Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

"Got A Long List Of Ex-Lovers, They'll Tell You I'M Insane": Gender, Agency, And Image In Taylor Swift's Lyrics Over Time, Emily Patel

Sociology Undergraduate Senior Theses

As a globally renowned superstar, Taylor Swift’s lyrics not only reflect notions of gender on a culture level, but also influence them, as language both reflects and constructs society. The purpose of my project is to identify how Taylor Swift’s lyrics surrounding conceptions of gender, agency, and image have changed over the course of her career in order to better understand the messages she disseminates to the world. My central research questions are: How do Taylor Swift’s lyrics display different types of femininity, such as normative or deviant femininity, over time? How do Swift’s varying conceptualizations of her gender identity …

Enhancing The Quality Of Life For Senior Citizens: A Facilitator’S Guidebook For Mindful Music And Movement, Shannon Sexton

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Music appreciation and enjoyment enhance well-being throughout the lifespan. The challenges and constraints that people experience as they age can lead to lack of access to music, decreased physical activity, and fewer avenues for creative expression. Group music and movement interventions created for older populations offer opportunities for social connection and improved quality of life. Mindful practices add further benefit when combined with these interventions. Current available programs are scarce and most often do not encompass mixed modalities. In addition, the benefits of these programs do not show long-term sustainability. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the effects …

Celebrity, Music, And Public Persona: A Case Study Of Taylor Swift, Elaina K.M. Junes

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Studies have shown that celebrity culture is one of many significant sources of influence that inform the construction of individuals’ identities as well as their outlook on work, life ambitions, and accomplishment. Celebrity also offers a unique window with which to examine both how social structures operate in the mainstream, and how social inequalities are reproduced. This study utilizes qualitative research methodology by way of longitudinal content analysis to examine how Taylor Swift’s public persona has evolved comparatively throughout the early and late stages of her career, specifically in regard to her gender, age, and music. This study identifies ten …

Unified Philosophy For Music Therapy: Solving The Identity Crisis Through Interdisciplinary Analysis, Janice Lindstrom

Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the feasibility of a unifying philosophy for music therapy and to offer an identity for the music therapy profession that is appropriate for the various ways in which music therapy is practiced throughout the world. A systematic review of published music therapy approaches informed this investigation. The central research questions for this dissertation were: (a) Is it possible to articulate a unifying philosophy of music therapy that is inclusive of the diverse ways music therapy is currently practiced; and if so, (b) What might be that resultant integrated philosophy of music therapy? …

"I Can't Breathe": Toward A Pneumatology Of Singing And Missional Musicking For Racial Justice In Jacksonville, Florida, Thomas Shapard

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

This thesis develops a philosophy of musicking that intersects with missional ecclesiology and expands the role of music-making beyond the church walls. The central hypothesis assumes that predominantly white congregations in the Free Church tradition located in the southern United States incorporate ways of singing that reinforce, albeit inadvertently, attitudes toward others that buttress white ethnocentricity. Musical practices arising from a Western European heritage can promote cultural exclusivity as well as a perceived—yet false— sense of superiority. Is there an implicit theology of singing in white churches that engenders a culture of complicity and apathy in matters of racial injustice, …

"It's The Way You Sing It": Translating Music Therapy For Isolated Older Adults Affected By Covid-19 To The Television Screen, Eunice Wong

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The current Covid-19 pandemic has increased the likelihood of loneliness and social isolation among older adults due to the restrictions on movement and visitations in care facilities. Loneliness and social isolation have consistently been identified as risk factors for poor mental and physical health in older people. Meanwhile, a growing number of older adults are utilizing technological resources to enhance their interpersonal relationships and overall quality of life. In the winter of 2020/2021, an innovative music therapy-informed television program was designed and produced for isolated older adults in need of mental and emotional support. This project, produced jointly by a …

The Voice Of The Other: The Influence Of Capitalism On The Representation Of Gender And Race In Western Classical Music, Marie Comuzzo

Masters Theses

This thesis argues that in order to understand the non-representation of women and BIPOC in the Western musical canon, the analysis of their cultural musical production and reception must start in early modern period, a time heavily influenced by the establishment of capitalism. Intertwining political feminist studies, critical race theory and musicology critique, I argue that the witch hunts and the inhumane colonial practices in Africa and the America (fundamental to establish capitalism as a global system), had an important role in shaping Western musical culture as homogeneous and monolithic. Thus, I first trace the change in female customs in …

Jigs, Reels, And “Realness”: An Investigation Of Ideas Of Authenticity And Tradition In New England French Canadian Music, Lowell Ruck

Honors Projects

Franco-American culture is increasingly recognized as an integral part of the heritage of Maine and New England, and has attracted growing academic attention in recent years. But while many scholars and cultural promoters focus on the French language in their work on this subject, few studies have considered the position of traditional music in Franco-American communities in the 21^st century. This thesis examines French Canadian traditional music as it is played in New England and the ways in which musicians think about authenticity and tradition in their art. Using material from ethnographic interviews, it illuminates how musicians draw from …

Fostering Music Performers In The 21st Century: A Contemporary Professional Perspective Toward A New Curricular Agenda For Graduate Study In Music, Andre Januario

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

What if the core curriculum for graduate students in music performance were designed to prepare students to succeed in the world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

This dissertation offers a hypothetical answer: a structured and systematic academic curricular framework for music graduate students of performance of concert music (especially those in terminal degrees, such as doctoral students), along with music instructors, professional music performers, school administrators, and college professors, seeking to prepare such students for achieving and maintaining a music career more in keeping with the current work environment, especially those skills demanded by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the …

“The Soul Is Symphonic”: Lessons On Practicing Music As Ecological Philosophy From Hildegard Of Bingen, Daniel Cottle

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

In this thesis I seek to understand how music may be practiced as an embodied form of ecological philosophy; that is, how it might help us attain ecological wisdom and lead sustainable lives. In the first chapter, I explore the concept of askesis: the spiritual exercises by which ancient Greek and Roman thinkers practiced philosophy as a way of life. I introduce a simple model for the practice of askesis which is taken from accounts of ancient Stoic spiritual exercise. I also consider evidence for art as a form of askesis. In the second chapter, I describe the influence of …

Musicians’ Hairstyles: A Glimpse Into The Meanings And Messages Of Funk, Punk, And Rap Hair From The 1970s To 1990s In The Usa And France., Carolle Pinkerton

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors Theses

This thesis is an introspective study of our culture by looking at the meaning and messages in hairstyles of popular musicians. It seeks to understand how popular musicians have shaped their sense of style by the political and social movements of the time especially focusing on punk rock, funk, and rap genres in the United States and France. The research also considers the similarities and differences found within the genres across the two countries. The paper studies and analyzes what hairstyles are dominant in each genre and why. Hairstyles that migrated from America to France within the genre, social and …

Counternarratives In Hip Hop Music: Themes Of Marginalization, Cailin Dahlin

Honors Projects

As a genre, hip hop music has faced heavy criticism for its supposed glorification of drug and alcohol use, criminal activity, and misogyny. Hip hop also has a rich history of advocating for social justice and relating black experiences. Much of the literature has focused on addressing one or the other narratives in its analysis. Due to these different perspectives and the fact that hip hop is one of the most popular genres of music today, I seek to uncover the themes present in popular hip hop music through a content analysis of the lyrics of songs. I collected a …

Music And Peacebuilding: A Survey Of Two Israeli Ensembles Using Music And Dialogue To Build Understanding, Empathy, And Conflict Transformation, Benjamin Philip Bergey

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the work of two Israeli ensembles that bring diverse musicians together through music and dialogue. Dialogue is a key tool for transforming conflict and building peace that hinges on critical, empathetic listening.[1] Music ensembles, with their opportunities for participants to practice listening, are contexts in which participants and instructors can learn how to communicate and engage in dialogue to improve interpersonal relationships in pursuit of peace.

The Polyphony Foundation and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus bring Arab and Jewish youth together in Israel to make music and practice dialogue. This thesis examines …

Music Performance Attendance And Happiness, Byron Smith

Sociology Senior Seminar Papers

How are the performing arts and happiness sociologically connected? I propose that people who have attended a music performance in the last 12 months will report an increase in happiness. Additional knowledge-besides attending Arts-related events-is required in order to understand what makes people happy. I analyzed 2016 General Social Survey (GSS) data. The N for this sample is 1,272. Personal happiness is directly tied to one’s financial situation and their educational attainment levels and not to attendance at music performances. The results indicate that satisfaction with finances has a greater impact on happiness, and that White people also report being …

Grooves In The Landscape: Vanished And Persistent Record Stores In The Post-Industrial City., Thomas Anthony Calkins

Theses and Dissertations

Despite digitization, record stores remain an important third place for contemporary urban neighborhoods. As places of cultural consumption, they provide locals a source of music, knowledge, pleasure, distraction, and distinction. Where these places sit in the contemporary city has shifted over time though. This dissertation asks: how has the distribution of record stores changed over time and space when accounting for demographic, economic, and technological factors? Based on original datasets created from city directories and phone books, census-tract data, and record industry sales data, I find that predominantly black neighborhoods were once home to many more record stores than today. …

An Independent Record Label Business Plan, Jack Raybuck

Marketing Undergraduate Honors Theses

A business plan created for an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California. The record label is focused on solving the gender inequality problem that currently exists in the music industry.

Finding A Baseline For Accountability In Diversion Programming, Anthony G. Frontiera

Masters Theses

This present study looked at a Mid-West American Juvenile Justice institution with the hope of helping to build a baseline of understanding in terms of how their diversion programming efforts are shaping out. Historically, research and funding have not been directed into diversion efforts in the same ways that re-entry efforts have seen. Studies have shown that if diversion efforts are not effective, then another cohort of youth are consigned to 50% higher recidivism rates than otherwise. The research before you was conducted to assist this institution in understanding and then changing their course of action with regards to diversion …

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall: An Experimental Study Examining The Relationship Between Music Lyrics And Body Satisfaction In Emerging Adult Women, Emilie Jill Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in academic research on media and its influences on body satisfaction. To date, the majority of body image literature focuses on low body satisfaction. While low body satisfaction leads to negative outcomes, high body satisfaction leads to a host of positive outcomes. Further, in a non-academic domain, it would seem that even some media icons are starting to take part in the effort to try to promote positive appearance messages. Singers like Christina Aguilera, Colbie Caillat, and Alessia Cara have begun writing songs like Beautiful, Try, and Scars To …

Music And Gender, Chris Buckman

Senior Theses

The purpose of this research project was to conduct a study on the correlation between gender and music listening habits. Based on the results of a music survey, the author tested four hypotheses: females have wider genre preference range than males, females spend more time listening to music, males and females listen to music for different reasons, and males and females prefer different genres of music. Analysis was performed using a variety of hypothesis testing methods in R. Only one hypothesis was rejected out of the four—that males and females prefer different genres. Discussion is presented on why this is …

Local Embeddedness Matters: A Study Of Hip-Hop Artists' Interaction With Their Local Community, Castel Vette Sweet

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation study is an exploration of hip hop and rap artists’ embeddedness in local communities, and their interpretation of the connectedness between their work and their communities. I explore the influence of place and space in the identity development of artists, and how artist use those identities to guide their interactions with their local community. I also investigate the significance of artists’ interactions and relationship in the cultivation of social and cultural capital. In contrast to previous scholarship emphasising the negative influence rap and hip-hop artists have on their communities, I utilize in-depth interviews with artists to examine the …

Songs From The Willow Tree: Staging Collective Inspiration For Creative Songwriting, Aubrey W. Carpenter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The songwriting process, inspiration to song, can take many forms. This project explores a highly structured approach, using themes derived from reported individual experience to direct the creation of musical ends addressing common experience.

Movements, Music, And Meaning: A Comparative Analysis Of Cultural Narratives In Vietnam Era And Post-9/11 Anti-War Music, Jonathan Nathaniel Redman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the presence of widely circulating cultural narratives in the lyrics of approximately eighty anti-war songs from the Vietnam and post-9/11 eras. Unlike prior movements and music research, this thesis privileges culture over movements and views movements as cultural antennae both picking up on trends and cultural narratives, and broadcasting their own altered cultural meanings back into the “cultural airways.” It sees music as a cultural medium which acquires cultural meanings from its surroundings, alters those meanings, synthesizes new ones, and perpetuates old ones. Drawing on comparative and narrative analysis approaches informed by grounded theory techniques, this thesis …

Client Selected Music Based Effects On Marital And Couples Therapy, Kevin Matthew Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study was designed to examine the interaction of music-based interventions in the therapeutic process of Martial and Couples Therapy. The use of pre-recorded music was found to be under researched within the literature and created a void within the knowledge that clinicians have about how music might enhance effectiveness of treatment. The inclusion of music in this process is not currently known, which led to this study being conducted. Through a phenomenological lens, the awareness and understanding of how clients react and experience pre-recorded music during the therapeutic process, while still having a selection of options to preserve autonomy, …

The Future Of The Music Experience, Kayla Caballero

Graphic Communication

This study was intended to gain a strong understanding of where the music industry and accompanying artwork is today, how music is primarily experienced, and how it will develop in the future. The widespread shift from physical to digital platforms has reached the music industry and how listeners experience their favorite music. Although there are many positive results from this shift, it is important to pay close attention to how these changes affect how one experiences music and what is lost in the shift to digital. Even more importantly, where this shift might take music and its artwork’s relationship in …

When Subcultures Become Careers: Working In Indie Rock, Annmarie Schneider-Edman Van Altena

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the careers of workers within the Indie rock industry in Chicago. Little is known about how workers transition from subculture participants to industry workers. Expanding upon research on workers in culture industries, I conducted twenty-six qualitative interviews with workers in the industry, asking open-ended questions about their careers and experiences to understand how they establish and maintain careers in an industry that relies on a particular subculture whose ethos considers financial success as suspect, and a risk to integrity. I show how workers' early interest in music goes beyond typical teenage fascination and becomes the focus of …

Prophets, Studio Revolutionaries, And On-The-Ground Activist: Hip-Hop/Rap Artists' Approaches To Community Engagement, Castel Sweet

LSU Master's Theses

With few exceptions, previous scholarship on rap and hip-hop music focuses on the study of lyrics and videos; emphasizing the negative influence that artists have on their communities and on perpetuating inequality in the United States. Contrarily, this study explores artists’ embeddedness in local communities, their interpretation of the connectedness of their work to their communities, and the impact they have as individual civic actors outside the narrow limits of their art. Using in-depth interviews with self-identified rap and located in the Southern region of the United States, I explore artists’ personal narratives of the social issues that plague their …

The Impact Of Rap Music On White Youth, Freddie J. Dantus

Honors Theses

Music is a primary source of entertainment for American adolescents. Hip hop culture and rap music, in particular, have become the dominant genre of music among American youth. Hip hop rose primarily from the disadvantaged African American neighborhoods of New York City. Perhaps not surprisingly, though, it is White, middle class, suburban adolescents who drive the rap music industry with their disposable income and desire to resist the cultural norms of their parents’ generation. While sophisticated analyses of hip hop itself are appearing, the connection to white youth has not been well-studied. This project begins to fill this void, specifically …

The Female Singing Voice, Shirley Guerreiro

Master's Theses, Dissertations, Graduate Research and Major Papers Overview

A study of perceived changes that may occur to the voice within the menstrual cycle The study examines factors that may affect women's voices and examines if there is a change occurring in the female singing voice during the premenstrual phase of the menstrual cycle. Journals and questionnaires of premenstrual vocal and physiological symptoms of seven female voice students were used during two menstrual cycles. Vocal Teacher journals were also used to see if relationships could be found. The median score for various variables were calculated to produce graphs for visual comparison looking for relationships between days of the menstrual …

"Rapping About Authenticity": Exploring The Differences In Perceptions Of "Authenticity" In Rap Music By Consumers.", James L. Wright

Doctoral Dissertations

Historically, social scientists have not only marginalized rap music as a viable unit of scholarly analysis, but failed at attempts to understand the thoughts and actions of rap music consumers. This study analyzes the connection between rap music’s (and the artists’) authenticity and how those perceptions of authenticity affect music consumers’ decision making process, thus providing a possible explanation as to why music fans purchase rap music. The goal of this research was to see if the reasons rap music fans provide explaining the rationale behind their purchases match the images and perceptions presumably held by the general public about …

Rapitalism, Martin Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My paper questions the degree to which the hip hop subculture is oppositional to mainstream American society and its ideals. Toward that end, I examine the structure of the hip hop industry and its subculture. While the hip hop subculture in America consistently has projected images of rebellion and resistance to many of the mores, constraints and values of dominant society, the actual structure and organization of the hip hop subculture have mirrored, supported and promoted the values of the dominant culture in the United States. I begin by examining the structure of the main elements of the hip hop …