Planning to Write an Essay

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Planning to Write an Essay
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Calvin and Hobbes
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What is the question?

• Evaluate the impact of Indian music on music in
  the West in the twentieth century.

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Break down the question

• Evaluate (vs. discuss, critique)
• the impact of (vs. influence)
• Indian music on music in the West
• in the twentieth century

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What do I know?

• Read notes
• Brainstorming
• Spider diagrams

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Ravi Shankar and the Beatles
Olivier Messiaen
Postcolonialism and diaspora
Orientalism Said
British colonialism in India
British-Asian music, Nitin Sawnhey, etc
Indian musical gestures (sitar, drone, tabla)
Eastern mysticism (TM, theosophy)
Gustav Holst, Scriabin philosophical interest
Raga versus scale
Music as abstract, capable of many
meanings/interpretation
Ethics of musical appropriation
MIDIval punditz, reverse orientalism
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Context of India-West contact British
colonialism in India Orientalism
(Said) Postcolonialism British-Asian
diaspora Types of musical borrowing/impact theore
tical features (e.g. raga) philosophy sounds/sam
pling (sitar, drone, tabla) Artists and
composers Olivier Messiaen, Holst,
Scriabin Ravi Shankar and the Beatles British-As
ian artists, Nitin Sawnhey, MIDIval
Punditz Ethics of appropriation Music as
abstract, capable of many meanings/interpretations
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Write a thesis sentence (abstract)
There has been a long history of interaction
between India and the West, a history that is
reflected in many Western artists and composers
incorporation of Indian musical ideas into their
works. However, since Edward Saids critique in
Orientalism (1978) of Western artistic
representations of the East as handmaids of
Western colonial power, it has been impossible to
view these borrowings uncritically as benign. In
this essay I will evaluate three points of Indian
musics impact in the West Olivier Messiaen,
the Beatles, and Nitin Sawnhey to argue that
Saids criticisms are only partly justified in
the case of music. In doing so I hope to
demonstrate that appropriation is not necessarily
negative, but integral to the way all humans
first approach a world of music not their own.
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Thesis sentence/abstract

• 1) Background
• 2) Problem
• 3) Argument
• 4) Evidence
• 5) Gesture to wider value of your work

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BACKGROUND There has been a long history of
interaction between India and the West, a history
that is reflected in many Western artists and
composers incorporation of Indian musical ideas
into their works. PROBLEM However, since Edward
Saids critique in Orientalism (1978) of Western
artistic representations of the East as handmaids
of Western colonial power, it has been impossible
to view these borrowings uncritically as benign.
EVIDENCE In this essay I will evaluate three
points of Indian musics impact in the West on
Olivier Messiaen, the Beatles, and Nitin Sawnhey
ARGUMENT to argue that Saids criticisms are
only partly justified in the case of music. WIDER
GESTURE In doing so I hope to demonstrate that
appropriation is not necessarily negative, but
integral to the way all humans first approach a
world of music not their own. WIDER GESTURE
becomes the substance of your essay conclusion
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5-point structure

• Introduction (background, theory, thesis)
• Main point 1 (Messiaen - justified? Not?)
• Main point 2 (Beatles - justified? Not?)
• Main point 3 (Sawnhey - justified? Not?)
• Conclusion WIDER GESTURE
• Word length intro and concl combined should be
  no longer than one main point

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What is the question?

• Avoid pitfalls
• Unnecessary biographical digressions
• Failure to discuss items (esp. musical works)
  specifically
• Description without analysis

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How would you plan this essay?
As a general rule, composers in the Baroque
period tended to write for specific institutions
(the church, the court, etc.). With reference to
two major Baroque composers, describe the way in
which the organizations for which they composed
influenced the type, form and style of
compositions they produced (refer to specific
works in your discussion).
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Choose an appropriate style of expression

• Formal
• Correct grammar
• Clear definitions of all terms and jargon
• Brevity
• Objectivity
• Clarity of expression (avoid postmodernist
  rhetorical flourishes. . . )

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Calvin and Hobbes
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For even if Ally McBeals attempt to represent
postmodern identity crises evades
non-narcissistic analysis by virtue of its
incessant play of musical signifiers, that play
can force us to think seriously about postmodern
dilemmas.