Foundations of Music Creation Focus + Production Concentration

Senior Comprehensive Project Proposal:

You will be emailed a proposal submission link and directions by October 15, and submit your proposal by November 15. If your committee requires you to revise your proposal, your updated documents will be due by February 15. Please submit the following:

1. Senior Comprehensive Analytic Paper Annotated Bibliography: Please submit an annotated bibliography that includes ten relevant peer-reviewed scholarly sources that map out the existing literature on your topic. This bibliography should ideally include 2–3 canonical sources that cover a broader background related to your topic, as well as more specific sources relating to your exact argument or methods. Annotations should indicate both the point of view of the author(s), critical evaluation of the source, and the pertinence of the article/chapter/book to your proposed essay. An annotation’s length may range from several sentences to a few paragraphs, depending on the source. These sources should be cited in Chicago style. Submit as a PDF. 
    
2. Senior Comprehensive Analytic Paper Proposal: Please submit a 250-350 word proposal for an argument-driven academic essay that will engage with and contribute to recent and relevant scholarship in the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, sound studies, and/or music theory. You will need to engage with the ideas of specific authors from your bibliography in your proposal. A central goal of the proposal is to describe the current state of research on this area and articulate how you will do something new that adds to this literature. Your paper must include some musical analysis and you should indicate which repertoire of music will be the focus of your essay. You should propose a project that can be successfully argued within 2,500 words. Submit as a PDF. This paper is completed in MUSC 490.
    
3. Project proposal: Describe your project, which should be 30-40 minutes in length. You may propose an album, EP, group of singles, mixed media project, video game cues, etc. The choice of format is up to the student, however the portfolio must be designed as an audience-facing body of work. 25% of the pieces must be collaborative (i.e cowriting, recording other musicians, etc.). Please Identify any changes in mixing/mastering/production that you anticipate will be necessary to complete the project.

4. Portfolio: Please submit a portfolio of 30-40 minutes of recordings (mp3s) and related materials (PDFs for lyrics). 50% must be produced as part of a class or under the supervision of faculty the Music faculty.

 

Senior Comprehensive Project: 

At the beginning of the academic year, students will be assigned a date for their presentations.

1. Submission of Materials: Four weeks before the presentation,  students must digitally submit the following for review (students will receive a link to digitally submit their materials by February 15th). Student will receive written feedback on these files within one week of submission.
        a: Required analytic paper (produced in MUSC 490)
        b: Print ready liner notes including abstract: A 250 word abstract succinctly describing the portfolio impetus and theme must lead the liner notes. Students will write liner notes for each track with details about each piece, including the duration and credits to contributing instrumentalists and any collaborating songwriters/producers. For each piece include a brief description, explaining the production background and how choices in texture, instrumentation, arrangement and engineering reflect the themes underlying this collection of music. Use this document as a template. Students may also choose to write about the poetic themes if lyrics are included.
        c: A portfolio: Submit recorded music totaling 30-40 minutes in length. Each piece must have a title, and the audio files should be formatted to reflect those titles without unnecessary file extensions like “v2”, “finalMix”, etc. If the pieces are formatted as an album, the album itself also needs a title.
    
2. Presentation: Students will give a final presentation, totalling 20-25 minutes in length, which selects the most exemplary music of their portfolio to demonstrate the breadth of their work to their faculty and colleagues. The presentation will be given using PowerPoint (or similar), outlining central themes of the student’s work, audio/visual examples, and a track-by-track analysis—drawn from the liner notes—as it relates to the core focus of the portfolio. The presentation must address production choices, outside influences, and relation to any current musical genres, styles, and traditions. Slide requirements may be found here.
   
   Finalized liner notes to share with the audience during the students’ presentation via QR code must be submitted to Noelle by email at least two weeks before the presentation date. You may redesign this format with approval from Noelle.
    
3. Assessment: Recordings will be assessed to determine whether the student uses appropriate input levels, stereo imaging, and microphone technique. Audio files will also be assessed according to the commercial standards for mixing and mastering. A passing portfolio must have no weak signal and no clipping at the master or track levels. The loudness at the output stage should peak no higher than -0.1 dB on the master VU meter, and the average loudness should range between -14 and -9 LUFS in the louder moments. Some variations of this rule are allowed, depending on the customary standards of the musical genres covered in the portfolio.
   
   Each senior project component is graded Pass with Distinction (PD), Pass (P), or Fail (F). The portfolio is worth 60%, the presentation 10%, the comps paper 20%, and the liner notes 10%. Notwithstanding your comps paper counting for only 20% of your overall comps assessment, you must receive a PD or P on your comps paper in order to receive a PD or P as your final comps grade. In other words, you cannot pass your comps with a failing comps paper.