lease see the end of the Course Outline for general information about this project, which results in a research paper worth 20% of your grade.

Your project must include some contact with a live musician or group of musicians or others involved with music in your community (see text pp. 365-366). Your proposal should be a brief (50 words or so) outline of your topic. A topic is narrower than a subject (see text p. 369). It needs to be defined fairly clearly to guide you in your investigation and to help you organize your material.

For example, here’s a subject that is too broad: Music in Vietnamese Churches in Stockton. An acceptable topic might be: The Use of Traditional Instruments in a Vietnamese Church in Stockton. Many others are possible, but it’s usually worse to pick a topic that is too broad than one that is too narrow. Questions? Email me. And submit your project proposals in the courses as a Word attachment. Thanks!

Please access the Research Project Guidelines and Grading Rubric in the Course Resources section of this course for additional information on this assignment.

Click on the “Week Four Assignment – Field Research Proposal” link above to submit your assignment, as well to get more information regarding the due date and grading rubric.

so he add this note to this

Have you ever attended a Pow Wow? Do you have some Native American blood in you? If so perhaps you would like to research your ancestral roots and how music is part of it. Most tribes have an official “song teacher” (male or female) whose passion is to faithfully teach the tribe’s songs to the next generation.

Or, I imagine there are many different kinds of ethnic restaurants where you live. This is your opportunity to choose a totally different kind of religion and ethnic group to find your musician to interview. Once you explain to them that this is an official part of your course work they will probably want to help you and consent to an interview and answer all your questions.

In the next few days I hope to hear from you in a simple email sharing with me (1) what subject you would like to pursue and (2) how to plan to go about it. Chapter 11 in our book is very helpful on this, as are all the details provided in Week Four of the left hand margin menu. (3) Show me how this will stretch you a bit and take you out of your comfort zone.

Please take time to (4) consult the grading rubric for the research project (Week Four) so you can satisfy it and earn top points. You will find this in Course Resources in the left hand margin of our home page. Most students really enjoy this particular assignment and I hope you will too. If you are still struggling with what to do may I suggest an easy yet very good subject? Simply interview a music teacher in a local public school. They are very dedicated, well-trained and eager to share with you how they got to this point in life and what their goals are for the present and future. They will be happy to take the time to share with you too!

By now you have figured out that this course emphasizes individual research as a supplement to what you learn in the podcasts and textbook. Here at NU we are always interested in depth, detail and documentation.