1. HOW TO WRITE A MUSIC REVIEW Music Project – 7 th & 8 th Grade

2. SHARE WHAT YOU LOVE (OR HATE!)  WHY write a music review?  Evaluate music to reach the needs of your target audience or reader.  Target who your audience may be: other junior high students!  WHY NOT facebook or twitter reviews?  You can only say “like” or “not like”, no inbetween.  Too short of a review. Not enough content to convince your audience.

3. HOW DO I START?  QUESTIONS: Start with an eye catching question.  “Who likes pop music anyway?”  “How can your ears handle this kind of music?”  VIVID DESCRIPTION: Share the sensation you felt because of the music.  “As the bass guitar began to assault my ears, I knew this music to be heavy metal.”  “The sadness I felt as I turned on this music immediately vanished as the song was very upbeat.”

4. WHO IS THIS REVIEW FOR?  Magazine or newspaper?  MAIN PURPOSE: To send a message to your target audience: Other teens.  EXAMPLES:  COMMENT: “This music blows my mind!”  PURPOSEFUL WRITING: Write in an interesting but believable way:  “Come on! Do they really call that music?”

5. MOVIE REVIEWS: WE ALL READ THEM! What is the story line or plot? Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

6. MUSIC REVIEWS: ANYONE READING THEM? Tell us about the following: 1.Type of music you reviewed 2.Things that happen in the song 3.Use descriptive words other than “good” or “bad” 4.Interest us with your knowledge of the singer or band

7. BE CRITICAL WITH YOUR COMMENTS Good  “I found the performance to be very interesting...........  One particular strength of the music  “Second to none!” = Best Ever!  “_______ is its best feature because...  “I just really like it!” Not descriptive enough Bad  But one musician seemed off pitch.”  One particular weakness  “Worst ever!” = Don’t listen!  _______ is not its best feature because...”  “I just really hate it!” Not descriptive enough.

8. THE RECOMMENDATION  Don’t be put off by the title.  How will this music make you and others listening feel?  Is it a definite “must hear”?  Would you not recommend anyone to listen to it? Why?  Would you highly recommend anyone listen to it? Why?  Would you tell listeners of this kind of music to buy the CD or download it?

9. STRUCTURE OF A REVIEW (HOW TO)  1. CATCH THE READER’S ATTENTION!  2. SUMMARIZE THE MEANING OF THE MUSIC (LYRICS). GIVE A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF WHAT IT’S ABOUT IN A SHORT WAY.  3. EVALUATE AND RELATE THE SUBJECT OF YOUR REVIEW TO YOUR AUDIENCE. ENCOURAGE THE READER TO TAKE PART, BUT YOU MAY HAVE ALSO HAVE TO POINT OUT ASPECTS TO BE IMPROVED.  4. GIVE YOUR PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION.

10. MUSIC PROJECT ASSIGNMENT  WRITE A TWO PAGE REVIEW OF ONE SONG:  7 TH GRADE: A Folk or Country song: year 2000 to present  8 th GRADE: A Popular Music song: year 2000 to present  SONGS MUST BE...  Appropriate for school: no sexual references or curse words  Shown to the class on the last day of class with your “mini review”  DUE MAY 9, 10 or 11 during music class... NO EXCEPTIONS!  WORTH 20 points of your grade for 3 rd trimester

11. GRADING RUBRIC ALL FOUR ELEMENTS OF STRUCTURE OF A REVIEW = 10 points CORRECT GRAMMAR & SPELLING = 5 points APPROPRIATENESS AND CORRECT GENRE (Folk/Country or Pop Music) = 5 points 20 points TOTAL