Michael Farley, Music
Interviewed by
Tyler Smith
TS: What kind of writing do you ask your students to do? Form? Purpose?
MF: "I lay out form pretty closely... I ask them to write their research papers in an academic style, and analytic responses to listening to music begin informally, but I ask them to formalize [these assignments] increasingly." Assignments are usually an "analysis of a particular performance, or music or culture."
TS: What is a typical assignment--a subject for writing?
MF: There are really two types of assignments. "They're at two levels. One is musical analysis, which is closer to journal writing, and an analytical paper that tends to be more formal. I need the informal writing to see how they're thinking, and the formal writing to push them towards more clear expression."
TS: So it's more important for you to see what students are thinking?
MF: "Certainly. I have to get informal responses to find out if we're on the same wavelength. And, quite honestly, I've decided in my work that it's more important to try to bring them to my wavelength." (That is, rather than affirm whatever views or "feelings" the student has as automatically correct).
TS: And how do you grade written assignments?
MF: "I give a shadow grade for the first draft, and give them a grade range..." [draws on board: "2.5/3.5"]. In that grading range, on the first draft, the lower grade is what the paper would receive as-is, and the upper grade is the "potential if the student takes my large-scale comments and makes them his own."
"I also grade their informal writing--which doesn't have much to do with mechanics, but their level of perception. I'm grading how deeply they're looking into the object of study." There can be a problem with journal style writing however, when it's easy to give a superficial observation. "The way I make up for that flaw [is that] increasingly, they're responsible for turning their informal response into meaningful, formal response."
TS: What kind of writing is used in your field, and what kind of writing do you do?
MF: "First, I'm a musical composer--that's one half of my personality. The other hat I wear is of an ethnomusicologist. ...It's a combination of anthropology and music. That work is presented in written text. Both present the same challenge [in writing]: clarity, structure, formal design. The kind of writing I do as an ethnomusicologist is ethnography--it's an analysis of music cultures. My particular interest has to do with "border crossings", where one thing is in the process of becoming another.
TS: What is your attitude towards writing as a process, both for your own and students' writing?
MF: [Laughs] "When I sit down to begin a new bunch of writing...it's very difficult for me. I tend to go through twenty to twenty-three drafts. I'm a kind of perfectionist. So it's a big undertaking for me."
"I think most students, within my experience anyway, tend to think that everything they write is sort of golden. They're reluctant to throw anything away--they assume it's a finished product. ...And part of this is reality--they can't spend centuries on papers. They have far too many others to write. I fear that I'm far to obsessive about my own writing, and my students' writing." This summer, I attended a workshop with Kerry Grant, and I am indebted to him for helping me no longer pick on every little sentence. "More important for me...than mechanical issues, is organization and clarity."
"The editing process [is mostly, for me] getting rid of stuff. ...The only way for me to start writing is to spill it all out on the page." So what starts out as twenty-three pages might be reduced to eight.
"Consequently, my output as a writer is very small. They're all very good, but they're all pruned to within an inch of their life."
TS: So in a way you expect your students to have the same approach?
MF: [Laughs] "It's not reasonable, but it's ok as an aspiration."
"Another part of the process for me is journaling. I carry a journal for me almost everywhere, driving...early in the morning, very late at night...during dead time...airport time."
TS: What type of audience are you writing to? Who do you have in mind when you write?
MF: "I think the best writing I've done...my only thought has been clarity . I'm not seeking to write for anybody; I'm seeking to write for the subject. I dislike writing that is exclusive in its audience. I think that shows a lack of respect for your subject, and I think...it's an easy way out. [When writing to an exclusive audience], you can resort to all kinds of jargon without finding the right word. I use a dictionary a lot when I write...but I think a lot of people use a dictionary rather like a thesaurus. They're looking to complicate, whereas I'm trying to get to the simpler form, to distill it."
"In musical analysis, for example, you can talk about a piece being in "sonata allegro" form, but I'm looking for "same-different" instead. Sonata-allegro implies a certain form or structure, but in the end it all comes down to "this sounds the same" and "this sounds different." I'm always trying to distill the language."