Music in the First-Year Writing Classroom

Authors

  • Scott Strovas Claremont Graduate University

Abstract

“Primary research counts, but we don’t teach it.†This was the sentiment, if these were not the actual words, of Lynée Lewis Gaillet in her critique of the traditional composition curriculum at the spring 2011 annual meeting of the College English Association in St. Petersburg (“Everyday Archivesâ€). Gaillet proposes an alternative to furthering students’ sometimes unnecessary reliance on secondary research. In her own course, she sends students not into library stacks or electronic databases to begin their writing projects, but rather to special collections and archives. Her approach teaches students sincerity, originality, and independence in their writing. By situating her course within primary source investigation, Gaillet aspires to train “scholars who have something original, interesting, and pointed to add to academic conversations†(“Extending the Vertical†2).

Author Biography

Scott Strovas, Claremont Graduate University

Scott Strovas is a Ph.D. candidate in musicology at Claremont Graduate University, where he is a research and teaching assistant in the Transdisciplinary Studies Program. He also teaches trumpet at the University of La Verne and a first-year writing course, “Writing about Music,†at Azusa Pacific University. His current writing projects include his dissertation, “Musical Aesthetics and Creative Identification in Two Harmonielehren by John Adams and Arnold Schoenberg,†and, as coauthor, a book on jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.

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Issue

Vol. 40 No. 2 (2011): Summer/Fall 2011

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Articles

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