Taylor Green Capstone

For my capstone, I wanted to explore how music had an impact on the lives of people in Philadelphia. I knew that for this question, I wanted to somehow document the connections that residents of Philadelphia had to music or the industry. I conducted many interviews with aspiring musicians, songwriters, or people who wanted to be in the production part of music. At first, I thought I wanted it to be anecdotal and just small blurbs. But transcribing a full interview was much more insightful. In order to present these interviews, I made a website titled “Music of Philly” where people could sign up and read the articles. I also made an instagram page for the site to promote the articles more and I posted on snapchat every time there was an update. For me, working on my capstone has been an exuberant process and overall I’m proud of the work that I have put in. You can visit the website here.

Annotated Bibliography

1. Xu Bing: Square Word Calligraphy Classroom - The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University. Libraries. Digital Program Division, www.columbia.edu/itc/journalism/isaacs/edit/MencherIntv1.html.

This source is from Columbia University. I will use to think of ways to prepare for my interview, such as writing my questions out beforehand and trying to get the person that I am interviewing to tell a story, while still staying on topic. However, if I know the person I should try to familiarize myself with their background as much as possible. I can do this by listening to their music before meeting them. This can also open up a conversational atmosphere. The source also talks about how you should try to read the person you are interviewing body language to try and see if they are open or more secretive, that way you know what questions to ask without being too evasive.

2. Employment, Small Business and Training. “Creating a Website.” Business Queensland, CorporateName=The State of Queensland; 2 Jan. 2019, www.business.qld.gov.au/starting-business/internet-start-ups/online-basics/creating-websites.

This source is reliable because it is from a government site. The source explains that before you finalize your site, you should organize your content in a way that is designed easily to navigate through but also stands out to people. I want people to be able to know what content I'm posting and how to find it quickly. It suggests that you should have a professional make your site, however, I'm going to be the professional in this case and structure the content myself. The source also talks about finances, explaining that most companies that let you make a website make you pay a monthly fee. I will try to find one that is free, however I don't mind paying a fee.

3. Green, Taylor K. “Interview with Sofian Zapf.” 8 Feb. 2019.

Although this interview hasn't happened yet it is planned for the future. Sofian Zapf has an extensive musical background and has been in a few different bands over the years. Not only does he create music, but he has experience with playing shows in front of a vast number of people and his music has accumulated a good following on Spotify and Bandcamp. He is currently trying to plan a small tour with his band. He will be one of the first interviews that I include on the website and this will give me experience on conducting interviews and what I can do differently in the future.

4. Green, Taylor K. “Interview with Isaiah Vargas.” 26 Jan. 2019.

Although this interview hasn’t happened, yet I will use it on my website in the future. Isaiah Vargas is a Senior who attends Benjamin Rush High School, which is a public magnet school that specializes in the arts. Vargas has been playing drums for over seven years and he wants to pursue a musical career when he is older. For school, he has to complete projects that correlate to his major (music). I will use this interview to write a column on Vargas and include how going to an art school helps him pursue what he wants to do in the future, which is become a music producer and the difficulties that come along with it sometimes.

5. “How Does Music Affect Your Brain?” Ashford University, 7 June 2017, www.ashford.edu/online-degrees/student-lifestyle/how-does-music-affect-your-brain.

This source was posted by Ashford University. It explains how music impacts humans, most importantly our brain. Whenever we listen to music, we become happy because our brains are releasing dopamine. The source also included information about how music is good for your health, saying that music is an effective treatment for many conditions ranging from premature birth to Parkinson's Disease. Music even plays a key role in the early development of the brain. Musicians have improvement in memory, learning, and auditory processing. The source also provides good ways to find new music or even instruments for people to buy. Maybe I can use this advice to find new music to review.

6. “How to Create a Website.” Free Website Builder, Wix Photography Blog, www.wix.com/how-to/make-a-website.

This is Wix. It is one of the sources that I can use in the future to create my website. It also includes tips and advice if this is your first time making a website like this. It got me thinking about what I could potentially use the website for. It also got me thinking much about the design. Since I'm writing about something that's art and entertainment I should try to use an eye-catching website template. In the "Get in Touch" section of the source, they talk about how you should include social media icons so that people can get in contact with you. I thought about doing this for the people that I interview and maybe even including a link to their work/music.

7. Jacke, Christoph, et al. “Editorial Introduction Music Journalism.” IASPM @ Journal , Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, 2014, www.iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/viewFile/737/pdf_5.

This research paper talks about how music-based journalism tends to be an "unexplored" part of the profession. It talks about the initial emerge of music journalism over 100 years ago and how it's almost become a separate form of writing and organization. Over time, magazines such as Rolling Stone has globalized music based journalism and has made it more of a norm. This source uses information from books such as "Inventing Pop Culture" and "Popular Music in Theory", and it talks about the impact of music on culture and culture's impact on music. These sources explain that the relationship that links together industry and audiences are based in consumerism. I will take this research paper into consideration when not only writing articles, but when it comes to interviewing people as well.

8. Negus, Keith. Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Polity Press, 2012.

This book was written by Keith Negus, someone who has a higher education and experience in the musical field, having played the guitar and keyboard in a variety of different bands over the past few years. Throughout the book, he is explaining the theoretical components that make popular music "popular". He talks about the history of music not only in the United States but the UK as well, and the emergence of "popular music" begins with the creation of rock and roll in the 1950s. This source is important to my research and the way I will conduct my interviews because it provides insight on what music people tend to enjoy more. This will affect who I interview and how I will go about interviewing them.

9. Spencer, Megan. “How to Interview an Artist || Learn: Storytelling.” ABC Open, ABC Online Services, 1 July 2015, open.abc.net.au/explore/95656.

Although this source is similar to a blog post, it is from a network organization, meaning that it is reliable. The creator of this source has a background in freelance writing, broadcasting and is a critic and media arts professional. She offers a lot of advice and interview techniques that I'll take into consideration, such as being polite and being yourself. You can be honest with the person that you are interviewing and if you're feeling nervous about the interview, you can tell them that. Sometimes people lose track of what they're talking about, so you might have to prompt them to speak on a certain topic more throughout the interview.

10. Varriale, Simone. “Music, Journalism, and the Study of Cultural Change.” Warwick.ac.uk, University of Warwick, 2012, warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/sociology/staff/syrkaf/publications/music_journalism_and_the_study_of_cultur.pdf.

This source is a paper from a student from the University of Warwick who is describing the impact of music journalism and criticism over the decades and how it affects culture. Criticism provides useful data to study cultural processes, such as the tie between arts and pop culture. This got me thinking about how the music that I'm going to be listening to and reviewing is going to have a cultural impact, and that I should take that into consideration as I am writing. The source also uses an example of one of Sam Rivers' works/performances and the political engagement that it has.