Any Suggestions for Music Elective??

[hwangs]

I'm planning to do an Independent Study at my college with a Professor who is a professional  musicologist. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of study or what area of study (musicology? form and analysis?) would most beneficial to me as a pianist?? I was thinking about something along the lines of "The Evolution of the Concerto in 17th & 18th century" or the concepts of Prelude and Fugues of Bach, Chopin, and Shostakovich. Do these sound reasonable? Any other suggestions? Thank you!

[faulty_damper]

I like the idea of researching the evolution of the concerto.  I'm sure you will have a lot of readily available sources to support your thesis.

Whatever it is, make sure that you have an active interest in actually learning about it, not just for a paper or grade.

Here's a topic that will piss off your piano teachers:
The pedagogical methods of college/conservatory piano instructors compared to private piano teachers.

I was thinking about this topic for my senior thesis because it would certainly be worth analysing comparing how poor piano instruction is in conservatories and universities because they expect the students to already know how to play their instrument.  I've had famous concert pianists as teachers who are still very well respected in their fields but absolutely terrible as teachers.  But the research would be difficult and it would be very difficult to find research related to this topic; it would end up being an opinion page than research.  But best of luck to your topic.

[thalberg]

Okay, a few ideas:

1.  Your ideas are good so far.  
2.  If you're ready, perhaps he can show you a few introductory Schenkerian concepts--linear intervallic patterns, voice exchanges, overlappings, register transfers, and other things you don't need to be an expert to spot.  This is something that will directly improve your playing.  It should not take long.
3.  Species counterpoint.  Always productive to study.
4.  Pick an era and a genre and just go for it.  Baroque Suites, Classical Sonatas, Romantic short pieces, cyclical pieces, show pieces, etc.
5.  You could do an overview of the main aesthetic concepts of each era--the Baroque doctrine of the affections, Classical ideals of ease, balance, symmetry, Romantic longing after the unattainable, etc.

[quantum]

Thalberg has some good suggestions.  Studying species counterpoint gave me a lot of insight on what goes on in a composition regarding thematic content and line.  It makes me want to go back and study counterpoint more. 

Overall the one absolute requirement is that you should be totally interested in the subject you pick.  Writing a paper on something bleh is agonizing.  When your interested the ideas just seem to flow out of your mind so much easier. 


For kicks I'd like to do:
Music or the Musicologist: an anthropological study in the differences of world views between music as experienced by the initiator and music as documented by the observer.   

[hwangs]

Thanks for the ideas!! I definitely would love to study most or all of the suggestions given; Species Counterpoint sounds like a very interesting topic, but wouldn't that be better if I took a class on Counterpoint instead? Schenkerian Concept seems very interesting as well-- Maybe I'll tell my Professor about this.

Again, thank you everyone!

[pianistimo]

usually by the time people become musicologists they have written a book on something or other.  find out his 'specialty' and go for a topic in that area and you'll get the most 'bang for your buck.'  also, you might get a trip out of it.  every time you talk to him/her - bring up concepts that he has brought out in his/her book.  the hundreds of hours of already researched material will bring lots of good new questions to mind - once you digest what he has learned.  that way - you go at whatever you pursue later with a lot of solid information.  (* also, you begin becoming familiar with HOW to research.  it's quite tricky at times and probably requires knowing where the information is kept - around the WORLD.  first of all - start a notebook on remembering how to get into different sites and the passwords you use and methods to get in).

one thing i found out - hard, cold fact.  someone has done it before.  read many thesis and they all start sounding familiar.  lack of time - throw it together - it's #100 in a pile of similar thesis. 

[mcgillcomposer]

I'm planning to do an Independent Study at my college with a Professor who is a professional  musicologist. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what kind of study or what area of study (musicology? form and analysis?) would most beneficial to me as a pianist?? I was thinking about something along the lines of "The Evolution of the Concerto in 17th & 18th century" or the concepts of Prelude and Fugues of Bach, Chopin, and Shostakovich. Do these sound reasonable? Any other suggestions? Thank you!

hwangs,

What are the requirements for this project? I ask because the topics you have chosen are HUGE subjects. In other words, they are topics that one would write an entire book on, not just a ca. 100 page thesis. As a pianist, you have the huge advantage of being able to play through material. As such, your conclusions are more likely to be based on something audible rather than something abstract.

In order to narrow your topics of interest down, why don't you be more specific? For example, there is a very significant evolution in Beethoven's piano concerto writing alone...at least you are now limited to 5 concertos instead of hundreds. In any case, this is just an example, but you definitely need to hone in on something more specific.

On another note, I have written many essays and one 220 page thesis, so if you need any assistance or suggestions for reference material, I am willing to help you out. Of course, you also have your advisor (prof.) for that .

Good luck!

[soliloquy]

How bout the bridges/gaps of vertical to horizontal (or if you're really adventurous, the return to vertical) composition and the reasoning behind this, and how it effected the aural aesthetics of the music?