The shape and form of the project are very clear from the proposal-- you might have a section in the paper which confronts things which might go wrong with the implementation and/or use of the project, or "concerns" as i call them-- i could just think up some questions an outsider might ask: how will you ensure none of the blocks get stolen or go missing while the audience is using it, will you just have lots of extras or are they too big/heavy to take? what's the volume of the music, does the volume fluxuate and is it soft enough to talk over or not? how tall or short are the benches, or will they come in different sizes? can people use other things besides your blocks to build, and create sound? how will you guarantee the music/sound is consistantly pleasant, if that's your goal? will you test this project on real audience members, to guage their interest, appeal and reactions? does it take place in a special room of its own, or out in the open or in any given room?
The narrative is very clear, and I do get the sense that this is to be an enjoyable and interactive project-- In a much later draft of the thesis, as I'm sure you anticipate, it might be necessary to go into more technical aspects quite deeply-- but I like that you describe the experience of the audience first and I'd like to see that kept distinct and fluid, possibly separate, from that deep explanation of the technical aspects which I forsee in later versions.
I like your choice of name and your explanation of the choice of name-- I think that you could go into your own use and relationship to music, possibly right after this explanation, since this gets the reader more into topic of the significance of the music and of an Etude. I'd like to see the proposal enter into your personal interest and specialization in music. I see in the last paragraph you outline your interests in creative play-- this could be bulked out with examples of how you've been working on this-- or you could connect this idea somehow with how you see music and spatial play as significant factors in creative play--
one project that came to my mind that you could bring up as related to yours is the REACTABLE- 
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=vm_FzLya8y4 - Lyes showed it briefly in class-- it's also an interactive system based on moving physical objects, I believe they generate sound too--
some other projects i saw, which involved moving things around such as toys and other objects, to create sound, were at the 2007 Ars Electronica festival in Linz-- these were not big-name people or anything (i think?) and I don't remember the names/projects right off hand-- the full list of projects is here -- actually if you just take a look at that list, i think a few projects might pop at you-- unfortunatelly they don't seem to have a ton of info right on the site about them... (of course these are just a few little things i've seen around that come to my mind, and beyond REACTABLE I can't think of very many "big name" people/projects. )
--depending on how similar you feel these projects to be, you may have to focus some energy into differentiating yours-- on the other hand, these projects might also motivate attempts towards similarities: the REACTABLE and some of the other projects in which objects are moved to produce sound, also produce light at the same time-- would your project be easier to recognize, possibly, as an object-oriented sound piece if there were also visuals which the object-movement cued? Something to perhaps react to in the paper...
You could mention in the proposal that the project is intended for all ages, and you could write what kids could get out of it versus adults-- you may need also, later on, to get into demonstrating in the paper how such play actually assists creativity, if you can cite any sources which call this crucial or important-- especially play with blocks and manipulation of sound. Or, if you don't want to frame this as an 'educational' work, you could frame it as a more 'entertaining' or stimulating work-- perhaps one which would foster relationships? I am not sure that I see any "conceptual art" or social-critique basis for this piece, in the paper as yet. For this reason I perceive this as either educational or entertaining, and I suggest you bulk out one or both of these as the grounding for the 'significance' and meaning of the piece--
yes these are all pretty clear... except you may need to make time to "test" this on live audiences before installation-- that could be a 'timeline' thing.
Chris Molla proposes to create an installation which will consist of a table surrounded by benches, on which will be blocks of assorted sizes and shapes. the audience will be invited to move and build with these blocks, and the touching of these blocks to the surface of the table will instigate various musical sounds which will be audible to all in the nearby vicinity. The project intends to be entertaining and educational to adults and children alike, in that it offers an environment in which safe, constructive play results in musical creations, and also blends together the media of music with that of traditional building blocks. This blending poses as a novel type of musical instrument, as well as a novel counter-product or side-effect to the familiar act of block-building.
twitter
flickr
facebook
Equipment