Audio Arts and Acoustics Commons^™

Ua1c11/110 Frank Pittman Photo Collection, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Photographs of guitar building workshop.

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 (ETD)

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 …

Symphony Of Nature: "Fall", Davis Cooper

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This honors project is for an analysis paper based on one movement of an original music composition by the author in the realm of environmental sound art. The movement, entitled “Fall” from the Symphony of Nature, consists of hundreds of individual audio recordings of specific animals (such as an American Crow, Carolina Ground Cricket, and Gray Catbird), groups of animals (such as a choir of Ground Crickets, a murder of crows, and so forth), or geophonic sounds (such as a light rain on dry leaves, a several-miles-distant thunderstorm, or mid-to-high range audio spectrum wind). The analysis paper includes the rationale …

Reanimator/Reflection: 
Creating Mirrors Through Time 
With Ai, Sound, Video And Live-Generated Art In The Dark Age Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Eric Millikin

Theses and Dissertations

For my MFA thesis exhibition entitled Reanimator/Reflection, I used artificial intelligence to create three new works of sound and live-generated video art, each based on mirror reflections and 100-year-old racist post-pandemic horror literature by early 20th century American author H. P. Lovecraft. The themes of these writings mirror the issues of our current time. The primary works of Lovecraft that I referenced in the exhibition are “Herbert West: Reanimator,” (1922) a serialized tale about graduate school experiments which attempted to return the dead to life during a plague, and “Nyarlathotep,” (1920) a prose poem that suggests even our dreams …

Sweet Fruit, Daa Guy-Vasson

Theses and Dissertations

The writing and images in Sweet Fruit are an exploration of my creative works. In the first section, memory, making, and poetics come together to help the reader feel the nuances of my experience. In the exhibition works section, images allow an extended look at the work. Accompanying text describes the relevance of my childhood and my parent's Caribbean upbringing to my creative practice.

Shape Shifting: Bodies, Sound, And Queerness, Cordylia B. Vann

Theses and Dissertations

Writings in support of my visual and sonic thesis, Performing Ourselves. The paper examines the relationship between the labor of creating a queer body in how it moves and feels to the creation of choreography, sound, and graphic scores

Touching Light: A Framework For The Facilitation Of Music-Making In Mixed Reality, Ian Thomas Riley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Drawing upon the historical development of analog and digital technologies alongside the proliferation of computer-assisted performance practices, this research seeks to develop a framework for integrating Mixed Reality applications to live musical performance, specifically through the creation of a Microsoft HoloLens 2 Mixed Reality application in order to facilitate a live performance of an original musical composition for percussion and real-time Mixed Reality environment. Mixed Reality enables a performer to interact with virtual (holograms, VSTs, etc.) and physical (vibraphone, tuned drums, microphones, etc.) objects simultaneously. Tandem to the development of the conceptual framework was the composition of an original score …

A Comparison Of Localization Accuracy With Binaural Recordings Utilizing A Binaural-Head Microphone And Vr Visualization, Joseph Erichsen

Student Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived location of broadband signals created via binaural recording and then replicated in a virtual listening space. Listeners were asked to localize an auditory target positioned in one of four horizontal quadrants in three vertical planes. A binaural recording was created in both anechoic and echoic environments and subjective tests were conducted. Tests were repeated, with a virtual reality headset to virtually replicate the testing space. Results showed the effectiveness of binaural recording in recreating the perceived source locations in “3-D” space around a specified listening position in different conditions. Statistical …

A Case Study Of Classically Trained Singers In Pop Singing, Norfazrina Mohd Gani

Student Works (2020-2029)

In general, this study was conducted to discuss about a classically trained singers in pop singing among professional singers in Malaysia. Therefore, this study is limited only to classically trained singers in singing modern pop’s genre based on vocal techniques and vocal health. The respondents consisted of 5 Malaysian singers who are well trained classically and have experienced in both education and music industry singing pop songs. As a classically trained singer, this study employed narrative inquiry focusing on their life experience using their vocal techniques that they have mastered and to prove that classically trained singers can deliver pop …

Devine Affliction : The Intersection Of Gender & Music Production, Louise Thompson

Postgraduate

There is a severe and persistent lack of female representation and participation in the field of popular music production. In the 61-year history of the Grammy awards no woman has ever been awarded Producer of the Year, and female nominees are rare. Until Linda Perry’s nomination in 2019, a female had not received a nomination in 15 years.

As a woman, a mother of daughters, a feminist, a songwriter, and a music producer, I feel compelled to provide an alternative inroad for women to be able to participate within the field of music production. As such, my graduate project work …

The Modes Of Intervention In Alvin Lucier’S I Am Sitting In A Room, Daniel Fox

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Alvin Lucier’s I am sitting in a room (1969) is an icon of experimental music and sound art. The sizable literature addressing the aesthetic and philosophical implications of this piece rarely discusses the performance practice beyond what is indicated in the score itself. This is problematic for two reasons: 1) The meaning that is derived from the piece often hinges not just on what sounds are obtained, but on how they are obtained. 2) Over the past 50 years, changes in the performance practice have altered what constitutes the work: magnetic tape was used until 2000 when it was replaced …

The Effect Of Vocal Warm-Up On Voice Quality Of Untrained Female Singers In Malaysia, Wei Shean Ter

Student Works (2020-2029)

Professional singers and singing teachers regard vocal warm-up as vital. However, very few studies have evaluated this effect quantitatively. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the vocal warm-up on the singing voice quality through acoustic parameters of Jitter, Shimmer and harmonics-to-noise ratio (HNR) and to assess whether scientific evidence supports the warm-up procedure, whether an untrained singer can benefit from singing vocal warm-up exercises in a similar way as a trained singer and whether the vocal warm-up should be encouraged or bypassed. 40 untrained female singers were recorded twice while uttering the vowel /a/, /o/ and /i/ in …

Quincy: A Documentary Review, Analy Cruz

Backstage Pass

This is a film review of the 2018 documentary film on the life and music of legendary producer, Quincy Jones.

Amy: A Film Review, Lucas Dehner

Backstage Pass

A review of the 2015 documentary film, Amy.

Tearing Down The Wall: An Analysis Of Pink Floyd’S 1979 Rock Opera, Darla Testino

Backstage Pass

No abstract provided.

Bohemian Rhapsody: A Film Review, Ailey Butler

Backstage Pass

This is a review of the 2018 Queen bio-pic, Bohemian Rhapsody.

Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster Film Review, Ceara J. Costa

Backstage Pass

This is a film review of the 2004 documentary, Some Kind of Monster, which provides an in-depth portrait of the heavy metal band, Metallica, during the making of their St. Anger album. It addresses issues of mental health, depression, group dynamics and the pressures that successful artists face in maintaining their internal and external relationships while still trying to create new music.

A 70'S Dream Queen: Carole King's Tapestry, Kortney Burton

Backstage Pass

The essay critiques the 1971 best-selling album, Tapestry, written and performed by Carole King.

Rock Of Ages Film Review, Sarah Werth

Backstage Pass

This is a critique of the 2012 musical film, Rock of Ages.

Re-Born On The Bayou: Creedence Clearwater Revival's Sophomore Album, Mike Camfield

Backstage Pass

This is a critique of the 1969 sophomore album, Bayou Country, by Creedence Clearwater Revival.