The Department welcomes a variety of projects leading to Honors in Music. Theses in Music may involve research in musicology, ethnomusicology, or theory; performance; composition, computer music, studio production, or instrument design; or combinations of the preceding categories. Creative and performance projects should be accompanied by pertinent research and/or documentation. Students are encouraged to meet with prospective honors committee members in the junior year to craft a thesis project that is appropriate in scope.

NOTE: the term HONORS COMMITTEE refers to a student’s honors thesis advisor and readers.

A student wishing to propose a project should proceed as follows:

1. An honors candidate must secure a faculty advisor and a second reader to serve as an honors committee during the third to last (typically sixth) semester. A declaration of intent (Brown login required), consisting of a brief description of the proposed honors project and the names of the committee members, must be submitted to the Director of Undergraduate Studies by the last day of reading period in the third to last semester. For projects that will be undertaken in 2022-23, this deadline is May 10, 2022
2. At the beginning of the penultimate (typically seventh) semester the student will submit a formal proposal describing the project to the honors committee for approval. Examples of recent honors proposals are available here (Brown login required). The proposal must receive committee approval and be given to Jeremy Worthington for distribution to the full faculty by the first day of the first full week of classes of the semester. The department faculty will vote on the proposals at the next regularly scheduled meeting. Decisions will be based on the student’s overall performance in music courses and on the quality of the proposal. The advisor will notify the student of the faculty’s decision.
3. It is expected that honors projects will normally take two semesters to complete. Students pursuing honors may choose to register for MUSC1970 in the Fall and/or in the Spring. In any case, they will establish a series of regular meetings with their advisor. If not enrolled in an independent study, the student should meet with the advisor at the beginning of the semester to make a plan for regular meetings. The student is advised to meet with the secondary reader at least twice each semester before the thesis is formally submitted. By finals week of the penultimate semester, honors candidates must demonstrate substantial progress by submitting to the honors committee a partial draft of a paper or composition or, for performance projects, by playing a significant portion of the programmed repertoire. Failure to make sufficient progress may result in the termination of the honors project.
4. Last semester deadlines: Honors candidates must submit a complete draft to their honors committee by the first day of classes following the eighth week of the last semester. The committee will comment on the project and suggest revisions. Revisions must be completed, and the final project submitted to the honors committee by the first day of classes two weeks later. In the case of performance projects, this means that both the public performance and the scholarly component must have been completed by this date. In the case of research projects, all figures, notes, bibliography, and other critical apparatus must have been completed. Failure to make the deadline may result in the forfeiting of honors by the candidate, though the student may complete the project as a capstone project.
5. The honors committee will confer to determine their views on their projects. If the second reader is outside Music, the advisor may solicit a written recommendation about the merits of the project.
6. The advisor will deliver a copy of the completed thesis to Jeremy Worthington by the middle of the eleventh week of the last semester so that it may be made available for review by the full faculty.
7. During the twelfth week of the last semester, the advisor will report on the project at a meeting of the Department faculty for a vote.  The advisor will notify the student of the faculty’s decision.
8. Honors recipients will present their projects at a Department of Music Convocation held once annually during reading period in the Spring Semester.