8/3/2019 Saleem Sinai's Infinite Playlist
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Saleem Sinai's Infinite Playlist
Now that we have finished reading Book One of Salman Rushdie's
Midnight's Children,
we are going to work together as a class to design the perfect
musical soundtrack to accompany
the story. We will select songs that track the tone, themes,
plot, and characters as they progressthrough this opening section
of Rushdie's text. What you need to do is:
-Divide yourselves into groups of three with one group of four.
Each group will be assigned a
chapter of the text.
-Select a song that you feel best represents the chapter you
have been assigned. Try to be creative
and think of unique and original songs that connect to the
chapters in unexpected and interesting
ways. It's very easy to select a run-of-the-mill pop song about
love and relate it to Aadam and
Naseem's relationship, but in order to receive full credit, you
will need to put a little more
thought into it. Consider a song that represents multiple
aspects of the text. Remember the
themes that we have discussed in class: Fate and Determinism,
Magical Realism, The IndividualExperience of History, etc.
-Once you have selected your song, select a quote from the text
that most directly relates to the
song. Next, write a short description of your song, listing the
artist, album, and release date, and
briefly explain how the song is related to the novel and your
quote.
-Bring your song to class tomorrow on a CD or jump drive. I can
provide those that need them
with writable CDs.
-Tomorrow we will work in the computer lab. You will upload your
song to the computer,
import it into Audacity using the instructions provided
below.
-You will make an audio recording of yourself reading the quote
as well as a second recording of
yourself reading the accompanying description that you have
written.
-Mix the recordings together with your song so that the quote
leads into the song which is
followed by your description. Be sure to use "Fade" and other
audio effects where necessary to
enhance the aesthetics of your recording.
-As a group, share your final recordings with one another and
decide on the order of songs that
would work best for your chapter. Will you arrange things
thematically or chronologically? The
choice is up to you.
-Send the final recordings and the order as email attachments to
me. If the files are too large to fit
in an email, we will use the jump drive to transfer them.
-Finally, write a short reflection about this process. Did it
help you to better understand the text?Did it make you consider
anything that you had not thought about before? Would you
recommend that we do this project again? What would you change
about this assignment?
Once all of the playlists are in, I will construct a master
playlist that we can play during silent
reading or individual work activities. I will also make it
available on MP3 CDs to students upon
request.
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Audacity Instructions
Upload the song to the computer desktop using iTunes or Windows
Media Player.
Open Audacity and click on File > Import > Audio.
Select the file from the desktop.
Use the red button to record. The Selection Tool allows you to
highlight sections of audio so
that you can copy, cut, or apply effects. The Time Shift Tool
allows you to move audio
chronologically.
Grading Rubric: 17 points Total
All components (Quote, Song, Description) are present and
arranged properly. 3 points
Connection between the song and text is both clearly defined and
properly explained: 5points
Selection of the song and its connection are creative and show
serious consideration: 4 points
The mixed audio sounds good. The volume of all components are
balanced and the pieces do not
sound distorted or crackly: 2 points
The vocally delivery is strong. The speaker obviously rehearsed
before recording. Their voicedid not falter too much. They sounded
confident and enthusiastic in their presentation: 3 points
