Reference no: EM133681736 , Length: 5 Pages
Assignment:
Writing Assignment - Positive Psychology and Music
"Music has charms to soothe a savage breast."
~ taken from William Congreve's 1697 play The Mourning Bride.
"Words make you think... music makes you feel...but a song makes you feel thoughts."
~ Yip Harburg (popular American song lyricist most known known for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "It's only a Paper Moon.")
Background:
When people feel sad, lonely, depressed, or discouraged they often listen to music. Music has great power, not only for its soothing melodies or energetic beats. There is a direct correlation between song lyrics and positive psychology.
Positive psychology is a scientific approach to studying human thoughts, feelings, and feelings behavior, with a focus on strengths instead of weaknesses, building the good in life instead of repairing the bad, and taking the lives of average people up to "great" instead of focusing solely on moving those who are struggling up to "normal." (Positive Psychology Institute)
Your Assignment:
For this essay, you will choose an influential song, one that invokes positive psychology, and analyze its lyricsaccording to the principals of positive psychology. What are the benefits of your chosen song? You'll look at how the lyrics can affect people's emotions. How do they build people up, offer encouragement, compassion, hope, inspiration, etc.? And, how do they relate to today's world? In other words, why, and in what ways, will people feel better after listening to the song you have chosen to write about? You are not required to, but you can also analyze the melody if you so choose,. Is it an upbeat melody that makes you want to dance and get your heartrate up? Is it a rich instramental sound (like the "Star-Spangled Banner") that is supposed to make you feel a certain emotion like pride? Remember, if you choose to focus on both lyrics and the music itself, you need to include both in your thesis statement.
You may NOT use one of the songs we have covered in this module; you must choose your own song. And, the song must be in English and NOT a translation.
Student Learning Outcomes:
- Create a flexible process to transfer writing knowledge to a variety of contexts
- Apply appropriate writing conventions
- Display evidence of editing, control of grammar, and sentence variety
- Understand appropriate evidence and effective rhetorical strategies needed to gain authority in a variety of disciplines
- Examine similarities and differences of reading, writing, and research across disciplines
Requirements:
- 4 to 5 pages (approximately 1000 to 1250 words in length)
- 3 credible, scholarly outside sources. One source may be one of the positive psychology articles I asked you to read for this module. The other two sources you must find on your own.
- MLA format with a Works Cited page
- Please use Times New Roman font
- Include your song lyrics on a separate page AFTER your essay.