Deliverables / due dates

This project has the following deliverables:

The program and reflection draft are due on Friday, Oct 30th.

The final version of the reflection are due on Monday, Nov 9th.

The deliverables are described in the “What to do” section below.

Learning goals

What to do

This section describes the two deliverables for the Project.

Important: Please create a folder called Project 2 within your shared Google Drive folder (the one you created in Writing Assignment 0), and then create/upload your deliverables for this project in the Project 2 folder.

The program

Write a Processing program to create a music composition. Your composition should be a continuation of the work you did in Lab 5, Lab 6, Lab 7, Lab 8, Lab 9, and Lab 10.

At a minimum, your composition should include melodic figures, and should have an overall structure. I would encourage you to consider adding the following optional elements:

Please note that I do not want you to treat these features as a laundry list: I expect that for any element you incorporate into the composition, you have a specific artistic motivation for including it.

Submit your program by uploading it to your shared Google Drive folder. Your program is a file that has a “.pde” file extension. You can upload a file to a Google Drive folder by clicking New, choosing File upload, and then selecting the file you want to upload.

The reflection

Your reflection is an essay (not a bulleted list!) that addresses the following topics.

Introduction. What were you trying to achieve in creating your composition?

Describe your creative process. What did you do to create your composition? How did your composition evolve over time? What were your experiences using a computer program to create music? What aspects of the process were satisfying? What aspects of the process were frustrating? If you encountered difficulties, what did you do to progress beyond them?

Discuss the structure and organization of your composition. In particular, talk about the different “scales” of organization in your composition: individual rhythms and melodies, longer passages, the overall composition structure, etc. What mood or emotions were you trying to evoke?

In what ways did your composition succeed? In light of your intentions regarding the structure and organization of the composition, and the effects you were trying to convey, do you think you succeeded?

In what ways do you think your composition could be improved? What aspects of the composition did not succeed in the way you had hoped?

Conclusions. What did you learn from this experience?

Your reflection should be at least two pages in length. (Two pages is a minimuim, and I would expect that it is more likely that three or more pages will be necessary.) You should strive to be clear and concise.

Create your reflection documents using Google Docs in the shared Project 2 folder (see above). The reflection draft should be called Relection (Draft). The final version should be called Reflection (Final). You can create the final document by making a copy of the draft.

Proofread your reflection carefully. I will make comments on the draft (so you can use the feedback for your final version), but it is your responsibility to check your work carefully for spelling and grammar errors.

Grading

The overall project is worth up to 100 points.

The program is worth up to 40 points, and the reflection up to 60.

For the program:

For the reflection:

To earn a higher grade for the reflection, you should express yourself clearly and concisely, and your writing should offer some deep insights into the creative process.