MUSC 490 Senior Seminar

In this fall semester seminar students will work through a staged process to complete a draft of their senior comprehensive paper. In this critical persuasive essay students will engage recent scholarship in the fields of musicology ethnomusicology and/or music theory in order to develop and support an original thesis. Students undertaking research and/or fieldwork for their senior comprehensive projects will produce a complete draft of their twenty-five page (6250 word) critical essay. Students undertaking composition conducting instrumental or vocal recitals for their student comprehensive project will write a thesis-driven ten-page (2500 word) paper that explores a musical topic related to the materials they will present. Recitalists will also research and produce a draft of their recital program with program notes while composers will complete their recital portfolio and begin work on their recital program. Over the course of the semester students will discuss and share their work as well as analyze and discuss exemplary academic papers program notes liner notes and music reviews in order to develop their ability to write about music for academic and non-academic audiences in compelling ways.