Musical Cultures modules

Formative Research Project Plan

About the Research Project

The Research Project brings together the ideas about researching music and musical cultures that you’ve looked at over the course of the module, and gives you the opportunity to explore those themes in detail within a specific area. You’ll examine a topic of your own choice and can carry out and present your research in any appropriate form. agreed with the module tutor: we encourage you to think creatively about the best and most appropriate way to present your research. For practical or applied projects, you’ll also submit a short accompanying report that explains and contextualises the research aspect of your work.

The Research Project is worth 50% of your marks for the module:

- Year 2 students: equivalent to 2,500 words, which may include a contextual report of up to 300 words

- Final Year students: equivalent to 3,000 words, which may include a contextual report of up to 400 words

Suggested lengths/word-count equivalents are approximate, depending on the complexity of your project, whether you are a Year 2 or Final Year student, and/or if you are combining multiple formats or approaches. Check with your tutor or module leader if you are unsure, but a rough guide would be:

· Composition: 4-6 minutes of original music

· Seminar presentation (delivered live, or submitted as slides with narration): 13-15 minutes, including examples

· Lecture recital: 13-15 minutes, including examples

· Performance: c. 10-12 minutes of music

· Podcast: 12-14 minutes, including examples

· Video essay: 8-10 minutes, including examples (see here for an example of an excellent video essay)

Use the information and questions below as a template to structure your proposal. There is no set word count for this formative assignment, but the more detail you can give, the more helpful tutors can be with feedback on your ideas. Your classes will also include more information about relevant approaches to music research, and suitable methodologies and formats. You’ll have lots of opportunities to ask questions and discuss ideas.

Tutors will provide feedback on your proposal in a number of ways, which might vary by option. Some tutors will provide written feedback, others will invite you to sign up for a tutorial slot to discuss your ideas. Make sure you take advantage of this feedback: it will help to make sure your project is feasible within the time available, and is of the appropriate length, format, and complexity.

You should also check the assignment rubric on Brightspace. This shows how your work will be assessed.

Choosing a topic and format

Think about some of the topics you’ve studied so far on the module – or that are coming up in term 2. You might choose to extend some of the work you’ve done already on these musical traditions or communities, or to apply some of the methodological approaches studied to a new area related to your own interests.

Once you have a broad area of interest, start to narrow it down by thinking about the way in which you’d like to carry out your research; the particular issues that interest you the most; and the practicalities of formulating a project that fits within the time and resources you have available.

You’re encouraged to be creative about how you carry out your research. Options include an illustrated seminar presentation; or composition, performance, or recording work (audio and/or video) focused around your own participation in or observation of a musical community or activity. You can also write a traditional essay, or produce a podcast or video essay. You can draw on more than one of these approaches if it’s appropriate for your topic. No format is better or worst than another: think about what you want to communicate, and what format will work best for that.

Think about what you want to find out: this will help you define your central research question(s), and these will help you stay on track during the project. All projects need to demonstrate an informed, research-led approach. For creative projects, you’ll explain your research questions, approach, and conclusion(s) in the short accompanying report. For presentations, podcasts, and video essays, some or all of this material may be covered in the research project itself.

Reports
Reports should be a maximum of 300 words for Year 2 and 400 words for Final Year students. They should contain information to help explain and contextualise your project, rather than replicating the content/structure of a traditional essay. If the context and research elements/approach are straightforward and clear from the nature of the research project itself, then the report can be similarly straightforward and concise, or may not be needed at all. Ask your tutor if you are unsure.

Your report should include the following:

· Explain your research question(s) and any relevant background or context for the research project (you are strongly encouraged to reference appropriately here: show your familiarity with relevant sources).

· Outline briefly what you did in order to investigate those issues, and how you presented your findings.

· Outline your conclusions: what did you find out; could you answer your research question(s)?

· Anything else relevant we should know in order to understand your project.

· Bibliography (not counted in the word count).

Submitting your project
You can submit multiple files to Turnitin. Please make sure file names are clear so we can understand what each file contains.

· Include any ethics clearance/participant consent forms where relevant.

· If you did a seminar presentation or live performance, then please upload something that is indicative of the live content (e.g. slides, scores, chord charts, or a script/notes – just one of these is fine).

· It is your responsibility to make sure your markers can access your work in order to assess it. Remember that Turnitin accepts a maximum file size of 100MB, so if you have a large file (DAW composition or presentation slides for example) then allow yourself time to deal with this before the deadline. We can accept pdfs of slides, for example, or a fully unlocked/shareable OneDrive link for large sound or video files. You can also direct us to weblinks or Vimeo/YouTube video.

Student name:

Musical Cultures option:

Research Project proposal

What area or topic do you wish to research? (Give as much detail as possible, and try to come up with one or two main research questions that summarise the key things you want to find out.)

What approach or format will you use to carry out and/or present the research? (This will vary for different kinds of topic – think about the kinds of sources you’ve been looking at in class to give you some ideas: e.g. a written essay; a composition in a particular style; a concert or performance(s); a video diary; a podcast; recordings; an illustrated seminar presentation…)

Does your project involve other participants (e.g. as interviewees, other performers, a group you will observe etc.)? (If so, you are likely to need to complete the ethics review process and will be given more information on how to do this at the start of term 2 – don’t worry, it is straightforward!)

What will be the key milestones for your project? How will you stay on track to submit on time? (e.g. data collection stage; creative processes; editing; scheduling performances; recruiting participants etc. – what stages do you need to carry out to fulfil your ideas?)

Who else has researched this area? What are some of the key sources for background research or contextual information? (List at least 5-10 sources of reliable information relevant to your research question(s).)