OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this project is to allow you to demonstrate your understanding of the interaction between music and politics in the era from about 1900 to the very recent past. Note especially that this project is not a piece of “original” research; rather, it is more of a "response" paper that demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of your specfic chosen subject.
GENERAL METHOD: In broad outline, you will:
LIMITS: Your topic must deal with some aspect of Western art music or music-making in the era from about 1900 up to almost the present day. Specifically, you are to identify and investigate:
You may not use for a topic any subject that is covered at length or in detail in your textbooks (Ross, Chapters 7-9, or Morgan, Source Readings), although you may use topics incidentally related to those sources.
In general, you should try to restrict yourself to relatively narrow topics, such as one primary piece of music, a single composer (or small group), one major incident, etc., so as to be able to give a full account of your topic within the limitations of this paper.
PROPOSAL AND APPROVAL OF THE TOPIC: Your topic must be approved by me via an email exchange, although it need not be in the format of a "formal" proposal (as for the major paper). There is no deadline for the proposal, but your topic must be approved before you submit the final paper. Be aware that I may refuse to accept a paper if the topic is not acceptable, so do not wait until the last minute to submit your ideas.
RESEARCH: Once your topic has been approved, you should investigate your topic in any appropriate manner. Given the shorter format of this paper, you need not assemble an extensive bibliography, and in fact, some topics may require only 1-2 basic sources.
FOCUS OF THE PAPER: Whatever the thesis you choose, the focus of your paper should be on the interaction of politics (or political forces) and the actual music or music-making that is your topic. You are not simply to describe the music, musicians or music-making, but rather to explain how the outside forces of politics and political agendas made the music or music-making different from what it might have been without that interference. In short, how does politics influence music?
THE FINAL DOCUMENT: (1) This paper must be typed or computer-printed on 8-½” x 11” white paper, with 1” margins on all sides, except for the first page of text, which has a 2” top margin. (2) Use a 12-point typeface, type in double-space, and indent all paragraphs. (3) The absolute minimum length of the body of the paper, i.e., not including the title page, bibliography and notes (either as footnotes or end notes), is 750 words (about 3-4 pages) for Undergraduates [MUH 4371] and 1,000 words (about 4-5 pages) for Graduate Students [MUH 5375]. You may write more with no concern for penalties. (“Word Count” under “Tools” in most word-processor programs gives this information.) (4) You must footnote all direct citations, paraphrases and other appropriations of ideas from your sources. (5) Append a bibliography of the items used after the last page of text. You need not create a title page, but you should include your name, course number & title at the top of the first page.
Electronic submission of all parts of this assignment--proposal and paper--by means of email attachment is expected.