Learning the Acoustic Guitar Essay

Please annotate these readings. Throughout keep in mind the goal of your weekly writing assignment.

Jeremy Denk is a master at using vivid language and imagery to describe life events, experiences and his memories. Think about the fact that he is a highly-respected pianist, now writing for New Yorker readers. In some sense, this is a general audience- most will not be musicians or have in-depth classical training. On the other hand, The New Yorker tends to be read by an educated population. They may have some knowledge of classical music and if not, they can learn through Denk’s writings.

There are a number of narrative tools and tricks that Denk uses to clearly communicate his particular experiences as a great pianist. He doesn’t alienate his audience into feeling “dumb” or “ignorant”, despite the fact that he very much lives the life of an elite.

Highlight some of these strategies. I gave you some clues in my own markups.

Then, I would like for you to imitate Denk’s writing. The vivid language, the ability to economize words to take a complex situation and tell the story in few words.

You should ground your writing in an activity or experience that is central to who you are as a person. For Denk, he is a pianist. For Michelle Zauner, she grounds her experiences of grief, mourning, and identity in H-Mart products. For Malcolm X, he talks about what it felt like to be a Black American Muslim in Jedda, Saudi Arabia. Use these as examples and submit a maximum of 700 words.