Introduction: Being Curious

Graduate study in music is a time-consuming, challenging and sometimes overwhelming endeavor. It can be difficult to manage competing priorities inside and outside the classroom. But it’s also a chance to pursue learning and technique, and to establish skills and habits that will help you throughout your career. The goal of this book, and the class it was designed for, is to help you develop skills and habits related to answering questions and finding information you will need throughout your academic and professional careers. Formulating questions, using the tools at your disposal to locate information, evaluating sources, putting together your information to use or communicate it, and creating new information as an ethical member of the community are all skills that are useful both for writing academic papers and for many professional jobs in music.

In many classes, the topic you need to research, even the questions you will ask, may be assigned by your instructors. In this class, and in your time after school, most of your research will be in response to your own curiosity and questions that arise from your work. When asked about their students’ information literacy skills, many music faculty say they wish that their students were more curious and self-motivated.^[1] However, faculty acknowledge that students are overscheduled and under competing demands, with little time to pursue their own questions and interests outside of class. As you begin this course and this textbook, take time to explore your own interests, ask questions, and consider the possible ways you might use this course and assignments to investigate areas of interest to you. Research does not have to be about historical topics or defined by the work of a specific composer or important figure. For example, you might take time to explore the existing conversations about:

• pedagogical approaches to spirituals and gospel music in high school choirs
• avoiding and treating shoulder injuries in strings players
• the use of medieval music by modern composers
• the legal issues involved in hip hop sampling