 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-01-25 12:43
Hi all,
I'm in grade 12 this year and taking music and music extension as subjects... In music extension I am doing musicology which requires three essays over the course of the year.
My teacher wants us to know our topics for our first essay by a weeks' time... The hardest part about being being able to choose absolutely anything is that we have to narrow down the topic (otherwise for example if you were writing about jazz, you could go on forever...). Some examples she showed us included topics like how eastern music influenced western music during [particular time] with reference to [particular piece] and [particular composers].
I've been thinking of doing something on harmonics... but I would love some suggestions and new ideas on what to do!
Thanks!!!
Jess
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-01-25 18:01
There's a reason why your teacher wants *you* to do the selection and the paring down that you're finding so hard. This is the first stage of any writing project - finding a topic you find interesting and then thinking about it in the broadest terms to develop a focus that's practical within a given format (in your case, an essay). Part of that process is to get a preliminary idea of how much content is available within that focus from primary sources - whether there's enough information available (without doing your own primary research) to flesh out a piece in the format you've taken on (or been assigned). If it's still too broad, you have to narrow further. If it's under-researched, you either have to broaden it a little or set up your own primary research projects.
So in reality you're asking people here to do what may be the hardest part of the assignment for you - something your teacher would probably consider cheating, but which in any case would let you skip an important part of the learning process the assignment is meant to bring you through.
Obviously, "something on harmonics" is too indefinite to provide a direction for searching out content, and too broad for an essay (or even, maybe, a single book). But it's the first step, so if it interests you, don't back away from it. What about harmonics do you need to know in your normal, everyday musical activities? What do they have to do with music? Somewhere in your interactions with harmonics, you'll see a hint of a question that you've always wanted to be able to answer but have never taken the time to find out about. Now's your chance.
Musicology is an area primarily composed of research and writing, which are exactly the activities these essays are meant to develop. While you're thinking about this one, you might also think farther ahead toward the other two essays so you aren't under so much pressure from the calendar (or the clock).
Karl
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2017-01-25 19:17
Jess...
I assume you're a clarinet player. There are been countless discussions on harmonics and overtones as pertains to sound color on this very board. Darker=less harmonics, Brighter=more harmonics.
Seems like a concise idea that you could spend decades (many have) discussing.
I'm worried it'll be hard to find concise data without doing your own research. Every ligature and mouthpiece on the market uses terms like dark, warm, round, bright, full...etc, etc...
Those terms are subjective at best without someone actually measuring the harmonics each product produces in a controlled environment.
Hell...I just talked myself out of it, instead of making a constructive suggestion to help you. Let us know what you decide...go break a reed!
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2017-01-25 19:37
kdk wrote:
> If it's still too broad, you have to narrow further. If it's
> under-researched, you either have to broaden it a little or set
> up your own primary research projects.
>
I should have added that this winnowing or expanding can happen throughout the process as you go from selecting the topic to gathering information. As your literature search goes on, you may find that there's too much to fit into or too little to fill an essay. So you narrow or expand your scope accordingly. Where you start isn't necessarily where you end up.
It's a valuable learning process. I don't know what your ultimate professional goal is, but I can tell you that coherent, well thought out writing is an important part of many jobs, including music ed (if that's a career path you're thinking of following). And no matter what specific goals you have now, you just can't know what you may end up doing in the coming years.
Karl
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Author: Ed
Date: 2017-01-25 20:24
Karl makes very important points here. Heed his advice. It often takes a little self reflection to determine what speaks to you and your interests. You would likely write a better paper on what interests you rather than what interests me.
Good luck!
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Author: ruben
Date: 2017-01-25 21:51
Dear JRain,
A student of mine of your age-maybe slightly older- did a project on harmonics last year involving the principle of the glass harmonica. -very interesting, but more a science project than a musical one (it was for a science exam, I might add). I could always put you in touch with him (it would be good for his English to correspond with you!).
rubengreenbergparisfrance@gmail.com
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Author: Roxann
Date: 2017-01-26 00:53
I just presented a paper on the "new" way to master difficult passages. There has been some interesting research done on this topic...and all quite contrary to what we've been taught to do! The fellow musicians to whom I presented were quite surprised by the findings. I think I started the research by googling "how to master difficult passages," narrowed the results to research-based information, and went from there. Best of luck with your project.
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Author: Matt74
Date: 2017-01-26 01:00
1. The first thing to do is look it up on wikipedia. A wiki is not suitable for research, but it's a quick and easy way to get a general idea about a subject. You can google it too, but don't spend a lot of time with that.
2. Then go to the library. A university library is best, but whatever you have is fine. Most universities will let you use the library if you ask. You can't check things out, but they have way more stuff. For harmonics it will be helpful.
3. Look "harmonics" up in the "New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians". The Grove Dictionary is like a muli-volume encylopedia. It's the standard music reference. Your school might have access to an online version, and your public library should have it. Your school might even have a physical copy.
4. Look it up in the "Encylopaedia Britannica". It's generally the only encyclopedia worth your time. They should have an online subscription at your school library.
5. IMPORTANT: If either of those entries are humongous, don't read the whole thing, just skim it. Your objective is to get an idea about the subject. What is harmonics? Who wrote about it? Etc.
5. At the library, do a catalog "keyword" search for "harmonics". Make sure it's a keyword search, not subject. You can do subject and title, but keyword is usually more productive. You can look through the books to see if anything is interesting. You aren't really looking for a specific book. It's great if you find one, but what you are really looking for is where in the library to browse. Look at the numbers for the books, and if you see a bunch that look relevant that have similar numbers write it down, like "703.272". There might be more than one number. You might find a lot in 703.272 and a lot in 303.6. I'm just making those up, but you will probably want to write the decimal down to at least two places. Then go browse, and see what you find. I have master's degree and 9 years of college. I do this all the time. Unless I am looking for a particular book, I find it more efficient than going through the catalog with a fine toothed comb.
If you do find a book you want to look at write down the WHOLE number including letters. So if it's "702.27358 27a", write it all down, including the title and author - trust me. If you need help locating a book, go ask for help. Librarians can be kind of scary when you approach them, but they want to help, and once you get them started they will offer more than you asked. Sometimes they have something in the back, or off the shelf.
6. While you are looking up, in the encylopedia or whatever, try to think of similar keywords that might interest you, like "harmony" or "overtones", "acoustics", etc. and try those. Don't go on a wild goose chase, just try it and see what pops up. Don't spend a lot of time on it.
The point in all that is not to be super thorough, and read every little thing. It's to get yourself oriented with the subject. It's not a lot, really. If it takes some time that's ok. Research is not very efficient. You are looking for something, like when you loose your cell phone or something small. It takes a while to find it. You get better at it, but at first it's slow. You may think you've found something and spend some time with it, but then decide you were on the wrong track. That happens. It's not wasted time because you are learning skills and the subject the whole time. If you do this you are sure to find something interesting to write about.
I wouldn't bother with "periodicals" unless you have some particular reason.
FYI: "Boethius" wrote the foundational text.
- Matthew Simington
Post Edited (2017-01-26 01:01)
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-01-26 14:06
Thanks Karl, that's very true, it's hard to come up with something when there are literally an infinite number of topics to choose from - but of course that is part of the challenge.
Thank you so much for the advice!
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-01-26 14:21
Yes, I am, and I had been thinking of doing harmonics/overtones in relation to the clarinet because I think it would be totally awesome to learn about something I play and love.
Of course I'm still brainstorming ideas, and I've also thought that the physics of how the clarinet works would be an interesting topic... yet am still pondering how I'd relate that to pieces of music.
I have until Wednesday though, so until then I'll be doing a lot of googling!
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-01-26 14:29
Thank you! I'll get back to you if I decide to write on harmonics, because that would definitely be of help!
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-01-26 14:32
That sounds interesting! And I guess that's the way to start, begin with something broad and narrow it from there
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Author: jrain54
Date: 2017-01-26 14:37
Wow, that's a really helpful guide on how to start! Thank you so much!
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Author: clarinetguy ★2017
Date: 2017-01-26 16:32
Your question made me think of an interesting dissertation I came across several months ago about Hindemith's sonata for alto horn, which is frequently played today on alto saxophone. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc804839/m2/1/high_res_d/dissertation.pdf
You could do something similar, perhaps writing about the history of Aaron Copland's violin sonata and how it also became a clarinet sonata in the 1980s. I imagine that one could also write an essay about Stravinsky's Ebony Concerto, perhaps focusing on its early performances by Woody Herman and later ones by Benny Goodman.
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