Digital Commons Network^™

“The People Are Tired, And Just Want To Have Fun”: Mahraganat Music And The Struggle For Sonic Presence In Post-2013 Egypt, Mohammed Elfeky

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Building upon Asef Bayat’s notion of the “unintelligibility” of Egypt’s subaltern politics, this thesis investigates how mahraganat music is rendered “unintelligible/nonsense” by influential Egyptian cultural figures and is targeted for censorship. Mahraganat is a musical artform that arose from the lower-working classes neighborhoods in Egypt to become a dominant genre in the country. In 2020, the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate, headed by Hany Shakir, banned mahraganat artists from performing officially in Egypt. Before and after the ban, state media debated the genre's status; its detractors framed the music as nonsensical, “absurd”, “meaningless”, “vulgar”, and a “low-brow” dilution of Egyptian cultural production …

The Music Of Sylvano Bussotti And Its Interpretation: Biopolitics, Intersubjectivity, And Modernist Canon Formation, Charles A. Rudig

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The music of Italian composer Sylvano Bussotti (1931–2021) presents intentional challenges to interpretation and canonization. These particular challenges and Bussotti’s reasoning for implementing them are interrogated in this dissertation by reading the score to Bussotti’s La Passion selon Sade (1966) through contemporaneous European social theory, philosophy, and political developments. La Passion selon Sade is a theatre piece for a chamber ensemble, with a primary vocal and dramatic role written for mezzo-soprano Catherine Berberian, with whom Bussotti frequently collaborated. Like much of Bussotti’s music from the 1950s and 1960s, the discourse surrounding the piece and its reception largely relates to its …

Audiovisual Afterlives: The Soundtrack Of Liberal Nostalgia, Max W. Kaplan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Following the 2016 American Presidential election, celebrity endorsements proved to be a more narrow gauge of public opinion than ever. The symbolic alignment with popular musicians, which had long abetted the Democratic Party’s standing with youth and particular identity groups, seemed only to reaffirm the party’s establishment status, drawing disavowal in a wave of anti-establishment sentiment on both the left and right. ‘Retromania,’ a term first coined by Simon Reynolds in 2010, can be tracked conceptually from the nostalgic inclinations of twenty-first century popular culture to the ideological sphere, where nostalgic, essentialized constructions of community, identity, and progress have coalesced …

"Cerulean Skies" By Maria Schneider: A Formal And Semiotic Analysis, Jonathan Heim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Expressivity, imagery, and narrativity have long been touted as hallmarks of big band composer Maria Schneider’s style. This perception is widely accepted by critics and casual commentators, but are these attributions merely metaphorical or do they speak to observable dimensions of Schneider’s compositional style? This dissertation aims to address the narrative and expressive dimensions of Schneider’s music by combining aspects of formal analysis with concepts from music semiotics. The centerpiece is an analysis of “Cerulean Skies” (2006), the longest work to date in Schneider’s oeuvre with a duration of approximately twenty-two minutes. “Cerulean Skies” is distinct in its expansiveness and …

Interpreting Jean Coulthard's Concerto For Piano And Orchestra (1963): A Pianist's Perspective, Jocelyn Lai

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Jean Coulthard (1908-2000) is recognized as one of Canada’s most prolific and important female classical composers in the twentieth century. She remained creatively active from her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, for eight decades, resulting in a catalog of over 350 works representing most classical music genres. Her music continues to be performed and recorded by renowned ensembles and soloists such as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic, Purcell String Quartet, pianists John Ogdon and Jane Coop, and contralto Maureen Forrester. Coulthard is known for her distinctive coloristic sonorities reminiscent of those in works by European composers …

Unsuk Chin’S Hyper-Sheng: Sonic And Structural Development In Šu For Sheng And Orchestra, Hyun-Kyung Lee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Korean composer Unsuk Chin (b. 1961) is constantly exploring new sonic experiences in her works; her concerto Šu for Sheng and Orchestra (2009) is drawing considerable attention, as it is Chin’s first piece written for an Asian instrument. This study begins with a simple inquiry How does Chin combine an Asian instrument (sheng) with the Western orchestra? To answer this question, this research examines Chin’s treatment of the sheng and the development of the orchestra in partnership with the solo instrument, focusing on the creation of what she terms a “hyper-sheng:” the solo sheng and the orchestra collaboratively producing …

Assembling The African City: Music Streets And Associational Life In Dakar's Médina, Brendan Kibbee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What can you understand about a city through its music? Most days and nights in Dakar’s Médina­­––a crowded quartier populaire adjacent to the city’s central administrative zone–– streetscapes are transformed by musical assemblies, including life cycle ceremonies and events produced by the neighborhood’s robust array of civic and religious associations. This dissertation examines how the confluence of music, public spaces (streets), and associational life shapes the possibilities of urban living in the contemporary African city. The musical assemblies that fill the neighborhood, I argue, spatialize social life in the city, organizing people’s movements, exposing them to a common sense-world, and …

“The Formation Of A Personality”: Shostakovich’S Fifth Symphony And The Politics Of Its Hermeneutic Reception, Ki Ki Leung

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation provides a new perspective on Shostakovich’s widely discussed Fifth Symphony by scrutinizing the formation of its Bildungsroman narrative and its transformation from a prototype of Soviet symphonism into an anti-Soviet statement. I begin by reaching back to 1930s Soviet Russia, when Soviet symphonism was formulated to comply with the official ideology of socialist realism. Building on Paul Bekker’s gemeinschaftsbildende Kraft (“community-building power”), key Soviet musicologists such as Ivan Sollertinsky advocated applying a model from the Western symphonic tradition to meet national propagandist needs. With music analysis, I show how Shostakovich’s Fifth fits into Boris Asafyev’s conception of Soviet …

An Analysis Of György Kurtág’S Officium Breve In Memoriam Andræ Szervánszky For String Quartet Op. 28, Matthew S. Sandahl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation provides a movement-by-movement analysis of György Kurtág’s third string quartet, Officium breve in memoriam Andræ Szervánszky op. 28. While the work is widely celebrated for its wealth of extra-musical associations and allusions, this analysis is primarily oriented towards the music’s internal relationships, with the contention being that such an approach can help clarify and refine the role that reference and allusion plays in the piece. A close reading is given for each of the work’s fifteen movements.

Voice, Arabness, And The Vocal Talent Competition Arab Idol, Insia Malik

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

One of the most popular entertainment programs on Arabic television in the 2010s through to its most recent season in 2017, Arab Idol (Mahbub al-‘Arab) was an offshoot of the Idols television franchise that launched globally in the early 2000s. This dissertation is a study of how Arabness was voiced quite literally on Arab Idol, through rhetoric and production—but primarily through the music. A show in which an Arabness is implicit in the nomenclature, Arab Idol catered to an Arab audience and thereby featured music that might speak to this audience. What distinguished the offshoot from its …

Music Reviews, Volume 79, No. 1, Kathleen Roland-Silverstein

Voice - All Scholarship

Contains reviews of The Paper Lined Shack; Canciones de la Tierra; Czech Arias for Soprano: An Anthology

Christian Rap In Latvia: A New Page In The History Of Contemporary Christian Music In Baltic Christianity, Ņikita Andrejevs

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

Excerpt: "In the context of the Soviet period and the huge effectiveness of Christian gospel rock as a vehicle of evangelization, however, these innovations’ proximity to “worldly” music, and the notion of protest and/or renewal that came along, provided the necessary attraction for Christians, converts, and people interested in contemporary Western music. Christian rap in Latvia, on the other hand, has developed in a context where popular culture including rap music was readily available to the audiences, and rap acquired the notion of protest that to most rappers and listeners, religious or not, is incompatible or even in conflict with …

“The Theory Is Not Yet Music”: An Analysis Of Pierre Schaeffer’S Etude Aux Allures, Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Throughout his career, Pierre Schaeffer composed several sound works to test and inspire his evolving musical theories. By composing with edited sound recordings, rather than traditional musical instruments, he hoped to discover new ways of creating musical structures based on sound parameters other than pitch. This study is an analysis of Schaeffer’s sound work Etude aux allures. This Etude examines the musical potential of the sound parameter allure, which is Schaeffer’s term for the pulsed modulation of pitch, volume, or other sound parameters. Without the existence of a standardized analytical methodology, the Etude is viewed from several perspectives. First, a …

7 Preludes For "Music Can Sleep" For Pierrot Ensemble, Matthew Sandahl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The material was culled from sketches for four distinct abandoned projects, one of which was titled ‘Music can sleep.’ Eventually I became less interested in seeing a particular idea to fruition and more concerned with selecting and arranging from an archive of unfinished fragments. The principle criteria for selection included psychological potency and the music’s capacity to convey the mood of the moment in which they were written.

i. fragment for maria 9/7/20
ii. curtain 5/31/20
iii. premonition / toy no. 1 11/1/19
iv. dream 11/6/19
v. punchline 8/11/21
vi. song / toy no. 2 5/21/20
vii. sprite 5/12/20

Rupturismes: Art Sonor A Mallorca, Un Poc De Context, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Antoni Caimari (1943-2021), com sap tothom, no era un músic com els altres; i tampoc no ho volia ser. Encapçalava els títols de les seves obres musicals amb les inicials EB o «esbós» (com altres compositors les inicien amb Op.) per donar una idea que no tenien res a veure amb les composicions tancades i immanents dels mestres del passat. Aquests EBs no tenien partitura perquè, com va dir Llorenç Barber, un altre compositor donat als aforismes, estaven alliberats de la tirania de la «partiturocràcia».

Clarinet And Shadow, Jacob Sachs-Mishalanie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Clarinet and Shadow is a musical composition for clarinet and electronics. In the piece, live electronics pitch shift the sound of the clarinet to create harmonies and add the sound of an artificial instrument. The electronics are the clarinet's shadow: unreal, always there, and tied to its movement.

Principal Decision-Making And Perception Of Fine Arts Programing In Curricular Design, Osvaldo Altamirano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study included an exploration of the concept of perception affecting decision- making in curriculum design and the support of school administrators toward fine art programs in West Texas School Regions 18 and 19. Research shows that the fine arts provide students the social and creative skills to become productive citizens. However, research shows that in the current realm of urban and rural public school curricula, the fine arts exist at either a limited capacity or are nonexistent. This dissertation included an attempt to answer how a school leader's fine arts perception affects a principal's ability to support, build, …

Analog Matters: Labels, Cassettes, And Alternative Economies In Argentina’S Independent Music Scenes, Maria Agustina Checa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a multi-sited ethnographic study of current cassette production and circulation in Argentina. It analyzes the work of independent labels that record music available online onto cassette tapes, incorporating a variety of music styles. I examine practices of production, circulation, and exchange, and the alternative economies performed around cassettes, with particular attention to the materialities constituting these processes. Through cassettes, I conceptualize and trace "relational value," a notion to understand objects with different kinds of social agencies valued for their abilities to generate connections. Relational value is a theoretical construct that emerges from the ground-up approach to studying …

Student Recital: Timothy Singer, Trumpet, Timothy Singer, Bobbie Kesler-Corleto

Student Recitals

No abstract provided.

Fred And Dinah Gretsch School Of Music Newsletter, Georgia Southern University

School of Music: News & Publications (2017-2023)

• Congratulations!
• Georgia Southern Chorale from Gretsch School of Music Triumphant in International Competition
• The NAMM Foundation Welcomes Dinah Gretsch to The Board of Directors

Recital: Jury Recognition, August 29, 2022, Illinois State University School Of Music

School of Music Programs

Kemp Recital Hall
August 29, 2022
Monday Evening
7:30 p.m.

Faculty Recital Series: Andy Rummel, Tuba; August 28, 2022, Andy Rummel

School of Music Programs

Kemp Recital Hall
August 28, 2022
Sunday Afternoon
1:00 p.m.

Guest Artist Recital Series: Shawn Roy, Bass-Baritone; Chan Kiat Lim, Pianist; August 26, 2022, Shawn Roy, Chan Kiat Lim

School of Music Programs

Center for the Performing Arts
August 26, 2022
Friday Evening
7:00 p.m.

Introduction To Special Issue “Language Translation In Localizing Religious Musical Practice”, John Macinnis

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

The inspiration and starting place for this Special Issue was the book Making Congregational Music Local in Christian Communities Worldwide (Routledge 2018), edited by Monique Ingalls, Muriel Swijghuisen Reigersberg, and Zoe Sherinian.

New Models For Worship: Music Education Philosophy In The Multiculturally Fragmented Sanctuary, Sandra Diana Constanze Hendricks

Masters Theses

Worship seems to have been approached from theological and sociological perspectives but not through the lens of ideas and frameworks in music education philosophy. This study uses a survey of scholarly works to examine the influence these ideas and frameworks could have on the event of worship leading regarding changes to the agency of fragmented and multicultural worship identities. The study is based on a model of transformative historical research. It analyses ideas and frameworks of music education theory in the context of Christianity in the post-structuralist era. The results and interpretation confirmed that the application of tendential rhizomatic models …

Making Music Theory Fun, Jordan E. Montana Richards

Masters Theses

This curriculum project will attempt to demonstrate how having fun can facilitate learning music theory. Furthermore, in this project, I also propose that using games, songs, mnemonic devices, and other types of wordplay and edutainment (the marriage of education and entertainment) can combat summer learning loss and other learning gaps or school breaks, in addition to inspiring the motivation, interest, and desire within students to learn. My curriculum project will also claim that by having fun and enjoying their learning, students will be more likely to improve and develop their musicianship skills. Within this curriculum project, I will attempt to …

Freedom And Control: Musicians’ Autonomy And Record Labels’ Influence In Producing The Sound Of Contemporary Jazz, Jiwon Kwon

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

It is easy to find news articles and jazz albums titles that describe jazz musicians as geniuses. The notion that jazz musicians are geniuses gives the misleading impression that a jazz record is the pure outcome of a musician’s artistry, without any aesthetic intervention by record labels in the process of making albums. However, my interviews with jazz musicians and record label executives reveal that many jazz records released by labels are the result of collaborative effort between musicians and labels. Labels involve themselves in the album-making process and give artistic input by deciding the concept of an album, the …

Haydn’S Schemata And Hexachords: Two Analytical Case Studies, Gilad Rabinovitch

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

Two analytical case studies, from Haydn’s minuet al roverso (from the Symphony Hob. I: 47) and the opening movement of the String Quartet Op. 50, no. 6, show the interaction of galant schemata (Gjerdingen 2007) and the hexachordal solmization of the solfeggio tradition (Baragwanath 2020). Haydn plays upon conventional galant schemata—presumably elements of style shared by listeners who are closely familiar with the idiom (even if they do not have explicit schema labels); he also plays upon a more esoteric element of his own training and that of many other musicians in the period: hexachordal solmization. By considering both schemata …

Kneebone, James, Collection, 1872-1992, Special Collections, Leonard H. Axe Library

Finding Aids

A collection of sheet music, operas, music theory, bibliographies, and recordings.

James C. Kneebone (1938-2005) was born in Pittsburg, Kansas where he studied music. Kneebone graduated from the Kansas State College of Pittsburg (today, Pittsburg State University) with a Bachelor of Music in 1961, and a Master of Music in 1962. He was married to Suzanne M. Thompson (1944-2014). Kneebone collected sheet music, operas, and long plays. He also wrote a dissertation focusing on Ernst Krenek’s music.

Then Sings The Church A New Song, Ian D. Bula

Masters Theses

The collective life of the Ancient Israelites was defined by a tumultuous journey through the desert as the primary setting where God continuously sought a relationship with them. Their liberation from Egyptian bondage was the central element that resulted from God’s self- revelation and action toward His people. Their response to Him in worship reflects the nature instilled in all humankind to respond in many ways to divine action. One of these ways is through the use of music. Music has accompanied the worship of God’s people since the time of the Patriarchs. The Exodus was the experience that sprung …