Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Study Of Music, Embodiment, And Meaning In The World Of Portal, Helen A. Rowe

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Interactive video game music is a relatively new and quickly expanding art form, incorporating elements of music history, cinema, and video game theory. This study explores how music functions, reveals meaning, and defines player experience within the interactive world of the video games Portal and Portal 2—and how the paradoxical, twisting essence of the Portal world is created and shaped musically. Ultimately, this is a study of the continued existence and relevance of classical music and traditional music history in the futuristic world of video games.

The Self-Fashioning Of A Consummate Musical Orator, Alexis A. Vanzalen

Lawrence University Honors Projects

In 1697 the organist and composer Dieterich Buxtehude (1637-1707) was deemed “world famous” by a guidebook to the German city in which he lived, Lübeck. Such public acclaim for a musician was unusual in this society where musicians were generally looked down upon and stereotyped as dishonorable and picaresque outsiders. In this context, Buxtehude’s situation begs the question, how did he come to have such an esteemed reputation?

As I will argue, Buxtehude actively fashioned his reputation as an adept member of his capitalistic society, a useful civil servant, and an accomplished and complete musician, throughout his life. In large …