The Assignment: You will interview someone about their memories, impressions, thoughts, and emotions related to music. Youll have a conversation about their listening style, performing (if applicable), and appreciation of music. Then you will write up a concise report about your interview.
Objective: Through this work, the goal is to reach a better understanding how people enjoy and make use of music in their lives. You will consider how music is an important aspect of someones identity and experience of life. Youll write a short essay about the project to briefly and succinctly explain how music works for another person.
Requirements:
For this assignment, please select a person to talk with about their musical background, listening, recording collection, studies and performances (if any), favorite and personally important songs, shows, and performers.
Read Conducting Interviews, appended at the end of this document.
Watch the video, Tyshawn Sorey – Interview, with composer and multi- instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey. Observing how the interviewer draws responses from the musician, and also how their conversation ranges over various musical topics, with a lot of technical detail
Watch the video, On the Ground with Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times reporter. In this short video, he gives valuable tips about staying safe, finding a great story, and telling it effectively through meetings individuals and interviewing them:
Select an interview subject. This could be a friend, relative, colleague, neighbor, dorm-mate, or other person. It could be someone you know, or not; it could be a musician, or not.
Brainstorm some questions to ask your subject. See sample questions below.
Find a time and place to meet with them to talk about music. Let them know the purpose of your conversation about music. Schedule about 15-20 minutes to speak with them.
Meet the person online, over the phone or video chat, or in person. Discuss their musical life. It is not necessary to record the interview.
Sample Questions
– How important is music in your life?
– Why do people listen to music?
– If music were removed from the world, what would it be like?
– What type of music do you most like to listen to, and why?
– What do you recall about music in your childhood?
– Were there musicians in your family?
– Were recordings played in your childhood home(s)?
– Do you have a favorite band or singer?
– What is your least favorite type of music, and why?
– When and where do you listen to music?
– How much time do you spend listening to music each day or week? v Is there a song that makes you emotional?
– Do you sometimes feel like dancing when you hear music?
– Do you ever go out to listen to music live?
– When was the last time you went to a concert?
Write your Essay
You can imagine anyone or any group as your audience for your writing. Introduce the person who is the subject of the interview to your reader. Then write about some highlights from the interview, things that struck you as interesting. Conclude with your analysis about the role of music in this persons life. You may also wish to include reflections about the process of talking with someone about their music.
Conducting Interviews
from Writing Across the Curriculum at Northern Illinois University
You can collect data by going to published material, by conducting empirical research, or by careful observation. However, you can also get information by talking with people who have knowledge you want. Sometimes you simply want to know what their experience has been; in other words, you want to collect their testimony as witnesses. Sometimes you want their expert opinion, sometimes their knowledge of the facts. One of the first steps in conducting an interview, after deciding who you want to interview, is to figure out which of these kinds of information you are after. Let’s go through some of the steps involved in planning and carrying out an interview.
1. After determining who you want to talk with, consider what information you want to get. It may even be a good idea to jot down a list starting with, “I want to find out…”
2. Make an appointment. Contact the person you wish to talk with far enough in advance that he or she has time to get ready, but not so far in advance that their schedules are not yet developed. When you make an appointment, you need to introduce yourself and tell what capacity you are calling in, explain the purpose of your call, explain why you would like to talk with the person, and request permission to set a time and place. If you will be recording the interview, ask permission to do so ahead of time.
3. Prepare for the interview by finding out about the person you will be interviewing and by preparing questions to ask.
4. If you want witness-type information, a few open-ended questions which invite the person to tell her story. Be ready with follow up questions like, “Could you tell me more about that?”
5. If you want expert opinion, create more pointed questions, questions that suggest particular issues you would to explore. Questions still need to be open ended, something like, “I would very much like to know what your analysis is of so and so.” Be willing to let the person drift off to a neighboring topic, because she may know more about the lay of the argument than you do, and she may be giving you information you really wanted and didn’t know how to ask for. Reserve a very general question for the end, something like, “Have other things occurred to you during the interview that you would like to say at this time?”
6. If you want facts, make your questions as precise as possible, making it clear that you’re after data. It is important that the person you are interviewing know ahead of time that he or she will be asked such questions, because people seldom carry that kind of data around in their heads. Reserve a general question for the end.
7. When it is time for the interview, be punctualnot early, and certainly not late.
8. Be forthcoming when you meet, introducing yourself and briefly reminding the person why you wanted to talk. If you are unsure about how to spell the person’s name, ask about that and about their official title.
9. If you will be taping the interview, ask permission to do so.
10. As you ask the questions and listen to the responses, look at the person’s face and eyes to show that you are interested and that you value what you’re getting. From time to time make brief notes, but don’t bury yourself in notetaking.
11. Try to get some direct quotes, saying something like, “I like the way you said that. Can I quote you?” And then get the words down in quotation marks.
12. Reserve a general question for the end.
13. Briefly summarize what you have covered and how you understand the information
you have been given.
14. Thank the person for his or her time and willingness to share.
15. Don’t linger. If you promised to take only 30 minutes, then stick to your schedule, but don’t be rude. Say something like, “I promised to take only 30 minutes of your time, and I see I have. Is there any last thing you want to add before I go?” You might also say something like, “This has been very informative. If some other question occurs to me, may I get back in touch with you?”
16. When you leave, spend time immediately writing down notes. Make sure you have the date and place of the interview.
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