoliogroupcritique.htm
 Vahl, M. (2013, April 23). The 4 elements of a great
critique. ComposeCreatecom. Retrieved June
16, 2013, from http://www.composecreate.com/the-
4-elements-of-a-great-critique/