OVERVIEW

Many families pass down traditions that stem from their ethnic origins. Maybe your family passes down beloved recipes or holiday traditions that you don’t even realize come from the countries of your ancestors. Music is another important tradition that links us to our ancestry. In this paper, students will choose a country or region of the world where their ancestors came from, and research music from that country’s past and present.

INSTRUCTIONS

select one country or region of the world from your own heritage. Using some of the research skills that you learned in your Music Resources on the Web assignment in Module 1, compose a paper that is at least 1000 words long about the music in that country or region’s past and present. Topics might include, but are not limited to: folk music traditions, any major composers from that country, ways that music might have helped shape political movements in that country, ways that those traditions now influence modern musicians, or any rock or pop acts that have come out of that country. Be sure to name and discuss specific artists and selections, referencing your research sources. Submissions must be word documents in the format .doc, .docx or .rtf. Any other format will receive no credit (F).

Assemble a list of works cited using a variety of different sources. You should consult at least one print source, and at least three sound recordings. It would be terrific if you can interview a family or community member. Do not use Wikipedia in your list of sources. Avoid YouTube. YouTube can only be used if you use a channel in which the content was created by, and the copyright owned by, that channel’s creator. Most YouTube Channels do not meet that criteria, so avoid it altogether. Do not use these in your list of sources. Listen to This is also not allowed because research implies reading beyond the textbook.

Your assignment and your works cited list should be formatted to MLA standards. Here is a link to an excellent sample paper in MLA format. Here is a link to a sample works cited list in MLA format. The Purdue Owl is also an excellent guide to citing different types of sources, like websites and sound recordings.