Research Project (15% - written
paper; 5% - class presentation):
This project is a term research paper on a musician/group/genre
of your choosing. Your choice should be drawn from the past ten years (if
you have a strong desire to do something else, please talk to me about it).
Your paper should include information about the topic (names,
dates, locale, important milestones, releases, etc.) and you should discuss
the historical context. Where did your topic come from (influences), what
is the socio-political environment within which it developed and thrives?
You should discuss the work (recordings, etc.) as it developed
chronologically, commenting on innovations, new influences, etc.
Choose one (or perhaps two) representative pieces to discuss
in more depth. You should describe what makes this selection exemplary of
your topic's style. You may focus on musical structure, production, lyrics,
performance style.
Length: 6-10 pages, typed, double-spaced, including bibliography
(including Web sources), and discography with dates.
Please also hand in a CD copy of the representative piece(s)
you discuss.
Class Presentation:
You will have approximately FIVE minutes to make your presentation.
This allotment includes the time you will take to play a portion of a representative
track of music.
You should prepare an outline of the relevant information
about the topic, derived from your paper. You will hand this outline in at
the time of the presentation.
If you would like to make use of any media (video, DVD, Powerpoint
projector, overheads), please let me know. If you do, you will need to be
VERY prepared, so as to not waste time, and the media will need to be set
up and tested in advance.
Consult the SCHEDULE to see when
you have been scheduled to make your presentation.
NOTE:
You need to inform me of your topic no later than APRIL 15
(by email or written on a sheet of paper)
Writing standards:
This is an upper-level class for music majors with a writing
component. You will be held to standards appropriate to your standing. For
any written assignments submitted for this class (apart from in-class work),
you will be expected to type your work using double-spacing. You will proofread
your work before handing it in. Note that running a spell-check program is
not sufficient; you should read through what you have written carefully and
make any necessary corrections. For each submission, you will be allowed two
errors of spelling, grammar, punctuation, or syntax. After that, you will
lose 10% of the assignment's grade for each subsequent error. Hand-written
work will not be accepted unless discussed with the instructor in advance.