Ideas for a High School Senior Project That Deals With Music

High school senior projects are an important but stressful part of a students’ last year of school. Starting a project can be difficult when a student is unsure of which topic to choose or focus on. Luckily, students interested in music projects have several options as music plays a part in a range of academic subjects.

Music as a Cultural Identifier

Cultures across the world celebrate traditions and history with music. Music projects with a sociological or anthropological focus explore this and demonstrate music's integral part in a group of people's lives. Examples include the use of music for milestones including weddings, coming-of-age ceremonies, funerals and war times. The movement of music across cultures can demonstrate music's ability to bring different people together or trace ancestral roots across continents. Conversely, a study of generational differences in music genres might show distinctions in attitudes between age groups of the same culture.

Music Technology Innovations

Innovation-focused projects illustrate ways that music and technology create opportunities for economic and social change. One topic could be the phonograph's invention and the changes it generated by allowing people to record music. Later, radio and television brought different kinds of music to more audiences than ever before. Analyzing the trend of mobile music devices shows music technology's progression from records, 8-tracks, cassette tapes and compact discs to mp3 players. The computer created a new genre of electronic music, while the Internet encouraged global music sharing.

Music and Science

For students with scientific interests, music projects can illustrate principals and theories in fields like neuroscience, physics and psychology. Seniors can show how music or musical ability affects brain function and cognitive development, exploring the connections between music and neuroscience. Using aspects of physics, a project can explain the difference between music and noise. Students interested in psychology may study how or why music evokes an emotional response in the human brain and relate this to its use for patients in psychotherapy.

Music and Business

Seniors with a desire to research music from an economics or marketing perspective have several project options. A student might include analyzing ways musicians make money in today’s global society. Students may also choose to discuss how music, as an art form and a commercial entity, changes music quality or genres. Citing the popularity and rise of business-based music television shows like "American Idol" and "America’s Got Talent," students may research how music is made or how artists become popular using modern-day business practices.