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DP Music Extended Essay
I've had four extended essay students thus far.
To graduate from the DP programme of the IB, you need to have a minimum of 24 points out of a possible 45. To put this into perspective, many top level universities ask for 36 points or more. 3 of these points come from a combination of "Theory of Knowledge," which is a philosophy course, and "Extended Essay," which is the IB version of an independent study unit. It's a 4000 word essay dealing with a specific topic. My first student studied "A Comparative Analysis of Two Performances of Halvorsen's Passacagalia for Violin and Viola Duo after Handel's Suite in G Minor No. 7 for Harpsichord." My second student did score analyses of Mozart's Rond alla Turca and Paganini's 24th Caprice and then compared them to jazz versions arranged by Fazil Say in order to determine how Western Art Music can be recreated for modern audiences. What is a DP Music Extended Essay?
International Baccalaureate Organisation. (2009). Diploma Programme: Extended Essay Guide. Cardiff, UK: International Baccalaurate, Organisation.
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- addresses a particular issue or research question and arrives at a particular, and preferably personal, conclusion.
- Real music should be at the heart of an extended essay in music - Students should strive for a coherent verbal analysis and interpretation of one or more pieces of music in relation to the chosen research question. - provide opportunities for demonstrating detailed musical understanding and critical analysis. - Appropriate resources for music include books, textbooks, the internet, scores, interviews, recordings, and live performances or concerts of the music being studied - Students should use primary sources in the first instance with secondary sources as evidential support. - Students should accurately and consistently analyse technical aspects of the music (melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, tone colour, and lyrics or text), demonstrating an understanding and a persuasive personal interpretation of the music. |
- It is essential that the topic chosen is distinctively musical
- Supervisors should, therefore, strongly discourage students who are primarily interested in analysing text or lyrics - The topic chosen should provide opportunities for extensive critical analysis of musical source material. - topics likely to lead to an essay that is essentially narrative or descriptive in nature, should be avoided - it is essential that the research question chosen can be effectively answered - The introduction should not be seen as an opportunity for padding out an essay with a lengthy account of the context of the music. - Personal views should not simply be stated but need to be supported by reasoned argument to persuade the reader of their validity. - Students are expected to make effective use of musical terminology and, where appropriate, notation |
This year, I had an exceptional DP Music extended essay and was very pleased with my student's result. Being reflective, I had to consider why... what specifically about her paper made it so good? What I realised was that my student's paper was very heavy on analysis while being considerably lighter on lit review. It seemed to me that her paper didn't fully explain the topic before diving into the score analysis and discussion; however, the IB loved it. When you look through the guide book, it does state several times that a paper based on research will not successfully meet the criteria given. I never before realised just how much that was true! So when you are supervising your students, make sure they err on the side of analysis and critical thinking. Their lit review might be light, but if the 'meat' of their paper is in the analysis, they'll be fine.
Task Specific Clarification
I asked some experienced colleagues to read my student's EE to make sure she was on the right track; they said they would, but they didn't know how helpful they'd be since all EEs have different task specific clarifications. WHAT?
Today I went through the DP Extended Essay guide and collected all the clarifications into a checklist form. Then, under each category, I listed the descriptors from the rubric. Then my student and I went through her essay and the task specific clarification and searched for areas in which she could improved. And now I'm going to post the file I made... I hope you find it helpful.
Today I went through the DP Extended Essay guide and collected all the clarifications into a checklist form. Then, under each category, I listed the descriptors from the rubric. Then my student and I went through her essay and the task specific clarification and searched for areas in which she could improved. And now I'm going to post the file I made... I hope you find it helpful.
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This is a sample of how I have my kids setup their extended essays. It's a slideshow, though below it I've included files so that you can read through at your leisure.
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