Discussion

Answer both and reply to at least one classmate for up to 20 pts this week.

• Select one composition by Tchaikovsky that you enjoy. Describe the music and subject matter of that work, and explain why you enjoy it. Using your own ideas, create an avatar that would live in the world this music describes; give us details about the avatar, his/her powers, and what the world would look like. Use this website for ideas or find one to share with the class.

• Look over this list of topics for Assignment 2 and tell us which topic you will write about. Also here is a copy of a template to help you format your paper and a sample student paper for your review.

Topic choices (pick 1):

• Office Art Memo. Memorandum. Your boss, who knows you have been taking a humanities class since he pays for your tuition reimbursement, has tasked you with managing the art budget for your company, expecting you to choose various pieces of art for the new corporate offices. (Note: Replicas of the works are acceptable since they are more cost-efficient and you are working on a budget.) Include the following:

1. Identify three examples of 19th century Impressionist painting or sculpture and three Post-Impressionist works. Explain how the six pieces of art fall into these two styles.

2. In a memo, describe the appearance of your six choices to your CEO so he or she will know what the art looks like and where it would be placed in the corporate offices.

3. Explain why each piece is considered to be historically significant.

4. Explain how each piece "fits" your company's overall (or desired) corporate image. Keep in mind that a piece of art is supposed to "say" something about the owner, so describe what would these pieces of art say about your company.

• Art Movements, Artists and Social Criticism

Choose two Art Movements and two artists from the text. Possible choices are Baroque, Rocco, Romantism, Impressionism, Cubism, Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptualism, Modernism, and Post Modernism.

Study the two movements and artists you chose and then answer the following questions in paragraph format, a total of eight or ten paragraphs, for three or four pages (850-1000 words).

1. Describe five features of two movements, explaining their similarities and differences.

2. Explain how these two movements are related to previous artwork or artists.

3. Pick one artist from each movement, explain three of their techniques, and describe one of their important works of art.

4. Show how society responded to these two artists and the statements they made through their art.

• New Composition. Speech. Your uncle's birthday is in two months, and everyone knows that he loves almost all kinds of music. As a birthday gift for him, you want to have a special piece of music composed in his honor which will be played at a family birthday celebration. Write a speech that you will make to the composer's agent. Include the following:

1. Narrow your choices down to three composers you've studied in this course. Choose one of the composers and explain why you want him to write the "birthday present" music.

2. Explain why the other two composers were ultimately not selected.

3. Specifically identify the musical elements in the composer's style that you would like to be included in the new music written for your uncle.

4. Describe what sort of emotion is generated by listening to the works of your selected composer; in other words, what do you want your uncle to "feel" as he hears the music, and why is this composer so perfect for this composition?

• Harlem Renaissance Poets. Essay & Poem. Choose two poems by different authors from the Harlem Renaissance. Write an essay that:

1. Describes each author's role and importance within the Harlem Renaissance.

2. Identify the elements in each of their poems in which you see evidence of the "double-consciousness" being expressed by each author.

3. Fully describe at least two primary themes you see in the poetry written during this time period, referring to specific lines in each of the poems.

4. Write your own poem that expresses these identified themes of the Harlem Renaissance.

• Women's Roles Then & Now.Script. Script a conversation between two notable women from the 18th and / or 19th century on the roles women should play in society. Within the dialogue, include:

1. Biographical information for each woman.

2. The historical status for women in general during the time period in which each woman lived.

3. What opinions each of the women might have on the role the women should play in society during their lifetimes.

4. What each of the women might think about women's current roles.