Music 150 Music Score Rubric Criteria Full Credit Half Credit No Credit Melody: 1 point Portray the melody your selected minute of music Your score demonstrates a solid understanding of melody and depicts it in a clear/interesting/ creative way You demonstrate partial understanding of melody, or you depict it in a lazy or unclear way You neglect to depict melody at all Rhythm: 1 point Portray the rhythm of your selected minute of music Your score demonstrates a solid understanding of rhythm and depicts it in a clear/interesting/ creative way You demonstrate some understanding of rhythm, or you depict it in a lazy or unclear way You neglect to depict rhythm at all Texture: 1 point Portray the texture of your selected minute of music Your score demonstrates a solid understanding of what texture means and depicts the texture of your selected minute of music in a cool/clear way You sort of demonstrate texture, or do so in a lazy way You don’t deal with texture at all Color: 1 point Use at least two colors to indicate something about the music You use color in a cool or helpful way to symbolize certain chosen aspects of the music, and it’s clear what the colors indicate You use only one color, or it’s unclear what the colors are meant to indicate No color or totally unclear Craftsmanship: 5 points Your score demonstrates careful work and planning; includes time stamps; describes entire minute of selected song; and is beautiful/compelling/ creative/ or interesting Your notation is coherent and legible You use time stamps so we can tell where we are in the song when we try to follow your score You notate the entire minute of the song Your score is cool in some way Your score is legible but lacks coherence And/or no time stamps And/or you neglect to notate the entire minute And/or your score displays a certain thoughtlessness or laziness or lack of effort Your score is illegible or incoherent No time stamp Impossible to follow or incomplete Lazy (e.g. just ballpoint pen squiggles on a ripped out piece of notebook paper, come on get real) Essay: Perception: 2 points Identify what you hear in your selected minute in terms of melody, texture, rhythm, etc. Full description, clear Patchy description, or unclear/ vague No real description of specific musical elements Essay: Response: 2 points Describe how what you hear in the music relates to your notation Clear and thoughtful relationship between music and notation Relationship between music and notation is unclear or only partially clear You make no real attempt to describe the relationship between the music and your notation Essay: Mechanics: 2 points Essay is well organized, has clear structure, few or no grammar/ punctuation/spelling mistakes Essay is somewhat disorganized; some grammar etc. mistakes Essay is incoherent; many mistakes Graphic Transcrip ...

1. Music 150 Music Score Rubric
Criteria Full Credit Half Credit No Credit
Melody: 1 point
Portray the melody your
selected minute of music
Your score demonstrates a solid
understanding of melody and
depicts it in a clear/interesting/
creative way
You demonstrate
partial understanding
of melody, or you
depict it in a lazy or
unclear way
You neglect to depict
melody at all
Rhythm: 1 point
Portray the rhythm of your
selected minute of music
Your score demonstrates a solid
understanding of rhythm and
depicts it in a clear/interesting/
creative way
You demonstrate some

2. understanding of rhythm,
or you depict it in a lazy or
unclear way
You neglect to depict
rhythm at all
Texture: 1 point
Portray the texture of your
selected minute of music
Your score demonstrates a solid
understanding of what texture
means and depicts the texture of
your selected minute of music in a
cool/clear way
You sort of demonstrate
texture, or do so in a lazy way
You don’t deal with
texture at all
Color: 1 point
Use at least two colors to
indicate something about the
music
You use color in a cool or helpful
way to symbolize certain chosen
aspects of the music, and it’s clear
what the colors indicate
You use only one color, or it’s
unclear what the colors are
meant to indicate

3. No color or totally
unclear
Craftsmanship: 5 points
Your score demonstrates
careful work and planning;
includes time stamps;
describes entire minute of
selected song; and is
beautiful/compelling/
creative/
or interesting
Your notation is coherent and
legible
You use time stamps so we can
tell where we are in the
song when we try to follow
your score
You notate the entire minute of
the song
Your score is cool in some way
Your score is legible but
lacks coherence
And/or no time stamps
And/or you neglect to
notate the entire minute

4. And/or your score displays
a certain
thoughtlessness or
laziness or lack of
effort
Your score is illegible or
incoherent
No time stamp
Impossible to follow or
incomplete
Lazy (e.g. just ballpoint
pen squiggles on a
ripped out piece of
notebook paper, come
on get real)
Essay:
Perception: 2 points
Identify what you hear in
your selected minute in terms
of melody, texture, rhythm,
etc.
Full description, clear Patchy description, or unclear/
vague
No real description of
specific musical
elements
Essay:

5. Response: 2 points
Describe how what you hear
in the music relates to your
notation
Clear and thoughtful
relationship between music
and notation
Relationship between music
and notation is unclear or only
partially clear
You make no real
attempt to describe the
relationship between
the music and your
notation
Essay:
Mechanics: 2 points
Essay is well organized, has clear
structure, few or no grammar/
punctuation/spelling mistakes
Essay is somewhat
disorganized; some
grammar etc. mistakes
Essay is incoherent;
many mistakes

6. Graphic Transcription Assignment
Assignment: Choose a one-minute segment from one of the
following works: FKA Twigs, “Two Weeks”; tUnE-yArDs,
“Gangsta”; Erykah Badu, “Bag Lady”; and Kate Bush, “Running
up that Hill.” Listen to the whole song first, before you choose
the minute you want to notate—your one-minute segment can be
taken from anywhere in the song; it does NOT have to be the
first minute!!!! Find the part that interests you most. Please
specifically use the video version of the song posted on Moodle.
Make up your own graphic notation to create a score that
reflects what you hear in this minute of music. Then write a
400-500 word essay describing your transcription: what
decisions did you make, and why? What aspects of the song
most interested you, and how did you depict them visually?
What was most challenging or interesting about making your
score?etc.
Specific Requirements and Directions:
Once you’ve chosen your one-minute segment, listen to it
carefully many, many times, making note of what you notice
about the melody(ies), rhythm, and texture. These three
elements will be the foundation of your score, although you will
add others as well.
Create symbols (lines, shapes, dots, whatever works for your
understanding of the music) that you will use to denote pitch
and rhythm. Also, create a way to indicate texture (each
individual instrument or voice), and melody (every sound has a
pitch; but some pitches strung together make a “melody” that
your ear grasps and follows; a song can have more than one
melody going on at once).
Once you have decided on your basic framework, add colors to
symbolize aspects of the song that you think are important or
interesting. Colors could be used to indicate timbre, mood,

7. texture, consonance/dissonance, melody, etc. Please use at least
two colors, although feel free to use more than two!
If you like, you could create a key for your score—a chart
breaking down which symbols/colors you used to indicate which
elements. Only do this if it seems like it would help you stay
organized. If you do make a key, please turn it in along with the
score and essay.
Create your score. You may use the template provided on the
course website (print out the template, then draw your score by
hand onto it). The template contains four rectangles with each
rectangle representing 15 seconds of your one-minute excerpt.
Please time stamp above each bar to indicate the section of
music you are notating, e.g. 0:25-0:55. (Remember, you must
use the YouTube link for your song that’s on Moodle)
You are welcome to use this template; but you are also welcome
to envision a different way of notating your minute of music. If
you want to come up with a different format for your score—if
you don’t like the time-stamped rectangles of the provided
template—please feel free to do so! Any way you choose to
realize your score is fine, so long as your score includes all the
above requirements, is time-stamped in some way so that we
can follow along, and you explain your choices clearly in your
essay.
Write a short (minimum 2 pages, 12 pt. font, double spaced)
essay explaining how the shapes, figures, and colors you chose
to use in your score reflect the specific musical elements you
heard in your selection. Be sure to refer to the Music Portfolio
Project grading rubric (on Moodle) to make sure all criteria are
met.
Before turning everything in, please take a picture of your score
and keep it on your phone or wherever. Unlike a Word doc, your
score is unique and irreplaceable! In case we lose it, or we get
mugged and the thief steals your beautiful score, or some
similar disaster occurs, please keep a photo as a record of the
project.

8. Note: Feel free to be very creative with your score. You can be
very free with this assignment, so long as we are able to follow
your score, and you’re able to clearly describe why you took the
approach you took, and why you chose the symbols/colors/etc.
you chose. Students have come up with all kinds of really
interesting, creative approaches to this assignment—if you have
a cool idea but are unsure whether it’s okay or not, just check
with your section instructor!
tUnE-yArDs – Gangsta
Viewed from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFHuTXJMgOk
This essay presents an analysis of the Musical Aspects of
‘tUnE-yArDs – Gangsta.’ Those aspects comprise of texture,
Rhythm, and Melody Between 0.40 Seconds and 1.40 seconds at
an interval of 15 seconds.
Texture
The texture of this music is characterized by alternative
patterns that differ every 15 sec- onds from the point when the
analysis started at 0:40 seconds. The texture of the first interval
between 0.40 seconds and 0.55 is Homophonic since there are
one voice and a melody that is heard from the background. I
was interested in the simplicity of the chords at 0.40 seconds
point. The texture is polyphony at the second interval between
0.55 seconds and 1.10 seconds since there are multiple melodic
voices with equal significance, especially at the mention of the
phrase, ‘What's a boy to do if he'll never be a gangsta?’ which
is common in the entire interval. The tex- tures of the entire
interval between 1.10 seconds and 1.25 seconds and the last one
between 1.25 seconds and 1.40 are both monophonic since they
are characterized by single melodic lines even though they are
associated with different instruments.
Rhythm

9. The three key rhythms noted between 0.40 seconds and 1.40
seconds include repetition, pattern, and rhythmic ones. During
the first interval, repetition is dominating since the chorus takes
over 10 seconds out of 15. The second interval is characterized
by rhythmic musicality with around three instruments sounding
concurrent to enhance the rhythm. Also, the last two in- tervals
between 1.1o seconds and 1.25 seconds, and between 1.25
seconds and 1.40 seconds are both characterized by rhythmic
musicality. However, there is a mixture of pattern and rhythmic
one in the second last interval between 1.25 seconds and 1.40
seconds, even though the former is felt for the last 3 seconds
only. Rhythmic musicality and generally the language in this
para- graph is very vague and doesn’t mean anything to me.
Instead you can talk about what notes are short, what notes are
long, and how the length of notes affects what notes are
important.
Melody
The melodies recorded between 0.40 seconds and 1.40 seconds
are either instrumental ones or vocal ones. The first interval
between 0.40 seconds and 0.55 seconds is entirely charac-
terized by a vocal melody with some variations in vocals, and
the rhythmic changes enhance their variations. The second
interval between 0.55 seconds and 1.10 seconds is composed of
a mixture of melodies with around the first half being vocal
melody while the rest is instrumental. The essence of this
mixture is to enhance rhythm, which is evident with a rhythmic
musicality between these melodies. Vocal melodies dominate in
the last two intervals between 1.10 seconds and 1.40 seconds.
However, the melody in the last interval is filled with calmness
as preparation for transition to a different rhythm, which starts
at 1.38 seconds point.
Color
I choose the colors between the intervals based on the interests
brought about by the re- spective points, which are, in turn,
determined by Timbre, mood, and melody. The blue color rep-
resents high notes, especially when there were transitions from

10. low to high note. For example, the transitional point at 0.49
seconds point arouses a happy mood, which becomes consistent
for some seconds before changing transitioning to the next note.
Reflection
Gangsta by tUnE-yArDs is an interesting song that contained
the application of various instrumentals. The tone and variation
of the song are key interesting factors of the songs that sparked
interest in me. During the transcription of the song, I decided to
transcribe based on tex- ture, rhythm, melody and color. The
texture was transcribed based on homophony, polyphony and
monophony as it gave me a clear understanding of the song, the
rhythm was transcribed based on rhythmic, pattern and
perception of the entire song. The melody transcription took
place based on vocal melody and instrumental melody that was
clearly evident in the song.
From listening to the song, I noticed that there were several
aspects that interested me. The texture is a key aspect that was
clearly recognizable in the entire song. I ensured that I tran-
scribed the texture of the song using symbols based on
homophony, monophony and polyphony which are key elements
that needs to be perfectly understood in this case. The duration
of the songs is a key aspect that was clear in the song. I
recorded down the duration based on texture, melody and
rhythm which are key issues that need to be implemented and
understood.
The texture of the song was depicted through the use of
drawings that were in accordance with my observation. This
gave a clear reflection of the song in a clear manner that
enables one
to understand the element of the music in a perfect way. The use
of line that were wavy to give a clear depiction positively
worked out as it gave clear explanation of the appropriate
practices that needs to be observed to explain the point of
reference of the song. This positively played out as one can
clearly understand the texture and determine whether it was
homophony, polyphony and monophony in the song.

11. Making the score was the key issue that presented a challenge to
the entire process of musical transcription and analysis. The
creation of the graphical notions was the most challeng- ing
activity. This is basing on the fact that the presentation of the
song needs to take place to- gether with the rhythmic excerpt
which is a key factor in the entire context that need to be per-
fectly conceptualized. It is a necessity that the graphical notion
matches with the mentioned mu- sical elements and any
mismatch would affected the message or lead to a disconnection
of the element. Making the choice of this perfect graphic notion
was the hardest part in the entire score creation.
References
tUnE-yArDs - Gangsta (Live on KEXP). (2011, June 12).
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.-
com/watch?v=FFHuTXJMgOk
Melody should address contour or mood, whether the melody is
legato or staccato, etc. Just telling me who sings/plays the
melody isn’t enough detail -.5
For texture next time focus on telling me how many and what
kinds of sounds/instruments you hear instead of using the
vocabulary you used for texture.
Rhythm - don’t just tell me that the rhythm is repetitive. Tell
me what rhythm you hear. What notes are long? What notes are
short? Same goes for not just telling me you hear a rhythmic
pattern. What is the rhythmic pattern? -.5
Color - you used only one color -1
Perception - not enough detail -.5
This transcription is extremely and vague and does not convey
much information. Feel free to see me if you want to discuss the
assignment further.
12.5/15