Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Evaluating Ideasthesia As A Creative Tool In Compositional Practice: A Personal Reflection On Coloured Hearing Synesthesia, Suzanne Kosowitz

Theses : Honours

This research presents an evaluation of my compositional process with regard to synesthesia as a creative tool. Traditionally, the phenomenon of synesthesia has been discussed in perceptual terms, such as something that is seen visually elicits an additional experience in another sensory domain, such as sound. However, recent research has identified that there is an additional process involved in creating the secondary sensory experience, which is a semantic representation of concepts (ideasthesia). Specifically, my research considers ideasthesia in combination with a personal reflection on coloured hearing to provide a retrospective analysis of one of my compositions, Dance in Defiance (2012) …

Representations Of Chronic Migraine And Therapy Through New Electronic Music Composition, Peter Mcavan

Theses : Honours

This thesis explores compositional techniques in electronic music that depict and explore chronic migraine and the therapies that manage the condition. Migraines are typically described as a destructive, violent force or a hopeless ailment, but research shows that this perception is damaging for new patients learning to manage migraine. Furthermore, evidence suggests that better understanding of how pain works can be instrumental in reducing pain (a process called Therapeutic Neuroscience Education). Drawing from this literature and my experience as an electronic musician suffering from chronic migraine, I utilise a practice-led research methodology to explore current scientific understandings of migraine and …

Multimodal Learning For Dyslexic Musicians: Practical Applications For Adults, Melissa Mikucki

Theses : Honours

Dyslexia affects 15 to 20% of the population according to the International Dyslexia Association. Multimodal media, such as smartphones and tablets, which are capable of presenting varied modes of information (for example, visual, aural, and kinetic), have been shown to aid learning in dyslexic children. Music has been identified as a useful multisensory tool to help educators improve literacy skills in children. However, little research has been done on the impact of dyslexia on a child or adult’s ability to learn and perform music. Few studies have been undertaken that focus solely on dyslexia’s effect on musical ability in children; …

The Matusiflute: A Bi-Timbral Flute Modification And The Cultural Influences That Inform Its Performance Practice And Repertoire, Joshua Gabriel Mcmahon

Theses : Honours

A product of flute modification and experimentation, the Matusiflute is a headjoint that allows the performer to alter the timbre of the western concert flute. This thesis examines this bi-timbral instrument, invented by Swiss flautist Professor Matthias Ziegler, and explores its capabilities to shift to a buzzing timbral colour which is similar to that of the dizi (Chinese end-blown flute). Composers may use the instrument for its unique textural timbral colour or to imitate the culturally-informed performance style of the dízi. Though reflective performance practice, music analysis and an interview with the inventor, the thesis examines the Matusiflute to …

The Fringe Or The Heart Of Things? Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Musics In Australian Music Institutions, Clint Bracknell, Linda Barwick

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Teetering on the fringe of Australian music scholarship and knowledge institutions, research and teaching of local Indigenous musics hold a marginal place, belying the positioning of Indigenous music-makers at the centre of international representations of Australian culture, and the dynamic local connections of Indigenous music-making to Australian landscapes and social realities. Music’s ubiquity and diversity worldwide show its potential as a tool to manage the changing world in societies of the past and present, yet this potential is largely neglected in contemporary Australia, and our theories and evidence base are limited by the narrow western focus within our knowledge institutions. …

The Impact Of Singing On Pulmonary Function And Quality Of Life In Patients With Muscular Dystrophy, Mia Simonette

Theses : Honours

Muscular dystrophy is a congenital disorder that results in progressive deterioration of muscle strength and function. The genetic disorder is caused by the absence of dystrophin protein which helps to keep muscle cells together, the absence of this protein causes muscles to become weak and fragile. Despite impairment of motor function and muscle strength, a major issue is the progressive impact on the respiratory muscles. Weak pulmonary function can lead to secondary issues such as atelectasis, decreased lung compliance, repeated infections, ineffective cough and ventilation-perfusion during sleep1. Respiratory failure is said to be the most common cause of death in …

Notational Strategies For Integrating Live Performers With Complex Sounds And Environments, Lindsay Vickery

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper describes strategies for integrating live performers with complex “extra-musical” sounds and environments through extended traditional and proportional notations. The subjects of the works discussed include Animals (wardang [2019], kurui [2018]) and environments (rising water [2018], willsons downfall [2018], njookenbooro [2018]) . The techniques include spectrographic transcription, audio processing, extended forms of notation and spatial audio.

Composer-Performer Collaboration In The Development Of Kinabuhi | Kamatayon For Percussion And Electronics, Louise Devenish, Stuart James

Sound Scripts

This paper provides an outline of the collaborative approach taken in the creation of electroacoustic percussion work Kinabuhi | Kamatayon (2015) by Stuart James for performance by Louise Devenish. Written for eleven Indonesian bossed gongs and electronics, the work involved creative and systematic exploration of various percussive and electronic techniques with the primary aim of re-contextualising these instruments. This paper offers an overview of the collaboration process with percussionist Louise Devenish and how these techniques were used in the work. This includes discussion of the performance practices developed and a suitable notation system for effectively executing these compositional ideas.

Action Music And Action Painting In The Twenty-First Century, Erik Griswold

Sound Scripts

The painter Jackson Pollock reputedly claimed, “I am nature,” while George W. Bush saw himself as “a gut player. I play by instincts.” Donald Trump echoed these sentiments, insisting he was “a very instinctual person, but my instinct turns out to be right.” But can these instincts be put to good use? Perhaps one solution lies in channelling these forces into more creative endeavours, transforming the masculinist approach of Pollock into a more collaborative and joyous action in music. “Action Music” (2013) and “Action Music 2” (2017) are two compositions of mine in which I have employed both in-the-moment improvisation …

Addressing Climate Change Scepticism Through The Sonic Arts, Cissi Tsang

Sound Scripts

This paper discusses the continued denial of climate change despite overwhelming scientific evidence and agreement, through viewing climate change as a “hyperobject”—that is, a concept of such massive temporal and spatial dimensions that it defies traditional understanding. One of the challenges of the scientific community is to combat such scepticism through new ways of framing information, and the sonic arts offers an alternative presentation of truth through its ability to create emotional and narrative rapport, and also humanise esoteric information. This paper will focus on various methods of communicating climate change data aurally—such as sonification of data, and ecoacoustic methods …

Art As Truth: The Post-Truth Reception Of Hamilton (2015) And The New Prince (2017), Cecilia Sun

Sound Scripts

No abstract provided.

No Human Ever Made A Cathedral Such As This: Scoping The Ecology Of The Carols By Candlelight Effect In Australia’S Open-Air Environments, Robin Ryan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

During Australia’s dry December, traditional and popular forms of caroling shape the sight and sound of the key Christian festival of Christmas. Creative connections between belief, place, and music are characteristically manifest in focused open-air environments of beach, bushland or park. Reasoning from gospel belief that the very first “Christmas carol” emanated from a heavenly host of angels singing to an audience of shepherds in a field, caroling alfresco is an appropriate activity. How, then, do Australian caroling venues become conducive to environmental spheres of sound and influence? While the annual mass Carols by Candlelight concerts televised from Melbourne and …

The Interaction Between Postminimalist Music And Contemporary Dance, Azariah Felton

Theses : Honours

This dissertation examines the manner in which postminimalist compositional techniques such as phasing, polymeter, etc., can be used to aid the creation of music for dance. Music presented with dance generally serves at least two crucial roles: providing the dancers with a framework and impetus to aid movement; and reflecting the concept and meaning, where applicable, of the choreography. Many composers writing for dance must find ways to unite these goals in a way that best suits the total work, and find a balance between supporting the concept and assisting the dancers. This dissertation discusses the relationship between choreography and …

Pre-Service Primary Teachers' Experiences And Self-Efficacy To Teach Music: Are They Ready?, Geoffrey M. Lowe, Geoff W. Lummis, Julia Morris

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Music is essential in developing the young brain, particularly skills relating to concentration, filtering, information retrieval, verbal competencies, mental visualisation, problem solving, empathy and personal expression. With the introduction of the Australian National Curriculum and its adoption as the basis of the Western Australian P-10 music syllabus, there is cause to reflect on the effectiveness of music provision within teacher education courses and pre-service generalist teachers' abilities to deliver the new music syllabus. Accordingly, a mixed method study was conducted with first and fourth year Bachelor of Education primary students at a Western Australian university, to investigate students' music experiences …

The Possibilities Of A Line: Marking The Glissando In Music, Cat Hope, Michael Terren

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The glissando as it is deployed in Western art music notation carries with it a number of challenges to the hegemony of traditional harmony, rhythm, and notation. The glissando embodies the smooth line, unlike the striated pitch-time space of traditional Western music, which aligns the glissando to many philosophical concepts, as well as mathematical, scientific, and architectural disciplines. Select works by Iannis Xenakis, James Tenney and Giacinto Scelsi are discussed for their development of glissandi as integral formal components, especially around the glissando’s tendency to encourage stasis. Compositional attempts to combine the nature of glissandi with drone in the author’s …

An Analysis Of Selected Rhythmic, Harmonic And Melodic Devices Used In The Arrangement And Improvisation By Gwilym Simcock On The Way You Look Tonight (2007), Brodie Stewart

Theses : Honours

Gwilym Simcock, a seminal jazz pianist at the forefront of the European music scene, sees no boundaries between jazz and classical music. His debut album Perception (2007) received impressive critical acclaim, and has been considered a musical fingerprint of his various influences and composition style. This research pursues a deeper insight into the characteristics of his arranging and improvisational style by identifying notable devices used in the performance of The Way You Look Tonight, a well-known jazz standard that is featured on the album.

The tune itself is has been reimagined as a modern-sounding arrangement centred on a rhythmic …

Nothing Happens Here: Songs About Perth, Jon Stratton, Adam Trainer

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This essay examines Perth as portrayed through the lyrics of popular songs written by people who grew up in the city. These lyrics tend to reproduce the dominant myths about the city: that it is isolated, that it is self-satisfied, that little happens there. Perth became the focus of song lyrics during the late 1970s time of punk with titles such as 'Arsehole of the Universe' and 'Perth Is a Culture Shock'. Even the Eurogliders' 1984 hit, 'Heaven Must Be There', is based on a rejection of life in Perth. However, Perth was also home to Dave Warner, whose songs …

Multi-Point Nonlinear Spatial Distribution Of Effects Across The Soundfield, Stuart James

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper outlines a method of applying non-linear processing and effects to multi-point spatial distributions of sound spectra. The technique is based on previous research by the author on non-linear spatial distributions of spectra, that is, timbre spatialisation in the frequency domain. One of the primary applications here is the further elaboration of timbre spatialisation in the frequency domain to account for distance cues incorporating loudness attenuation, reverb, and filtration. Further to this, the same approach may also give rise to more non-linear distributions of processing and effects across multi-point spatial distributions such as audio distortions and harmonic exciters, delays, …

Practising Jazz Performance: An Investigation Into The Process That Underpins Optimal Instrumental Practice In The Jazz Idiom, Christopher J. Tarr

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Little formal research has been undertaken into the processes associated with jazz improvisation, particularly those associated with practising to become an elite jazz improviser. This study seeks to understand the role of instrumental practice, particularly physical practice strategies and the associated mental states, in the development of jazz improvisers. Interviews were conducted with six improvisers of various ages, instruments and backgrounds. The study identified a number of strategies specific to jazz practice that differed from traditional practice strategies described in Western art literature, particularly in relation to the importance of the ear-to-instrument connection. Accordingly, the study sets out a series …

Spectromorphology And Spatiomorphology Of Sound Shapes: Audio-Rate Aep And Dbap Panning Of Spectra, Stuart James

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Explorations of a new mapping strategy for spectral spatial-isation demonstrate a concise and flexible control of both spatiomorphology and spectromorphology. With the crea-tion of customized software by the author for audio-rate histograms, spectral processing function smoothing, spec-tral centroid width modulation, audio-rate distance-based amplitude panning, audio-rate ambisonic equivalent pan-ning, a growing library of audio trajectory functions, and an assortment of spectral transformation functions, this article tries to explain the rationale of this process.

Mr Barbecue By Elena Kats-Chernin: The Raw And The Cooked, Helen K. Rusak

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This article examines the music theatre work Mr Barbecue (2002) composed by Elena Kats-Chernin, based upon a libretto by Janis Balodis. It looks at the work within the context of her two previous music -theatre works Iphis(1997) and Matricide: The Musical (1998), which I argue express a feminine aesthetic. I refer particularly to Eva Rieger’s theories on the “restricted aesthetic” outlined in her article “’I recycle Sounds’: Do Women Compose Differently?”. With the commissioning of Mr. Barbecue, Kats-Chernin was required to set a libretto which expressed the new wave of masculinist thinking that emerged in the 1990’s as a backlash …

Eighteenth Century Techniques Of Classical Improvisation On The Violin: Pedagogy, Practice And Decline, Flavia Claudia Todea

Theses : Honours

The art of improvisation flourished in both instrumental and vocal music during the late seventeenth and throughout the eighteenth centuries. The violin techniques of improvisation taught in the eighteenth century (such as ornamentation of melody, decoration of fermatas, extemporization of cadenzas and creation of preludes) formed an integral part of instrumental pedagogy and performance practice at the time, which then declined significantly from the early nineteenth century onwards. It seems that this practice of improvisation has been neglected and its principles almost forgotten in the world of classical Western music today. This paper makes an argument for the re-introduction of …

Stability And Accuracy Of Long-Term Memory For Musical Pitch [Journal Article], Alyce K. Hay, Craig P. Speelman

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Existing research gives an inconsistent picture of the nature of the cognitive processes underlying memory for musical information. A study was conducted to investigate the stability and accuracy of long-term memory for pitch amongst individuals who have not had musical training. Excerpts from well-known pop songs were used as stimuli. Participants heard one long sequence of excerpts, each of which had been raised or lowered in pitch by one semitone, or left unaltered. After hearing each excerpt, participants were asked to detect whether it was different from the original version of the song they remembered. Participants were significantly worse at …

De Concentv Amisso Qvaerendo: An Investigation Into The Relative Benefits Of Three Different Types Of Ambient Music On The Observed Agitated Behaviour And Quality Of Life Of Dementia Sufferers In Residential Aged Care Facilities, Peter Wilkinson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

There is an increasing body of research evidence to support the use of music as a therapeutic modality in reducing the agitated behaviour frequently associated with late-stage dementia. Although much of this evidence suggests that music interventions are most effective when they are “individualized”, this type of intervention is often difficult to implement in large, busy, aged care facilities where residents may be located together in communal areas during the day. The challenge therefore is to try and identify a particular musical genre which, when played as “ambient” or “background” music, demonstrates a consistent capacity to reduce agitated behaviour in …

Creating And Performing New Australian Works On The Hungarian Concert Cimbalom, Joshua Webster

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the creation and performance of five new Western Australian works for the Hungarian concert cimbalom. These include four solo works, and one duet, which were scored, analysed, performed, and recorded. This thesis is in two parts: this exegetical component, which details the background, development, and findings of the research, including the scores created, and the manual that was developed for composers’ use; and a practical component, which is an active representation of the research, included as video recordings. To assist the composition of the new works, a manual was developed for the composers’ use. This manual began …

The Integrated Sound, Space And Movement Environment : The Uses Of Analogue And Digital Technologies To Correlate Topographical And Gestural Movement With Sound, Jonathan A. Mustard

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis investigates correlations between auditory parameters and parameters associated with movement in a sensitised space. The research examines those aspects of sound that form correspondences with movement, force or position of a body or bodies in a space sensitised by devices for acquiring gestural or topographical data. A wide range of digital technologies are scrutinised to establish what the most effective technologies are in order to achieve detailed and accurate information about movement in a given space, and the methods and procedures for analysis, transposition and synthesis into sound. The thesis describes pertinent work in the field from the …

New Method Of Rhythmic Improvisation For The Jazz Bassist : An Interdisciplinary Study Of Dave Holland's Rhythmic Approach To Bass Improvisation And North Indian Rhythmic Patterns, Linda M. Oh

Theses : Honours

The focus of this honours dissertation is rhythm in jazz-bass improvisation. It is an exploration of the rhythmic devices employed by cutting-edge bassist, Dave Holland (b. 1946). Through transcription and analysis of Holland's improvisation over a selection of compositions recorded by the award-winning Dave Holland Quintet, this study isolates the key rhythmic tools he uses to create engaging solos. Furthermore this study examines rhythmic concepts from North Indian Classical music (a primary influence on Holland) through transcription and analysis of rhythm in certain tabla compositions. Consequently, a synthesis of the explored rhythmic devices is presented in the form of an …

The Use Of Principles And Techniques Derived From Meditation For The Design And Creation Of Co-Participatory Musical Systems, Hannah E. Clemen

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

For this thesis, a detailed study was undertaken to determine whether techniques derived from traditional meditation systems can be applied to "co-participatory" music systems in order to enhance their accessibility, interactivity, and experiential impact, In order to adequately address this subject, a number of investigative steps have been taken. First, a workable list of definitions for what meditation actually is was made by comparing the practices and philosophies of a number of traditional meditation forms. The conclusions derived from this stage of the discussion served to create a definitive "blueprint" for meditation and served as a theoretical foundation for the …

Algorithmic Composition In Contrasting Music Styles, Tristan Mcauley, Philip Hingston

Research outputs pre 2011

The aim of this research was to automate the composition of convincingly “real” music in specific musical genres. By “real” music we mean music which is not obviously “machine generated”, is recognizable as being of the selected genre, is perceived as aesthetically pleasing, and is usable in a commercial context. To achieve this goal, various computational techniques were used, including genetic algorithms and finite state automata. The process involves an original, top down approach and a bottom up approach based on previous studies. Student musicians have objectively assessed the resulting compositions.

Revisiting The Early Format Of The Big Band: So You Want To Be A Band Leader?, Amanda L. Jones

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aims of this research are to set up a large contemporary ensemble that plays varied repertoire in different performance contexts and may generate at the same time, a vehicle for my composition and arranging. Involved within the research are strategies to increase the musical and performance skills of the musicians, to break down barriers between the audience and performers, to look at ways to include I promote/ increase/ audience participation, to work with the community, and find opportunities for paid employment for big band situations. Aspects of New Orleans brass bands, the Duke Ellington's and Count Basie's Orchestra's will …