Music rhetoric used to improve analytical skills

Muddy Waters is more than what you'd find on a typical day at Lake Monroe.\n"Searching for the Ghost of Muddy Waters: The Rhetoric and Representation of Rock and Roll Culture," the title of an English W170 topics class this semester, refers to the legacy of the famous blues musician whose music has had an enormous influence on rock 'n' roll music.\nThe discussion-based class open to freshmen meets every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:05 to 9:55 a.m. Designed and taught by graduate student Pat Maley, it aims to meet the requirements of a standard English W131 composition class but is concentrated on a specific topic.\nMaley focuses on several genres of rock representation. The course is divided into three units in which students explore rock criticism and journalism, visual representations such as concert posters and album covers, and film.\nMaley gives short quizzes, but grades are based mainly on responses to articles and microthemed papers. \nFreshman Vanessa Eicher described one assignment that consisted of a trip to the School of Fine Arts in which students visited a rock 'n' roll art exhibit and wrote papers on concert posters.\n"We analyzed the vectors, subject matter and subject placement to determine the attitude of the poster and what the artist wanted to convey to the public," Eicher said.\nThroughout the semester, students gain valuable skills in critical reading, analysis and writing.\n"We treat a text as a text as a text," Maley said. "We read for construction ... what's being said and how it's being said." \nThe fact that students get to examine rock 'n' roll culture at the same time is "icing" on the cake, Maley said. However, he warned that students should not go into the class with false expectations. \n"This isn't a rock 'n' roll history class," Maley said. "Students will become better analytical readers and writers. Learning about rock 'n' roll is just the cherry on top." \nFreshman Max Einsohn, who took the class last semester, said it helped him gain important critical thinking skills.\n"I'm a more analytical reader and a more polished writer," Einsohn said. "I retain more information."\nEicher agreed and praised Maley for his ability to make the material interesting, even early in the morning when most students are drowsy and inattentive. \n"Even though it was an 8 a.m. class (in fall 2005), he found new ways to keep people thinking and encourage responses," she said. \nEicher said that she was initially frustrated because she was required to take the introductory English course, but at the end of the semester she was grateful for taking it. \n"The best part for me was making a required class into almost an elective that broadened my knowledge of one my interests," she said.\nThis is the second semester IU has offered Maley's class. He is unsure whether he will continue to teach the course in the future.