Digital Commons Network^™

The Tradition Of Microtonal Guitar On The American West Coast, Kenneth M. Cotich

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Microtonal music in the United States has a significant connection with the American West Coast. Influential microtonal musicians and theorists originated on the West Coast or passed through California, subsequently inspiring future generations of composers to work outside of twelve-tone equal temperament (12tet). This project begins by examining the early trailblazers of music education and composition in California who sought to rearticulate the fundamentals of music. Two substantial sources that influenced new musical materials were the harmonic series and non-Western music and culture. Microtonal music in California is then examined through the efforts of a series of outsider speculative music …

Playing Changes: Music As Mediator Between Japanese And Black Americans, E Taylor Atkins

Faculty Books & Book Chapters

Since the mid-twentieth century, music has played a central role in encounters and interactions between the people of Japan and those of African descent. It proved far more effective for pro- moting interracial dialogue and understanding than efforts in the early 1900s to foster an alliance against white supremacy and imperialism. This essay unpacks the ways that encounters with Black music transformed Japanese musicking and generated knowledge and empathy for people of African descent among Japanese. Personal interactions between Black and Japanese musicians constituted a process of “grassroots globalization” that circumvented the dominance of American mass media in representing African …

Journal Policies, Jucr Staff

Journal of Urban Culture Research

No abstract provided.

Music And Healing In Aotearoa New Zealand: The Harmony Of The Land, Placehood, And Community In Māori And Pākehā Experiences Of Healing, Katherine Elise Callahan

Honors Theses

I explore the relationship between music and healing in Aotearoa New Zealand, and how healing is administered through the triadic relationship of the land, placehood, and community, using music as a vehicle for the carriage of this healing. In January of 2024, I traveled to Aotearoa New Zealand to gain a first-hand experience and account of this relationship through my own observations, and conducting interviews with Māori (the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand) individuals, and Pākehā (non-Māori) music therapists. Within this paper, I begin by providing context for this research within the fields of medical ethnomusicology, Indigenous studies, Māori …

Guide To The Godwin Sadoh Collection, Columbia College Chicago

CBMR Collection Guides / Finding Aids

Dr. Godwin Sadoh is a Nigerian composer, educator, church musician, organist, pianist, choral conductor, and ethnomusicologist. He holds music degrees from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; the University of Pittsburgh; the University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, where he became the first African to receive a doctoral degree in organ performance from any institution in the world. The collection holds scores, publications, books, and recorded music

Music And Massacre: A Look At The Babi Yar Massacre In Dmitiri Shostakovich’S 13th Symphony, Austin Teas

Schultz-Werth Award Papers

The “Holocaust by Bullets” is often times the term used to talk about the mass killings of the Jews in Ukraine1 during World War 2. Called the “Holocaust by Bullets” by historians because of the way the Nazi’s perpetrated the killings; pulling and dragging the Jews from each village to the edge of the village, and then shooting them point blank. With this pre Aushcwitz, Triblinka, Buckenwald concentration camp way of execution, an estimated 1.5 million Jews were killed in Ukraine. Combined with this, Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich used many Jewish themes in his music, such as the 4th movement …

Carlos Chávez And The “Mexican Sound”, Eden Hodgins

Schultz-Werth Award Papers

“Tradition is a living fountain of knowledge and of character” (Chávez, “The Music of Mexico” 168). These are words from Mexican composer Carlos Chávez about the musical world of his country. Chávez lived and created in the most musically vibrant era of Mexican history, the post-revolutionary era, which drew extensively from Mexican tradition to build for the country a new image with respect to politics as well as the arts. Chávez found himself in a unique role as one of the foremost figures of this movement due to his government connections. This essay will explore how Carlos Chávez used his …

Neighborhood Soundwalk, Sarah Politz

Open Educational Resources

This is an assignment for undergraduate students that asks them to go out into their environment and record their observations from listening in a focused way. It uses the work and writings of composer Hildegard Westerkampf as a jumping off point.

The Semiotic Construction Of A K-Pop Fanscape In Thai Public Space: A Case Of K-Pop Artist Café In Bangkok, Athit Wu

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This study investigates the fanscape of K-Pop cafés in Bangkok as socially constructed spaces shaped by fans’ cultural, semiotic, and spatial practices, where fan identity is articulated (Kim, 2017). Drawing on geosemiotics (Scollon & Scollon, 2003), it examines the visual semiotics, both linguistic and non-linguistic elements, and analyzes the interaction order and place semiotics found in Thai K-Pop cafés. The data were drawn from the ethnographic fieldwork of four fan-organized cafés (Neverland, STAY, ARMY, MY) in Bangkok.The analysis of visual semiotics shows that fans use multimodal elements, such as color, gaze, typography, and intertextuality, to visually construct the identity of …

“Sounds Like” Redemption? On The Musicality Of Species And The Species Of Musicality, Tyler Yamin, Alice Rudge

Faculty Journal Articles

Popular and academic studies of music frequently claim that human musicality arose from the so-called ‘natural world’ of non-human species. And amid the anxieties produced by the Anthropocene, it is thought that the possibility of reconnecting with the natural world through a renewed appreciation of music’s links with nature may usher in a new era of posthuman environmental consciousness, offering repair and redemption. To critique these claims, we trace how notions of ‘musicality’ have been applied to or denied from non-human entities across diverse disciplines since the late nineteenth century. We conclude that such debates reinforce the separation that they …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Using Digital Technologies In Music Education, Flutura Gagica Rexhepi, Rreze Kryeziu Breznica, Burhan Reshat Rexhepi

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

The relevance of the study of the effectiveness of digital technologies in music education lies in the need to adapt modern music education to the requirements of the digital world. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of digital technologies in music education and to determine their impact on the quality of music education. The methods used in the study were the statistical method, modelling, the method of generalising experience, as well as experimentation and theoretical analysis. The results of the study showed that the use of modern digital technologies in music education could make the learning …

Music As A Determinant Of Health Among First Nations People In Australia: A Scoping Narrative Review, Brigitta Scarfe, Kristy Apps, Naomi Sunderland, Phil Graham, Brydie Leigh Bartleet, Glenn Barry, Darren Garvey, Rae Cooper, Clint Bracknell

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Issue Addressed:

While social determinants frameworks are still popular in research about First Nations health in Australia, a growing body of research prefers cultural determinants of health models. Cultural determinants models provide a holistic, strength-based framework to explain connections between health and contextual factors, including the potential role of music and its impact on social and emotional well-being. Given the growing international recognition of links between music, health, and wellbeing through bodies such as the World Health Organisation, this article examines whether and how music practices are acknowledged in First Nations determinants of health literature.

Methods:

We conducted a scoping …

The Dramaturgy Of Nostalgia And New Media In Sandiwara, West Sumatran Folk Theater, Dede Pramayoza, Fresti Yuliza

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This study describes the changes in the dramaturgy of sandiwara, a folk theater in West Sumatra. The research was carried out using a combined research method: literary studies and artistic methods, through a project of making play scripts and dramaturgical worksheets. Research data was collected through Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and individual interviews. The results of the qualitative analysis show that writing a play script can build a play’s creative ethos in sandiwara, bring up the quality, and originality of the ideas and themes. One of the drivers of creativity in sandiwara is nostalgia, the longing for the events of …

The Creation Of Solo Piano Compositions From Khaen Melodies “Thamnong Khaen”, Amornmas Mookdamuang, Narongchai Pidokrajt

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This paper aims to present Khaen melodies (an Isan musical instrument) by analyzing the original notes and arranging them for piano, using Western music composition theory to adapt the notes to suit beginner-level piano players. Based on qualitative research and creative music research, the creative process emphasizes preserving the original accents and primary melodies of the Khaen. Additionally, it develops the musical structure and harmonies to align with contemporary Western classical music. The analysis of the original Khaen melodies reveals rapid note values and rhythms, as well as harmonies with more than one voice, accompanied by irregular interval jumps throughout …

Sedulur Sikep Fights For The Environment & Livelihood Through The Javanese Pop Song "Ibu Bumi", Enkin Asrawijaya, Sri Ningsih, Dedi Supriadi Adhuri, Tity Kusrina

Journal of Urban Culture Research

The issue of environmental preservation is an important topic in global issues. The role of all parties is needed to support environmental preservation because it has an impact on welfare. One of them is conducting a struggle through songs, which this effort is carried out by the indigenous community of Sedulur Sikep (Javanese sub-tribe) in Indonesia. An ethnographic method was utilized through a qualitative approach. We use the theory of symbolic resistance to discuss. The results showed that they made a song entitled "Ibu Bumi" as symbolic resistance by applying the cultural perspective of Sedulur Sikep to invite listeners to …

Journal Policies, Jucr Staff

Journal of Urban Culture Research

No abstract provided.

Grid Culture, Eliot Bates, Arseni Troitski

Publications and Research

In this essay, we provide our initial ethnographic research about lines, which at a superficial level can be considered a platform, but which is also synonymous with a community of 8800 users, and with 606k unique posts authored by these users that in aggregate constitute a discourse network (Aufschreibesysteme, see Kittler 1990). lines—as platform, community, and discourse network—is primarily designed to support the development, documentation and user-generated code efforts specific to a set of hardware synthesis-related objects (the two we will focus on are called Norns and Grid; we’ll discuss what they are and what they do through the subsequent …

Global Experiences: How Locality And Space Shape Pedagogical Practices And Experiences Between Western Institutions And Ghanaian Musical Centers, Andrew Patrick Simonette

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Pedagogical research on African music and dance practices have conventionally focused on ways in which styles and traditions are taught including, but not limited to, modes of transmission, curriculum structure, and cultural responsiveness. These investigations, and subsequent applications, have contributed towards a deeper understanding of pedagogical structures as related to cultural context and effective modes of teaching and learning African music. At the same time, the impact that space and locality play within African music and dance instruction, particularly as related to learning experiences have been largely overlooked. Locality and space involve several factors that range from elements attributed to …

Honk!: Meaning And Activism In 21st Century American Street Bands, Isaac Maupin

Theses and Dissertations--Music

In this dissertation, I explore activism, music, and meaning through the lens of HONK! Bands in the United States. HONK! A Festival of Activist Street Bands began in Sommerville, Massachusetts, in 2006. Since its inception, the festivals have grown on a national and global scale. The festivals, however, operate as a convenient organizing structure for the bands themselves and are not a primary focus of this work. Instead, I examine activism, learning, and value as systems within the HONK! culture (each topic with a devoted chapter) to, through a phenomenological lens, better understand how HONK! bands fit within American culture. …

Ecuadorian Vocal Anthology In Four Rhythms, Wagner Mauricio Pástor Pazmiño Dr.

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Ecuador is a pluricultural and multilingual territory with four natural regions, several musical genres, and interpretations. Amazon, Galápagos, Mountain Range, and Coastal region. In the following dissertation, the author develops concepts of four traditional rhythms, their composers, and harmonic and phonetic characteristics from the mountain range region of his homeland, Ecuador.

The present document is a descriptive study of vocal Andean music and the application of the operatic style in classical vocal technique for performance practice.

The dissertation will support a lecture recital to fulfill the doctoral program's requirement in voice performance from the University of Kentucky.

Sculpting Time: A Performance Guide To Four Fragments Of Time By Marcus Siqueira, Luis Felipe Vargas Magdaleno De Moraes

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation investigates the musical and phenomenological aspects of Four Fragments of Time by Marcus Siqueira (b. 1974) and provides a performance guide for this work. Furthermore, this dissertation analyzes previous guitar works by the composer, seeking to understand Siqueira’s compositional idiosyncrasies and to provide context for the interpretation of Four Fragments of Time. This dissertation includes a biography of the composer, an analysis of the compositional process of Four Fragments of Time, an analysis of the recurrent idiomatic procedures in Siqueira’s guitar works, and an overview of the collaborative process between the composer and the author. Additionally, an analysis …

Mediating Authenticity: An Ethnographic Portrait Of Experience At U.S. Popular Music Festivals, Elizabeth Navarra Varnado

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This ethnographic study of U.S. popular music festivals subverts the impression of festivals as strictly ‘presentational’ live music events by utilizing a nuanced approach that is grounded in ethnographic fieldwork, historical analysis, and participant interviews.

Interlocutors, drawn from the author’s personal network of festival attendees, musicians, and promoters, reflect on “particularly positive festival moments,” the social and emotional benefits of festivals, and the corporeality of festival aesthetics. Discourse and published media play a vital role in festival participants’ perception of the festival field and their place within it; therefore, this study draws inspiration from the tripartite focus of iconic festival …

Local-Classical Singers Speak: Interviews With Trinidadian, Guyanese, And Surinamese Singers, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

This is a compilation of transcriptions of several dozen interviews with Trinidadian, Guyanese, and Surinamese performers of Indo-Caribbean local-classical music (tan-singing, baithak gana) conducted in the 1990s by Peter Manuel. The informants include most of the leading singers of that era, such as Hanif Mohammed, Jameer Hosein, and Sam Boodram, as well as elder artists whose recollections date back to the 1920s-30s. The transcriptions are informal, messy, and unedited. Several of the interviews were conducted when Manuel was just beginning his research, and thus his questions were not always well informed.

Song Analysis - Final Project For The American Musical Experience, Agustina Checa

Open Educational Resources

Assignment designed as a final project for the undergraduate course MSH245: The American Musical Experience at Lehman College. This course surveys different musical expressions that emerged in the United States as well as the historical, social and technological contexts framing their popularization.This assignment asks students to analyze a song of their choosing performed by an American artist and to follow specific requirements in their study of this piece which include: historical and social contextualization, analysis of style, influences and lyrics, as well as the elaboration of a "listening guide" to fully appreciate the composition. Students are given the …

Education Equity: Music Theory Information Literacy At A Hispanic-Serving Institution (Hsi), Charles Roush, Katrina Roush, Norma Denae Dibrell

School of Music Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Buddhist Music As A Contested Site: The Transmission Of Teochew Buddhist Music Between China And Singapore, Jie Zhang

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

In the Chaozhou City Gazetteer of Buddhism & Chaozhou Kaiyuan Monastery Gazetteer published in 1992, the then Abbot of the Kaiyuan Monastery, Shi Huiyuan 释慧原 heavily condemned the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) monk Shi Kesheng 释可声 (date unknown) for "starting the sins among laities in the Chaozhou region who dared transgressing (the Buddhist doctrines) and became chant leaders in a flaming mouth ceremony.” Why was the Abbot so upset with a fellow monk back in history? What did Kesheng do, and what were the implications of him starting this "transgression"? This article investigates the history of the international traffic of Buddhist …

(Special Section, Hymns Beyond The Congregation Ii): Spiritual Concert-Fundraisers, Singing Conventions, And Cherokee Language Learning Academies: Vernacular Southern Hymnbooks In Noncongregational Settings, Jesse P. Karlsberg, Kaylina M. Crawley, Sara S. Hopkins

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Noncongregational settings were integral to hymnody in the postbellum settler colonial context of the southern United States during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The incorporation of hymn singing into a wide range of noncongregational settings served Black, white, and Native populations in navigating unsettled racial dynamics during this period across the US South and its diasporas. This essay features three case studies examining hymn collections intended or repurposed for a range of noncongregational uses: spiritual collections connected with the performing ensembles of black institutions, a shape-note songbook that attempted to bridge singing convention and congregational contexts, and a …

Note From The Editor: Transitions In The Managing Editor Position, Jeffers Engelhardt

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Editor-in-Chief Jeffers Engelhardt announces a change in personnel within the Managing Editor position at the Yale Journal of Music & Religion.

Ethics And Christian Musicking, Kathryn M. Cooke

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

A book review is presented for Ethics and Christian Musicking, a book edited by Nathan Myrick and Mark Porter, by Kathryn Minyoung Cooke.

Announcing Yale Journal Of Music & Religion Translations, Jeffers Engelhardt

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

A note from Editor-in-Chief Jeffers Engelhardt about a new initiative: Yale Journal of Music & Religion Translations.