Instructions for Tutorials

Assessment and structure overview

Tutorial work consists of a 10-minute presentation (10%) at a designated tutorial (see Moodle),
accompanied by a previously submitted 500 word executive summary handout (15%) which the
presenting student uploads in the Tutorial discussion forum. There will also be an assessment made of
contributions to class discussion (in particular towards the presentations of your colleagues in tutorials)
(5%).

The topic of your tutorial is preassigned. You may be assigned to present in Week 3, so please check
Moodle ASAP. All students are expected to upload their Executive Summary in the week prior to their
presentation. So, if presenting in Week 4, you must upload your executive summary by close of business
on Friday Week 3. The three components (A. Presentation component, B. Executive Summary handout
components and C. Participation component) of the Tutorial are now presented in more detail. Please
read them carefully.

IMPORTANT: An important aim of the tutorial is to get students intimately close to the Listening List.
However, the postings in the Tutorial forum should not be taken as a definitive resource for the course.
Lectures and readings are your essential sources for course content. If you notice any incompatibility
between the tutorial postings and non-tutorial based course content, you might like to discuss this (see
Participation component, below). If you ever notice a problematic post (in terms of content or
appropriateness), please let the course convener know.

A. Presentation component 10/30

For the presentation, you have been assigned a piece from the Listening List. The Presentation
should be treated like a mini-lecture or factoid session. It must include playing music (recorded
or live or a mixture) for at least three minutes of the presentation. (You can repeat sections, or
play different pieces/sections of music, as long as the total playing time is at least 3 minutes.) You
must speak for at least 4 minutes. Make sure you prepare a marked-up score highlighting the
features of the piece that you want to discuss (there might not be enough time to discuss the
whole piece, so select a small section or small sections to use if necessary). A data projector and
audio outputs will be provided. Where possible, you should link the music to other relevant
music (music that influenced it, music that it will influence, interesting/important features of
form, harmony, instrumentation, style etc). Where possible, relate the music to extramusical
historical factors, for example why it was composed, what was happening before, during or after
that was or may be relevant. You can relate it to something from recent times, too, if you like
(e.g. similarities with music or historical situations of things we see/hear today). Two key aspects
of the presentation are (1) to convey a clear understanding of the structure/form of the piece and
(2) to get your audience excited about the piece.

In brief [with approximate weighting of marks shown in square brackets]:

1. Three minutes of music playing, at least. [1]

2. Four minutes of speaking, at least. [1]
3. Intraopus: Show a prepared score, highlighting interesting/significant features. Here you should
also demonstrate understand the form and structure of the piece in question. Reference to a
score or a detailed plan of the piece is essential. [3]
4. Extraopus: Relate the music to other music (relevant/interesting similarities and differences). [1]
5. Extramusical: Relate the music to extramusical, historical factors. [1]
 6. Demonstrate an understanding of the material you present, for example by not reading your
presentation, and by answering questions in an intelligent manner. The presentation is your
opportunity to demonstrate that you have understood your topic (including the assigned music,
of course) and therefore, your Executive Summary. [2]
7. Make the presentation engaging and accurately timed. [1]
See references shown in the course homepage for sources to use in preparing your presentation, including scores (points 3 and 4)

B. Executive Summary 15/30

[Approximate weighting of marks shown in square brackets]:

When you have completed your Executive Summary, as explained below, go to the Tutorial forum, Add a
new Discussion, enter the Subject EXACTLY as worded in the List of Presenters and Topics (first posting of
the Tutorial Forum), and paste/upload relevant documents. Do this in the Week before your scheduled
presentation. If the Executive Summary and auxiliary materials are not posted by the end of the week
prior to the scheduled tutorial presentation date, a daily penalty of 5% (0.75 marks) will be applied, as
described in the course outline.

1. Summarise the key points you plan to make in the presentation. You should write in professional,
academic prose to make the meaning clear, rather than bullet points. Be sure to make reference
to the score or in the Executive Summary itself, or include it within the body of the Executive
Summary. If the score to which you refer does not fit within the Executive Summary, place it in an
Appendix (see point 3, below) and cite it in the Executive Summary (e.g. 'See Appendix, Piece X,
bars 5 to 6'). If more than one piece is used, be careful to distinguish between the scores/pieces.
Cite sources and use references as required. Maximum Executive Summary text of 500 words, all
on a single page/post. Minimum should be 200 words. Write what is needed, and write
concisely. A 200 word single page/post can obtain the same mark as a 500 word page/post. You
will be assessed for precision of discipline-specific language, and appropriate acknowledgement
of sources. [12]
Examples of common issues:

The saying goes 'If you have not read the question/instructions three times, you have not read them at all'. Even as you
work on an assignment, revisit the wording of the question/instructions;
Not all piece of music are 'songs'. Do not refer to instrumental music (a symphony, a dance suite movement ...) as a
song, but use the discipline specific term (e.g. 'movement from the symphony', 'movement from the dance suite' ...).
Refer to a piece of music or an extract of music correctly so that it can be identified, e.g. including opus number if
known, and the movement of the piece, if it is a multimovement work; (see point 2, below, for further information on
referencing musical works);
Understand the discipline specific difference between terms, such as 'genres' and 'styles' and 'forms'; For example,
Opera is a genre (not a style or a form), Symphony is a genre (not a style or a form). The word sonata can be a genre
("to play a three movement Sonata by Scarlatti") or a form ("the first movement of the Symphony was in sonata form,
with an exposition, development and recapitulation").
Keep language simple. Don't use words/expressions if you are not sure of their meaning and appropriateness; Look up
spelling and meaning of words in a dictionary or, if discipline specific, a reliable source, such as Oxford Music Online.
Use italics/underlining sparingly;
Cite sources you consult at the point in the text where mentioned (this is called a 'citation', or 'in-text citation'); List the
details of the source you cited in separate section, at the end of the assignment body, in the Reference section (the
detail is called a reference). References are usually listed in alphabetical order by author name in both the APA and
Harvard style guides. Make sure you check your references, and check for consistency (see point 2, below, for more
information about referencing).
Avoid citing internet urls - it is better to cite prescribed resources if you are unsure, but if you choose to use internet
cites, justify their validity (If you don't know how to do this, ask in tutorials, or use this as another reason to avoid
them); Be very cautious about using sources like 'citethisforme' or 'google scholar'. They can be helpful, but also make
 mistakes. You would still need to check with an authoritative style guide that the formatting and all details are correct
(see point 2, below, for more information about referencing).
Avoid long quotes - long and frequent quotes give the impression of not understanding a topic. If you use a quote,
make sure it is critical to the topic, and explain why this is so. Do not copy text from sources without using quote
marks and indicating the page number within the in-text citation;
Do not plagiarise. UNSW has a strict code on, and policing of, plagiarism, and plagiarism is not worth the trouble it can
get a student into. If you are at all worried that you might be plagiarising, or someone is plagiarising from you, please
contact your tutor/lecturer, or, if appropriate, discuss in the course Q&A. The course outline has detailed information
about plagiarism, or see here. This information is worth repeating because each semester students are caught
cheating, and it is not fun for the student, staff or administration concerned. It is not usually not hard for teaching staff
to detect plagiarism and it is not hard for students to avoid plagiarising if the student is serious about developing basic
academic skills.

2. Provide a list of references for any relevant sources consulted. Use APA citation and reference
style. Harvard is acceptable, too. References do not contribute to the word count. They should
appear on the same page/post as the Executive Summary with a clear heading on a new line
'References'. [3]
3. Make sure scores are annotated/marked-up, with clear explanations of any matters you wanted
to raise, but be sure to refer to these points within the Executive Summary (see B1, above). You
may include more than one score (e.g. for comparison). As mentioned, where possible, these
should be included within the body of the Executive Summary. However, optionally, if you do not
want to, or cannot include scores and other auxiliary materials within the body of the Executive
Summary, place them at the end of the Executive Summary, after the References, as one or more
Appendices [plural of 'Appendix']. Appendices do not contribute to the word count. You may
include them as attachment file(s) if more appropriate. If so, place linking text to the Executive
Summary (recommended: Student family name, Appendix number, short title - e.g.
"HuengAppendix1MarkedUpScoreOfBrahms') in the file name and (if appropriate) at the top of
the file, for each file uploaded. Note that there are no explicit marks awarded for appendices
(uploading them is optional - if you don't need an appendix, don't use it. Although appendices do
not attract any marks explicitly, poorly documented/presented appendices could mean poor
understanding of the Executive Summary/Presentation.
4. Check over your work before you post it, and check that it was posted correctly before the due
date. The documents will be marked for course assessment, and be seen by your colleagues
during (and outside) the tutorials. Furthermore, you may be making reference to it in your
presentation (A).

C. Contribution 5/30

Over the weekly tutorials you will be listening to around 25 other presentations (in addition to your own).
You are expected to make meaningful, appropriate contributions to the class throughout the course.

Student should think of the participation component as a group project, where your class is the group.
Think of it, too, as consisting of an interrelated oral and written activity.

Oral: You want to make sure that you do everything within reason to make the class work well, and foster
an atmosphere of positive, encouraging learning, curiosity and debate. Some examples of how to do this
are (i) jot down one or two questions/comments during a presentation and have them ready if there is
'silence' during question time, (ii) make sure different people have opportunity to participate (be willing
to withhold your questions/comments if you have already had a say in the recent past), (iii) if you don't
understand some aspect of a presentation (or you suspect others in the class might not), have a 'clarifier'
question ready, such as 'What did you mean when you said...' or 'Could you once again go through the
part when you were talking about...' or 'When you were talking about xyz, might you have been referring
to ...?'. That is, the class should be able to find ways of engaging with all presenters to help them get their
ideas across, to make the classes meaningful, and to work in a respectful, exciting, learning environment.

Written: Find occasion to enter discussion, comments, etc. as a Reply to the Executive Summary posting
for the presentation (wether you have had opportunity to discuss it during class or not). NEVER CREATE A
NEW DISCUSSION (unless you are the presenter - see B, above). You do not have to enter every issue
raised in tutorials in the tutorial discussion forum, and do not repeat points raised. But you are
encouraged to continue thought about a presentation/executive summary at a later time. You are
expected to contribute around between about 200 and 500 words to the discussion forum. So, if you
have one contribution for every presenter (via a reply), that is about 20 words per post maximum [NOT
RECOMMENDED]. Encouraged: Occasional postings that are engaging in some meaningful debates or
have interesting/important points to raise/respond-to of a scholarly nature (rather than
opinions/judgements); Keep quantity of discussion on different topics balanced for example, don't just
make additional comments for the 'fun' topic to which lots of others have already contributed, and don't
feel you must make a posting to every topic. Good postings will engage meaningfully with a
piece/topic/issue-raised-by-a-colleague, and may include scholarly references, if needed. It is unlikely
that you would need to spend more than five minutes a week on posting comments to the weekly tutorial
topics, but you are welcome to do as much as you like. Avoid filling up a discussion with words so as to
reach your word count. The word count for this component is a very rough guide (it is already quite
broad), and quality is more important than quantity. You can make your postings during the tutorial class,
but your first priority should be to contribute orally.

Here are some other point to keep in mind:

1. In general, insightful, constructive, relevant questions, answers or comments (or all three!) about
an aspect of a presentation will be taken from three (non-presenting) members in a the tutorial.
That is, you will not always be able to make your contribution to a presentation that is of
particular interest to you (there may be lots of people in your tutorial with similar interests).
2. The contribution can be made during the question time immediately after the presentation.
During the presentation, please be an attentive listener, but make notes on matters that arise, so
that you remember them.
3. Contributions can include remarks about the Executive Summary.
4. You may, if you wish, document your contribution in the Moodle tutorial forum as a reply to the
Executive Summary posted by the presenter in a Discussion. Students are welcome to continue
discussion about topics raised within the forum after the class. Any ways of helping your
colleagues to better understand/enjoy/engage-with a piece/topic is highly encouraged.
5. If you notice a problematic post, please make a note in the Q&A forum (not the Tutorial forum),
or contact the course convener directly by email.
6. Courteous behaviour is expected at all times. Students must not text, take phone calls, engage
with social media, or perform any activities not directly related to the course (in tutorials or
lectures). It is best to turn your mobile phone off during class. If you have a genuine (e.g.
compassionate, emergency) reason to have your mobile phone switched on, please let you
tutor/lecturer know before the start of the class.
7. You are encouraged to make your own rating of each presentation via the tutorial Forum rating
(on a scale of 5), and provide any helpful feedback, or hints you may have for your colleagues.