1st Edition

Undergraduate Research in Music A Guide for Students

By Gregory Young, Jenny Shanahan Copyright 2018
    198 Pages
    by Routledge

    198 Pages
    by Routledge

    Undergraduate Research in Music: A Guide for Students supplies tools for scaffolding research skills, with examples of undergraduate research activities and case studies on projects in the various areas of music study. Undergraduate research has become a common degree requirement in some disciplines and is growing rapidly. Many undergraduate activities in music have components that could be combined into compelling undergraduate research projects, either in the required curriculum, as part of existing courses, or in capstone courses centered on undergraduate research.

    The book begins with an overview chapter, followed by the seven chapters on research skills, including literature reviews, choosing topics, formulating questions, citing sources, disseminating results, and working with data and human subjects. A wide variety of musical subdisciplines follow in Chapters 9–18, with sample project ideas from each, as well as undergraduate research conference abstracts. The final chapter is an annotated guide to online resources that students can access and readily operate. Each chapter opens with inspiring quotations, and wraps up with applicable discussion questions.

    Professors and students can use Undergraduate Research in Music: A Guide for Students as a text or a reference book in any course that has a significant opportunity for the creation of knowledge or art, within the discipline of music or in connecting music with other disciplines.

    Preface vii

    Foreword xi

    Acknowledgments xii

    1 Overview 1

    2 Literature Reviews 7

    3 Choosing Topics and Formulating Appropriate Research

    Questions 19

    4 Working with Human Subjects 29

    5 Collecting Data 36

    6 Analyzing and Synthesizing Data 53

    7 Citing Sources 61

    8 Dissemination of Results 65

    9 Music Performance and Related Topics 81

    10 Is Music Composition Original Research? 90

    11 Interdisciplinary Projects 99

    12 The Discovery of Knowledge in Music History 108

    13 Music Theory 116

    14 Music Education 123

    15 Music Technology 133

    16 Music Therapy 143

    17 Ethnomusicology, Culture, and Popular Music 152

    18 Philosophy and Psychology of Music 161

    19 Online Resources 169

    Index 181

    Biography

    Gregory Young is Professor of Music at Montana State University and has held ongoing posts in conferences in undergraduate research and in curriculum development.

    Jenny Olin Shanahan is Director of Undergraduate Research at Bridgewater State University, with leadership positions in the Council for Undergraduate Research.

    "This book provides an invaluable service as a guidebook for undergraduate research in music. As the authors make clear, once research involves the areas of the arts, it can take many forms and directions. Accordingly, this book provides the guidance needed not only for new undergraduate researchers but also for faculty and administrators interested in expanding the high-impact practice of undergraduate research across the curriculum." - Susan Berry Brill de Ramirez, Bradley University