Playing Skill of Clarinet Rigoletto Fantasia

Paper details:

Write something about this clarinet concerto ‘Rigoletto’. I

Table of Contents
Concise Overview of the Thesis Semesters 3
Getting Started 4
First Semester: Research Methods (MUS 707) 4
Obligations of the Student and the Thesis Advisor
Annotated Bibliography 5
Research Proposal 5
Research Outline 6
Checklist of the procedures prior to the Thesis Seminar (MUS 708) 7
Second Semester: Thesis Seminar (MUS 708) 8
The Thesis Project
The Role of the Thesis Advisor 8
The Role of the Readers 9
Writing the Abstract 9
Submitting the Finished Thesis 9
Appendix A: Timeline of Procedures and Deadlines 10
Appendix B: Page Formatting for the Graduate Thesis 11
Appendix C: Thesis Title Page 12
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Concise Overview of the Thesis Semesters
The graduate thesis project is a two-semester commitment between the student and a
three-member faculty thesis committee. The courses that comprise this process are Research
Methods (MUS 707) and Thesis Seminar (MUS 708). These courses, culminating in the
satisfactory completion of the thesis research document, are among the required elements toward
earning the M.A. degree. For the candidates in the M.S. Music Education program the thesis is
an optional component of the degree requirements. For that reason, the decision to pursue this
path must be approved by the Director of Music Education for those in the M.S. program.
During the Research Methods semester the student meets with the thesis advisor for
approximately one hour of dedicated time per week. (Depending on the discretion of the thesis
advisor, the scheduling of the meetings can be modified to different intervals.) The student, with
the supervision of the advisor, composes a research description, develops a bibliography or other
appropriate research strategies, and critically reviews the work in progress. Under the guidance
of the thesis advisor the project may sharpen focus, be expanded, or the direction amended. The
active involvement of the advisor as mentor is essential. The end product of this semester is an
annotated bibliography, research proposal, and outline (the recommended length and scope are
discussed later).
During the following Thesis Seminar semester the student, again with weekly input and
ongoing supervision from the thesis advisor, transforms the research notes and findings into a
formal research paper, the thesis. In addition, two faculty readers join the thesis advisor,
collectively forming the student’s thesis committee. Each member of the thesis committee
reviews the student’s work and contributes with suggestions about improving content and style.
Guidelines about the distinct roles and responsibilities of the thesis advisor and the
readers are given in the next sections.
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Getting Started
The thesis preparation formally begins when the student in the graduate music program
seeks out a faculty thesis advisor who possesses expertise in the subject area of the thesis and
able to provide guidance through the research process. The thesis advisor is selected by the
student in consultation with and approval by the Graduate Advisor/Program Director and the
Department Chair. When contacting the faculty member the student must present a brief, onepage
written description of the projected research. The faculty member is urged to be receptive to
the request by discussing with the student the potential and any preliminary thoughts about the
research. It is essential that the faculty member and student be able to work together in cordial,
respectful, and professional way. If you are not comfortable with a particular student or project,
do not accept the request. Once a faculty member agrees to mentor the thesis project, the student
may register for the course Research Methods (MUS 707) by contacting the Graduate Advisor.
Faculty workloads are then submitted by the Department, to be approved by the Dean of the
School of Visual and Performing Arts.
First Semester
Research Methods (MUS 707)
Obligations of the Student and the Thesis Advisor
From the very beginning of the semester, the thesis advisor should work with the student
to define and plan the project in clear terms, sharing ideas on the purpose and scope of the study,
and mapping out a plan to achieve the goals. In the nascent stage it is often productive to start
with a set of specific critical questions that can potentially serve to clarify the intent and
meaningfulness of the research. When students start with research questions it helps to define
their interest and intent. In the quest to answer the questions the research can become more
focused. The end product of this first semester is the annotated bibliography, research proposal,
and outline plan of the thesis. The thesis advisor issues a semester grade based on the quality of
these documents and work demonstrated in the weekly meetings. Therefore it is the obligation of
the thesis advisor to meet with the student for about an hour a week on a consistent basis
throughout the semester. Ideally a regular office hour appointment at the same time each week
should be arranged. During this semester the student brings the results of his or her bibliographic
study or creative work. In some sessions there might be discussions about a book or article.
Other sessions might be devoted to writing the annotations or discussions on framing the
structure of the thesis. As the faculty mentor, the one who supervises the project, the thesis
advisor should be providing suggestions for books/articles to be read, guiding strategy,
examining the directions of research, etc. The student is expected to come each week with
materials to review and discuss. To maximize the progress through such meetings, it is important
that the advisor also review the reading materials in order to provide critical insights and
scholarly advice. As the student begins to write annotations, the advisor should examine them
critically and comment on any merits or problems, with recommendations.
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Annotated Bibliography
The format of the annotations should be in bibliographic form. Nearly all of the
professional scholarly publications in the music discipline adhere to the Chicago Manual of Style.
Therefore it is strongly recommended that the Master’s thesis produced in our Department also
conform to this writing style, as articulated in Kate Turabian’s A Manual for Writers of
Research papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers (7th
edition). It is essential that both the faculty advisor and the student have access to this reference
book and understand the application of this style format.
In general, each annotation should run from about a half page to a full page in length. It
should summarize and interpret the usefulness of the information or perspective that the student
expects to extract from the reading for the thesis. Students writing annotations should practice
correct citation of both paraphrase and direct quotations. The more specific and developed the
annotation, the better prepared the student will be to write the thesis from these notes. It is
strongly encouraged that the student produce fully developed annotations that include critical
commentary on the reading. Each annotation should indicate how this reading contributes to the
thesis. Understanding how each element is related to the project as a whole is most helpful to the
final writing of the thesis. Thus an annotation is more than a synopsis; it is a critical evaluation,
informed interpretation, and thoughtful reflection. It is also the basis of the Bibliography section
of the finished thesis.
Quantity of the annotations can vary, but in general a minimum of twenty-five are
expected. In this matter the advisor should recommend the appropriate amount and scope of the
annotations, based on the particulars of the research. A student who cannot find more than a
handful of books or articles on a subject may be in need of more detailed instructions from the
advisor on the search process. Another possibility is that the subject area may need to be
expanded or altered. The student is encouraged to develop as full a bibliography as possible. In
most cases, theses based on fewer than twenty sources often prove too thin. However, in certain
research areas there may be exceptions. As the student submits annotations (which should be
done regularly throughout the semester), the advisor should review them for relevance, factual
content, critical reasoning, and effective writing style. It is easier to find and correct potential
problems or weaknesses during this stage. The student must not hand in all the annotations for
the first time during the last few weeks of the semester. This manner of work needs to be an ongoing
process, understood and practiced by both the student and the advisor.
Research Proposal
The proposal is a short essay of about 400-500 words in which the student explains what
he or she plans to do. The proposal should state the thesis statement directly and explain the
methodology and arguments that the student will utilize to support the thesis. The thesis
statement is a topic sentence which represents the main point of the paper: the central,
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controlling idea with which every word in the paper must relate.1 Although the student may start
the research with a certain thesis in mind, this may be transformed through the semester work of
readings, analysis, and critical thinking which may coalesce around a particular perspective or
position. Therefore, the thesis statement and research proposal must grow out of the student’s
work devoted to the preliminary readings and the annotated bibliography.
Research Outline
Writing a clear and convincing thesis based on one’s research is a long and complex
process. It is possible that as the student becomes more and more involved in focusing the
research findings around a single idea, it may become evident that additional supplementary
research is required to refine and better support the central idea. Even if further research is not
necessary, the process of organizing and writing a good research paper takes considerable time
and planning. Therefore, the all-important decisions—about what direction the paper will take,
what the thesis will be, what evidence the student will use to support and defend the thesis, and
other essentials decisions about what to include and what to leave out—are made by constructing
a coherent outline.
An outline presents in a distilled graphic form the arguments the student will use in the
course of developing the thesis, the most effective order in which these will be presented, and in
general, the way the research paper will proceed. The more the student thinks about and revises
the outline, the more forceful the final thesis will be. Experimenting with a different order, even
different content matter, is relatively easy at the outline stage, but nearly impossible later, when
the student is too invested in his or her completed form of the thesis.
A good outline uses numbers, letters, and different levels of indentation to convey topical
groups and levels of hierarchy. Each element at the heading level should have more than one
subheading entry; if there is only one, it probably does not constitute a heading, and the student
should find another way to include that idea or consider leaving it out. The outline should begin
with a statement of the thesis at the top. The main level of headings should be the major ideas
that support the thesis (these should not overlap with other headings or subheadings that follow).
Subheadings under these major ideas should list the related areas that are intended to support the
major ideas in the headings above them. A good outline strengthens, connects, and articulates the
various parts of the research to create a unified, coherent document of sound scholarship. Time
and effort devoted to refining the outline will have an immediate and noticeable effect on the
quality of the thesis.
The foregoing three elements (Annotated Bibliography, Research Proposal, and Outline)
comprise the portfolio for Research Methods. A copy is to be submitted to the Graduate Advisor