Dr. Swanson’s Studio Projects

There are two semester long projects for each student each term. Each project is graded pass/fail based on content, style, and grammar. If there is enough time, a student may be asked to make revisions on a project and to then turn it in again. The final due dates are on the schedule. The details for each project are found below.

Project 1: Program notes

Each student is required to write program notes for all of their assigned music. This entails a paragraph or two for each piece. Use your Repertoire Study Sheets as a starting point for the program notes. Although this is not a formal research paper, you will be graded on the content, writing style, punctuation, and grammar. This is to be typed.

Project 2: Variable

The second project varies from term to term and will be announced during the first studio class of each semester.

SPRING 2004	Project A Singer biographies.	Find a published biography of a classical singer. All books must be approved by the instructor. Read the biography during the semester and write a 5 page report on that singer. You will also need to find at least two recordings of that singer and include discussion of them in your report. Materials do not necessarily need to come from our library. Please have a singer and book picked out by the third studio class. The project is due by April 20, 2004. However, you may turn it in at anytime. As the semesters tend to get crazy near the end, it may behoove you to aim for an earlier turn-in date.
FALL 2004	Project B The Creative process	Write a poem. This may be any length, any form, any rhyme scheme (or none), and any topic. Choose an English text and compose a song setting for it. You will be matched up with another singer in the class for whom you will compose your song. You must keep several things in mind: the voice type of the singer, their range, particular abilities and strengths, etc. Also, keep in mind the accompanist! At the end of the semester, each singer will perform their song. The manuscript MUST be neat and legible, as it will be performed. A computer program such as FINALE or SIBELIUS might be helpful, but it is not mandatory. There is no deadline for the completion of this part of the project, but please be sensitive to the people who need to learn your music. There are no rules to follow in this composition project. I am not expecting masterpieces, just write what makes sense to you and be creative. Let the text be your guide. Learn and perform the music composed for you. This performance does not count as one of your required jury pieces or as one of your studio class performances. The song should be prepared on your own (outside of your lessons – unless you have a specific issue you would like to bring up). The performance does not have to be from memory.
SPRING 2005	Project C 5 Nights at the Opera	Over the semester watch five videos or DVDs of opera performances. For each performance that you watch, you must turn in an assignment. All five assignments are to be typed and are due by the last studio class. For each video that you watch, answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper. Please type, 12-point Times font, double-spaced. 1. What is the title of the opera? Who is the composer? Who was the librettist? When was it composed? When was it premiered? 2. Find some historical information on the composer and the opera. Write one paragraph for each. A paragraph should consist of at least five sentences. 3. In one typed paragraph, give a synopsis of the opera. 4.Who was the stage director of the performance that you watched? 5. Describe the visual aspects of the opera (sets, costumes, make-up, staging, etc.). Was the performance a traditional staging or did the director bring a more modern approach? Did you feel as though the stage-director’s vision came across? Did you feel as though the music suffered at all at the expense of the stage-direction? 6. In the performance that you watched, who sang the leading roles? Choose one of these singers and do some research into their life. Write at least one full page about that singer. 7. Who conducted the performance? 8.What was your favorite part of the performance? 9. What was your least favorite part of the performance? 10. Discuss the singing of at least one performer. Be as specific as you can. What about their singing makes them great (or bad)? How do they stand? How do they open their mouth? Do they look relaxed when they sing? Is their diction clear? Is their intonation good? Is their vibrato even? Etc., etc.
FALL 2005	Project D Mozart-Liederabend	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is arguably the best known composer of all time. His symphonies, concertos, operas, keyboard works, chamber works and choral works receive hundreds, probably thousands of performances every year around the world. Even to the classical music novice, Mozart's melodies are known. One genre that tends to be left out of the spot-light is Mozart's collection of Lieder. The Groves Music On-line encyclopedia lists thirty-six works for solo voice with accompaniment. Some of these pop up in recital programs from time to time, but the songs of Schubert, Schumann and Wolf tend to overshadow other composer's contributions to the catalogue of German Lieder, leaving Mozart's songs largely unknown. The project for this semester will be for Dr. Swanson's studio to study and learn the entire published collection of solo songs and perform them in a Liederabend at the end of the term. Each student will learn between one song and four songs and will perform them in the concert. Some, but not necessarily all, of your assigned songs may be listed on your jury sheet. I would like for all of the elements of the recital be taken care of by the studio; that is, finding and deciding the date, designing, typing and printing the program, advertising, arranging for a reception, and arranging for a recording. Many more details will come throughout the semester.
SPRING 2006	Project E
FALL 2006	Project F