Assessment Brief: Essay Due Date: Sunday of Week 6

Submit a 1500-2000 word analysis of an artist, movement or a significant body of work as chosen by the student.

Your essay should present the How and Why an artistic output sounds the way it

Assessment Brief: Essay Due Date: Sunday of Week 6

Submit a 1500-2000 word analysis of an artist, movement or a significant body of work as chosen by the student.

Your essay should present the How and Why an artistic output sounds the way it does. The essay is not a biography, rather a presentation of an artist’s aesthetic choices. What makes this artist identifiable? What sounds, instruments, performance techniques, or production skills define them?

And why does the artist make music in this way?

The simplest form of this essay is to identify each layer of sound (eg: bass, drums, sequencers, guitars, vocals, DAWs, synths, production, mix technique, etc), explain how these instruments/ideas are used, and show their role in specific songs.

For more detailed marks in your analysis, is there a guiding philosophy, or idea/influential reason, on why these instruments are used in this way? Can you find the artist themselves talking about why they make this music, or how a specific sound was made? Is it a consequence of time and place? Was there a limitation on what they could accomplish? Do they prefer some gear over others? Why? Reference all your information for ultimate marks. Information can be found in artist interviews, album reviews, biographies/autobiographies, academic journals, documentaries, fan pages, music blog posts, articles, etc.

Present your information in a well-structured and well-written essay. Relevant photos and images can help.

ProTip: You don’t have to sell the artist to the reader, so don’t spend your essay justifying how the band got famous. Only describe things that affect their actual sound – things that you can show an example of in their output. Don’t waste word count describing what a band or genre isn’t. However, you can write about Lyrics or Visual Aesthetic if it’s important, but it’s much easier to get marks when you write about sound. This is your entire degree, remember. Make sound and music the main thrust of your essay.

You don’t need to upload audio with this assessment task, if a band is so obscure that their music doesn’t exist, you’re probably choosing a very hard artist to write about.