Well there’s news and there’s not news, in a peculiarly ‘messed up’ kind of way.
The big development is that I’ve switched tutor groups.
The sole reason for this is because the OU had put me in a tutor group that invoked a two and a quarter hour round trip.
Whereas the tutor group that’s twenty minutes away… doesn’t.
Unfortunately (1)…
This change means that I have to go to another introductory tutorial tonight (having already attended the introductory tutorial in my former group in Birmingham).
Although my new tutor has said that I don’t have to attend I’ve decided that I’m going because as well as spending time getting to learn about the processes (again), procedures (again) and methodology (again), it’ll also be a chance to meet everyone in the tutor group.
This is a valuable opportunity to get to know the other students as well as being a pointer on where people are in their personal development. It’s also an opportunity to set up local networking contacts; too many good things to miss out on (whereas I’d be coming in as the ‘new boy’ if I missed tonight).
So I’m going. Again.
Unfortunately (2)…
My former tutor has suggested that my new tutor should be the one to read, mark and comment upon my submitted assignment (TMA01).
This seems logical.
I’ve put this point to my new tutor and I’m waiting for her to get back to me, but the cost – in terms of time – means that I’m not likely to get the feedback for TMA01 until well until next week or possibly later when, it seems, everyone else on the course will have had their feedback today.
Bum.
Meanwhile elsewhere…
Work continues on TMA02 – this assignment is in four parts.
Part 1: Art History, is the analysis of a painting previously described (and believe me, very extensively googled from all over the world!).
Part 2: Literature, is to read and in no more than 300 words, write an analysis of the sonnet ‘February Afternoon’ (1916) by Edward Thomas.
Part 3: Music, is to write, in no more than 300 words, a descriptive analysis of ‘For No One’ by The Beatles – paying particular attention to features such as the verse-chorus structure, melody, rhythm, timbre, texture and the relationship between words and music.
Part 4: Philosophy, is to answer five questions in no more than 300 words (total) relating to a (seriously pretentious yet totally belief-suspending) dialogue between two people on artistic creativity.
All four parts are to be completed and submitted by 16th November.
So…
TMA02 part one, is in process; should be completed by this weekend.
TMA02 part two, haven’t looked at it yet but as I have a blind spot about poetry anyway it’s going to be hard to get to grips with!
TMA02 part three, I’m really looking forward to that one, I might even do it next instead of the poetry thing.
TMA02 part four, whilst very comfortable with both objective and subjective philosophical discussions in various conceptual or abstract forms, I’m not sure I will be able to get my head around the tedious dialogue construction that we have to work with!
Ah well, at least it’s keeping me off the streets at night.
🙂
B.
Is the title of your class something like “Express yourself in no more than 300 words”?
Seems like you’re going to be busy, anyway…
lol! I think the early/easy bit (in terms of the properties of the asked questions – poetry notwithstanding) has been set 300-word limits to teach the students the value of Making Every Word Count.
If every piece – at this stage – were set the more generous 3,500-word limits that will follow in later TMA’s, the outputs would, one imagines, be largely composed of fluff and waffle and lacking substance.
I’m doing A103 too and I am sonot looking forward to the music section, if anything it is the part that I can’t grasp at all!! Literature is my thing…Good luck with it all 🙂
hi there ha ha was looking for stuff on February afternoon and your site came up ? huh it hasnt got the answer on it…. oh well hi from Glasgow tutorial group had fun reading your tutorial tales ;-))
i was looking for answers to the sonnet question too. The music one will be a nightmare for me. i only submitted my tma01 today, erh… only 18 days late ha ha. (internet providers fault!)feel a bit better now
managed part 1 okayish, part 2 helped by using a letts revise a level english – looking up all the posh terms – alliteration, hyperbole etc and then looking for them in the poem. part 3 looks hellish and not a clue about 4. good luck, i have actually completed only part 1.
Ahh well, least it’s not just me who’s miles away from tutor group. i’ve just finished Music part but now backtracking as only just read TMA 2 and it suggests you do each part at the end of section. So i’m trying desparately to remember everything. Never mind, will know for next time. I’ve been trying to get a week infront, good job thanks to the arrival of streaming cold can’t see me doing much in next couple of days! Good luck and keep us posted as to how you’re finding it.
I just came across this blog by accident while looking for info on ‘February Afternoon’…I am well behind on assignments and thought i would try and find something to help me with part 2 as my mind has gone totally blank…never mind am sure it will all make sense eventually! Will keep checking back on how u r doing! Good luck !
Nice to hear that I’m not the only one who feels completley out of my depth!!! Only now ‘tackling’ part 2, and finding it just as difficult. Any ideas on websites or books, throw them my way.
Have got a couple of ideas from Yahoo Answers but not much…this is totally confusing me….I thought i was quite intelligent but now feel totally thick!Any help from all you celver people would me much appreciated…am not gonna give up am on a mission now!
The music part is horrendous. I have no idea where to start. I have listened again and again and can come up with 3 sentences!! I am hoping for inspiration from somewhere. Help!!
feel welcome to email me any1 who wants to. two heads are better than 1 ha ha. i’m completely behind and baffled by part 3. don’t know where to begin or have time to read from block 1.
my email is… itsme06@sky.com
I feel slightly more confident tackling the sonnet. I am just trying to find a way to start it off without sounding like a complete and utter muppet! Finding actually knowing what the poem is talking about a bit hard but I know what I am looking for and why so I am not going to over anaylse it or I’ll just get a headache. Anyone who wants to email me feel free to do so, I am always up for a chat 🙂 It’s… laura@dhorsfall.f2s.com
Hope to hear from some of you,
Laura x
Just started PT 3, haven’t done PT 1 and 2 any justice, but am starting to panic re the deadline. Have 9 days to finish PT 3 and 4, and the pressure is getting to me!!! Haven’t received any information on where my tutorials are, where do I get this info. HELP!!
Hi Jolene,
If you log on to your OU website on your Student Home webpage in the “A103 An introduction to the humanities” section you’ll see a link that says “Tutor and tutorials”.
If you click on that you’ll see the name and contact details of your tutor and where and when your tutorials are.
Cheers,
Hi everyone…well i have just finished part 2 but as i didnt really understand it the whole thing sounds a bit lame. Am now going to tackle part 3!..am also panicking as the deadline looms close..havnt been able to get to tutorials due to work and family commitments!…I feel completely out of my depth.
Good luck everyone I really enjoy reading your comments at least Iknow am not alone!
Terri
xxx
If anyone would like to email me its teresas67@hotmail.com
thanks
Terri
xx
Ok when I said I felt confident tackling the sonnet that was before I was consumed by a complete mental block! I did sit down and write part 4 last night and am alightly concerned that I found it easier than what I think I should have. Am currently covering a lesson at work trying to get work done and failing miserably as the kids can’t seem to grasp the concept of silence. I am on the verge of a nervous breakdown
hi from a fellow a103 sufferer. 🙂
Hi Judith. Are you done on your TMA02?
Hi Laura – I don’t know if this will work for you but it really does for me: Music.
I can’t write anything without a pair of headphones/earphones serving up some not too loud music. It isolates me from the rest of the world – noises around the house and even silences around the house!
i am sooooooo pleased to see that i am not the only person panicing about this tma! Makes me feel that i am not sucha dunce after all! Goodluck everyone.
I am struggling with part 2 of the TMA – the sonnet. I have quite a bit to say about structure and imagery, but cannot seem to find anything to say about poetic diction. Any ideas/comments would be gratefully received!
Jo C, try talking about archaic language? ‘caw’ & ‘shaw’
Thanks Vicki, I’ll give it a go.
Have just done part 4…even though i havnt done part 3 yet! Did anyone else find this as easy as I did? Its a bit worrying how easy it was…which means I have prob done it wrong!..hope u r all ok and not to stressed x
am also studying A103. Starting to panic a little as deadline is this week and been quite ill of recent and done hardly anything yet. Have today completed part 1 and 2 of TMA 2. Am seriously baffled by part 3 – Music. Anyone help???
I have done parts 1, 2 & 3 but can’t seem to grasp part 4. If I look over other examples of premises and conclusions I can spot them with no problem at all…section 4 however I just can’t see it. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
Tina, In Part 3 look at when the instruments are played throughout the whole song. How does the piece start? At what points do new instruments join in? What texture, timbre etc. Look at the song structure is there a pattern? What happens to the instrument sound in the first chorus? I hope this helps. V
That helps me more than the rest, all I have atm is notes on each subject apart from music and my essay is due in on FRIDAY!!!!! I think I am screwd :S that or I will be pulling all nighters till it is handed in, the hardest part for me is music I do not understand it.
I can’t really help much, but I have had so much trouble trimming my Man Reading and For No One down to 300 words. In the latter I’ve barely covered the textural relationships and in the former (surprisingly) I initially found way more than 300 words in my early attempts.
Tomorrow I shall write up my notes for the sonnet which gives me an easy 300 words and that leaves the philosophy.
Ah, thank goodness I’m not the only one! I’m not finding the work difficult, just the getting round to doing it! less than a week to go argh i’m gonna fail aren’t I! I am up to part three eek!
Uh hi again. for anyone who is still struggling with part 3 and looking 4 research I found this- http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/fno.shtml
hope it helps someone. 🙂
Hi turkishdelight, thanks for the reference. It’s an interesting article but unfortunately it’s a subjective, unquotable reference source which one would not be able to use (a student would be challenged on references and the author of this piece uses such devaluing statements as “In my humble opinion”!), particularly when there are very many quotable references available.
One validated source in particular contradicts a number of assertions of this article and as the quotable piece was written by the chief sound engineer of Apple/EMI it is authoritative whereas this web article is not.
I also note that this article doesn’t answer any of the questions that TMA02 sets – so perhaps getting sucked in to it would be an unhelpful thing!
hi… i came along this blog while looking for some material on part 2 … literature is usually m thing but i just can’t grasp this one! glad i’m not the only one!
*tears hair out
I am SO stuck on part 3. I have no idea about music at all. If it was only an analysis on the lyrics, I’d be fine, but I feel like I have retained NO info from the music section of the prep for poetry & song, and I’m going to have to do it all over again.
I’m so glad I’m not on my own with these feelings though!
Im lost! Compltely lost, i have started all of the parts but none of them are finished, the 1st task completly lost me i wish i could see all these things im supposed to be seeing!!
Im pretty much blagging my way through part 3 as i do have some musical knowledge and part 2 i know what im supposed to write i just cant put it into words.
Grrr im glad to see im not the only one. I cant decide whether i should keep going and make sure it gets there on time or take my time and try and get my head around it but this will probably result in it being late, hmmmm?
Hi Lauren, have you read the guidance notes on each section? They really do point you in the direction you should be going. If you follow the guidance notes andmake some notes on these main points you will soon have more than 300 words and will have to pick and choose.
The CD TMA02 advice is fantastic too – make notes on the methods used by the speakers and follow their lead. This helped me hugely.
Am attacking TMA02 part 4 tonight. The Philosophy section has been the hardest for me by a long way!
Cheers, Jimbo
Also make sure you focus on the words in bold, which appear in the glossary of each section. These are a signpost to the terminology required in the answers.
Hi jimbo, thanks!! I actually didnt have so much trouble with part 4 i actually asked my mum to have the debate with me and got her views, having someone elses input is really useful and i got really into it, but then i love debate, im a woman haha
I think i will listen to the CD as i havent actually done that, theres so much to thikn about i had forgotten.
Yeah the guidence notes are great, and i kinda understand what i have to write but when it comes to actually doing it i have a complete mental block haha
Good luck tonight with part 4!
I need to send this tomorow or thurs and im really starting to panic.
Lauren
P.S Good luck to everyone working on this atm!!!
I’ve found that reading all these comments on here has helped tremendously with my TMA, in the most part it’s re-assurance that there are others that are not finding it easy either.
I finished my whole TMA 02 today…Yippee!!! I’m not ecstatic with part 4, philosophy questions 1 & 2, but hey i’ve got to the stage, after hours of agonising over it that i’ve done my best. Good Luck to All. V
Hi
Ive listened to the advice CD re Part 3 of TMA02 – Music but cant seem to find the speaker’s table she refers to for the cello piece. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Ta x
Part 3 will be my weakest Why cant they use classical like they been teaching really and part 2 i got 100 words to go and i dont think errm and ummm count 🙁
Tim, no disrespect but your post here shows that you’re barely literate and have no concept of English Language (your faults include punctuation, grammar, construction and the basic concept of making sense). Are you sure you’re doing the right kind of degree? Perhaps a shot at remedial English might be more appropriate to your current level?
Hello NB, I couldn’t find it either! I just drew one up myself in the end.
10 rows going down (inc. header)
5 rows across (1st row is 1-9)
Jimbo
okay that just confused the hell out of me Jimbo, I have to write music 2nite and I have no idea what I am writing!
some one help! music has confused me!
Listen to the Cd advice.
It’s all there in the unit.
Remember they aren’t asking “what the song/music means?” they are asking you to “write a descriptive analysis of the piece paying particular attention to timbre/texture/rhythm etc etc”
It’s not about meaning it’s about describing what’s there using the terminology from the unit.
Hi all what a find this place was. I have somehow reached partforof the TMA and i am suffering terribly. I think i have the answers but i’m not too sure how to set them out. Do you use a conventional essay structure or do you just set it out as it appears in the assignment book:e.g: Premise 1
Premise 2
Conclusion.
Any help would be hugely appreciated!
Look, I never cheat and never will but can you give me a brief outlook at what you have written- i mean brief! I want to do it for myself but if you can give me hints, I would appreciate it.