Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Good Girls Don't, Tess Fresco

English Honors Theses

Set in the year 1980, "Good Girls Don't" is a bracing coming-of-age story about Cathy, a young woman in Los Angeles who dreams of escaping the city yet feels intimately bound to it. Los Angeles as a terrifyingly beautiful place, in this specific time, figures prominently in this novella; even as Cathy enjoys smoking pot with her best friend Heather, rolls her eyes at her boss at Jack In the Box, and moons over sexy surfer boys, the threat of a serial murderer targeting young women hangs over her mind. On a date one night with Jim, an older boy …

Heard: Pondering Life's Soundscapes, Carolyn Albright, Adam Berger, Lily Brooks, Amanda Denney, Liam Drehkoff, Jack Fink, Emerson Fraser, Benjamin Galligan, Marta Insolia, Sam Kleid, Finn Krol, Morgan O'Halloran, Keya Shah, Kit Simpson, Elliott Zajac

English

This collection explores the relationship between music, culture, and personal experience. The product of a fall semester honors Expository Writing course, Heard traces the songs that have impacted students' lives. From folk and punk to Broadway and yacht rock, the music of the collection has shaped each author's life in both small and profound ways.

Irreverent Womanhood: The Healing Of Intergenerational And Cultural Trauma In The Chicanx And Latinx Sonic Poetry Of Amalia Ortiz And Melissa Lozada-Oliva, Yasmine A. Gomez

Theses and Dissertations

The connections between nontraditional forms of literature and spiritual activism lie within the resistive practices of Chicanx Feminism. This thesis argues that cultural healing and social change is dependent upon the recognition of trauma as a step towards enacting social justice. Additionally, this thesis focuses on the figure of Coyolxauhqui and indigenous motherhood to reveal procedures for change. Through the theory of trauma, this thesis examines the nontraditional Chicanx/Latinx poetry of Amalia Ortiz’s sonic rock opera, Cancíon, Cannibal, Cabaret, & Other Songs and Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s novel in verse, Dreaming of You.

My investigation into the breaking of gendered …

From Story To Song: Exploring The Storytelling Potential Of Instrumental Music, Celine Darr

Honors Projects

For this project, I have composed a piece of program music with the aim of capturing scenes from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" through music. The project seeks to answer questions regarding the elements that make instrumental music "programmatic", or able to portray a story.

Performing Grrrlhood: A Lyrical Analysis Of Riot Grrrl Music, Vida Hasson

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis examines the lyrics of the three founding Riot Grrrl bands: Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Heavens to Betsy. I explore how Riot Grrrl bands politicize girlhood to undermine patriarchal authority and empower girls to redefine feminism for themselves. I provide the historical context for Riot Grrrl as a political movement and its cultural impact in the 1990s. In my analysis I connect the lyrics to feminist discourse to demonstrate how Riot Grrrl provided women and girls a platform to discuss feminism and patriarchal oppression. Music has the power to send messages to the masses and Riot Grrrl's legacy proves …

Hearing Tolkien In Vaughan Williams?, Keri Hui

Journal of Tolkien Research

In recent years, musicians and Tolkien readers alike have associated Ralph Vaughan Williams’ music, particularly Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910), The Lark Ascending (1914), and Fantasia on Greensleeves (1934), with Tolkien’s fantasies. This article explores this tendency to hear Tolkien’s Middle-earth in Vaughan Williams’ musical fantasies, calling attention to the similarities in their shared devotion to the idea of English consciousness, interest in combining ecclesiastical and folk materials, and pastoral vision. A juxtaposition of their approach and philosophies not only helps explain the musical echoes, however, but also confirms an appealing mark of Tolkien’s craft is its …

“A Greater [Music]” And “A Song Of Greater Power”: Lúthien's Song And Dance In The Light Of The Ainulindalë, Giovanni Carmine Costabile

Journal of Tolkien Research

It is often given for granted that the whole history of Arda somehow reflects the primordial symphony played by the angelic Ainur before the highest deity Ilúvatar before the beginning of days. Yet, the specific modalities of such mirroring did not, up to the present day, receive the attention they should. Therefore, the present writing endeavours to trace the correspondances between the divine music and the narrative dedicated to the amazing accomplishments of the bethrothed Elven maiden Lúthien and human hero Beren. The choice of the latter story among all the tales of Arda is due to the fact that …

Enchanting Music: How English Playwrights Use Music In Renaissance Witchcraft Plays, Alyssa Anders

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Music is an integral aspect of the Early Modern theater, but because most of this music is lost, scholars and students typically only analyze these works using literary theories. This approach does not allow for a full understanding these plays, which is especially true of witchcraft plays because witches typically utilize music for their spells. In this thesis, I am exploring the interdisciplinary connection of music and literature in the Jacobean witchcraft plays The Witch (c. 1616) by Thomas Middleton and The Tragedy of Sophonisba or The Wonder of Women (1604-1606). From my analysis of the existing music from The …

Sound Minds: Women’S Novels, Vibrational Experience, And The Listening Imagination In Nineteenth-Century Britain, Elizabeth Weybright

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sound Minds: Women’s Novels, Vibrational Experience, and the Listening Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Britain traces nineteenth-century evolutions of the concept of auditory subjecthood and brings narrative representations of audition and utterance in novels written by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and George Eliot to bear on sound studies, acoustic research, and adjacent philosophies of musical aesthetics. Between Ernst Chladni’s groundbreaking publications on acoustic science in 1787 and 1802 and Hermann von Helmholtz’s enormously influential study of sound waves and musical theory, On the Sensations of Tone: As a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music (1862), continental Europe and Britain saw proliferating …

Literary Needle Drops: The Use Of Music As A Postmodern Tool In Contemporary Fiction, Adan S. Alvarado

English Theses

An examination of musical references (“literary needle drops”) in contemporary literature: Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, and Haruki Murakami’s Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. The novels are viewed through the various conceptual lens, literary and otherwise, such as Marcel Danesi’s Modal Flow Principle or “perceptual stimulations” as defined by Guillemette Bolens.

Egan’s novel utilizes punk bands and tracks to construct her characters’ identities, and send them on a journey through lost time to reflect on who they once were, who they have become, and whether they have been able to …

National Spiritual Educational Role Of Songs Praising The Country, Nozbuvi Boychayeva

Mental Enlightenment Scientific-Methodological Journal

Introducing young people to the types of national musical art in accordance with modern requirements and promoting its content and essence in the lessons of music culture is a very convenient means of music education. Praising patriotism and humanity in songs. Correct understanding of the content of the songs, the specific complex processes of performance and attention to the educational and spiritual essence of the works. A deep understanding of the professional content of the song’s focus on song poetry and performance skills in the art of music. From this point of view, this article deals with the issues of …

Remember December, Michelle Sellers

The Tuxedo Archives

No abstract provided.

Mental Health In Music: Why Are We Not Talking About It?, Christian Pence

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The music business has taken many hits over the past 20 years, and we are seeing musicians slowly going extinct. There are so many factors that are hurting musicians, and workers in the music business. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, we were investing in music like no tomorrow. So many concerts were happening, and so many Broadway shows were going on. We were really supporting our musicians, and we were helping them in any way we could. But society, has not been investing in musicians, causing certain problems, like financial stability, mental health problems, and making music more of …

From Camp Meetings To Crusades: African American Religious Songs In Context, Konner B. Smith

Honors College Theses

The images found throughout African American religious songs are timeless, yet they reflect the realities of their particular historical and cultural contexts, explaining those circumstances from the view of the African American community. Despite the differences in sound, there is a strong sense of continuity between each era, as compositions from slave songs to rap use certain passages from scripture to emphasize the themes of freedom, hope, and perseverance. From the spiritual to the gospel to contemporary religious rap, both history and hope have been lifted up and transformed in the voices of oppressed and enduring African Americans.

Review Of The Whatifs By Emily Kilgore, Katie E. Gosman

Library Intern Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Music Making Connections, Laura M. Breslin

English Department: Research for Change - Wicked Problems in Our World

The Covid-19 pandemic has made mental health issues sky rocket. Many people are suffering from anxiety, depression, OCD and many other mental health problems now more than ever. Without the in-person interactions, many people are eager to be able to hug friends and family again. People are also eager to see their favorite music artist live in concert again. In this paper, we discuss how music can help your mental health, how to prevent contracting the coronavirus, and ways you can help speed up the process of getting life back to normal.

Review: Echo, Rachel Schwedt, Janice A. Delong

Ages 10-12

No abstract provided.

Review: My Father’S Words, Rachel Schwedt, Janice A. Delong

Ages 10-12

No abstract provided.

Review: Rooftoppers, Rachel Schwedt, Janice A. Delong

Ages 10-12

No abstract provided.

On The Total Communicative Efficacy Of Music And Its Synthesis To Written Word Through Bob Dylan And Kendrick Lamar, Skyler Addison

CMC Senior Theses

In a social conversation, words spoken carry less than 35% of the interaction’s social meeting, with 65% conveyed by the non-verbal. While poetry relies on the word and it's subtext, songwriting may also weld the other 65%. By dissecting the dynamic communicative aspects of song, modern poets may find useful ways in which they can make their lines have more staying power with the listener, encompassing both the rhythmic catchiness of their lines to an all-encompassing emotive transfer. We may isolate the interwoven components of a song that dictate how a story is told in order to better understand how …

A Rhetoric Without Words: The Persuasive Art Of Music, Charles Majors

Kentucky English Bulletin

No abstract provided.

Music Terminology And Context In Robert Browning’S “A Toccata Of Galuppi’S”, Natalie M. Dolan

Student Publications

In his poem describing a performance of a Baldassare Galuppi toccata, Robert Browning uses music theory terminology and historical context to explain the emotions inspired by the piece. Browning’s 19th-century narrator reflects on the lives of past audiences and on his own mortality as he addresses the deceased composer. This paper analyzes the use of musical references in explaining the narrator’s response to the performance. The analysis includes an examination of Galuppi’s compositional period and a discussion of the specific terminology that Browning uses to convey his narrator’s wariness of death.

Song: The Emotional Storyteller In The Tales Of Edgar Allan Poe, Sadie O'Conor

The Criterion

Edgar Allan Poe argues in his Marginalia column that “indefiniteness is an element … of the true musical expression.” Music is a powerful device for expression because of its intangible yet deeply rooted connection to human emotion; it captures ideas that cannot always be put into words. In a similar way, we can never truly “hear” music if it is only described on a page. Poe used this phenomenon on a literary level to illustrate a character’s deep, almost indescribable longing for something that they would rarely reveal to the other people in their stories. The references to instrumental music …

Ever With Thee: A Vespers In Music And Poetry, Department Of Music

Concerts and Event Programs 2019-2020

Presented as a joint effort by the Department of English and Department of Music, Ever With Thee is an evening of music and poetry, including poetic works by Shauna Niequist, Denise Levertov, Dana Faulds, and others, as well as musical pieces by Scarlatti, Tchaikovsky, Haydn, and others.

I Had To Do The Reading: A Phenomenological Case Study Of College English Students, Jennifer Eleanor Frank

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

The purposes of this qualitative phenomenological case study were to investigate multiple student experiences in a general elective introduction to literature course when music was added as an autonomously structured assignment. Music and song lyrics are no strangers to the classroom setting, but there is a gap in the literature examining the space where students can create meaningful links between music they enjoy and assigned course readings in college English. Informed by social constructivism and English studies theories this study was designed to investigate any impact that autonomously driven music-link assignments may have on students. The structured assignments were called …

The Meaning In The Music: Music And The Prose Of Chopin, Joyce, Baldwin And Egan, Colin Perry

Senior Theses

Kate Chopin, James Joyce, James Baldwin, and Jennifer Egan are collectively gifted in the art of prose, yet each author also experiments with music in their literary works. An analysis of Chopin's The Awakening, Joyce's "The Dead," Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," and Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad reveals a trend of authors utilizing music to enrich their texts and convey major themes.

“And Those That Are Fools, Let Them Use Their Talents”: Looking At The Power Of Music In The Hands Of Shakespeare’S Wise Fools

Noelle Conder

Resonant Texts: The Politics Of Nineteenth-Century African American Music And Print Culture, Paul Fess

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Resonant Texts: the Politics of Nineteenth-Century African American Music and Print Culture, investigates musical sound as a discursive tool African American writers and activists deployed to contest enslavement before the Civil War and claim citizenship after Emancipation. Traditionally, scholars have debated the degree to which nineteenth-century African American music constituted evidence of black culture and marked a persistent African orality that still abides within African American textual production. While these trends inform this project, my inquiry focuses on the ways that writers placed elements of musical sound—such as rhythm, melody, choral singing, and harmony—at the center of their …

James Baldwin's Soundscape And Grain Of The Racialized Body, Vallerie M. Matos

Theses and Dissertations

I will investigate the language around, and in direct relation to, the musicality of James Baldwin’s work. The interdependence of music and literature compose the majority, if not all, of his literary corpus. However, at some point both art forms bifurcate and we are confronted by the difficulties of writing about music and sound, and about music in text. I confront Roland Barthes’s disdain for the adjective and his theory of the “Grain of the Voice” in order to argue that attention to Black expressive musical narrative forms make audible and allow readers to witness to the grain of the …

"Song Is The Simple Rhythmic Liberation Of An Emotion": Stephen Dedalus' Musical Martyrdom, Colleen E. Mulhern

The Criterion

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, published in 1916, is Joyce’s semi-autobiographical bildungsroman centered on Stephen Dedalus’ struggle to reconcile Catholic teachings with his own artistic ambitions. In Portrait, music aids Stephen’s epiphanies. Stephen uses music to express emotions unable to be conceived of in – what Joyce calls –“cut-and-dry language.” He appreciates the ability of songs to arouse emotion and induce thought; the songs that Stephen encounters help to form his identity, first as a martyr and, later, as a creator.

Awarded The Leonard J. McCarthy, S.J., Memorial Prize for 2018