A List Of Unique Ideas For A Music Dissertation

When you are assigned to write a dissertation in musicology, the first thing to do is to choose the topic you will research. But what if you have no idea how to do it? To begin with, determine a field of musicology in which you would like to be engaged. It may concern history, society, technology, culture, psychology, etc. That will immediately narrow down your search. Be careful, though, to select a field that is truly enjoyable for you to explore. Otherwise the process of dissertation writing will become a burden for you.

The next step is to find out what aspect is most interesting for you to study within the chosen subject. This article contains several examples that will be helpful to you.

1. The human body and mind are constantly affected by numerous external factors, sound being one of them. If you want your thesis to be connected with biology or psychology, you may explore music in terms of:
• its contribution to treating various physical, mental, and psychological disorders.
• its influence on cognitive abilities, such as memory, attention, and concentration.
• sound versus lyrics: what has a greater impact on human perception?
• correlation between character traits and music preferences.
• musical ear and language ability: can one exist without the other?
2. Since the earliest days of human civilization, musical culture has been an irreplaceable aspect of its development. If you are interested in the history of music or its interrelation with the society, you may study:
• historical and cultural development of a certain style.
• musical eras and their impact on public outlook.
• appearance versus talent: what makes a celebrity?
• musical trends’ influence on public conduct.
• the challenges of street performance.
3. The contribution of technology to music creation, development, and distribution is hard to overestimate. If you have determined technology as the sphere of your interest, you may choose one of the following topics:
• mass availability of musical content on the Internet: pros and cons.
• digital recording technologies: anyone can become a singer.
• video clips: visual image versus sound.

Mind that the topics presented above are somewhat general, so you are free to make them more specific. To determine precisely the subject of your future research, you should do some preliminary reading on the chosen topic, and consult your scientific advisor or a specialist in the field you are interested in.