The submission template [forthcoming] will provide information on how to format your document and insert examples, references, and bibliography.
All figures, charts, graphs, and images should include alt text. Please consult the submission page for more information about writing and adding alt text to your manuscript.
Special terms and further reading
In general, replace explanatory footnotes with a linked citation to another source on the web offering further explanation or a helpful image.
Examples:
"Throughout our in-class discussions, the listening strategy that students hone is to first list the times (minutes and seconds within the recording) of all of the cadences in the exposition, and then determine the location of the medial caesura and EEC to parse the formal sections within the exposition."
"Discussing with students the Music Genome Project (Walker 2009) connected with Pandora Radio will introduce them to practical applications of high order aural thinking."
Citations
Please use in-text citations (Author-date), with a link to the source. Although page numbers are not normally used in the blessay format, we encourage them when making direct quotations.
Journal articles
If a cited article is published in a print journal, link the relevant text to a citation in a journal database, Ebscohost, ERIC, or the journal’s website. If the article is open access, link directly to the full article.
Examples:
…Slunt and Giancarlo (2004) have shown that JiTT quizzes given before class to have a greater impact on actively engaging students.
"An effective performance must not only be correct, but also creative, emotional, and communicative (Mitchell 2011)."
Michael Callahan (2012) taught a semester of baroque counterpoint as a hands-on keyboard workshop.
Citations of books
When possible, link author text or title text to the appropriate citation on the Open Library, https://openlibrary.org. The use of page numbers is not necessary except when using direct quotations.
Examples:
Michael Rogers (2004, 4) observed that, in many core undergraduate theory curricula, "too much emphasis on narrow course content and acquisition of knowledge . . .obscures the more far-reaching goals of theory instruction…."
The pedagogical techniques offered in Finkel (2000) attempt to democratize responsibility for learning, rather than treat the teacher as all-knowing authority figure.
Citations of musical recordings or playlists
Link text to YouTube recordings as well as playlists on recording databases like Spotify. When possible, link to an official source (such as Spotify, Last.fm, or the artist’s or label’s own website or YouTube channel) to minimize the likelihood that a reader will follow a link and find that the recording has been removed.
Examples:
"Although we could identify the blues scale used in the C major prelude, we would miss the joke of such a phenomenon occurring in a piece supposedly written in the early eighteenth century."
"Here is a new playlist that includes four canonic examples of Jiangnan Sizhu that very closely match the given paradigm…"
Citations of scores
Link text directly to the file on IMSLP or other sheet music database.
Example:
"The opening two measures of Chopin’s Nocturne in C minor…."
Software and other products
Link the title to the manufacturer’s website or another resource explaining its use.
Examples:
"I…used the free and open-source digital editing software Audacity to teach independent, active listening habits." –Crystal Peebles
"Brian discussed Audio Hijack Pro, a downloadable app for Mac OS X…that allows you to make audio recordings…" –Stephen Gosden
Links to unpublished materials
During the submission process, supplementary PDFs or materials can be submitted using the submissions portal. Where possible we would like to host files (e.g. if you are the copyright holder).
Examples:
"This information was gleaned through feedback sheets I distribute periodically throughout the semester."
"…using clickers in real time is also useful in aural skills classes, such as asking students to indicate their hearing through the Do/Ti test (Daniel Stevens’s creative development of the guide-tone method)."
Bibliographical references
Compile all sources in a bibliography at the end of your blessay. Citations should follow conventions of the "Author-Date" system outlined in the Chicago Manual of Style, http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. The title of each reference can be hyperlinked if there is no DOI, but if a DOI exists, please use that link. As a note, there are many books and articles that do not have DOIs, please check this site if you are in doubt.
Book:
Schubert, Peter. 2008. Modal Counterpoint: Renaissance Style. New York: Oxford University Press.
Grant, Roger Mathew. 2014. Beating Time and Measuring Music in the Early Modern Era. New York: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199367283.001.0001
Print article:
Alegant, Brian. 2008. "Listen Up! Thoughts on iPods, Sonata Form, and Analysis Without the Score." Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy 22: 149–76.
Website:
Stim, Rich. "Copyright FAQs." Copyright and Fair Use, Stanford University Libraries. Accessed August 2, 2013.
Blog:
Willingham, Daniel. 2018. "Just how polarized are we about reading instruction?" Daniel Willingham: Science and Education Blog, October 29th. Accessed April 7, 2020.
