Digital Commons Network^™

Place Accumulation: Kingston/Ulster, Callan F. Fish

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Since February 2018, I’ve been listening and recording around Kingston and the town of Ulster; synthesizing interviews, bird song, passing cars, protests, conflict, unique perspectives and oral histories, meetings, optimisms, water, as part of a project called, Place Accumulation: Kingston/Ulster. Using the Dynamic Listening Instrument, an interactive sound sculpture which uses a venn-diagram of electromagnetic fields to allow sounds to be handled as a tactile entity and bended dynamically, sounds are arranged and dispersed back into different locations and events in Kingston. Using a sounding bucket, people in Kingston can listen in, re-arrange, explore, and play with sounds from their …

Black And Grey: An Audio-Visual Tribute To The Undefined, Jewel Evans

Senior Projects Spring 2018

The Process:

My project was originally called Seven Stages of “Griffe.” The term “griffe” was a racial category describing people who are three quarters black and one quarter white, which is my actual genetic makeup. My original plan was to analyze the history of the term and reference it in seven songs representing the seven stages of grief, and create a long music video to open up dialogue about the racial definitions we ascribe ourselves to. The project changed when I reached an impasse in my historical research, given that the term was obsolete by the 18th century and had …

A Technical Analysis And Exploration Of Guitar Pickups And Electronics, Hunter Manel

Senior Projects Spring 2018

The development of the electric guitar during the 20th century was revolutionary for musicians and sound engineers alike. The advances in amplifying sound by way of pickups and amplifiers contributed to massive cultural movement in music, including Jazz and Rock 'n Roll. While the pickup is acknowledged as an integral component of the electric guitar, few players understand the electronics and mechanics underlying their instrument. This project aims to accomplish two goals with a focus on pickups: first, describe the physics behind the electric guitar's amplification process, and secondly, use this understanding to build a pickup for use in an …

Change, Jonathan Allen Mildner

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Change is an album about change. It is a musical introspection of the journey I have taken over four years at Bard College—the people I have met, the things I have learned, and how music has developed for me through that journey.

Freshman year, I finished my first album. I did it independently of the school—at the time I was of the persuasion that I knew everything, that no one had anything to teach me, and that my ideas were always right. Of course, as with everyone, this was just a projection of severe insecurity, and fortunately I have had …

An Old German Song Cycle And Some New American Music, Jonathan Allen Mildner

Senior Projects Spring 2018

“An Old German Song Cyle and Some New American Music” is, at its core, a straightforward art song recital. As to its form, the only thing that could be considered even remotely revolutionary was my decision to perform the small collection of unrelated pieces in the second half, following the large, segmented work—an order that, in most traditional concert settings, is reversed.

The project was comprised of preparing and performing Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) Liederkreis, Op. 39, and four modern American songs I have collected over the years. The Liederkreis is a song cycle consisting of twelve unrelated vignettes, each …

“Something That Just Hovers”: Charting Feldman’S Neither, Madison E. Owings

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Luigi Russolo: The Work And Influence Of A Visionary - The Birth Of Noise-Music, Daniel Matei

Senior Projects Spring 2018

My senior project focuses on the work and legacy of Luigi Russolo. Italian Futurism was one of the most influential artistic movements of the twentieth century, and Russolo contributed to that to a large extent. He was the co-author of the Futurist Painters' Manifesto, but soon he abandoned painting to pursue his true passion: In 1913 he published The Art of Noises, a manifesto that changed music forever. In my project I analyzed Futurist paintings and their respective manifestos. Music of the Futurist Noise-Machines, and their respective manifestos. And I assess Russolo's influence on composers such as Igor …

The Music Lesson: An Analysis Of Two Works From Dutch Seventeenth Century, Valory Hight

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

Musical Infrastructures And Techniques Of Survival In Dakar, Simon Charles Debevoise

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project jointly submitted to the Division of Social Studies and the Division of Arts of Bard College.

Imaginary Keyboards, Ethan Charles Isaac

Senior Projects Spring 2018

An Imperceptible Future

Originally, the intention was to create a programmatic album of some nature. At first I had come up with the concept of cataloging sounds and experiences from restaurants across the area, an idea which I may come back to at another time. But as it usually happens things do not go as planned. At the start of my senior year, I was enrolled in an electro-acoustic composition workshop run by my senior project advisor, Matt Sargent. In which I began exploring microtonal composition, something I had been building knowledge of as I spent my years here at …

"I'Ll Listen To Anything But Country Music" The Limits Of Musical Omnivorousness: A Study Of Listening Preferences At The Root Cellar, Aurélia S. Le Vacon

Senior Projects Spring 2018

This research, conducted at a musical safe space called the “Root Cellar”, looks at the recent emergence of a new form of aesthetic preferences, called omnivorousness, that challenges Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of taste as only following an elitist model. This study understands the concept of the habitus as something that can evolve with time and social experiences. Moreover, I found that omnivorousness (eclectic taste) isn’t as musically inclusive as past studies have claimed. Omnivorousness is reinforced by technology, with the creation of online music streaming platforms. The mobility and privatization of listening spaces that emerge from technological progress generate new …

Everything Is An Experience & A Seat In The Shop: Hair Follicles, Rickey W. Waddell

Senior Projects Spring 2018

As a music major at Bard a part of my requirement to graduate was to produce two forty minute presentations for an audience. At Bard I moderated into the classical music department as a vocalist. During my time here I developed an interest in jazz voice, electronic composition, cello performance, and percussion performance. Since my moderation concert in live performance, I always make attempts to connect ideas from books I’ve read including: evolution, human rights, and world peace.

My first senior project concert “Everything is an Experience” happened on the night of the seventh of December, 2017 in the László …