Music 48 Paper:
Research Questions
The Music Faculty affirms that, in order to perform well, a fine musician
must engage many aspects of music well beyond the technical demands of
a given composition. Thoughtful inquiry into the historical/cultural context
and the musical content of a composition are no less important than learning
to play or sing the notes. We ask, therefore, that all Music 48 students
do a research project and write a short paper on the composition they
intend to play at juries. The Music 48 Paper may be brief (one or two
pages) but should include a detailed bibliography. Your paper should be
submitted directly to the Department's Administrative Coordinator (hard copy only, please!);
the deadline
may be found on the Department website, along with the list
of Music 48 Advisors.
The following questions should guide your inquiry as you write your paper.
It is unlikely that you will have sufficient space to address all of these
questions in your paper; indeed, you may find that these questions will
lead you towards other lines of inquiry that are more important. If you
are having trouble with any aspect of this project, do not hesitate to
contact your Music 48 Advisor and/or the Music Librarian.
a) When did the composer live? What earlier or contemporaneous composers
may have influenced the composition of this work? Have ideas about performance
practice changed since this work was composed, and, if so, how has your
awareness of these changes influenced your interpretation?
b) What questions guided you in your study of the score? Are there different
editions? If so, why might that be? Which one seems to represent most
faithfully what the composer wrote? Have conventions of notation changed
since the composer's era? Are there any notational idiosyncrasies or foreign
language terms in the score that you found difficult to understand?
c) Are there concerns beyond the musical notes that have shaped your interpretation?
(For singers this question is central. You must include in your paper
a copy of the lyrics, with a translation if they are not in English, and
comment on the features of the words that you think may have most interested
the composer.)
d) Does the form of the piece fall into a common generic/formal category
(e.g., sonata, rondo, a dance form, ternary [ABA] form, etc.)?
If it does not, can you make sense of it in your own terms?
For additional help researching your jury paper, click here for the Music 48
Guide to Research.
Click here to return to the complete Music 48 Guidelines.
Updated August 26 2004