music blog

In groups of ten students that will be randomly assigned by the Blackboard system, create individual blog entries that address the relationship between music and psychedelic drugs. Each student must post at least two entries for this project: the first, which must be at least 250 words, should be based on the following questions; and the second, which must be a minimum of 50 words, should respond to the comments of other students in the group. Feel free to refer to the listening, reading, and video assignments, but these posts should reflect your own critical assessment of the topic—in other words, treat the following questions as prompts for a stimulating and well-informed discussion. 

I should emphasize that these are minimum requirements—you are, of course, encouraged to write more if the spirit so moves you! Also, don’t feel obligated to respond to all three questions if you are especially interested in one or two of them. The main objective of this project is for everyone to exchange their own ideas concerning the relationship between music and altered perception. Avoid regurgitating material that has been presented in class, which everyone has presumably already consulted—share your own perspective on these issues that have emerged in our collective exploration of psychedelic rock.

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What are the commonalities among psychiatric, spiritual, and recreational uses of drugs?

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How can specific features of music and lyrics evoke psychedelic effects?

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What personal experiences have you had—either with or without drugs—that temporarily changed your perception of time or space?

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Each member of the blog group will receive the same number of points based on the quality of the entire exchange, which will be evaluated according to content, clarity, and contribution (see the rubric below for details). THIS BLOG PROJECT WILL BE AVAILABLE ON BLACKBOARD UNTIL TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17 AT 7:00 P.M.  Because this is a collaborative assignment, it is important that all students in each group post their first entry well before the submission deadline in order to allow sufficient time for everyone to read and respond to each other's comments.

Criteria	Novice	Competent	Proficient
Content	3 Points Some of the issues in the discussion prompts addressed with little supporting evidence.	6 Points Most of the issues in the discussion prompts addressed with effective supporting evidence.	12 Points All issues addressed with strong supporting evidence.
Clarity	2 Points Incoherent entry with several misspellings, grammatical errors, and lapses in logic.	4 Points Fairly coherent entry with a few misspellings, grammatical errors, and/or lapses in logic.	8 Points Coherent entry with correct spelling, grammar, and logical sequence of ideas.
Contribution	1 Points Only a couple members of the group contributed an individual perspective and a response to the comments of other students.	3 Points Most members of the group contributed an individual perspective and a response to the comments of other students.	5 Points All members of the group contributed an individual perspective and a response to the comments of other students.