Sydney Seed

MUED 380

Research Proposal Rationale

Last semester I had the unique opportunity of working with formerly incarcerated adult

learners on a song-writing research grant, while also attending practicum at an alternative school

8th grade music classroom. I realized there were similarities between what the adult learners said

they experienced in their youth that led to choices they were imprisoned for, and what the 8th

graders were currently experiencing. This realization was quite alarming to me, and I felt I had a

responsibility to do something that could potentially change their outcome of being hindered by

the “Felon” label.

I am interested in using music to fulfill human developmental needs both generally, and

specifically, i.e. individual deficiencies like anger management. The latter may be more within

the scope of Music Therapy than General Music, but in any case, both topics have a multitude of

developed theories and methods that already integrate music and child development. To distance

myself from these more mainstream research questions, I would like to use my Family Studies

courseware to dig into how the upcoming generation has unique differences, and therefore

unique needs, that should be addressed within the realm of human development.