INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FINAL PROJECT
Final Project: The final research project is at 11:59 on your designated "final exam" date. For the fall 2020 semester, that date is December 3. Your project should relate in some way to the topic of the course.
NOTE: Late final projects will not be accepted.
The final project is worth 100 points and will consist of four important components:
1. Proposal [10 points] - ALL STUDENTS
Write a 1-page essay (about 250 words) describing what you would like to do for your final project. I recommend that you focus on a music-related issue that you find compelling. Another possibility is to center your discussion on a particular genre, style, phenomenon. In any event, your proposal should demonstrate that you have begun thinking seriously about your project and how the material we cover during the semester intersects with it.
*Your proposal must include a) a prospective title; b) an overview of your project and its goals; and c) a discussion of how your project connects with the course material and your current interests.
**See the bottom of this page for a list of final project ideas and suggestions.
2a. Annotated bibliography [20 points] - UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Provide an annotated bibliography that contains at least 5 scholarly sources, with no more than two being a reading assigned in class. For each reference, write 2 or 3 sentences indicating the source’s relevance to your topic. More than half of your sources should be actual journal articles or books, as opposed to websites, although articles and books that happen to be accessible online are always permitted.
2b. Annotated bibliography [20 points] - GRADUATE STUDENTS
Provide an annotated bibliography that contains at least 8 scholarly sources, with no more than two being a reading assigned in class. For each reference, write a short paragraph summarizing the source's main argument, position, or perspective and indicating the source’s relevance to your topic. More than half of your sources should be actual journal articles or books, as opposed to websites, although articles and books that happen to be accessible online are always permitted.
3. Recording [50 points] - ALL STUDENTS
Create a seven- to ten-minute audio and/or audio-visual recording that summarizes your research project and demonstrates the most salient aspects of the musical issue, genre, style, etc. under discussion. Upload your recording to YouTube, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive (or some other cloud-based platform) and submit to Blackboard a valid URL link so that your professor can access your work. It is your responsibility to ensure that the URL link functions properly.
I encourage you to be creative but succinct. You have some flexibility regarding the exact format and content of your recording, but you must achieve four objectives:
a. Describe your project. What does it explore or investigate? Why did you choose it? Why do you find it worthwhile? What insights did you gain from this research?
b. Explain its cultural, historical, and/or intellectual context. For example, if you are examining a particular issue, you might discuss what is/was at stake in for music practitioners, listeners, or scholars who have engaged with that issue. In other words, why, how, and for whom does it matter? Or if your project focuses on a specific genre of music, you’ll want to be sure to articulate what was happening during the time frame and social space in which this genre was popular. What kinds of cultural and/or political conditions shape(d) the experiences of the relevant musical creators and consumers?
c. Analyze at least one specific musical example: What do you think is distinctive about this music in terms of its sound, lyrics, performance style, historical influence)? Demonstrate an understanding of specific musical terms (for example, rhythm, timbre, melisma) we may have discussed during the semester.
d. Render a “musical” performance significant to the focus of your project. One simple way to do this (especially for music majors) would be to sing, rap, or play an instrument featuring an excerpt of a piece of music. Other methods could involve using a musical recording or perhaps some inspired use of technology to get your point across.
Requirements for Group Projects
If you and a classmate wish to undertake a group project, you must abide by the following guidelines:
• Your group must consist of no more than two individual members.
• Each member must submit his/her own proposal and self-assessment, in which the individual’s specific goals and contributions are clearly explained.
• Each member must submit his/her own annotated bibliography of distinct sources. In other words, ten total sources (i.e., five sources each) are required per undergraduate group, and sixteen total sources per graduate group.
4a. Self-assessment [20 points] - UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Write a 1-2 page double-spaced essay (about 300-500 words) addressing the following questions:
a) What did you like most and least about doing this project? What challenges did you face?
b) What did you learn that you likely won't ever forget?
c) How might future scholars build upon the research you have done?
d) What advice would you give about this assignment to next year’s students.
4b. Summary and Meta-analysis [20 points] - GRADUATE STUDENTS
Write a 2 page double-spaced essay (about 500 words) that addresses the following:
a) Give a written overview of your projects methods, goals, and conclusions. (Try to supplement, not replicate, part 3 above.)
b) To what extent do you feel you met your research objectives? What were the particular challenges?
c) How might future scholars build upon the research you have done?
*****
*****
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FINAL PROJECT SUGGESTIONS
REMEMBER: Your project may deal with any aspect of the material covered in class or discussed in the readings. There is, in other words, a great deal of flexibility. Be creative! Choose an issue you find compelling.
Twelve ideas to jump-start your thinking:
1. Focus on the musical activities of a specific time period (e.g., 1960s) or country (e.g., Haiti).
2. Choose a particular artist or group (for example, Mighty Sparrow) and discuss/demonstrate their stylistic characteristics or career evolution.
3. Discuss the ways in which other cultural styles have influenced some form of Caribbean music, or survey the ways in which a genre of Caribbean music has been adopted outside of the Caribbean region.
4. Ponder the issue of “crossing over” and some of the ways various social and musical boundaries have been transcended (for example, the ways in which “sacred” music has influenced "secular" styles, and vice versa).
5. Imagine different perspectives (e.g., performer, listener) and ways of experiencing Caribbean music.
6. Examine relationships between past and present by looking at specific genres of Caribbean-derived music (e.g., reggae of the 1970s vs reggaeton of the 2000s; Cuban son vs New York salsa)
7. Outline the commercialization of “Caribbean music” in the 20th and/or 21st centuries, underscoring the role of technological innovations, tourism, and/or the commodification of Caribbean sounds in television, film, and advertising.
8. Highlight the role of race or ethnicity in the historical and/or contemporary development of music in the Caribbean. For example, what social and musical factors contribute to perceptions of music as "black" or "white"? How does music serve to express nationalist sentiments that may or may not supersede alternative constructions of individual and collective identity?
9. Compare and contrast “Caribbean” and “Afro-Caribbean” musical genres. To what extent do these categories overlap? To what extent are they different? How do modern-day musical and social practices complicate these conventional labels?
10. Reflect on the role that gender and sexuality play in Caribbean music performance.
11. Explore the issue of stereotypes and how they shape the creation and consumption of music in the Caribbean, the United States, and/or in other parts of the world.
12. Assess various ways of “representing” the Caribbean and its music (for example, musical transcriptions, ethnographic writing, historical narratives, song lyrics, film depictions, etc.). How do these representations shape popular perceptions of the Caribbean? How have representations of the Caribbean changed over time?
NOTE: Late final projects will not be accepted.
The final project is worth 100 points and will consist of four important components:
- 1) a proposal (due on Oct. 8)
- 2) an annotated bibliography
- 3) a recording
- 4) a self-assessment
1. Proposal [10 points] - ALL STUDENTS
Write a 1-page essay (about 250 words) describing what you would like to do for your final project. I recommend that you focus on a music-related issue that you find compelling. Another possibility is to center your discussion on a particular genre, style, phenomenon. In any event, your proposal should demonstrate that you have begun thinking seriously about your project and how the material we cover during the semester intersects with it.
*Your proposal must include a) a prospective title; b) an overview of your project and its goals; and c) a discussion of how your project connects with the course material and your current interests.
**See the bottom of this page for a list of final project ideas and suggestions.
2a. Annotated bibliography [20 points] - UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Provide an annotated bibliography that contains at least 5 scholarly sources, with no more than two being a reading assigned in class. For each reference, write 2 or 3 sentences indicating the source’s relevance to your topic. More than half of your sources should be actual journal articles or books, as opposed to websites, although articles and books that happen to be accessible online are always permitted.
2b. Annotated bibliography [20 points] - GRADUATE STUDENTS
Provide an annotated bibliography that contains at least 8 scholarly sources, with no more than two being a reading assigned in class. For each reference, write a short paragraph summarizing the source's main argument, position, or perspective and indicating the source’s relevance to your topic. More than half of your sources should be actual journal articles or books, as opposed to websites, although articles and books that happen to be accessible online are always permitted.
3. Recording [50 points] - ALL STUDENTS
Create a seven- to ten-minute audio and/or audio-visual recording that summarizes your research project and demonstrates the most salient aspects of the musical issue, genre, style, etc. under discussion. Upload your recording to YouTube, Box, Dropbox, OneDrive (or some other cloud-based platform) and submit to Blackboard a valid URL link so that your professor can access your work. It is your responsibility to ensure that the URL link functions properly.
I encourage you to be creative but succinct. You have some flexibility regarding the exact format and content of your recording, but you must achieve four objectives:
a. Describe your project. What does it explore or investigate? Why did you choose it? Why do you find it worthwhile? What insights did you gain from this research?
b. Explain its cultural, historical, and/or intellectual context. For example, if you are examining a particular issue, you might discuss what is/was at stake in for music practitioners, listeners, or scholars who have engaged with that issue. In other words, why, how, and for whom does it matter? Or if your project focuses on a specific genre of music, you’ll want to be sure to articulate what was happening during the time frame and social space in which this genre was popular. What kinds of cultural and/or political conditions shape(d) the experiences of the relevant musical creators and consumers?
c. Analyze at least one specific musical example: What do you think is distinctive about this music in terms of its sound, lyrics, performance style, historical influence)? Demonstrate an understanding of specific musical terms (for example, rhythm, timbre, melisma) we may have discussed during the semester.
d. Render a “musical” performance significant to the focus of your project. One simple way to do this (especially for music majors) would be to sing, rap, or play an instrument featuring an excerpt of a piece of music. Other methods could involve using a musical recording or perhaps some inspired use of technology to get your point across.
Requirements for Group Projects
If you and a classmate wish to undertake a group project, you must abide by the following guidelines:
• Your group must consist of no more than two individual members.
• Each member must submit his/her own proposal and self-assessment, in which the individual’s specific goals and contributions are clearly explained.
• Each member must submit his/her own annotated bibliography of distinct sources. In other words, ten total sources (i.e., five sources each) are required per undergraduate group, and sixteen total sources per graduate group.
4a. Self-assessment [20 points] - UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Write a 1-2 page double-spaced essay (about 300-500 words) addressing the following questions:
a) What did you like most and least about doing this project? What challenges did you face?
b) What did you learn that you likely won't ever forget?
c) How might future scholars build upon the research you have done?
d) What advice would you give about this assignment to next year’s students.
4b. Summary and Meta-analysis [20 points] - GRADUATE STUDENTS
Write a 2 page double-spaced essay (about 500 words) that addresses the following:
a) Give a written overview of your projects methods, goals, and conclusions. (Try to supplement, not replicate, part 3 above.)
b) To what extent do you feel you met your research objectives? What were the particular challenges?
c) How might future scholars build upon the research you have done?
*****
*****
*****
FINAL PROJECT SUGGESTIONS
REMEMBER: Your project may deal with any aspect of the material covered in class or discussed in the readings. There is, in other words, a great deal of flexibility. Be creative! Choose an issue you find compelling.
Twelve ideas to jump-start your thinking:
1. Focus on the musical activities of a specific time period (e.g., 1960s) or country (e.g., Haiti).
2. Choose a particular artist or group (for example, Mighty Sparrow) and discuss/demonstrate their stylistic characteristics or career evolution.
3. Discuss the ways in which other cultural styles have influenced some form of Caribbean music, or survey the ways in which a genre of Caribbean music has been adopted outside of the Caribbean region.
4. Ponder the issue of “crossing over” and some of the ways various social and musical boundaries have been transcended (for example, the ways in which “sacred” music has influenced "secular" styles, and vice versa).
5. Imagine different perspectives (e.g., performer, listener) and ways of experiencing Caribbean music.
6. Examine relationships between past and present by looking at specific genres of Caribbean-derived music (e.g., reggae of the 1970s vs reggaeton of the 2000s; Cuban son vs New York salsa)
7. Outline the commercialization of “Caribbean music” in the 20th and/or 21st centuries, underscoring the role of technological innovations, tourism, and/or the commodification of Caribbean sounds in television, film, and advertising.
8. Highlight the role of race or ethnicity in the historical and/or contemporary development of music in the Caribbean. For example, what social and musical factors contribute to perceptions of music as "black" or "white"? How does music serve to express nationalist sentiments that may or may not supersede alternative constructions of individual and collective identity?
9. Compare and contrast “Caribbean” and “Afro-Caribbean” musical genres. To what extent do these categories overlap? To what extent are they different? How do modern-day musical and social practices complicate these conventional labels?
10. Reflect on the role that gender and sexuality play in Caribbean music performance.
11. Explore the issue of stereotypes and how they shape the creation and consumption of music in the Caribbean, the United States, and/or in other parts of the world.
12. Assess various ways of “representing” the Caribbean and its music (for example, musical transcriptions, ethnographic writing, historical narratives, song lyrics, film depictions, etc.). How do these representations shape popular perceptions of the Caribbean? How have representations of the Caribbean changed over time?