Ethnomusicology Commons^™

"I Want To Take You Higher": Popular Music Museums As Social Fields For Legitimizing Popular Music Memories, Olivia Paige Zinn

Senior Projects Spring 2023

This paper is an ethnographic and interview-based study of popular music museums in the United States. I observed that curatorial practices in pop music museums aligned with two major goals -- education and entertainment. These curatorial practices worked within the goals of the social field of museums as well as responded to the legacy of cultural hierarchy. I ultimately find that popular music museums are sites for legitimizing Americans' memories of and taste for popular music, rather than merely sites of music history education or entertainment.

A "Third Dimension": The Art Of "Fusing" Arabic Music And Jazz, Grace Molinaro

Senior Projects Fall 2023

Senior project submitted to the Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The fusion of Arabic music and jazz has been surging in recent years, especially with the rise of global music streaming platforms yielding increased accessibility to different art forms and traditions of music. Musicians approach this "fusion" from a variety of angles and musical backgrounds, depending on their goals, training and vision unique to their own context. This paper examines the work of four Arab and Arab American musicians who create music that can be considered a fusion of Arabic music and jazz, investigating the music making process …

Punk In Translation: A Music And Fashion History Of Punk, Estela A. Quiñones

Senior Projects Fall 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Show Must Go On: New York Diy As Cultural Practice In The Changing City, Danni Slawinski

Senior Projects Spring 2022

The New York DIY scene is situated in a long history of social, political, and musical movements across the nation. Coming from this tradition of “do it yourself” politics, this community has adapted over the years to combat the forces of gentrification and capitalism which constantly threaten DIY music scenes. Over the last two years, this community has faced one of the most unexpected challenges to the continuation of the scene; The COVID-19 pandemic. In this ethnographically inflected analysis of the New York City DIY scene, I will be looking at the ways in which this musical community has been …

Impressions On The American Cowboy: End Of The Trail, Ghost Town And Rough Men, Jude Edmund Markey-Smith

Senior Projects Spring 2022

“Impressions on the American Cowboy” seeks to consider, expose, and investigate the symbol of the cowboy in our culture–– in all of its twisted romance. After reflecting on my personal experiences as well as various historical texts and works of western fiction, I set out to make my own western-themed work. My intention is to comment and explore the so-called “man problem” across disciplines in live performed time and space. This work attempts to think critically about how and why cowboy culture has persisted, and to delve into this particular and troubling projection of masculine consciousness.

The Cultural Blueprint Of Laotian Society From The Contexts Of Traditional And Modern Music, Nandi Ampone Woodfork-Bey

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies and The Arts of Bard College

Looking Into The Meaning Of Vaporwave: The Internet’S Favorite Genre Of Music, Thelonious Spike Kelly-Rossini

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College. An Ethnographic look into Vaporwave as a genre, and the politics surrounding it and it's online community.

Hip-Hopping Over The Great Firewall Of China: Authenticity, Language And Race In The Global Hip Hop Nation, Matice F. Maino

Senior Projects Spring 2021

This paper explores how Chinese youth interact and relate to this form of music and culture, and what this adaptation reveals about authenticity, class, race and regionalization in the age of digitized communication. For this paper, I ethnographically observe how participants experience Chinese Hip Hop as part of the Global spread of Hip Hop, as a cultural phenomenon that relates cosmopolitan marginalized youth identity, digital censorship, shedding light on relations to race, class, nationality and globalization among college aged international Chinese students studying at Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson New York.

I’Ve Always Been A Rambler: An Exploration Of Authenticity In Contemporary Folk Music, Bernard Elliot Cohen

Senior Projects Spring 2021

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

The Ethos Of The Blues: An Ethnography Of Blues Singers And Writers, Zoë Emilie Peterschild Ford

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Dawn Tyler Watson, a blues singer based in Montreal, QC, performs a variety of genres. No matter what she performs, however, she continually expresses a blues ethos. Through improvisation and her resolute individuality Dawn writes and sings narratives always with a nod to the blues. What I call the “ethos of the blues” refers to a blues spirit that exists not only in music, but in literature, and in everyday life. Dawn’s practice reveals that blues is a music that values protective, generous, and exploratory narrative. As important as its storytelling quality is the genre’s Americanness. Blues, derived from a …

A Cultural Clash Of Emotions And Music: Connecting My Passion Of Music To The Buddha Passion, Weilan Li

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Parts Of Sound: Possibilities Of Listening Historically To Collection, Broadcast, And Exhibition, Noah Henry Fry Nickerson

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

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 …

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.

"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 …

Thin Blue Seam, Sebastian Anton-Ojeda

Senior Projects Spring 2017

This performance began as an exploration of liminal spaces in the context of a post-modern world. The lines between a suburban, consumptive society, fraught with binaries and thresholds while on the fringes of nature, were what interested me the most. However, this line of thought quickly took me to far more ancient places, to a view of nature driven by animism and pervaded by spiritual introspection. In Celtic Ireland, to give an example, every stone and river is witness to a myth. The Celts of the old world as described by anthropologist Marie-Louise Sjoestedt are constantly straddling the line between …

Look At Where You Listen: A Study Of Commercial Music And Mediation, Thomas Walton Moore

Senior Projects Spring 2017

A joint senior project submitted to the divisions of arts and social studies. This project aims to reconsider the 'album' as a format of music distribution that has effects on the consumption-of and relationship-with music as commodity. This project consists of writing and recorded-music-making. Please email tom (at) dpimusic (dot) com for a link.

Rustic Roots And Fiddle Hell: An Ethnography Of Fiddle Camps In The Northeastern United States, Flannery Blanchard Brown

Senior Projects Spring 2017

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

Senior Concert I: A Quiet Departure/Senior Concert Ii: 6 Statements, Matthew Charles Dowden

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College

"It's Getting Gangsa Up In Here": Balinese Gamelan In The Western Academy, Ruadhan Davis Ward

Senior Projects Spring 2016

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

The Origin, Culture And Wandering Of Gypsies, Gergo Krisztian Toth

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

"Fruits Are Ripe, We Are Fresh": The Rapper, The Emcee, The Cypher And The Participatory Spectrum Of Hip-Hop, Peter Heyer Anchel

Senior Projects Spring 2016

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College