Senior Research Project

During their senior year, all music majors enroll in Music 94 (Senior Research Topics). This course culminates in a project that normally consists of the study of a single musical work or cultural style (selected in advance by the student, subject to the approval of the department) which demonstrates skills in the three areas of analysis, historical or socio-cultural research, and performance. Students give a public presentation and performance to share what they have learned and practiced with the community.

Recent projects have included:

  • Existencia como resistencia: Una mirada hacia el son jarocho​ [Existence as Resistance: A Look Toward Son Jarocho]
  • ​Melding Styles with a Melting Cake: "Macarthur Park" and Ideas of "Badness"
  • Elements of Bach in the Compositions of Nina Simone: A Study of “Return Home” and “Images”

  • Finding Frederick Delius: Constructions of Englishness and Cosmopolitanism in Music

  • Cyclic and Narrative Structure in “Tabuh Sekar Eled”

  • Navigating and Negotiating Whiteness in 1950’s America: Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and Jewish Identity in West Side Story