Overcoming COVID-19

For this week, please find a song that expresses how you or the people around you are coping with COVID-19. Your post can be a song that helps you get through this pandemic, your own recording, or anything uplifting. Include a link to the video or upload your own video here. After including your video, please write at least two (2) full paragraphs about why you chose what you chose. Use as many musical terms as possible and please be explicit and detailed in your writing and check it for grammar. All posts are due by Friday, May 1, 2020. Happy posting!!!

Showcase 2020!

For this week's blog post, you need to reflect on how Showcase 2020 went. Your post should be 2 paragraphs long minimum and address each of the following:
1. What was your favorite part of the performance?
2. What part(s) did you think needed improvement?
3. Did you give your best effort?
4. What would you like to see done next year in Showcase?

All posts are due by 1/17/20, 11:59 pm. Late posts will be receive the appropriate number of deductions per MPS policy. Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. In order to receive credit, make sure that your post is on the blog site. No screenshots or other methods will be accepted. Do not reply to another student's post. If your post does not answer each question, you will not receive full credit.

Covers

This week, our blog post is about covers and it is twofold. What are covers? Covers are recordings of music, usually vocal, by artists or performers who did not originally write or record the music. We see them all the time on YouTube in particular and in karaoke bars, but they are seen in other places both live and recorded. This is important because as we prepare for POPS Concert, the majority of the music is all covers.

Part 1: This part of your assignment this week is to find a cover of a song that you like. Post one paragraph (about 5 complete sentences) about the song, why you like it, who it is by, and specific musical elements that make the song a good choice to cover. Examples of good musical sentences are "I enjoy this song because it has a good rhythmic beat accented by the singer's vocal melismas" or "The piano part has a lot of higher notes that sound like bells which add to the whimsy of the song". You cannot use the sample sentences in your post. Examples of poorly worded/poor sentences are "I like the song because it is fast" or "I like the song because I like it". Be precise in your wording.

Part 2: Using your smartphone or any app that allows you to record, record yourself singing a cover of a song that you like. It can be a cappella or with accompaniment. Free apps like the YouTube app on most phones allows you to record and upload to YouTube. All videos must be uploaded to YouTube. The minimum time that your video must be is 1'30" and that does not include any speaking you do before singing. Record an entire song or one verse and a chorus. We will go over how to do this in class on Monday and Tuesday. When recording please make sure that you choose to make your video unlisted and include the link provided to you on YouTube to the video at the end of your post.

All posts are due by Friday, September 20, 2019 by 11:59 PM. After that, points will be deducted and posts will be scrutinized for any and all errors and whether all elements of the prompt are present. Have fun recording and we will watch all videos in class the following week.