Blog Post #1 – Ideas for Annotated Bibliography Subject (Barzun, Knott, U of Toledo)

There are two areas that I am thinking about engaging for the purposes of this project. Within those two areas the first option has two sub-ideas that I am playing with. Idea 1A: Modern Band Programs. By modern band program I mean a class, or set of classes, that allows students to study guitar/bass/drums/keyboards, ukulele, computer music, music recording, songwriting, popular music genres or some combination of these subjects. My current position does not include any of these specific duties but I have always been passionate about popular music and would like to familiarize myself with this landscape. I taught myself to play guitar, bass, drums, ukulele, banjo, and some piano on my own while playing in various rock bands but never had an opportunity to study this at school, or participate in a meaningful way using what I had learned on my own. I am interested in sharing this musical tradition with students, but in a setting that would hopefully be more authentic than concert band, or sectionals. The issue of modern bands and how to incorporate them into successful traditional programs is a topic of some debate in music education and it is a possibility that I could leave my research project more general – something like “Modern band programs from 2005 to 2017.” In that situation I think a time limitation on my sources would likely be my best bet at narrowing things down into our zone of 50-100, though the year may turn out to be quite different. The Barzun article we read goes to some length to communicate that your “subject” must be clearly defined in this way. Given that, I may need to be even more specific in my title, “Scholarly articles about school music programs that include traditional and contemporary music classes published from 2005 to 2017.” Barzun advocates strongly for a very specific title, to form something like a contract between the author and the reader about the scope of the project. He argues that this will help the author answer the constantly nagging question of whether to include, or not to include, a specific source. To me this line of reasoning seems helpful, and logical. It is a clear way for us to define our topic and make a clear statement about the 50-100 sources we choose. If I were to choose to go down this path I’m sure I would have to make more alterations to my subject and phrase it in a way that is even more constrained.

Idea 1B: I am also considering attempting to catalogue existing modern band programs in specific areas. Since I am teaching in North Dakota I would likely use that as a limiting factor, “Modern band programs in 6-12 public schools in North Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin in the 16-17 school year.” That may prove to be too big. ND and MN might be enough, or even just ND. On the other hand I may have a very difficult time actually coming up with rigorous, peer reviewed, or academically viable sources given this kind of a subject. This is one of the essential questions that is brought up in the Knott article: What kinds of material am I looking for? I’m not sure if interviews with the music teachers who are actually running these programs would be sufficient or even qualify to begin with. I did not see any discussion of personal interviews in the sources we read, and I may be setting myself up to fail if I were relying too heavily on them. Also, given that it is summer, I might have a very hard time actually getting in touch with the music teachers, or music department chairs administering them. There may be some other types of materials out there from conference presentations or published articles, but what I’m really imagining here is a catalogue of programs that actually exist, who is in charge, what classes they offer, enrollment numbers, and soft data like “how well is it working?” I think option 1A might be a better plan for me at this stage of my career. I don’t really know much of what has been written on this topic, or where music teachers and districts who have started these programs might be coming from. On the other hand I think 1B is more of what I’m actually interested in. What are the programs that are out there already, how many are there, and how well are they working?

Idea number two has to do with Music Learning Theory. This idea has come up during my undergrad classes, sessions at professional conferences, and I was explicitly reminded of it in Matt Clauhs’ class on Monday. However, I’ve never really delved into it and I don’t know how deep the rabbit hole goes. It is not clear to me from my current position if this topic, by itself, is large enough to warrant an entire annotated bibliography of this magnitude. I think what might be more beneficial would be a comparison between Music Learning Theory and one of its contemporary, or traditional, competitors. Perhaps between two or three competing ideas I would be able to get a better sense of the “Learning Theory” landscape, but also flesh out the bibliography to the requisite size.

Much of the other information included in the articles looked like helpful tips about the actual process. “Writing an Annotated Bibliography” from Toledo is short, but sweet, and will be a good resource. I had been wondering if we would be expected to read and summarize whole books for this assignment, but the answer, from what I can tell, is no. The hints offered are more of what I would classify as skimming: read the table of contents, read the introduction, read the first/last paragraph of each chapter that would summarize the main ideas. After those steps if you still don’t feel like you have a sense of it, then read some more until you feel comfortable writing an annotation. The examples provided are meticulously detailed and highlighted, showing exactly what each segment is: Qualifications of the Author, Thesis Outline, Intended Audience, Special Features and Comparisons. For me, getting to see a few examples of annotations so explicitly explained, is immensely productive at this stage. I think before reading these I did not have a clear sense of exactly what we were trying to do, and these few pages have really cleared up quite a bit. In the Knott article I also appreciated the incorrect/correct example of how to write the annotation paragraph. I use this technique with my students all the time and I often find that the results are more effective than if I had just told them what was wrong.