explanation of composer FAIL #21 part 1

Here is something that you rarely get when you receive a rejection letter: an explanation.

I had the offer to talk to the head of the CCM Thesis Committee and ask why my proposal to complete a few opera scenes this summer. This does not solve the immediate question of how on earth I am going to support myself and others without a stipend during the summer, but maybe I can figure out what the CCM Thesis Committee is looking for in a proposal?

They had a problem with my explanation of my Research Strategy or Plan. Here's what I wrote.

"The composition of a full-scale opera can take considerable time for completion; therefore this grant requests assistance for two out of the total six scenes, with each fifteen-minute scene taking approximately 160 hours to compose with revisions. Despite its relatively simple comic plot, the poetic structure of this particular opera is precise, modeled after a replicating strand of DNA (befitting an opera about clones). The music must be composed to match t…