Guidlines for Final Project
Imagine you are an ethnomusicologist interested in a specific music culture. How would you go about understanding that music culture in order to communicate intelligently about it? Of course, there are many layers to understanding a music culture (or anything else for that matter!). For example, many ethnomusicologists return again and again to their research areas, visiting the people that shared so many personal details with them and gaining new insight into what changes and/or developments that may have occurred. Contacting a representative of a music culture, conducting interviews, filming performances, etc. is conducting fieldwork. Essentially, you are going out into the "field" (Santa Barbara) in order to intelligently understand and thoughtfully communicate about people making music, and this entails several requirements:
Detailed descriptions of the performance event(s)
Contact with the performer(s)
Interview(s) with the performer(s)
Gratitude (gifts?) shown to your research participants
1. If you don't know who you're going to interview, observe a musical performance of any sort and make notes about it. Like the concert attendance observations you have been writing for class, make an attempt to observe all observable phenomena during the performance. Through these observations you should be able to come up with specific questions to ask the performer(s). If nothing during the performance itself strikes you, you can pursue a different approach. All human beings have stories. Perhaps you could find out what inspired them to become musicians, how they learned, what their goals are, etc.
2. Make contact with a person, or persons, that makes music in Santa Barbara. The person(s) and type of music is completely your choice, so make it interesting for yourself! Examples include: street performers, bar bands, party bands, restaurant musicians, concert hall musicians, etc.
Introduce yourself and your intended project. BE HONEST about your intentions and goals from the very beginning. Inquire about the possibility of an interview(s) that you can record, since you will need exact quotes for your paper. Be respectful and gracious, they are giving you a gift, a part of their lives.
3. Conduct an interview. Any cassette player with a built-in or external microphone will do fine. If you have a minidisc recorder or some other component even better (maybe they have one you can use during the interview?). Recording the interview is crucial because taking notes or relying on your memory will not accurately represent your interviewee's words. This is slander.
It is very important that you have prepared questions before you meet with the person(s), and it is equally important that you be prepared for the interview to turn any direction the person may want it to go! This is a fact of fieldwork: what you have arduously designed always has the potential to fall apart at a moment's notice and turn out completely different than planned. Be open, aware, and flexible!
4. Make plans to try to see the person(s) perform again or to have another interview. Once the writing begins, you might be surprised by how many questions you still have or details you might have missed regarding their instruments, clothing, etc. It could be as simple as making a phone call during the night you are writing your paper in order to verify some detail.
5. Write your paper. Use a 12 point font (Times New Roman), double space, and set your margins to one inch all around. Your paper should be organized in the following way:
a. Introduction: explain your project, introduce the performer(s) and the music you have researched. Perhaps explain why you chose this music culture and any other information we might find interesting. Don't be afraid to discuss any problems you may have experienced; this is part of the fieldwork experience, remember!!!
b. Description: describe the performance event in detail, but try to keep it pertinent to whatever topics you might be addressing in the coming paragraphs. Desciribe the performers, audience, venue, material culture, etc. Contextualize this music for us.
c. Performer's Description: include direct quotes (THIS IS A REQUIREMENT!) from your interviewee(s). These can be organized any way you like (interspersed in "a" above or "b" above, etc.), as long as it's coherent (basically, the quotes should be relevant to your project, following the same train of thought that your paper is pursuing).
d. Conclusion: This is not a research paper, so "conclusion" might be inappropriate here. Essentially, you want to close your paper with some of the main points that stand out in your fieldwork experience. Don't hesitate to include the "I" in your papers, discussing what worked, what didn't, any surprises, and revelations.
You should use the musical terminology and concepts discussed in class where appropriate.
Links for Writing and Grammar guidelines
1. http://webster.commnet.edu/mla/index.shtml
2. http://www.refdesk.com/factgram.html
on campus:
C.L.A.S. Campus Learning Assistance Services (they will read your papers and offer good advice)