INFORMATION LITERACY IN WORLD MUSIC
 READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS
 

Week 13: A Research Proposal Statement

Now that you have seen what grants are available to study and conduct research in the county you have chosen, your final assignment will be to write a draft proposal statement for one of those grants.  This proposal may be used as the formal plan for a dissertation or thesis, or to apply for a grant.  Following the actual rules of the program you have chosen (for example for the Fulbright Grants), write a draft proposal statement.   The sections of your proposal statement may include:

Project Description:  Tell what you plan to do.

Justification:  Tell why this is important to do.

Methodology:  Tell how you’re going to do it.   Field recording?  Video?  Interviews?  Archives?  Libraries?   Is it necessary to travel to do this project?  …

Outcomes:  What will be the eventual “product” of your research?  Article? Book? Recording?  Film?  Dissertation?  Thesis?

Qualifications:  Why are you able to do this project?   Do you have the necessary experience?   Training?   Language skills?

Supporting materials:  Complete Curriculum Vitae, record of previous work (publications, training, previous grants…), letters of recommendation, etc.

Think of this assignment as doing it "for real", because the experience of writing a grant will always be useful in writing subsequent grants.  The proposal statement should be kept within the limits of the granting agency, for example the Fulbright requires that the project statement be no more than two single-spaced typewritten pages (four double-spaced pages).   Please examine the web site of the granting agency for all the rules, and tips in writing the grant.

Since this will take some time and thought,  I will give you three weeks to complete the proposal.   Think of it as the final project for the course.   It will be due May 3rd.

Week 12: Preparing for Fieldwork

So far I have had you find bibliographical resources.  This week it gets real.  Imagine that you would like to make a fieldtrip to the county you've chosen.  What are the finding opportunities?   I will give you one important one:  The "Fulbright Programs"  Their main web site is at http://www.iie.org/    Please examine their site thoroughly.   There are grants for students and also for faculty.    They are arranged and vary from country to country.   Also, check the WWW for other organizations that may fund your research.   Write a brief essay about what you found.    Where would you apply if you were doing this "for real"?   What are the positives and negatives for each grant?

Week 11: Ethnomusicology Archives

Explore the following web-sites of ethnomusicology archives

1. Indiana University Archives of Traditional Music:   http://www.indiana.edu/~libarchm/

2. UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive:  http://www.ethnomusic.ucla.edu/Archive/

3. American Folklife Center (at the Library of Congress):  http://www.loc.gov/folklife/

4. Add TWO additional archives on your own (you may use the list on pp. 417-20 in Ethnomusicology: An Introduction, ed. Helen Myers to search) 

5. Write a brief essay describing the quality of these archives for your research project.  Consider the following questions:  Do they have any collections pertaining to the music of the county you have chosen?  Do they have any “digital” collections your can listen to at home?  What are their policies for collection and use? 

Week 10: Sound Recordings and Video

Assignment:

1. Using on-line catalogs, (PILOT and WorldCat) make a discography and videography of the sound recordings and videos found in the libraries on the music of the country you’ve chosen.  Are there any specialized discographies or videographies available in book form?

2. Examine the “Current Discography” and “Current Filmography / Videography” sections at the Society for Ethnomusicology web-site:

http://webdb.iu.edu/sem/scripts/publications/ographies/ographies.cfm

3. Check the WWW for any additional sound recordings or videos of he music of the country you’ve chosen and add them to your discography and videography.

Week 9: Theses and Dissertations

Assignment:

1. Using Pro-Quest Digital Dissertations (found on the IUP Libraries Indexes and Databases page), find appropriate theses and dissertations on your research topic.  Compile them into a bibliography in proper form and add annotations based on the abstracts you find as well as those theses and dissertations that may be in our library.

2. Using the WorldCat search engine (also on the Indexes and Databases page) check for additional theses and dissertations with the book subject headings you used in Assignment 5.

3. Using the SEM Guide to Programs in Ethnomusicology, pick three major universities and check their on-line catalogs for additional theses and dissertations. Also check the WWW in general.   Did you find any additional theses or dissertations?

Two additional places to look:  The journal Ethnomusicology published an annual listing of theses and dissertations in the first issue (No. 1) of each volume (year), up to 2001.  Also know about the book:  Gillis, Frank and Alan P. Merriam.  Ethnomusicology and Folk Music: An International Bibliography of Dissertations and Theses.   (REF) ML 128 .E8 G5
 

Week 6: Journal Articles: Indexes and Abstracts

Read the “Preface” and “Introduction” from Ann Schuursma's Ethnomusicology Research ([REF] ML 128 .E8 S4 1992) and the "Introduction" to page 6 (skipping over the many bibliographical citations) in Jennifer Post's Ethnomusicology: Research and Information Guide ([REF] ML 128 .E8 P67 2004).  Write a paragraph on what the main interests and publications have been about in ethnomusicology since Jaap Kunst's time (1950 to the present).

Assignment:

Using the Music Index, RILM, IIMP and Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums, find appropriate journal articles for your research topic country.  Compile them into a bibliography in proper form and add annotation for those articles that you find in the library. 

Check the WWW for journals in ethnomusicology and indexes for them.  Did you find just the citations, or full text?   Please include citations in your bibliography for the additional journal articles you find on-line.

(NOTE:  This doesn't have to be a final and definitive list -- be selective and give me just the best or most important articles you've found for this assignment).

Week 5: Books: World Music Subject Headings

Read: 

Rahkonen “World and Ethnic Music: Section III: Subject Access to World Music” (also on the course Web site).

Assignment:

1. Using the Library of Congress Subject Headings, develop a list of subject hearings for the country you have chosen as well as the type(s) of music you have chosen.

2. Using these subject headings, find books in the IUP Libraries on the music of the country you have chosen.

3. Using WorldCat on the IUP databases page, find additional books on your country.

4. Using resources on the WWW (such as Amazon.com) find additional books on your country.

5. Including book titles you found in the encyclopedia articles, turn in a bibliography in proper bibliographical form, with brief annotations for each book.  (NOTE:  This doesn't have to be a final and definitive list -- be selective and give me just the best or most important books you've found for this assignment).

Week 4: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

1. Examine the first 78 pages of Japp Kunst Ethnomusicology (Kunst invented the term) skipping over the many bibliographical citations.  What were the main interests of Kunst’s time?

2. Pick a country of the world.

3. Find and read the articles about that country in the major music dictionaries and encyclopedias.  Also begin collecting bibliography from these articles.

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1980
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2^nd ed. 2001
The Harvard Dictionary of Music 1969
The New Harvard Dictionary of Music 1986
The Harvard Dictionary of Music 4^th ed. 2003
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 1998 -2002
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart 1949-1986
Dir Musik in Geschichte und Genenwart 2^nd ed. 1995--

4. Write a brief paragraph on how well your country is documented in these reference works.

Week 3: The World Wide Web as a Framework

Readings:  Rahkonen “What is World Music?” In World Music in Music Libraries.  Articles: “Short History of the Internet” and “History of the World Wide Web” or you may substitute similar articles by searching the World Wide Web.  Write a paragraph about what you learned about the  Internet Information Revolution.

Using various search engines for the World Wide Web, answer the following:

1. What is “Information Literacy”?
2. Find three good sites for ethnomusicology.

Please describe your search strategies.  Try different search keys and different search engines.  Which ones work the best?  Why?

Week 2: Definitions, History, and Scope of World Music Scholarship

Readings:  Read List “A Secular Sermon…” in reserve in the music library.  Read the “Ethnomusicology article in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2^nd ed., examine the same article the NG1, and in the Harvard Dictionary of Music and the New Harvard Dictionary of Music.  Be prepared to discuss this in class.

Assignment:  Chose ONE of the “classic” texts in ethnomusicology and will write a one-page report about it.  What kinds of topics does the author find important?  What are the theoretical foundations of the book?  What methodologies does the author promote?

Merriam, Alan P.  The Anthropology of Music.  Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1964.

Nettl, Bruno.  Theory and Method in Ethnomusicology.  New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1964.

_______.  The Study of Ethnomusicology: Twenty-Nine Issues and Concepts.  Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1983.

Hood, Mantle.  The Ethnomusicologist.  New York:  McGraw Hill, 1971; Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1982.