We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.
Arthur O’Shaughnessy, “Ode” from Music and Moonlight
All of us … can understand and feel the joy of being carried forward by the flow of music. Our love of music is bound up with its forward motion … To stop the flow of music would be like the stopping of time itself, incredible and inconceivable.
Aaron Copland, “The Pleasures of Music”
Summary
This chapter describes the undergraduate research environment and where music fits into it, reframing some of the excellent creative work already being done in college and university music schools as faculty-mentored scholarship. Within that context, we explain the importance of undergraduate research, its desired learning outcomes, and how knowledge and art are created in the field of music. As readers of this book will discover, conducting research is certainly not limited to the sciences and related fields. Music students from their first year through final year can also participate in the thrill of discovering new knowledge and the engaging scholarly process otherwise known as undergraduate research. Undergraduate research is an interactive pedagogy that has been shown to be more engaging and successful than traditional classroom lecture-style learning.
Where Music Fits into the Undergraduate Research Movement
As learning in college becomes more active, and students desire greater input into their own education, undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activities (URSCA) have become more significant. Since search engines like Google can help students find a plethora of content, and YouTube provides a great array of music and instruction at our fingertips, learning how to actually create knowledge, how to tap into our creativity, and how to advance the discipline of music, should take center stage, so to speak.
An undergraduate music degree, therefore, would not be complete without a substantial exploration into the discovery of knowledge in a variety of topics, from the way new music is created to historical revelations or rediscoveries in the field. Music majors should be engaged in innovative techniques, analyses, and practices throughout their degree programs. Although in-depth study is often undertaken in the latter part of an undergraduate program, ideally students should be exposed to the act of discovery and creation as often as possible throughout the music degree program. Early and frequent opportunities to think with creativity, imagination, and originality have been shown to influence further successful learning and study.
When students are asked about their vision for how they would like to learn, many say they want it to be exciting, applicable, social, and interactive. Doing group projects, working alongside professors, having input instead of passively listening, and helping to chart their own pathways, can all be components of undergraduate research in music.
When employers are asked what skills they want future employees to have, many list teamwork, creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, as well as written and oral communication. All of these can be strengthened by a real academic experience in undergraduate research and creative activity.
There are many different terms for “research,” including inquiry, creative activity, and creative scholarship. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, though scholars in various disciplines often have preferences for the ways they describe their work. Many people involved in the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), especially in its Arts and Humanities division, use the acronym URSCA: undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity. Whether you prefer one term over another, or your university has a program that uses certain terms, the term itself does not matter as much as what is it indicates: scholarly work that is faculty-mentored, original, disciplinarily appropriate, and disseminated (Osborn & Karukstis, 2009). We generally avoid some of the specifically scientific terms such as hypothesis and methodology when composing a string quartet, for example, and could substitute terms such as background research, motivic development, and compositional technique. Students of music or any other field also benefit from the cross-pollination that occurs when considering how undergraduate research is practiced in disciplines that are quite different from their own, and when they explore the different terminology.
Opportunities for Original Research in Music
How can students do something original when professors, scholars, composers, theorists, and other music practitioners have already done so much research? ?One way is to take an interdisciplinary approach, viewing music from the perspective of another discipline. For example there has been little research published on the correlations between music and economics. Music and the brain offers topics that are ripe for discovery, especially with new advances in medical technology that allow even undergraduates the opportunity to view brain-wave activity while students are playing music. One example of this kind of interdisciplinarity began in 1991 when J.B. Bancroft, an architecture professor, approached me (Young) and said, “Have you heard the quote ‘Architecture is frozen music’?” I said yes, and we started a small research project centered on terminology and sources of inspiration that were common to both disciplines. This led to us teaching an undergraduate research seminar for eight music majors and eight architecture majors. After helping us flesh out the important correlations between the two disciplines, the music majors were required to compose a piece of music based on a building, and the architecture majors had to design a building based on music they chose. Much of the student work was published in Leonardo Music Journal, an MIT journal, and the professors were invited to lecture in Italy, Tasmania, and Japan (Bancroft, Young & Sanderson, 1993). Thinking about other possibilities for interdisciplinary seminars, what subjects could be paired with music??Or another way of thinking about it is, are there any that could not be paired with music? Chapter 11 of this book is focused on interdisciplinarity.
Students do not have to follow such an interdisciplinary path, however. There are many standard activities in undergraduate music programs that students and professors have been engaged in for decades that have not been generally regarded as undergraduate research. An example would be analyzing a piece of music and then using it as a model to create a new composition. This practice goes back centuries, along with other similar activities, like arranging a piece of music for a different ensemble.
Almost every campus now has some sort of annual student-research symposium, and while they were formerly focused on scientific research, they are increasingly campus-wide events open to students of all majors. This change has been accompanied by a parallel movement toward greater involvement by students in independent research mentored by professors, as well as projects that assist in or complement faculty research. The symposia that feature student research presentations sometimes consist solely of posters, where music students have to try to fit their presentation into a science-based format. On other campuses, a variety of delivery modes are available, including recitals, oral presentations, performances, and videos. Whatever the format, with a little creativity, music students should be able to present in a way that allows them to communicate the results of their work effectively. Many universities and colleges are now stressing the importance of undergraduate research thoughout the campus, and students in most disciplines are doing research as a regular part of their education and presenting their findings publicly. Music majors likewise benefit from joining in. Campus-wide celebrations of undergraduate research are still dominated by the sciences and related fields. These symposia could be enhanced with greater contributions from the arts, including a variety of music projects. And directors of such events are often open to the idea of adding special venues for music-related projects and allowing different methods of delivery.
Can Undergraduate Research Benefit the Student and the Professor?
More and more, universities are emphasizing the integration of scholarship and teaching, linking student learning with the discovery of knowledge, and making active learning a hallmark experience of an undergraduate degree. One of the best ways to accomplish all of these is to have a professor carve out a small piece of his/her own larger research project, and assign it to a student. Examples abound in chemistry, where researchers can be much more productive in the laboratory with the help of undergraduate researchers, and the students learn the complex process of original research in their field. In the arts and humanities, and particularly in music, professors often view their research/creativity as individual scholarly pursuits, and published articles and musical compositions are usually listed with only one author/composer. However, with a little creativity, win–win situations can be created that increase productivity for the professors and that provide first-hand experience on the front lines of the creation of art or original research for the students. The famous Pastoral Symphony (Symphony no. 3) by Ralph Vaughan-Williams contains some contributions by the then undergraduate student Neil Van Allen, who was a copyist. Several times, when he was unsure of the master’s sketches, he asked him about the notes, and Vaughan Williams said, “Dear boy, by now you know my style, just put in what you think I would do.” Another example occurred when I (Young) enrolled an undergraduate researcher, Samantha Tschida, to help survey students and faculty on the benefits of learning to perform from memory. The resulting article was published in a national journal (Young, 2003) and subsequently reprinted in two German journals (Young, 2004, 2006). This article would not have been written without this teacher–student collaboration, and the student was able to list the article and the activity on her resume.
Senior Capstone Course
University music curricula often have some kind of final course in the senior year, with titles such as senior recital, senior thesis, senior project, or capstone. Although not often referred to as undergraduate research, these most often are exactly that. Students preparing a senior recital are often required to write their own program notes; composition students need to be able to write some kind of artist statement explaining their process; music history and theory majors have a writing or analysis requirement; and the list goes on. Much of what we do in courses like this could be presented at campus, regional, national, or international conferences, because it represents the discovery of knowledge. See the sample capstone course and learning outcomes in the preface.
This particular course, whatever the format, is often cited as the most impactful single course in the curriculum for music majors. It is also viewed by many as the most challenging, both in terms of creative thinking and final product expectations.
How to Use this Text
Although intended as a text for senior project or senior capstone courses, this text can fulfill other functions. It should be an interesting read for all music majors, whatever their particular focus, and it can also be used as a reference for particular subject areas. The sample abstracts at the end of the topic chapters are just a beginning, there are many more online and in print. This text might also give students and faculty members ideas about other things they can do to increase the visibility and activity on their own campuses with respect to undergraduate research in music.
Conclusion
As the participation of music majors in undergraduate research increases, and the familiarity of that term as an umbrella term for many of the creative and scholarly activities we pursue, music degrees will become more engaging, more challenging, and more fun. Music will be viewed more as a scholarly activity by people in other disciplines and less as a service field when music is needed for a particular event.
Questions for Discussion
1 What is the difference between creativity in science and creativity in music?
2 How do the terms inquiry, creativity, scholarship, and research differ?
3 Why do employers prefer students who have done undergraduate research?
4 Do all professors do research, and how much do they need to do?
