EE topic- North Indian Hindustani Music vs South Indian Carnatic Music

[Rocky]

Hey guys,

I'm well underway with this EE already. My question is based on referencing and analyzing. One of the criterion states that candidates must analyze real music with examples (notated scores?). My concern is not the 'real music' part but rather the scores.

Unlike western music, It is simply impossible to score every detail of Indian music, especially since a portion of my essay focuses on the heavy use of ornamentation of improvised material (90% of Indian music is improvised, not composed), in addition, there are hardly any scores and everything is passed down through oral tradition.

So how would I implement my musical examples? My supervisor told me we are allowed reference real musical recordings and video footage of performances, is this true? because it is not in the assessment criteria. I've tried searching online for Music EEs that do this and I've come up dry, plus I have only seen EEs that focuses only on Western music, which isn't cool. Eastern music, that usually doesnt have scores, should also be viable for study.

thanks for the help!

[alefal]

Hey there!

First of all, I have not studied music at IB, nor do I know the subject that well. However, I can verify that the IBO accepts EEs that are based on first-hand sources, and the guide states clearly that 'scores, recordings, performances [and] interviews' are included in this definition. This is stated in the Extended Essay Guide, page 104. However, keep in mind that the guide also states that you should use 'secondary sources as evidential support,' so you shouldn't base your EE exclusively on primary sources.

Good luck!