Musicology Commons^™

“Songs Of The Underground” – Crafting A Unique Gaming Experience Through Music, Megan Franklin

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The academic study of video game music, known as Ludomusicology, is a younger research area in the world of musicology, with the earliest works having been published in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Despite its young age, Ludomusicology is becoming a staple in the academic world, with scholars such as Melanie Fritsch, Andra Ivănescu, Michiel Kamp, Tim Summers, and Mark Sweeney dedicating their time to the subject. This thesis uses musical analysis as the basis of exploring the relationship between music and aspects of video game creation and player interaction. The case study for this project is the 2015 …

X Marks Nothing: Chiasmus And Kenosis In Kaija Saariaho's La Passion De Simone, Desiree Scarambone

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Composer Kaija Saariaho’s 2006 work La Passion de Simone often leaves audiences and critics at a loss to understand what they have witnessed. The title, subject, and sparse libretto only complicate this confusion. The genre of the work is ambiguous to many; some critics call it an opera, some an oratorio. Because the subject of the work, French philosopher Simone Weil, is widely unknown to the public, her placement within the framework of a Passion is often met with confusion if not criticism.

By fusing Weil’s life and philosophical ideas in this work, Saariaho explores how the awareness of the …

Gender, Politics, Market Segmentation, And Taste: Adult Contemporary Radio At The End Of The Twentieth Century, Saesha Senger

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation explores issues of gender politics, market segmentation, and taste through an examination of the contributions of several artists who have achieved Adult Contemporary (AC) chart success. The scope of the project is limited to a period when many artists who figured prominently in both the broader mainstream of American popular music and the more specific Adult Contemporary category were most commercially viable: from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. My contention is that, as gender politics and gendered social norms continued to change in the United States at this time, Adult Contemporary – the chart, the format, and the …