Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Foundation Of Cistercian Monasteries In France 1098-1789: An Historical Gis Evaluation, Jon Eric Klingenberg Rasmussen

Masters Theses

Historical geography focuses upon those relationships which have shaped the evolution of place and landscape over time. One fundamental approach used to achieve this objective is the set of theories associated with spatial diffusion. This includes the spatial and chronological paths, the periodicities and rates of spread, as well as the identification of areas of void or avoidance. An emerging trend in historical geography is the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). A GIS provides the researcher with the necessary tools to re-evaluate and challenge long-standing interpretations of any given event, historical or otherwise, as well as develop new insights …

Preserving Wmu’S Musical Heritage: Digitizing Aging Magnetic Tape Audio Recordings, Marianne Swierenga, Christina Doane

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

Western Michigan University has decades worth of unique recorded content on aging magnetic media. WMU’s School of Music has a particularly rich collection of recordings featuring student and faculty ensembles, visiting artist performances, and graduate recitals. Facing the possibility of losing these invaluable recorded sound artifacts through obsolescence or decay, the University Libraries realized we could wait no longer and needed to develop a preservation and digitization strategy to ensure long term access.

Using Stories As The Landscape Of Writing: A Case Study Of Mentor Texts In The Elementary Classroom, Christine Mcdowell

Dissertations

In this dissertation, I investigate the way in which mentor texts are defined and implemented by four elementary classroom teachers within one school district, and how this mode of instruction allows for an increase in teacher autonomy while still addressing Common Core State Standards. This project focuses on each participant as they share a common goal in writing instruction while maintaining their teaching identity and curricular freedom.

One goal of this study is to provide the educational theory that supports mentor text instruction that is missing from the movement. Many teaching guides exist that explain the concept of mentor texts, …

“What Country Music Needs Is A Good War”: Country Music, Memory, And Conservative Politics, Emilee G. Johnson

Masters Theses

I argue that the Southern political realignment and the national conservative movement shaped and was shaped by country artists and their songs released during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. I also argue that including country music offers valuable contributions to the work of history and memory scholars, showing how country artists used memory to cope with and interpret current events, and how war inspired uses of memory in country music. During World War II, country artists established a national reputation for political activism and laid the foundation for how the genre would respond to future …

Perceptions Of Guitar Use And Training In Music Therapy: A Survey Of Clinicians, Joshua Robert Keller

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine music therapists' perceptions of guitar use and training in clinical practice. Three major research questions dealt with guitar use, guitar training, and clinicians' confidence using the guitar in clinical practice. A quasi-random sample of 1000 board-certified music therapists were invited to complete an online questionnaire with 27 questions in the areas of guitar use, guitar training and experience, and the importance of 28 specific skills. One hundred fifty music therapists (n = 150) responded.

Major findings include: (1) clinicians appear to use the guitar frequently and, on average, see guitar skills as …

Music Therapists Behind Locked Doors: The Role Of Trauma Exposure And Current Music Therapy Practices In Correctional And Forensic Psychiatry, Deanna K. Bush

Masters Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the role trauma exposure has on the possible development of symptoms of Vicarious Traumatization (VT) in the lives of Board Certified Music Therapists employed in correctional and forensic settings. Research was conducted through completion of an electronic survey. Additionally, the researcher sought to identify current music therapy practices as well as differences between practicing in forensic settings and correctional settings. The participants involved in this study were Board Certified Music Therapists who work in forensic and correctional settings. Survey invitations were electronically sent to 133 prospective participants as listed on either …

May 28, 2015: Nagle Reviews Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Sense & Sensibility, Department Of English

Gleanings: Department of English Blog Archive

No abstract provided.

From “Black Is Beautiful” To “Gay Power”: Cultural Frames In The Gay Liberation Movement, Eric Denby

The Hilltop Review

In lieu of an abstract, a short excerpt is provided:

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The 1960s and 1970s were a decade of turbulence, militancy, and unrest in America. The post-World War II boom in consumerism and consumption made way for a new post-materialist societal ethos, one that looked past the American dream of home ownership and material wealth. Many citizens were now concerned with social and economic equality, justice for all people of the world, and a restructuring of the capitalist system itself. According to Max Elbaum, the traditional narrative of the 1960s begins with an “idealistic, impassioned” youth working on voter registration …

Free Zone Scientology: The Social Structure Of A Contemporary Reform Movement, Kyle D. Byron

The Hilltop Review

In lieu of an abstract, a short excerpt is provided:

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The Church of Scientology has a notorious history of controversy. The sources of this controversy stem from both the legal realm (most notably in the acquisition of the legal label of “religion” and, therefore, tax exempt status) and the social sphere, with critics from both the Christian and secular “anti-cult” movements publishing polemics against the Church. There also, however, exists a third source of criticism: self-identified Scientologists who have chosen to leave the official institution of Scientology. These understudied groups, practicing outside of the Church, are known as …

Lucy, Robert Evory

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

Narrow River, Justine A. Mcnulty

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

In Awe Of The Past, Charles Lein

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

Venice At Night, Robert Evory

The Hilltop Review

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of Nomological Impossibility For Epistemic Structural Realism, Patrick Manzanares

The Hilltop Review

The philosophical view known as Epistemic Structural Realism appeals to the concept of ‘structure’ in order to defend a version of Scientific Realism that nevertheless respects historical considerations of ontological discontinuity between successive scientific theories. It seems that the structures of some scientific theories are only continuous with the structures of successor theories when the former are characterized as nomologically impossible idealizations of the latter, since this continuity involves allowing some quantity in the formal structure of the successor theory to tend towards some physically unrealizable limit. But if this is the case, then the earlier theory cannot be physically …

The Peace Of The Waste Land And Understanding Eliot’S Two Readings, Luke J. Chambers

The Hilltop Review

There are two recordings of T.S. Eliot reading The Waste Land in existence today, one made in 1946 for the Library of Congress, and another from 1935, recorded at Columbia University. The later 1946 recording, being the only one published, is by far the more well known. The 1935 recording is of much inferior sound quality and is difficult to find. The younger Eliot recites at times with greater energy, a quicker tempo, and with markedly different phrasing and intonation. However, quite often Eliot’s recitation is nearly indistinguishable between the two recordings. The specific moments of difference reveal a great …

Late Medieval Mediterranean Apocalypticism: Joachimist Ideas In Ramon Llull’S Crusade Treatises, Michael Sanders

The Hilltop Review

The thirteenth century witnessed dramatic changes that transformed the medieval world and remain important today. The violent changes caused by the War of the Sicilian Vespers and Spiritual Franciscan movement popularized the apocalyptic ideas of the twelfth-century Italian abbot, Joachim of Fiore. The abbot's historical paradigms of biblical history influenced many southern Europeans, including the medieval mystic, missionary, and philosopher Ramon Llull (c. 1232-1316). Llull dedicated his life to converting the world to Catholic Christianity using a variety of means, including evangelical missions, Neoplatonic philosophy, and crusades. Llull's crusade treatises, the Tractatus de modo convertendi infideles (1292), Liber de fine …

Taking Art To The Next Level: Integration Of Advanced Placement Studio Art, 2-D Design, Krystal Kingsley

Masters Theses

Teaching High School art has brought me great joy. Along the way I have been challenged with many difficult questions. One that beckoned me to direct and intentional action is “how do I help students take their art work to the next level?” This project is the result of my personal discovery and development of an Advanced Placement Studio Art 2-D Design course. My research of multiple sources led to the development of an Advanced Placement (AP) approved course which includes: a syllabus, multiple breadth lessons, project rubrics, critiques, sketchbook assignments, summer homework, and a guide for helping students develop …

The Cistercian Studies Conference, 2015, The Center For Cistercian And Monastic Studies

Conference on Cistercian Studies Programs

Program for the 2015 Cistercian Studies Conference at Western Michigan University in conjunction with the 50th Intentional Congress on Medieval Studies.

Modal Logic And Ontological Arguments, Alex Yousif

Masters Theses

In this thesis I will evaluate various modal ontological arguments for the existence of God. I will evaluate Kurt Gödel’s modal ontological argument (as preserved by his student Dana Scott), and Anthony Anderson’s emendation of it. I will conclude that both Gödel’s argument and Anderson’s emendation fail. I then propose a revised version of C’Zar Bernstein’s ontological argument. I conclude that while this argument is not rationally compelling, it is more plausibly sound than not. Finally, I will demonstrate that some extant general objections to modal ontological arguments are unconvincing.

Emotional Responses To Musical Dissonance In Musicians And Nonmusicians, Rebecca Joan Bumgarner

Masters Theses

The purpose of this project was to investigate the influence of music education on individuals’ subjective and physiological responses to consonant and dissonant excerpts. Participants were categorized as having high experience (HE) or low experience (LE) in music education. Participants listened to 40 randomized excerpts of music, half of which were consonant, the other half dissonant. Electrodermal Activity (EDA) and Facial Electromyography (EMG) data were collected for each participant, as well as self-reports of perceived pleasantness for each excerpt. It was expected that HE participants “learned” dissonance through music education, and therefore would respond more strongly to dissonant excerpts. As …

Northsong, Neal Endicott

Masters Theses

Northsong is a 20 minute tone poem for Wind Ensemble based on the landscapes of northern Michigan and my own personal and musical background. The piece takes its name from a melody that I composed during my undergrad while recovering from back surgery in Traverse City. Unable to actually play any of my instruments, I started composing for the first Mme. In addition to a number of jazz and saxophone quartet arrangements, I wrote a short melody that reflected my mood while I was stuck inside during a snowstorm. I titled the melody Northsong, but didn’t know what to do …

Experiences Of African American Female First Generation College Students, Ashley Green

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to gain a better understanding of the experiences of African American, female, first generation college students attending a large, predominantly White research university and to understand what motivates them. The major research question guiding this study was: How do African American, female, first generation college students (in good academic standing) describe their college experience? The researcher asked the participants to discuss their challenges, how they responded to challenges, sources of motivation, and factors that contributed to their success in college.

Through individual, face to face, interviews with 10 African American, female, FGC …

Choice--‐Based Art: Students Who Create, Not Replicate, Hillary K. Moczerad

Masters Theses

The problem that I researched in today’s art education world is how to teach our art students to be problem solving, confident, independent thinkers. It seems that in a classroom that is supposed to be full of innovation and creativity, it is currently falling flat. Through research, I discovered a teaching methodology called Choice-­‐Based Art that claims to eliminate these problems in the art room through student-­‐directed learning and choice while still delivering art curriculum. In order to test these theories, I aligned my classroom with the demands of the methodology and planned a field test with two groups of …

Clinical Efficacy Of Music Therapy In Addiction Counseling: A Systematic Review, Marissa Renee Rinehart

Masters Theses

A previous systematic review study by Mays, Clark, and Gordon in 2008 reviewed music therapy research to look into the clinical efficacy of music therapy and addiction counseling. Their research concluded that the present literature contained few articles that had quantitative evidence and the music therapy that was presented was not an independent therapy for treatment for patients with substance abuse. This systematic review sought to research literature within the past six years that studied the effects of music therapy on clients who were dealing with substance abuse to review the progress of music therapy research since the 2008 article …

50th International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 14-17, 2015), including the Corrigenda.

Creative Concentrations: A Secondary Design Curriculum, Linnea Roberta Gustafson

Masters Theses

Design education, as distinct from art education, has been overlooked as an area of student learning, creative expression, and career potential. This thesis explores the benefits of design education for students at the secondary level, when identities are being formed and areas of future study and work are considered. Guided by the newly published National Core Arts Standards, this paper provides a model design curriculum that introduces secondary students to a design-oriented view of the world, explores design principles through real-world applications, and calls attention to professional career options.

All lessons in the curriculum encourage creative approaches to solving design …

Fostering The Efficacious Adolescent Artist, Regina Beltowski

Masters Theses

Low self-esteem and insecurity is common among adolescents. In the secondary-school art room, students often stop engaging in art practice, believing that they lack talent, when the truth is that they lack specific skills. Students who are fortunate to have teachers who help them develop their skills experience a boost in feelings of self-efficacy, and often reengage with art production. This thesis project focuses on strengthening students’ self-efficacy in the visual arts at the secondary level. Clarifying the differences between related terms – self-esteem, self-concept, and perceived control – I focus on self-efficacy as a characteristic that plays a significant …

A Comparison Study Of Diagnostic Outcomes Between The Music Therapy Assessment Tool For Awareness In Disorders Of Consciousness (Matadoc) And The Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (Crs-R), Caitlyn E. Bodine

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore preliminary external validation of a standardized music therapy assessment tool used in the detection of awareness with the DOC patient population with an external reference standard. Eight subjects were administered both the MATADOC and the CRS-R within five days of one another, and results were compared on the levels of overall diagnosis, analogous domain subscales, and intra-assessment relationships between individual domains and overall diagnosis. Results indicated a very strong level of agreement for overall diagnosis (r_s = .85, p < .01), very strong relationships between the auditory and visual components of the two assessments (r_s = .76, p < .05, and r_s = .81, p < .05, respectively), and a strong, but non-significant relationship between arousal scores on the two assessments (r …