The Importance of Leonard Bernstein within the American music landscape

RESEARCH PAPER INSTRUCTIONS

MUSI 1307-001; Spring 2021

GENERAL INFORMATION

•   As noted in the course syllabus, the research paper accounts for 20% of your final grade.

•   The research paper should be 3-5 pages long, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12.

•   The research paper is due (on Canvas) by 11:30am, on Tuesday, April 27th, 2021.

•   A preliminary bibliography page (HW 4) is due by 11:30am on Thursday, April 8th.

•   Each student is assigned a topic (see below). ABOUT THE SOURCES

•     It is extremely important to have good sources for your research - wikipedia, personal blogs and information that appears on websites without authorship are not examples of good sources.

•     You will be required to use at least five sources in your essay. Of these, at least three need to be printed sources, such as books or journal articles. The rest may be resources available online (such as the Oxford Music Online dictionary).

•     You will need to make a bibliography/works cited page, listing all of the sources you have consulted, whether or not you have quoted them directly in your essay.

•     Within every TJC syllabus, you shall find the following: Academic Integrity disallows the following behaviors:

o 2. Plagiarism, defined as using someone else’s words or ideas without

referencing the source.

•     Make sure to properly cite the sources you use during your essay, acknowledging all the ideas that are not your own but have come from other sources, independently of whether you use these ideas in the form of direct quotations or through paraphrasing.

•   Direct quotations shall be limited to no more than two sentences per quote. ESSAY TOPICS

•     TOPIC 1: Discuss the developments in the genre of opera during the Classical and Romantic periods. Cover issues including (but not limited to) opera types, language, plot subject, melodic and harmonic features, instrumentation. Using examples, discuss the musical output of Mozart, Verdi and Wagner in the various types of opera and the role of each composer in the development of the genre.

•     TOPIC 2: Discuss the role of women musicians during the 19th century. Identifying some of the women musicians of the period, consider their musical contributions and legacy.

•     TOPIC 3: Making use of some of his works to illustrate your ideas, discuss the importance of Leonard Bernstein within the American musical landscape.

•     TOPIC 4: Discuss the developments in the genre of the concerto during the Baroque and Classical periods. Use the works of Vivaldi and Mozart to provide specific examples, highlighting the similarities and differences (style, form etc…).

•     TOPIC 5: Making use of some of his works to illustrate your ideas, discuss the importance of Franz Liszt in music history, and in establishing some of the new musical genres and traditions of the Romantic period.

Students whose last name starts with letters A-H will have a choice between topics 1 and 2. Students whose last name starts with letters I-P will have a choice between topics 3 and 4. Students whose last name starts with letters R-Z will have a choice between topics 4 and 5.