IA IB Music MLI

[matth]

For my musical links investigation in music i'm comparing Syrinx by Debussy and a Korean Daegeum (instrument much like a shakuhachi) piece. My teacher thinks that the styles or 'musical genres' that they come under are too similar to get me good marks in the choice of pieces and cultures marking criteria as they are both solo flute type instruments and yet they are quite different in terms of style of writing and historical context. Will these two cultures be too similar to analyse? How can i tell how 'distinct' these two cultures are as the IB syllabus makes it quite ambiguous.

[Moules Frites]

I don't really know enough about the Daegeum, but I know that Debussy was influenced strongly by the Javanese gamelan, and this reflected in his work - maybe making these links too closely related?

I agree, the musical links project guidelines are frustratingly vague, which caused me to take ages to choose a topic (I settled on Thelonious Monk's bebop composition and Japanese Taiko drums). A good way to get some other ideas is to ask for any past assignments from your school. Generally, if the styles are geographically distinct and not contemporary in modern times, then they should be okay for the project.

[Koura]

I did my MI on Ragtime and Classical, which are really similar, but I'd read an exemplar essay which got 20/20 which had done Romantic and Jazz so I figured that mine weren't too closely linked either. I'm sure it'll be ok, all the styles are influenced by each other after all!