Arts and Humanities Commons^™

An Exploration Of Trumpet Valve Rotation: Its Mechanics, Sound, And Notation, Daniel Francis O'Connor

Theses : Honours

Many contemporary performers and composers seek new sounds through extension of traditional instrument techniques. For the trumpet one such extended technique is valve rotation, the rotation of a trumpet piston valve within its casing to effect the timbral complexity of airstream effects. Intrigued by the possibilities, I have embarked on an exploration of trumpet valve rotation, a path which has become significant to my creative practice. When searching for resources to inform my exploration it was evident that there is limited: documentation referring to trumpet valve rotation; investigation into the application of trumpet valve rotation in improvisation and composition; and …

Neoteric Drum Set Orchestration: An Analysis Of Nate Wood’S Drumming On The Music Of Tigran Hamasyan, Ryan George Daunt

Theses : Honours

Nate Wood is a highly acclaimed multi-instrumentalist who pushes the boundaries of drumming in a contemporary jazz setting. Wood is well known for his playing with Tigran Hamasyan, Wayne Krantz Trio and Kneebody. This study focused on the orchestration approach of Wood within the context of Tigran Hamasyan’s original compositions. Wood’s drumming was analysed through transcription and interview to further gain insight into his drumming concepts.

These findings contribute to knowledge on contemporary jazz drumming and specifically Wood’s playing, which has not been the topic of a research paper before. Analysis of Wood’s drum parts and improvisation within drumming frameworks …

Walter Smith Iii: A Comparison Of Improvisational Techniques On “July” (2014) And “Stablemates” (2009), Tom Walsh

Theses : Honours

This dissertation compares the improvisational style of notable tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III when performing a jazz standard, as well as an original composition. As with other contemporary artists, there is little to no pre-existing literature discussing Smith despite his frequent collaboration with jazz luminaries such as Terence Blanchard, Eric Harland, Roy Haynes, Jason Moran, and Christian McBride, as well as contemporaries Christian Scott, Ambrose Akinmusire and Kendrick Scott. The primary aim of this dissertation is to transcribe, examine and compare Smith’s improvisations on July (2014) and Stablemates (2009). The harmonic, melodic and phrasing elements of Smith’s improvisation will be …

Layered Analytical Graphs: Analysing And Composing Using The Harmonic Techniques Of Wayne Shorter And Chick Corea, Samuel Hadlow

Theses : Honours

The music of Wayne Shorter is renowned for its harmonic complexity, mainly due to Shorter’s application of “conventional jazz compositional ideas… in unconventional ways” (Ritchie, 2008, p. 15). While Shorter’s melodies are often based on a pentatonic scale and relatively simple and lyrical such as in “Deluge” from the album Juju (Shorter, 1964a) and “Oriental Folk Song” from Night Dreamer (Shorter, 1964b), the accompanying harmony he writes is often complex and unusual. The harmonic progressions Shorter uses in his works often include unusual techniques such as the use of non-functional neighbour chords, minor dominant chords, stepwise bass movement and chord …

Analysing Intonation Of The Pied Butcherbird, Jean-Michel Maujean

Theses : Honours

Native to Australia, the Pied Butcherbird has been extensively studied and transcribed by previous composers, notably including Olivier Messiaen. This may be due to richness and diversity in each bird’s repertoire, along with parallels drawn from Western Tonality. Hollis Taylor has conducted extensive study in this field, notably with an analysis of a transcription made by Messiaen, that was incorporated in his piece Éclairs sur l'au- delà (1988-91). Coupled with the original field recording, Taylor’s analysis and Messiaen’s score, this study will reanalyse the original recording from which Messiaen made his transcription.

Zoomusicology is a practice that represents the …

Meeting Place An Exhibition – And – Locating The Country: An Australian Bricoleuse’S Inquiry An Exegesis, Annette Nykiel

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This practice-led PhD research investigated alternate forms of articulation to relate stories of place-making, as narrative or object, and added threads to the complex meshwork and herstory of the Country. The research was conducted in ‘The Country’, of the north-eastern Goldfields and Yalgorup Lakes in Western Australia. These two non-urban sites provided unique experiences of the bush, local people’s stories and understandings of time. The research investigated the implications of non-urban spaces as studios in relation to the concepts of place, time and narrative.

This research was, in part, experiential and drew on an absorbed embodied awareness of notions of …

Vital Performance: Culture, Worldview, And Romanticist Performance Practice With Application In Franz Liszt’S Consolations And Années De Pèlerinage Première Année, Andrew John Snedden

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines issues of historical performance in the piano music of Franz Liszt, positing cultural exegesis as an overlooked source of evidence. Philosophical biases underlying mainstream C20th performance approaches (and their inhibiting potential) are discussed. A detailed reconstruction of Romanticist style is made with attention to primary sources, including historical recordings. A nomenclature for score annotation and an analytical paradigm for identification and application of Romanticist performance characteristics are proposed. These are experimentally applied, referencing exegetical insights, in Liszt’s Consolations and Années de Pèlerinage: Première Année through annotated scores and studio recordings on an 1860’s Érard grand

Comparative Pairs Judgements For High-Stakes Practical Assessments, Hendrati Nastiti

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Assessment of practical tasks, as opposed to that of theoretical tasks, has been considered to be problematic, mainly because it is usually resource intensive and the scoring is subjective. Most practical tasks need to be assessed on site or involve products that need to be collected, stored, or transported. Moreover, because practical tasks are generally open-ended, and therefore subjective, there is concern over the reliability of the scores. In high-stakes assessment, these problems are even more challenging. There is a need for an assessment method that could overcome these problems. In this study, such a method that will be referred …

Selling The Modern Day Tribe: The Commodification Of Rave Culture, Duncan Martin Barnes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis examines youth and rave culture from the late 1980s to the present. It considers the history as well as the global and local impact of rave. I provide a visual ethnographic study from 1999-2014, based on my work as a commercial photographer of the Perth, Western Australian scene. While critically reflecting on existing subcultural research this thesis adds another dimension – the effect that global corporations have had in reshaping subcultural practices, specifically the commodification of rave culture in the form of the contemporary electronic dance festival.

The research incorporates both qualitative and quantitative data to interrogate media …

The Beloved: A Documentary Film On The History And Aftermath Of Fremantle’S Rajneesh Sannyasin Community – And – Hidden Realities: Transcendental Structures In Documentary Film: An Exegesis, Joseph London

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This creative work and its associated exegesis examines the concept of what I have termed a ‘transcendental structure’ in relation to a documentary film form, and what outcomes, specific to a non-fiction mode of representation, result from the application of this structure. A transcendental structure in film has a long history of investigation and interpretation in narrative fiction film theory and practice, but is substantially absent from documentary scholarship. The topic appears, in different forms, in the critical writings of Zavattini (1940), Bazin (1946), Pasolini (1965), Schrader (1972), Deleuze (1985), and more recently, Perez (1998) and Minghelli (2016). All of …

A Coat Of Ashes: A Collection Of Poems, Incorporating A Metafictional Narrative - And - Poetry, Daoism, Physics And Systems Theory: A Poetics: A Set Of Critical Essays, Janet Ruth Jackson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis comprises a book-length creative work accompanied by a set of essays. It explores how poetry might bring together spiritual and scientific discourses, focusing primarily on philosophical Daoism (Taoism) and contemporary physics. Systems theory (the science of complex and self-organising systems) is a secondary focus of the creative work and is used metaphorically in theorising the writing process.

The creative work, “A coat of ashes”, is chiefly concerned with the nature of being. It asks, “What is?”, “What am I?” and, most urgently, “What matters?”. To engage with these questions, it opens a space in which voices expressing scientific …

The Photographic Other: Paradox In The Cathexis Of Longing, Alex Cilla Bradley

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A photographic and written examination of paradox in relation to the photograph

This research aims to illuminate the relationship between paradox and photography, elaborated via Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject. Paradox is considered in relation to photography in terms of repeated and unresolved debates about the status of the photograph as either an ‘index of reality’ (Bate, 2004, p. 1) or as a sign. The significance of this research lies in its re-motivation of abjection in terms of paradox, not in order to resolve such debates but, rather, to illuminate the importance of such unresolved contradictions in terms of …

Caught In The Frame: A Critical Analysis Of Australian Media Representations Of The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict 2014–2015, Mayyada Mhanna

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Despite the many current conflicts in the Middle East and the world, the Israeli- Palestinian conflict is still one of the most significant conflicts of the modern era. The reasons for this include the history and violence of this conflict and the lack of practical solutions for it. The significance of this conflict is reflected in its prevalence in many disciplines, such as political science and media studies. Related literature shows that Australian media coverage of this conflict has not been investigated thoroughly. Hence, this study attempts to bridge this gap in literature, aiming to identify how Australian media portray …

Rogue: A Novel - And - Wonderlust: The Value Of Wonder For Readers, Writers, And The Vault: A Critical Essay, Amanda Betts

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis consists of an original novel, Rogue, and an exegesis titled Wonderlust: the value of wonder for readers, writers, and The Vault.

Rogue is the second novel of the series titled The Vault, which is a speculative fiction duology for young adults (thirteen and above) with the possibility for crossover into adult readership. Rogue picks up the story of fifteen-year-old Hayley who, after choosing to leave her previous home of an underwater seed vault, finds herself washed onto the cliffs of Maria Island, off the coast of Tasmania. As Hayley ventures further into the terrestrial ‘real world’ …

No-One Was Watching: A Collection Of Short Fiction And Stories Beyond The Gates: An Exegesis, Ann Elizabeth Horner

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research project asserts the primacy of creative practice as a key method of enquiry and explores how fictional stories, re-imagined from historical events of the mid-twentieth century, may provide different ways of viewing a world which was inhabited by once-silenced children, now known as the ‘forgotten Australians’. To this end, the thesis is made up of a creative component in the form of a book-length collection of short fiction that is accompanied by a critical component positioning the thesis contextually, theoretically and methodologically. The research reveals overwhelming evidence of a culture of endemic abuse within Australian child welfare organisations …

Comparing Live To Recorded Music And Stories Using Multiple Psychoneuroendocrine And Psychological Measures, Ronniet Orlando

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Listening to music brings health benefits, according to an expanding opus of empirical research. Studies to date cover a wide range of music interventions and outcome measures. Music has been applied to healthy participants, as well as clinical populations to target anxiety and pain. But little is known about whether live music is more effective than recorded music as an intervention for these common symptoms.

This exploratory study sought answers with the emerging science of saliva analysis, which focuses on biomarkers that indicate stress and immune function. In this case salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, immunoglobulin-A, interleukin- 1beta, and pH levels were …

A Study On The Impact Of A Music Looping Technology Intervention Upon Pre-Service Generalist Teachers’ Self-Efficacy To Teach Music In Primary Schools, John Nathan Heyworth

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In Australia, in the current climate of economic rationalism in which there has been an increasing emphasis on literacy and numeracy, funding for specialised subjects like music has been reducing. As a result, generalist classroom teachers are being given more responsibility for delivering effective music education in primary schools. However, the time dedicated to training pre-service teachers in music education in tertiary institutions has diminished. Further, time constraints involved in building pre-service knowledge and skills in teaching music may impact many pre-service teachers’ beliefs about their ability to teach music.

Within these constraints, digital technology may provide a key to …

I Am Here Now: A Play – And – Polyvocality, The Unhomely, And The Methods Of Mike Leigh In Playwriting: An Exegesis, Michael Mccall

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The aim of the research was to investigate how the devising methods of theatre and film director Mike Leigh might generate material for a new play text and what the implications were in regards to authorship. Central to the research was an exploration of the collaborative devising processes of Leigh as a point of origin and how this might lead to an intended and deliberate case for a plurality of voices in a written play text. It was conducted with a focus on utilising many voices. In this instance the ‘voices’ were young participants from Perth’s African Australian community. The …

Cognitive Imagery Training In A Dancer’S Deliberate Practice: Skills Development, Confidence And Creativity, Sasha Brampton

Theses : Honours

Cognitive imagery training is an effective tool in improving skill learning, technique, confidence, anxiety and arousal management, recovery, rehabilitation, and performance in dancers. Multiple studies (Abbott & Collins 2004; Hall 2009; and Nordin and Cumming 2006, 2011) have established the positive influence imagery can have on dance and sport, and numerous researchers in these fields promote the incorporation of cognitive imagery training into ‘deliberate’ practice. Cognitive imagery, in relation to dance, is the detailed imaging of the execution/performance of movement in the mind. This thesis will outline imagery use: such as the types of imagery and how it can be …

Creative Awareness At Link Dance Company 2017, Lauren Ebony Sherlock

Theses : Honours

LINK Dance Company at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) offers postgraduate students the opportunity to bridge the gap between graduate level studies in dance and professional practice. Students gain company experience whilst being able to further their research interests in dance throughout their pre-professional year. LINK Dance Company also encourages students to contribute to the choreographic process where possible to enhance professional practice. Using the Company in 2017 for an exploratory case study, the aim of this research was to investigate the presence of creative awareness in the choreographic process between choreographers and dancers. The research methodology …

The Rhythmic, Harmonic And Phrasing Language Of Lennie Tristano: Analysis And Strategies For Incorporation In Modern Jazz Improvisation, Austin Salisbury

Theses : Honours

Pianist Lennie Tristano is regarded as one of the most original voices in jazz history. His uncompromising adherence to artistic ideals led to both great innovation and obscurity, limiting his impact on future generations of musicians. Until recently, his music has been largely overlooked by musicians and academics alike. Coinciding with a revival in interest in Tristano and his music by modern jazz musicians, this dissertation seeks to investigate the transferability of several aspects of Tristano’s rhythmic, harmonic and phrasing vocabulary to modern jazz improvisation. Building upon existing literature concerning his pedagogy and musical analysis, this research emphasises Tristano’s relevance …

A Survey To Investigate The Participation Of Female Jazz-Trained Instrumentalists At Waapa And In Perth’S Professional Music Scene, Talya Valenti

Theses : Honours

Traditionally, men have dominated jazz music in terms of participation and professional acknowledgement, but even in present times, female instrumentalists remain under-represented in jazz performance and education. Various studies such as Kathleen M. McKeage’s Gender and Participation in Undergraduate Jazz Ensembles: A National Survey and Erin L. Wehr’s Understanding the Experiences of Women in Jazz: A Suggested Model, have produced statistics that illustrate the low participation of female instrumentalists in jazz, and have also provided social-psychological theories to explain why these patterns continue to prevail.

As a working jazz-trained female instrumentalist myself, I have noticed the under-representation of female jazz …

Performance Practice In Liszt’S Hungarian Rhapsodies: A Comparison Of The Liszt-Pupil Recordings Of Hungarian Rhapsody No.12, Nicholas Williams

Theses : Honours

Despite their enduring popularity as concert works, Franz Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsodies have never won favour with the critics. Played in a literal, score-bound fashion these works can indeed offer little more than fodder for the performing pony. Nevertheless, through performances that successfully capture the spirit of this music—many of which are captured on early recordings—these works are vibrant, powerful, and stirring.

This dissertation explores the performance style associated with these works. At the centre of this study is a comparative analysis of seven recordings of Hungarian Rhapsody No.12 made by the following Liszt pupils: Arthur Friedheim, Arthur de Greef, Alfred …

The Interaction Between Postminimalist Music And Contemporary Dance, Azariah Felton

Theses : Honours

This dissertation examines the manner in which postminimalist compositional techniques such as phasing, polymeter, etc., can be used to aid the creation of music for dance. Music presented with dance generally serves at least two crucial roles: providing the dancers with a framework and impetus to aid movement; and reflecting the concept and meaning, where applicable, of the choreography. Many composers writing for dance must find ways to unite these goals in a way that best suits the total work, and find a balance between supporting the concept and assisting the dancers. This dissertation discusses the relationship between choreography and …