QQC 7/25

Q1: In the excerpts from Naming What We Know, multiple writers attempt to define genre. Several theorists mentioned the importance of recurrence. Carolyn Miller’s argument, for example, “holds that genres are habitual responses to recurring socially bounded situations” (29). Further, both genre and meaning making arise from “the interplay of texts” (45), whether at the local, linguistic level (the interplay of the sign), or within the broader traditions of rhetorical context (as with genre). My question concerns how we might apply this knowledge to music—or, rather, what differentiates “music” from sound. Eschewing the Merriam-Webster, how would you consider music in relation to these concepts, recurrence and textual interplay? Does either quality suffice alone to make a sound music? Are both needed?

Q2: Shipka’s “heads-up” statements signal students to assess “specific goals they aimed to achieve with their work” (287). These self-assessments appear to be reflexive and open to alteration. What are the benefits of administering such or similarly organic self-assessments in the writing class? The challenges?