Digital Commons Network^™

The Uses And Gratifications Of Streaming Live Linear Sports Networks Online, Benjamin Whittle

Dissertations

The streaming of live sports television channels online is changing how sports fans access live sports T.V. content. This new technology is becoming a greater challenge to traditional cable/satellite television services as Americans continue to cancel their cable services for new online streaming options. DirecTV Now, SlingTV, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, among others, are offering sports fans access to the most popular live national and regional sports T.V. networks online via live streaming, allowing them to bypass traditional cable. These new services provide subscribers’ access to their favorite channels anywhere and on any mobile, internet connected device.

The purpose of …

The Song Style Of Antonio Carlos Jobim: An Analysis Of Four Songs, Rachel Rogers

Master's Theses

The songs of Antônio Carlos Jobim are a national treasure of Brazil, beloved around the world. Their beauty and subtle simplicity have enthralled audiences for the last 60 years, yet they often reveal some unusual construction. Following the lead of other Brazilian theorists, this study was commenced with the belief that applying rigorous theoretical analysis to bossa nova would show its qualityand enduring worth. Four songs were selected for analysis based on their importance in Jobim’s career and their centrality to the bossa nova genre, “Chega de Saudade,” “Corcovado,” “Insensatez,” and “Garota de Ipanema.” They are among the most recorded …

The Return Of The Dead: Resurrecting Chappell's Family Gathering, Jonathan Moore

Master's Theses

This thesis examines Fred Chappell’s virtually overlooked collection of poetry Family Gathering (2000), and how the poems operate within the mode of the grotesque. I argue that the poems illuminate both the southern grotesque and Roland Barthes’s theory of photography’s Operator, Spectator, and Spectrum. I address Family Gathering as a family photo album full of still shots, snapshots, and even selfies, which illumines how Chappell’s use of the grotesque in this collection derives more from its original association with visual arts rather than only depicting the grotesque typically associated with characteristics deemed explicitly shocking or terrifying. I argue that …

Neoliberalism In Contemporary Literature: The Nuclear Family’S Decimation In Jonathan Franzen’S The Corrections, Jillianne Larson

Honors Theses

Within any text, there is often evidence of the author’s own life along with cultural reflections. A specific example of this occurrence is Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections (2001). Since the novel was written in the early twenty-first century, it is an immediate reflection of post-millennial society, specifically the rise of neoliberalism. Neoliberalism was introduced to America as an economic venture; however, the policy’s impact can be frequently seen in relation to the nuclear family. As the idea gained popularity during the 1980s, neoliberalism began seeping into family units by way of one’s career and one’s home. This invasion has …

Technique For The Developing Dramatic Soprano, Amber James

Dissertations

This dissertation was inspired by a Facebook post by David L. Jones regarding common pedagogical problems in the dramatic soprano Fach. I am a dramatic soprano, who has dealt with many of the technical problems listed in his post. David L. Jones is an internationally recognized teacher and coach and has worked with some of the most well-known professional dramatic sopranos. After considering these pedagogical challenges, it was decided the best course of action was to interview professional singers, teachers, and coaches in the dramatic soprano Fach. After conducting a state of research, it was found that there …

Participation In Winter Guard International As Experienced By Ten Stakeholders: A Phenomenological Study, Jeremy Morgan

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the essence of Winter Guard International (WGI) as lived by ten stakeholders, invested individuals currently serving in leadership roles within the percussion and winds divisions of the WGI organization. Through the lens of a social constructivist theoretical framework, and the use of individual interviews to obtain data, this study considered what participants have experienced and the contexts in which these experiences have taken place. Grounded theory concepts were used initially to clarify the perspective and scope of the study. Analysis of the data involved the identification of significant statements from participant …

The Baritone To Tenor Transition, John White

Dissertations

Many notable opera singers have been virtuosic tenors; Franco Corelli, Plácido Domingo, James King, José Carreras, Ramón Vinay, Jon Vickers, and Carlo Bergonzi. Besides being great tenors, each of these singers share the fact that they transitioned from baritone to tenor.

Perhaps nothing is more destructive to the confidence of a singer than to have his vocal identity or voice type challenged. Many singers have experienced this, and not always by way of advice or as a gentle suggestion, but rather, as a solution to a fundamental deficiency regarding the singer’s voice. Though undergoing a transition to another vocal fach …

The Challenges And Limitations Of Adapting Mozart's Così Fan Tutte For A Small University Setting, Christopher Lovely

Dissertations

In this dissertation, challenges and limitations related to presenting Così fan tutte within a small university setting are conveyed, as well as offering innovative ideas to create a manageable presentation. I recall my personal experience as Korepititor/Vocal Coach for The University of Southern Mississippi’s 2014 production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte. This document presents topics on the various workings of an opera production: pre-rehearsal preparation, language issues, rehearsal preparation, selection of singers, and production issues. It offers practical solutions to overcome various challenges a small university may encounter. Smaller university opera programs were surveyed regarding their adaptations of …

A Pedagogical Guide To Selected Intermediate And Early-Advanced Piano Works By Sergei Prokofiev: Developing Technical Skills To Master His Advanced Repertoire, Kaleb Davis

Dissertations

This dissertation provides the piano instructor and performer with a pedagogical guide to selected pieces by Prokofiev ranging in difficulty from intermediate to early-advanced. The pieces chosen for this guide help to address a variety of technical challenges that are essential to studying and performing Prokofiev’s more advanced works.

Chapter I offers an overview of Prokofiev’s musical style and addresses prominent technical challenges from his advanced piano repertoire. Chapter II is a pedagogical guide to the selected pieces, arranged into three levels of difficulty. For ease of reference, tables outlining the pieces with their technical challenges are placed at the …

Epic Adolescence: Contemporary Adolescence In Philip Pullman’S His Dark Materials, Chloe Felterman

Master's Theses

To find the truth of a societal construct or phenomena, it can help to look at the world of fiction and fantasy. Though this idea may seem ironic or counter-intuitive, one will find that fictional literature can reveal the working order of its respective society. Philip Pullman’s epic fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, uses and manipulates the traditional constructs of the genre to reflect and re-imagine the concepts of adolescence of the late-20^th and early-21^st centuries. Eleven-year-old protagonist Lyra Belacqua and subsequently her cohort, Will Perry, reveal the complications and difficulties modern American and British adolescents experience as …

A Content Analysis Of Flow And Music: Teaching, Performance, And Consumption, Lindsey Keay

Dissertations

Positive psychologist Csikszentmihalyi (2008) describes flow as a state of heightened concentration and arousal where a balance of skill and challenge cause someone to be so absorbed in a task that everything else seems to disappear. The result of the experience can be one of immense enjoyment and satisfaction. Musical activities lend themselves well to the flow experience due to the multifaceted tasks of listening, practicing, performing, or teaching music. With flow being an ideal creator of intrinsic motivation, music teachers and performers should consider flow and its implications for music making and music instruction.

The purpose of this study …

A Study On The Compositional Style Of The Flute Chamber Works Of Mel Bonis, Geraldine Margaret Padilla

Dissertations

Mélanie Hélène Bonis (1858-1937) was a female French composer born at a time when musical trends started shifting away from Romanticism. Amidst the various styles that emerged towards the end of the nineteenth century, Bonis remained faithful to the practices of the Late-Romantic period. Her style, characterized by its adherence to tonality and classical forms, was considered outdated by the Parisian public and proved to be detrimental in her career. This document focuses on the four chamber works originally written for flute. Bonis’ chamber works demonstrated a composer who was willing to experiment with the modern techniques of the twentieth …

Blazing Worlds, Bethany Kinney

Master's Theses

Blazing Worlds is a collection of short stories exploring themes of understanding, isolation, the world of work, and identity. These stories follow characters who are searching for connections to others, to their environments, to their work, and to themselves. The protagonists of these stories inhabit worlds that are slightly adjacent to reality, worlds cast into a near future, and worlds that operate by the logic of the campy and the fantastic. Through heightened technology, body horror, or blurred metaphysical boundaries, the residents of these blazing worlds pursue knowledge of their place in life and fight to establish and maintain their …

Cornerstone Of Union Victory: Officer Partnerships In Joint Operations In The West, Aderian Partain

Master's Theses

The American Civil War included one of the pivotal naval contests of the nineteenth century. A topic of considerable importance is the joint operations on the western waters that brought about a string of crucial victories in the conflict for the Union. The effective cooperation of the naval river fleet and the western armies was a major cornerstone of Union victory. Scholars have written biographies of the more noted admirals and narratives of the flotilla have been detailed. What has not been accomplished is an exploration of the Union officers’ professional partnerships between the Mississippi Squadron commanders and their corresponding …

Consuming Victory: American Women And The Politics Of Food Rationing During World War Ii, Kelly Cantrell

Dissertations

Life on the home front formed the most ubiquitous American experience during World War II. Americans in the early 1940s found themselves caught in a rapidly evolving world, which wrought changes both great and small on their daily lives. This project explores women’s responses to some of that change. The federal government created wartime agencies to control and direct most elements of daily life from public opinion, to factory production, to employment practices, to family food procurement. The Office of Price Administration was charged with creating a food rationing program to insure steady availability of foodstuffs at home while suppling …

Technical And Performance Analysis Of Scott Mcallister's Devil Sticks, Uncle Sam's Songbag Vol. I, Freebirds, And Funk, James Gruetzner

Dissertations

Four of composer Scott McAllister’s works, Devil Sticks, Uncle Sam’s Songbag Vol. I, Freebirds, and Funk feature the clarinet within a variety of ensembles. The purpose of my dissertation is to analyze the music in three ways: the background and outside influences found within each work, what happens in the pieces in terms of clarinet interaction with the ensemble(s), and finally relate it to McAllister’s other works. Through an interview with the composer, insight was gained into the background and history of each work, including who commissioned and first performed each one, any themes running throughout each …

Mississippi’S First Statewide Teachers’ Strike, Emily Doyne Smith

Master's Theses

This thesis argues that the Education Reform Act of 1982 (ERA) inadvertently led to Mississippi’s first statewide teachers’ strike in 1985 because of the Southeastern pay average clause recommending that the teachers’ pay should reach the average of the southeastern states, if possible. The teachers’ associations in Mississippi used this clause to lobby and promote teachers’ pay to that average. However, after two years of stagnated pay raises, the teachers’ associations led a state statewide teachers’ strike. The strike successfully raised the teachers’ salaries and moved state legislators to consider the teachers’ pay issue carefully afterwards. However, the pay raise …

Myriad Routes Out, Madison Etheridge

Honors Theses

Myriad Routes Out is an original collection of poems exploring abandonment and loss, including both interpersonal and extrapersonal situations. The majority of the poems are written in free verse, but the collection also includes several formal poems. Myriad Routes Out is accompanied by a critical preface.

Unlonely: A Collection Of Short And Nonfiction, Mary Karnes

Master's Theses

The following work was produced by the author during her career at the University of Southern Mississippi.

A Conductor's Guide To Christian Wind Band Literature, Wesley Dykes

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide a conductor’s guide of the highest quality high school, collegiate, and professional Christian wind band literature readily available to those wind band conductors desiring to perform such works. Before this study, wind band conductors who wished to program sacred works did not have a convenient way to find such works, nor obtain pertinent information about them. The National Band Association Selective Music List was used as the source for all of the works in this conductor’s guide to help ensure the quality of the literature included; the list contains works of Grades …

Southeastern Tanzanian Benedictine Monasteries: Filling A Void Of Governmental Services For The Poorest Regions, John Christie-Searles

Dissertations

This research illuminates the partnership of a particular civil society actor, Benedictine monasteries, in achieving developmental goals and delivery outcomes for education and health in Tanzania. Faith based organizations (FBOs) like these Benedictine monasteries quietly persevered with their work. These monasteries without governmental support were able to achieve similar results in areas of Tanzania deprived of infrastructure and consistent governmental administrative attention.

Monastic apostolate fervor is similar to the professionalism exhibited by international aid organizations and nongovernmental organizations in their desire to meet the needs of the poor. Motivations are complex and varied from evangelization to political and strategic agendas …

Cowboy Art Song: A Contextual And Musical Analysis Of Libby Larsen's "Cowboy Songs", Ann Gabrielle Richardson

Dissertations

This dissertation sprang from a combination of two personal interests: cowboy culture and classical art song. The union of my cowgirl heritage with my career as a classical vocalist has long fueled an interest in a particular niche of repertoire: soprano art song with thematic connections to the North American cowboy. A conducted state of research reveals no scholarly literature exploring this specific topic. Libby Larsen’s collection, Cowboy Songs, fulfills the aforementioned niche, successfully capturing the spirit, musical idioms, and cultural themes of the North American cowboy.

Chapter I lays a contextual foundation for cowboy song, providing a catalogue …

The Postmodern Indian: Representation And The Films Of Sherman Alexie, Tara P. Mccrink Burcham

Dissertations

For hundreds of years, Native Americans have been characters in American media. For most of those years, whites determined the way in which Native Americans were represented. First in print, radio, silent movies and later talkies and television, representations of Native Americans have included being uneducated sidekicks, savages, noble savages seeking to steal white women, drunken idiots, or hilarious jesters all for the entertainment of viewers. This troublesome history of negative depictions of Native Americans is the reason this research is directed at the films by Native American writer and filmmaker Sherman Alexie. This research is a qualitative analysis of …

Becoming Evil: The Shaping Of A Nazi Female Consciousness From Weimar Through The Third Reich, Maria T. Murphy

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

T.S. Eliot, "The Waste Land", And Yoga Philosophy, Jessica Cloud

Master's Theses

While pursuing his graduate studies at Harvard, T.S. Eliot put a year into deep study of the Yoga Sutras with renowned scholar James Haughton Woods. Yoga, defined in the Sutras as the practice of stopping “the fluctuations of the mind-stuff” (Patañjali 8), provides the possibility of hope and equanimity in Eliot’s poem The Waste Land (1922), which depicts a world seemingly devoid of meaning. Not only can the influence of the Yoga Sutras be seen in the poetic form, style, and voice of The Waste Land and in the explanatory notes to the poem provided by Eliot, but classical yoga …

From Perfect Daughter To Feminist: How Culture Disguises Disney’S Recycled Formula In Mulan And Moana, Aricelia Arcadia

Honors Theses

Film is a relatively young art form and industry compared to others, such as music and dance. Its origins go back no more than 150 years, yet criticism surrounds film over the lack of originality. The Walt Disney Company, or Disney, is one of the most well-known companies in the industry, and it too is accused of recycling some of the same narrative elements and images in its films. This recycling of themes, characters, animation, plot points, and more are known as formulas that Disney uses to ensure financial success. In recent years, the film industry, but more specifically Hollywood, …

Distance And Sympathy In Public Argumentation On Hb 1523: Four Pastoral Letters Creating Value Frameworks, Jonathan Eugene Bridenbaker

Honors Theses

HB 1523, otherwise known as the Religious Liberty Accommodations Act, is Mississippi’s contribution to a larger national conversation surrounding the duty and obligation that states have to protecting individual liberty and freedom. Even further, though, lies a conversation about how rights and constitutional freedoms can be used to negatively harm and marginalize people on the basis of “freedom of speech” and, more specifically, “freedom of religion.” By examining four pastoral letters published by different Mississippi churches and religious bodies, I aim to show how both sides of this public debate are advancing themselves as the victims of some sort of …

Who Is The Fairest Of Them All? Disney’S Depiction Of Non-Normative Embodiment In Its Villainesses, Caroline Bradley

Honors Theses

The world of Disney has long been criticized for the lack of empowered princesses, racial representation, and unrealistic body images in its princess films. While steps have been made to provide a fairer representation through the bodies of the princesses, there has not been much progress in the way villains’ bodies are depicted. Most Disney villains exhibit a form of disability or non-normative embodiment including missing limbs, old age, or fatness. This thesis will analyze the bodies of three well-known Disney villainesses from three different eras—The Evil Queen, Ursula, and Mother Gothel—and will demonstrate how their bodies reflect the historical …

The Art Of The Dress: How Getting Into Costume Affects An Actor’S Self-Perception, Ella Embry

Honors Theses

Both actors and psychologists devote enormous amounts of time to understanding how people think, act, and respond even if for completely different reasons. While there are psychological studies that look at the way clothing influences attraction, aggression, and attitude, none of it looks critically at theatrical performance. Costuming is a vital part of the theatrical process that has yet to be studied empirically. As such, my study is an inter-disciplinary endeavor dedicated to developing an understanding of exactly how and whether costuming affects an actor’s personality perception as a way to contribute to the field of psychology, future theatrical performances, …

Indicted Knights: Female Agency And The Adjudication Of Rape In Arthurian Romances, Jessica Carrell

Honors Theses

Although Arthurian Romance is a genre often thought to provide a somewhat idealized portrayal of the relationship between the sexes, there are a surprising number of instances of sexual assault represented in Middle English texts. In a genre styled towards women, it is appropriate to consider what cultural or social function the representations of such episodes serve. How, then, do such imaginative representations relate to the historical record of sexual assault accusations and adjudication? As this thesis demonstrates, examining past literary representations of the adjudication of sexual misconduct in Middle English romances such as Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur and Chaucer’s …