Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Creative Writing: Wednesday, April 1

Hi class! I'll be proctoring the MCAS this morning (and some of you are taking it- good luck!). For those of you in class today, please complete the tasks that follow. Sophomores will need to make up this work by Monday.

1. On our Edline page, you'll find a document entitled "Tone in Song." Please read the directions carefully. You are encouraged to locate YouTube versions of the songs; in fact, listening to the songs may help to uncover the tones. Please use headphones if you choose to do this. For each song, compose a SAPSTONE. Then, use the following template to compose a binary thesis that compares and contrast the 2 songs in regard to the tone of the SPEAKERS or SONGWITERS (your choice- but think through this carefully, as this decision changes everything):

Though both (ARTIST 1)'s "SONG" and (ARTIST 2)'s "SONG" (verb) (1, 2, or 3 modified devices in common), (ARTIST 1) (verb) a/an (adjective) tone to (universal idea/theme) while (ARTIST 2) (verb) a/an (adjective) tone to (universal idea/theme). 

If this format does not suit your interpretation, you may also consider infusing separate devices and/or modifiers. Just be sure that your statement is complete, and includes both songs and their respective tones. Paste the 2 SAPSTONES and your binary thesis as a comment here.

2. Be sure that your Tone Letter and Distillation (from Monday) are both posted to your blog for correction. These may be the last grades of term 3. If you have any missing work, please attend to that now- and email it to me, as grades close this week!

25 comments:

Unknown said...


SAPSTONE For Songs

John Silvia


“Rock n Roll Band”


Speaker: The lead singer

Audience: The fans of the band, mostly adults

Purpose: To show the struggle the band has endured to reach their glory.

Subject: The story of the bands rise to the top. They started out with no money and became a beloved band.

TONE: Happy, energetic, excited, proud.


“Have A Cigar”


Speaker: Pink Floyd

Audience: Adults most likely (Considering it talks about cigars)

Purpose: To encourage the idea of following your dreams.

Subject: The singer is encouraging whoever he is speaking with to get his band started, make and album, play shows, and have a cigar. He uses the reference, “Ride the Gravy Boat.”
TONE: The tone seems to be happy, supportive, etc.

Unknown said...

Speaker/Point of View: A music producer

Audience: The band (Pink Floyd)

Purpose: Tell the band he wants to work with them and that they’re really good.

Subject: Pumping up the band and getting them ready for the music business

Tone (Speaker): Excited and Ambitious

Tone (Songwriter): Proud and excited

Speaker/Point of View: A person from a rock and roll band

Audience: Fans and people in need of inspiration

Purpose: To inspire people to make it through tough times by doing what you love

Subject: Rock and roll band

Tone (Speaker): Happy and inspirational

Tone (Songwriter): Prideful and thrilled

Though both Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” and Boston’s “Rock n’ Roll Band” present elements of thrill, happiness, and a tone of pride, Boston showed a more inspirational tone to give people something to believe in while Pink Floyd used a more excited and ambitious tone to tell people how they got so popular and how they started out.



















Unknown said...

Rock n’ Roll Band by Boston
Speaker/Point of View: Members of a rock and roll band
Audience: People who are fans of rock and roll music
Purpose: To sing about their experiences as a band who is just starting off.
Subject: Playing rock and roll music
Tone (Speaker): Positive and upbeat
Tone (Songwriter): Hopeful and carefree

Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd
Speaker/Point of View: Bands manager
Audience: The band
Purpose: The manager saying how he only cares about money and not the band and their music.
Subject: The band
Tone (Speaker): Annoyed and angry
Tone (Songwriter): Greedy

Through both Boston’s and Pink Floyds songs they both talk about the positives and negatives of being in a band, Boston’s song has a very upbeat positive tone talking about the fun times of being in a rock band while Pink Floyd’s is a more negative tone and talks about the hardships of being in a band and having to deal with a greedy manager who uses your band for money.

Unknown said...

Allie Woodason

Though both Bostons, “Rock and Roll Band,” and Pink Floyds, “Have a Cigar” express their feelings towards making it big and inspires more people to believe in themselves. “Rock and Roll Band” has an excited tone while “Have a Cigar” has more of an inspirational tone.

Sapstone for "Rock n Roll Band"

Speaker/Point of View: person in a rock band

Audience: his fans

Purpose: show people that it is possible to make it big with hard work.

Subject: Rock music

Tone (Speaker): Excited and grateful.

Tone (Songwriter): Thrilled

Sapstone for "Have a Cigar"

Speaker/Point of View: Someone in a rock band.

Audience: People who want to become big.

Purpose: inspiring people to chase after what they want.

Subject: Rock band

Tone (Speaker): Inspirational.

Tone (Songwriter): proud and excited to see what comes next for them.

Unknown said...

Hannah Patalano

Rock N Roll Band- Boston
Speaker- band, Boston
Audience- fans of the band
Purpose- to explain the bands struggles and rise to fame
Subject- the band
Tone- happy, hopeful, uplifting

Have a Cigar- Pink Floyd
Speaker- bands manager
Audience- the band
Purpose- to explain what the manager saw the band go through
Subject- the band
Tone- thankful, blunt

Though both Boston and Pink Floyd prevent examples of excitement, fame, and hopefulness; Boston is a more upbeat tone that expressing their own gains while Pink Floyds is darker from the managers perspective of what he has done.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

"Rock n' Roll Band"
Speaker/Point of View:
A band who was trying to make it
Audience:
The band’s followers/listeners
Purpose:
To describe the how the band grew as musicians and became popular
Subject:
Boston’s rise to stardom
Tone (Speaker):
At first pessimistic then became energetic and confident
Tone (Songwriter):
Proud (of how far they had come)

"Have A Cigar"
Speaker/Point of View:
A record company
Audience:
A band they want to have in the company
Purpose:
To explain how bands get recognized
Subject:
How Pink Floyd got discovered by a record company
Tone (Speaker):
Optimistic, Excited
Tone (Songwriter):
Appreciative (of who discovered them)

Though Boston’s “Rock n’ Roll Band” and Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” utilize end rhyme and positive diction, Boston uses a pessimistic then confident and energetic tone to show their gradual rise to greatness while Pink Floyd has an optimistic tone to describe the feeling when record companies see talent for the first time.

~Louis Dion

Elise Cracco said...

Though both Pink Floyd’s “Have a cigar” and Boston’s “Rock n’ Roll Band” have deep meanings, Pink Floyd uses a more depressed tone to imply there is always hope even when you don’t think so, while Boston uses a more upbeat tone to imply energy and fun that going on the road seems to bring.
“Rock n’ Roll Band” by Boston
Speaker/Point of View: first person, rock and roll band
Audience: Rock and roll fans
Purpose: to tell people how hard it is on the road but how it’s all worth it when they step on stage.
Subject: being on stage in a rock and roll band
Tone (Speaker): excited and passionate
Tone (Songwriter): excited and passionate

“Have a Cigar” by Pink Floyd
Speaker/Point of View: first person
Audience: people In need of hope
Purpose: to help others find hope
Subject: hope
Tone (Speaker): sad and melancholy
Tone (Songwriter): sad and melancholy

Unknown said...

“Rock n Roll Band” by Boston
Speaker/ Point of View: The band or a band member
Audience: The band’s fans/ listeners
Purpose: Tell their fans how they got their fame and how they worked to obtain their current status while having fun throughout the entire journey.
Subject: Having fun and working to get where you want to be
Tone (Speaker and Songwriter): Happily reminiscing the triumph of how they got to where they are

“Have a Cigar” by Pink Floyd
Speaker/Point of View: A label or music producing company
Audience:The band
Purpose: The company is trying to gain the trust of the band and tell them what they think would be best for them, but is actually just suggesting what would most benefit the company and bring in the most money.
Subject:Their label or music company is being selfish and not caring about the actual music the band produces, but about the profit they could potentially make.
Tone (Speaker): Fake happy and supportive of the band
Tone (Songwriter): Smartly realizing to stick to what they know and what they think will help them.

Though both Boston's "Rock n Roll Band" and Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" create a looking back or story telling type of song, involve a similar plot or situation, and positive diction, Boston creates a happily triumphant tone to success in the music industry while Pink Floyd creates more of an unhappy and controlled by their company tone to success in the music industry.

Unknown said...

Katie Mullins
Rock and Roll Band- Boston
Speaker/Point of View: A band member
Audience: People who enjoy listening to the band’s music
Purpose: Telling their story about how they like to have fun and perform for audiences and what it took to get them to their current position
Subject: Working hard to get where they want to be
Tone (Speaker) & (Songwriter): Happy about how far they have gone together
Have a Cigar- Pink Floyd
Speaker/Point of View: A music producer
Audience: A band getting their music produced
Purpose: The music producer company is just trying to make money off the band without actually trying to help them become better.
Subject: The music producer company doesn’t actually care about the band and their success. It’s only about the money for them
Tone (Speaker): Acting like they are excited for the band, but they are more excited for the money they can bring to them
Tone (Songwriter): They come to realization they are just using them to gain money and they don’t really care
Though both Boston’s “Rock n Roll band” and Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” creates a story about looking back at their journey’s, they both have similar stories to tell, and how they overcame it, Boston’s creates a more happy mood talking about how far they have come and the obstacles they faced while Pink Floyd’s creates a sadder mood talking about how the music company used them to make money instead of helping them succeed and how they overcame it.

Unknown said...

Jill Blye

Rock n' Roll Band by Boston
Speaker: the band, Boston
Audience: fans of the band
Purpose: to explain the bands rise to fame and how everyone learned their name and loved them
Subject: the rise of the bands fame
Tone(Speaker): happy, uplifting, hopeful
Tone(Songwriter): a member of the band is the songwriter, talking about how they were just a small band but then turned into famous and everyone knew their nae and waited outside for them at shows


Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd
Speaker: bands manager
Audience: the members of the band listening to the manager
Purpose:To explain what the manager thought of the band and that he thinks the band can go far with their music career
Subject: the bands fame
Tone(Speaker): hopeful, trying to inspire the band members
Tone(Songwriter): wants the band to go far in life, they are rising up in the charts

Through both Boston's song Rock n' Roll and Pink Floyd's song Have a Cigar, there are positive elements through each to show thrill, excitement and hopefulness of what is to come in each bands future however, Boston's song is more about the excitement of fame while Pink Floyd's is more inspirational when it comes to fame.

Unknown said...

S: The speaker is the band, Boston.
A: The audience is people who enjoy and listen to rock music.
P: The purpose is for Boston to tell their story of becoming successful.
S: The subject is the story of how a rock and roll band made it to the top.
Tone: The tone of the speaker is inspiring and happy.
Tone: The tone of the songwriter is proud.


S: The speaker is a music producer.
A: The audience is a band.
P: The purpose is to show the greed of the music industry.
S: The subject is what happens when you become famous in the music industry. The producer will take over everything, so the band is “Riding the Gravy Train” and doing nothing to make money.
Tone: The tone of the speaker is hopeful and excited.
Tone: The tone of the songwriter is annoyed.

Though both Boston’s “Rock and Roll Band” and Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” have the subject of how their bands were discovered, Boston utilizes a happy and proud tone to inspire people to follow their dreams while Pink Floyd incorporates an annoyed tone to describe how the music business is greedy.

Unknown said...

"Rock n' Roll Band" by Boston
Speaker: The band Boston.
Audience:Fans of the band
Purpose: To explain the bands rise to fame
Subject: Working hard to get where you want
Tone(Speaker):Hopeful, happy, inspiring
Tone(Songwriter): The band member that wrote the song is the songwriter and he wrote about how the band came from nothing and now they have a contract and they are famous now.


"Have a cigar" by Pink Floyd
Speaker: Band manager
Audience:members of the band
Purpose: to explain how the manager felt about the band, and how he believes they can go far.
Subject: the Manager does not care about the bands success.
Tone(Speaker) The manager acts excited and pretends to be happy for the band but the manager is really just excited for the money intake.
Tone(Songwriter) The band eventually realizes the Managers attempts to use them to get more money and they don't care.

Through both "Rock n' roll band" and "Have a cigar" by Boston and Pink Floyd the songwriters create a story depicting their journeys through the hardships of beginning a band and working with money greedy producers. Boston creates an image of achievement by describing their raise to fame from nothing. Pink Floyd generates a depressing realization that the Band is not only being used, but the Managers care so little about them and their success but more about the money

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

"Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd

Speaker/Point of View: Pink Floyd’s manager
Audience: Pink Floyd
Purpose: to describe how he only cares about money and not the band and their music
Subject: the band
Tone (Speaker): greedy and selfish
Tone (Songwriter): angry and annoyed



"Rock n Roll Band" by Boston

Speaker/Point of View: a member of a rock and roll band from Boston who is trying to become popular
Audience: people who like rock music and are listening to the song
Purpose: to create a good song for the listeners while talking about getting their band started and more popular
Subject: struggling to be signed by a record label and starting out their band slowly
Tone (Speaker): positive, carefree, and enjoyable
Tone (Songwriter): happy, hopeful



Though both Boston’s "Rock n Roll Band" and Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" present forms of pride, hopefulness, and hardships, Boston uses an upbeat and happy tone to success of their band while Pink Floyd utilizes a negative and greedy tone to their roads to fame.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Brook Porter

“Rock n Roll Band”


Speaker: The lead singer

Audience: Their fans (who are probably mostly young adults)

Purpose: To show the story behind the band and how they got to where they are today.

Subject: The bands rise to fame.

TONE: cheerful, upbeat, pleasent


“Have A Cigar”


Speaker: Pink Floyd

Audience: Adults most likely
Purpose: To encourage the reader to follow their heart.

Subject: The singer is encouraging the listener as if it is himself, telling him to go and play shows and make an album, become famous etc.
TONE: happy and supportive
Though both Boston’s "Rock and Roll Band" and Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" both convey what it’s like to be in a band, the hardships of musicians lives, and how to get to fame, Boston’s song is more upbeat and happy and talks about their history and how they got to where they are today. Pink Floyd’s song is more negative and is more focused on pushing the reader to be in a band and tells them what to do.

Unknown said...

"Rock n Roll Band" by Boston
Speaker/Point of View: A band who is struggling to become famous and get signed is speaking in this song.
Audience: People who enjoy rock music and enjoy listening to their songs.
Purpose: The purpose is to create a good song that talks about how the speaker got started out.
Subject: The song talks about struggling to be signed by a record label and starting out slow.
Tone (Speaker): Excited about the band and how they've become famous
Tone (Songwriter): Happily proud of the band being able to become successful

"Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd
Speaker/Point of View: Pink Floyd’s manager’s and label
Audience: Pink Floyd
Purpose: The purpose is for the band to rant and express their emotions and anger towards big name labels about their controlling ways and greed.
Subject: This song talks about corporations and big names and how they can often control those under them.
Tone (Speaker): Excited for the success of the band
Tone (Songwriter): Annoyed and angry with the greed shown by big corporations to get money.

Though both Boston's "Rock n Roll Band" and Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" utilize ideas of success, fame, and story telling of how their bands came to be, Boston presents a more excited and upbeat tone to fame and the success of their band while Pink Floyd expresses a more negative and saddened tone, due to the greed of big offices and labels, to their success.

Unknown said...

Rock n' Roll Band by Boston

Speaker: The Singer of the band
Audience: Fans of the band/the genre of music
Purpose:To express their feelings and story through songs
Tone(speaker): Hopeful, positive
Tone(piece): uplifting and carefree

Have A Cigar by Pink Floyd
Speaker: Bands manager
Audience: the band
Purpose: to inform the band the manager cares only for money and not them
Subject: the bands future
Tone(speaker): upset, angry
Tone(piece): money hungry, greedy

Through both Boston's song Rock n' Roll and Pink Floyd's song Have a Cigar, there are positive elements through each to show thrill, excitement and hopefulness of what is to come in each bands future however, Boston's song is more about the excitement of fame and the rise to power while Pink Floyd's is more based off the pursuit of monetary gain, despite the feelings of band members.

Unknown said...

Though both Boston’s "Rock N’ Roll Band" and Pink Floyd's "Have A Cigar" are about the tough music industry and struggling bands, Boston expresses an excited and appreciative tone to managers and being discovered while Pink Floyd relates a disgusted and untrusting tone to managers and being discovered.

S- Band members of a Band from Boston
A- Struggling bands and the bands fan base
P-To tell the story of the bands struggle before being discovered
S- The bands love for rock and roll music and their rise to fame
Tone (Speaker and Songwriter)- Appreciative, proud, and energetic

S- A music producer that is interested in a band
A- Bands looking to get their start in Hollywood
P- To warn people about the corruption of the music industry, and warn them about how producers will take advantage of them and just use them to get money.
S- The corruption of the music industry
Tone (Songwriter)- angry, disappointed, and bitter
Tone (Speaker)- Cheerful, Encouraging, passionate

Keenan Coffey said...

Rock n’ Roll Band by Boston

Speaker/Point of View: Members in a rock and roll band
Audience: The fans of rock and roll music
Purpose: To portray the band in a good light
Subject: Playing rock and roll music
Tone (Speaker): Optimistic
Tone (Songwriter): Full of hope

Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd

Speaker/Point of View: The band’s manager
Audience: The band
Purpose: The manager describing how he only cares about money and not the music itself
Subject: The band
Tone (Speaker): Angry and frustrated
Tone (Songwriter): Selfish and greedy
Though Pink Floyd and Boston had many differences, the songs both provided similar messages and tones throughout the duration of the song.

Anonymous said...

Tristan Grieve

Boston - "Rock n' Roll Band"

Speaker/Point of View: The band members of “Boston”

Audience: The fans of the band, and the band members themselves

Purpose: To inform the fans of the band’s rise to fame, and also to encompass the feeling of proudness and excitement when getting a record deal

Subject: The band “Boston” coming from sleeping in cars to getting a record deal by someone who had made it (drives a Cadillac and smokes a big cigar)

Tone (Songwriter): The songwriters (band members) are very proud about their journey to getting a record deal and achieving fame. I would say that the tone is intense informal euphoria. I think that the songwriters were feeling a lot of different emotions toward this moment that the song was about.

Pink Floyd "Have a Cigar"

Speaker/Point of View: Someone outside of the band commenting on how good the band is and how much money they make. They are likely a manager or producer.

Audience: The speaker is speaking to the band members. The band members may have written this though to again, themselves, and also to the fans to share their feelings.

Purpose: The band may have written the song to encompass the feelings they got once they were told they were going to make it big, for both the fans and themselves. They may have also written the song to express how one of their producers or managers wanted them to keep pumping in the money. Even though there was a sell-out it’s not enough for the speaker, they keep wanting more. They are implying that the band is just starting out.

Subject: Someone outside of the band is saying how Pink Floyd (the band) will make it big if they really try hard and play their cards right. The “make it big” may be fundamentally different however between the band members and their producers or managers.

Tone (Songwriter): The songwriters may be upset about the producers or managers using them for monetary gain as the tone is rather soft and melancholy.

Binary Thesis: Though both Boston's "Rock n' Roll Band" and Pink Floyd's "Have a Cigar" utilize imagery, symbols, and rhyme, Boston demonstrates an intense informal euphoric tone to convey their feelings of making it big, while Pink Floyd demonstrates a more gentle and melancholy tone to convey their feelings of upset caused by a money driven producer or manager.

Unknown said...

“Rock n’ Roll Band” by Boston
•Speaker/Point of View: the lead singer
•Audience: the people how listen to the band and song
•Purpose: to entertain their fans who got them to be where they are
•Subject: explaining how they got to play all over and became famous

•Tone (Speaker): upbeat, joyful, and obliged

•Tone (Songwriter): Boston


“Have a Cigar” by Pink Floyd
•Speaker/Point of View: 2nd person & 1st person
•Audience: the people who will eventually listen to the band
•Purpose: to inform people that a band is rising to fame
•Subject: this boy will eventually make it big but he’s got to work for it

•Tone (Speaker): formal, solemn, & serious

•Tone (Songwriter): Roger Waters


Though Boston's SONG and Roger Water's SONG, they were both inspiring and informational, Boston recorded an upbeat tone to the rock and roll stage, while Roger Water published a serious tone to his accomplishment.

Unknown said...

Kaylin McMahon
Songwriter's Tone
Through both Pink Floyd’s “Have a Cigar” and Boston’s “Rock n’ Roll Band”, both artists express the same tone. Pink Floyd carefully manipulates the song lyrics to express that no matter how hard life is, it gets better. Similarly, Boston manipulates the lyrics to convey that success requires hard work and dedication.

Have a Cigar

Speaker/Point of View: Pink Floyd (first person)/ an experienced singer/songwriter who overcame struggles to succeed.

Audience: People facing similar life struggles.

Purpose: Provide hope for others that their situation will improve.

Subject: How no matter how difficult life is, it will get better.

Tone (Speaker): Paired with the melody, the singer’s tone is solemn.

Tone (Songwriter): Hopeful for the listener.

Rock n’ Roll Band

Speaker/Point of View: Boston (first person)/ a band finally getting recognition.

Audience: People in their situation who struggle to be heard.

Purpose: Express the struggles that the writer overcame to reach success.

Subject: How Boston was not always famous and had to work hard to have their music heard.

Tone (Speaker): Playful when being sung.

Tone (Songwriter): Serious in telling his story.