Visual Arts Extended Essay

1. Visual Arts Extended Essay

2. Overview VA extended essay effectively addresses a particular issue or research question appropriate to the visual arts • Architecture • Art Styles • Design • Contemporary forms of visual culture

3. Research is generated by… • Students’ direct experience with artwork, craftwork, or design • Interest in the work of a particular artist, style, or period

4. Visual Art Extended Essays must… • Address a relevant issue or research question and arrive at a particular and preferably personal conclusion • Avoid narrative or descriptive essays • Be specific with a clear focus to ensure detailed understanding and critical analysis

5. Sample VA Extended Essay Titles Be Specific! • “How did Wassily Kandinsky use color?” NOT “The Bauhaus” • “An analysis of African influences on Henry Moore” NOT “20th Century British Sculpture” • “Klimt’s use of gold” NOT “The art of Native North American People”

6. VA Extended Essay Approach Topic Cultural influence on Pablo Picasso’s work Research Question Picasso: individual genius or cultural thief. Approach An investigation of the extent to which selected images in Picasso’s work may have been appropriated from other cultural sources.

7. VA Extended Essay should include… • Local and primary sources • Artists interviews • Going to see art works in person • Interview of people reactions to art works • Sources that support ideas, opinions and assertions. a.k.a. Your critique. • Sources that support ideas, opinions and assertions. Show evidence that supports your comments and conclusions. What do the art Professionals/Historians/Curators have to say that support you?

8. What is different about a VA EE • Explores art and its function in society. • Personal Critique/Analysis of art works. • Illustrations and List of illustration Page • Layout can consists of table of contents, subheading and appendix. • Cool cover page

9. VA EE Due Dates • Conference 1: Jan. 2-7 • Research Question • Bring books and articles to support research question and purpose. • Conference 2: Mar. 3-7 • Bring more books and articles. • Working Outline. • Conference 3 :Apr. 21-May 2 • Annotated Bibliography. • Working Outline. • First 1000 words. • Conference 4:Jun 2-6 • Bibliography • 5 Pages of Essay • Table of Contents • Cover • List of Illustrations • Conference 5: Oct. 6-10 • All VA EE student group conference with Khan • Conference 6: Nov. 3-7 • Personal Final Conference about Rough draft • Important Due Dates • Jan 2-17: Research Question and Books and articles. • March 3-7: Working Outline, Books and Articles. • April 21-May 2: Working Outline, Annotated Bibliography, and 1000 words. • June 2-6: Bibliography, 5 pages of Essay, Table of Contents, cover, list of Illustrations. • First week of Sept.: Rough Draft due with Cover, table of contents, bibliography and list of Illustrations, Appendix. • Dec. 12: Final Draft of EE

10. Now Go, • and do • Great • Things

11. Theater Extended Essay

12. Overview • An extended essay in theatre provides students with an opportunity: • to undertake independent research into a topic of their choice • to apply a range of skills in order to develop and explore a focused research question appropriate to theatre in an imaginative and critical way • to test and validate their research by considering its effect on the practice of the investigated theatre form.

13. Research is generated by… • The use of appropriate theatrical sources that encourages the application of relevant theatrical concepts, theories or ideas. • Absolute reliance on textbooks and web sites is discouraged. • Sources should be consulted in conjunction with other relevant research material as support material for the student's own original research.

14. Theater Extended Essay Must… • not be too broad as such essays are rarely successful • have a research question that is well focused, thus encouraging analysis in depth rather than breadth. • The emphasis of the extended essay should always be on written analysis, interpretation, evaluation, and the construction and development of a sound argument.

15. Sample Theater Topics • An investigation into the functions of mask in two of Zeami Motokiyo’s Noh • Female stereotypes and their performance in a selection of Brecht’s plays. • An examination of Soyinka’s use of rhythm in acting, based on an in-depth exploration of one Soyinka’s plays. • A study of the effects of the use of fabrics and lighting in The Tempest. • A study on the use of fans in Restoration comedy.

16. Theater Extended Essay Approach Topic • A study of the effects of the use of fabrics and lighting in The Tempest Research Question • How can fabrics and lighting contribute to the creation of magical effects in a production of Shakespeare's last play? Approach • In-depth research is carried out into the use of fabrics (in furnishing and costuming) and lighting in previous productions of The Tempest. There is a discussion, based on these examples, of how fabrics and lighting work with other production elements, how they can contribute to the creation of magical effects and how these affect the readings of the play. The way that appropriate/inappropriate use of both can affect how a production is examined.

17. Theater Extended Essay Should Include… • Primary and secondary data: • Books, newspapers and magazines, interviews, and Internet web sites • The use of other materials: • Sketches, drawings, pictures, plans, photographs, CDs and DVDs • Sources should support ideas, opinions and assertions • Evidence that supports your topic, research question, and analysis

18. Music Extended Essay

19. Research question should address one or more pieces of real music: • Recordings • Live performances/concerts Coherent verbal analysis and interpretation of music may include score samples

20. Techniques • ‘’The use of contrapuntal techniques in Bach’s Art of Fugue is better than ‘’Bach’s Fugues’’. • ‘’Harmonic innovation in the bebop style of Dizzy Gillespie’’ is better than ‘’ The music of Dizzy Gillespie’’. • ‘’The role of minimalist techniques in Balinese gamelan’’ is better than ‘’Balinese gamelan’’.

21. Sample Topics 1 • Title: Edgard Varese and Frank Zappa • Research Question: What is the influence of Edgard Varese on the musical output of Frank Zappa • Approach: An investigation into the stylistic similarities between these two composers

22. Sample Topics 2 • Title: Jesus Christ Superstar and opera • Research Question: Is Jesus Christ Superstar a modern classical opera? • Approach: An investigation into Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical language and structures in this work, with reference to other relevant music from operas of the Western classical tradition

23. Sample Topics 3 • Title: The naming of Mozart’s Music • Research Question: What evidence is there to support the title of Mozart’s divertimento EinMusikalischerSpass (A Musical Joke) K. 522 (1787)? • Approach: An investigation into Mozart’s compositional techniques in this work.

24. Sample Topics 4 • Title: Emotional Tension in Traditional Music • Research Question: Emotional tension and its significance in Japanese music. • Approach: An investigation into the mechanisms used in traditional Japanese music to create emotional tension, with reference to comparable examples in Western music.

25. Sample Topics 5 Title: Musical continuity in Frederick Chopin’s 24 piano Preludes Op. 28 • Research question: An investigation into the presence and musical significance of a recurrent motif found throughout Frederick Chopin’s 24 piano Preludes, Op. 28 • Approach: A study of appropriate preludes that demonstrates this feature, through the use of formulaic notation and comparative analysis.

26. So What ? • Why would anyone create a essay on this topic? • No History Essays • No Compare and Contrast Essays