• Clearly restate the purpose and research question of your study

-My goal is to explore the connection between the city of New Orleans and its music. Over the course of the city’s history, New Orleans has undergone many changes in its social and physical landscape; particularly in recent years due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. I am interested in learning about how these changes have impacted musicians and their music and how the current state of music in New Orleans reflects these changes. Have musicians striven to retain a sense of tradition despite these changes or have they aimed to progress into newer musical territories? How has the music developed along with the city?

• Classify the research methods employed in your research and report their effectiveness

-My research methods included internet sources, books, and a documentary. However the bulk of my research was done on an interactive basis and involved doing field work such as exploring the city, chatting with and interviewing different people (musicians and artists), handing out surveys, and taking field recordings and photos. I found that going out and interacting with the city that I was studying was the ultimate way of learning about it first-hand. I found it to be a much more valuable experience than staying inside and reading about someone else’s impression of the place. However, after conducting this type of work I referred to texts and other sources to compare my experience and validate or reconsider my own ideas.

• Collate and display the data that you collected

-The objective data I collected in my research was based on a survey that I created and distributed to different people in the city. From these surveys I was able to determine some statistics about the city’s people and the significance of music, art, and the current state of the two in New Orleans. Interviewing people provided me with insight on a more personal level and highly influenced the conclusions I made about my work.

• Explain how your readings further informed your study.

-My readings further informed my study by providing me with more specific information about the different topics I was interested in. They also offered different perspectives for me to consider.

• State the outcome of your research, that is, the answer that you arrived at for the research question(s)

-What I learned about the music’s development along with the city is that the music did not undergone any detectable changes. However, the main difference now is not the music that is being played but the new group of people that are playing it. After Hurricane Katrina, the displacement of most of the city’s original musicians ushered in a new wave of musicians coming from other parts of the country. For example, you can walk around the city and hear a man playing a clarinet in a traditional New Orleans Jazz style and think about how authentic it must be but the chances are that that performer has only been there within the last decade. Currently, the music of New Orleans is a perpetuation of tradition performed by mostly newcomers.

• Discuss your research results from a broader perspective, that is, how did your field study contribute new information to the study of musical cities?

-I believe that by traveling to New Orleans and trying to gain first-hand insight about it,        I put into practice everything we discussed in the program. That is looking for and making connections about the place itself, its people, and all the facets of that place that make it what it is (history, politics, culture, architecture, music, art, etc.)

• Share a story or two that illuminates the context (the city) of your field study

-I have two musical stories that will be included in my next post.

• State conclusions of your study and needed future research

-Knowing what I know now, I would have spent more time looking around at the most afflicted, slowly re-developing parts of New Orleans such as St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward. This would have provided me with more valuable first hand research for this project however, I did not spend time doing this while I was there.