Proposing a comps project is a two-step process. First, a student must be admitted to a comps "track" (i.e., a paper, composition, or lecture/performance). Second, a student must successfully define his or her particular project. This proposal process takes place while students are enrolled in Music Major Colloquium (398) during the Spring Term of their Junior year. Prior to that term, it is a good idea for students to consult with relevant faculty about their comps aspirations.

Applications to participate in a particular track will be prepared during the first two weeks of the term and submitted to the faculty during the third week (see below for details pertaining to each track). At that time, students will be granted or denied entrance into their proposed track; in addition, constraints on possible projects and topics may be imposed. Once accepted in a track, each student will then submit a project proposal during the seventh week of the term. Project proposals will be reviewed by the entire Department faculty, and students will meet with the faculty to answer questions regarding their proposals. Project proposals should contain: a precise definition of the project; a listing of the resources required for the project (including what resources may need to be acquired for its completion); the relevant background the student brings to the project; why the student wants to do the project and what the student hopes to learn from it. Proposals must be thorough and complete, and all necessary materials must be on hand at the beginning of the following Fall Term. Comps advisers will be assigned when a project is approved.

Students should be aware that faculty are occasionally on leave and they should check schedules with their prospective adviser well in advance. To ensure that comps projects are appropriately distributed among faculty, it may not always be possible to assign students their first choice of adviser.

Special Considerations for the Paper Track

The Paper Track is appropriate for students who have demonstrated success in research and writing on musical topics. This project involves a paper of approximately 30 pages plus bibliography, figures, musical examples, etc. To qualify for this track, students must submit a portfolio of their written work, primarily, but not exclusively, drawn from Music Department courses. Students are also expected to indicate how their course of study has prepared them for this track. These are the materials that are due during the third week of Spring Term of the Junior year.

The project proposal itself should demonstrate the student's readiness to pursue his or her chosen project. This will include a list of relevant coursework and/or applied study, an indication that the student is familiar with relevant sources, samples of any special materials such as transcriptions or analytic graphs (if the project requires such work), and so forth. The proposal document is due during the seventh week of Spring Term of the Junior year.

Special Considerations for the Lecture/Performance Track

The Lecture/Performance Track is appropriate only for students who have already demonstrated a high level of accomplishment as performers in the instrument/voice they wish to pursue in their comps project. Typically, such students will have taken 2-credit lessons on their primary instrument/voice during most of their enrollment at Carleton. The recital portion will consist of a performance of 10-15 minutes of music that has been primarily prepared in the Senior year; the lecture portion is a 20-30 minute oral presentation.

In addition to their performance, students in the Lecture/Performance Track will write a paper of approximately 15 pages plus bibliography, etc., which discusses the piece or pieces being performed from an analytical, historical, critical, or performance-practice perspective. To qualify for the Lecture/Performance Track, a student must (a) obtain permission from her or his applied music instructor, (b) submit a portfolio of past performance programs and/or repertoire studied, and (c) audition before the Music Department faculty. These auditions will take place during the third week of Spring Term of the Junior year.

The Lecture/Performance proposal itself should demonstrate the student's readiness to both perform his or her chosen repertoire as well as discuss it in the paper. This will include a list of relevant coursework and applied study (which may include off-campus study), an indication that the student has any special skills needed for the performance, such as relevant language skills for singers, conducting skills for conductors, etc. The proposal document is due during the seventh week of Spring Term of the Junior year.

Students in the Lecture/Performance Track must take and receive a passing grade in 2-credit lessons on their comps instrument/voice during the term they are registered for comps credit and are preparing their comps project; during the term they are presenting their project, they must take and receive a passing grade in 1- or 2-credit lessons on their comps instrument/voice. Enrollment in 2-credit lessons is strongly recommended during the term the comps proposal is prepared.

Special Considerations for the Composition Track

The Composition Track is appropriate only for students who have demonstrated a significant level of achievement as composers. It is especially important for students who wish to pursue the Composition Track to begin the Theory sequence (200, 201, 202) as soon as possible; this will allow students opportunities to build their composition portfolios. The Composition project itself will consist of a piece of approximately 10-15 minutes duration.

In addition to their compositions, students in this track will write a paper of approximately 15 pages plus bibliography, which addresses one of the following topics: (a) the historical background of the genre of the composition; (b) examination of a model composition or compositions; (c) the philosophical, aesthetic, or stylistic background of the composition. In all cases the student's paper should be related to issues surrounding her or his composition.

To qualify for this track, a student must (a) have taken Music Since 1900 (303) prior to his or her Senior year; (b) obtain permission from the composition faculty; and (c) submit a portfolio of compositions which demonstrates sufficient background to pursue the Composition Track. This portfolio is due during the third week of Spring Term of the Junior year.

The composition proposal itself should demonstrate the student's readiness to both compose in their chosen idiom as well as discuss it in the paper. This will include a list of relevant coursework and applied study (which may include off-campus study), an indication that the student has any special skills needed for the composition, such as knowledge of MIDI and electronic instruments, relevant performance experience, and so forth. The proposal document is due during the seventh week of Spring Term of the Junior year.

While the Department will do all it reasonably can to support the adequate performance of composition projects, the student should be aware that the Department's larger ensembles will not be available for this purpose. Students performing in comps presentations must be enrolled in the appropriate Department course.

Students in the Composition Track must take and receive a passing grade in 2-credit composition lessons during the term they are registered for comps credit and are preparing their comps project. During the term they are presenting their project, they must take and receive a passing grade in 1- or 2-credit composition lessons. Enrollment in 2-credit lessons is strongly recommended during the term the comps proposal is prepared.

Guidelines for Writing Comps Papers in Music (All Tracks)

All papers, regardless of track, should be an example of the best work of the student.  Comps papers should be carefully polished and written early enough in the process to allow for a series of revisions and proofreading.  The paper must also be an example of scholarly writing.  That means it should demonstrate the student’s ability to work within a scholarly tradition.  The paper should also demonstrate the student’s ability to discuss the scholarly tradition(s) in which the student is writing.  The citing of sources in a bibliography and through footnotes (or endnotes) is an essential way to accomplish this goal.  All papers should demonstrate the student’s command of bibliographic and footnoting techniques.  These are all entirely appropriate expectations and exercises for any student nearing the end of a four-year college career and apply to papers written by Music Majors in all three comps tracks.

Students should consider carefully the audience for their comps paper.  Ideally, students should be writing for an audience of their peers: a comps paper in music should be accessible to other senior Music Majors.  Excessive use of jargon should be avoided.  If it cannot be eliminated, part of the challenge of writing the paper will be finding ways to make the material accessible to that audience.  In some cases, glossaries and/or lists of concepts with their definitions may be a necessary additional aspect of the paper.

Special advice for students who are writing papers in the lecture/performance and composition tracks:

Fifteen pages of text is the proper approximate length of the paper for both these tracks, minus supporting materials such as musical examples, bibliography, and appendices; ten pages of text would be too small and twenty pages too large.  Though the appropriate size of a bibliography will vary from project to project, a bibliography of appropriate size must be included.  The paper should contain musical examples which demonstrate the student’s ability to integrate an appropriate number of such examples into the text; these examples may appear either in the text or in an appendix.

The Music Major Handbook advises addressing one topic from the list of possible topics; this is because the paper should offer an extended encounter with one topic.  Papers that weave together several short treatments of disparate topics are not appropriate for the comps exercise.

The paper should be related to issues surrounding the composition in question.  In other words, the paper should seek to locate the composition in a broader context, be that genre, modeling relationships, philosophy, aesthetics, or style (which are the options listed by the Handbook).  A description of the piece might be appropriate, even necessary, as part of the larger aim to locate it in the broader context.  However, a “composer’s statement” or manifesto does not constitute an adequate comps paper.  Such documents do, however, belong to their own intellectual tradition, and such a statement might, in some instances, be usefully presented as a program note, apart from the comps paper, at the comps presentation or at another time.