Music

About this opportunity

The ASU School of Music, Dance and Theatre offers remarkable programs and concentrations. Faculty are among the most talented in the world and provide you with the opportunities and guidance you need to be successful after graduation.
 
Degrees in Music include: 

• Music (Music and Culture), BA
• Music (Popular Music), BA
• Music Learning and Teaching, BMUS
• Music Therapy, BMUS
• Music, BA
• Performance (Collaborative Piano), BMUS
• Performance (Guitar), BMUS
• Performance (Jazz), BMUS
• Performance (Keyboard), BMUS
• Performance (Music Theatre), BMUS
• Performance (Orchestral Instrument), BMUS
• Performance (Voice), BMUS
• Theory and Composition (Composition), BMUS
• Theory and Composition (Theory), BMUS

Thesis

The honors thesis is the culminating experience of a BHC student majoring in music and the student must comply with the requirements of both the SoMDT and BHC. The successful completion of an honors thesis makes students more competitive when applying to graduate programs and the workforce. 

Students should meet with the Music Honors Advisor and SoMDT mentor to discuss their honors thesis projects and establish their thesis committee. Honors thesis committees include two members and should be directed by a regularly appointed faculty member. The second reader may be faculty or a qualified professional in the field. 

The thesis will address music, but may intersect with other disciplines. Examples might include the Visual Arts, Theater, History, Architecture, Social and Cultural Studies, Environmental Science, Sustainability, and Religious Studies. The student develops their own thesis topic which should entail original scholarship. The thesis can be a written project in the style of a master's thesis, but smaller in scope. Alternatively, the thesis might be documented in a way other than writing, such as a video recording of a composition, a sound installation, a performance, or a community outreach program shared on social media.The thesis may involve archival work, oral history interviews and other forms of fieldwork such as field recordings, sound mapping or other creative groundwork. The honors thesis would not simply be a short extension of a paper or performance required by a class. For instance, brief program notes to accompany a senior recital are not acceptable as an Honors thesis. Rather, a thesis would be based on in-depth research or applied learning developed by the student and thesis committee.  

Examples of recent Barrett Honors Music Thesis projects: 
 

• Carly Bates, French Vanilla: An Exploration of Biracial Identity Through Narrative Performance 
• Katie Sample, Stravinsky for Guitar Quartet
• Tamir Mark Shargal, A Most Creative Project: Producing a Sample-Based Record
• Cecilia Chou, From Harmony of the Spheres to Acoustic Ecology: Intersections of Music and Science in the Works of David Dunn and Andrea Polli
• Bethany Carolyn Brown, Spectralism's Synthesis of Past Musical Traditions: New Musical Discourse and Compositional Technique
• Sean Wesley McDaniel, Chronos: An Arrangement for Jazz Sextet
• Lauren Sanders, Musical Guidance towards Immortality by the Greek Muses by Inspiring Awareness of Being-in-the-World as Understood through the Philosophy of Martin Heidegger
• Shelbe Erin Olson, Therapeutic Clarinet Playing for the Treatment of Asthma
• Alicia Raquel Villareal, Jamaican Folk Music: In the General Music Classroom
• Remi Tuijl-Goode, Material Study and Preservation of Musical Scores and Ephemera in the John A. Bavicchi Archive

Academic Preparation

Students will complete a thesis workshop before registration of thesis credit (492). Thesis workshops are offered by Barrett Advising either in-person, via live-zoom and through ASU Canvas.

Students may meet with the Music FHA to brainstorm thesis ideas and possible faculty committee members. 

Additionally, students are encouraged to get involved in research opportunities such as the research team of the Acoustic Ecology Lab. 

Non-major opportunities can be found here. These include music ensembles, elective courses, minors, performances, and festivals. 

Recommended Timeline

The recommended timeline is two semesters for the thesis work 492, 493. This is typically completed in the student's final year. As early as the first year students should start exploring honors projects and making connections with faculty who they might later work with for the honors thesis. 

Other Honors Opportunities

Honors enrichment contracts offer students the opportunity to go beyond given course requirements and conduct an in-depth research project involving more contact with the course instructor. Students should approach the course instructor about an honors contract at the beginning of the semester to discuss possible projects, topics and specific requirements. 

Note: It is not possible to do an honors enrichment contract in courses taught by teaching assistants, only in courses taught by regularly appointed faculty members or distinguished visitors. Students may also receive advice on Honors Contracts from the SoMDT Music Honors Advisor. 

Examples of honors contract projects and formats include:

• Musicology—Group or individual written or performative projects, e.g., extended research paper or a podcast on a focused topic such as marginalized musicians and sound artists addressing environmental challenges, etc.
• Music Theory—Extended analysis, score preparation
• Ensembles and Individual Performance—Research paper on concert repertoire, community engagement activity around work completed in courses, audio/video recording of repertoire, pedagogical materials designed in collaboration with faculty
• Music, Learning and Teaching–Develop a teaching unit on a musical or sound studies topic for a certain group
• Music Therapy—Literature review, data collection method at an arts center festival