Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Creating A Standard Operating Procedures Manual: The Ualr Graduate School Experience, Shannon Marie Clowney

Theses and Dissertations

In the summer of 2009 I was given the task to create a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) manual for the Graduate School at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. This was a unique work assignment because SOPs are typically created for scientific, medical, or military organizations. Therefore there was not a reliable template I could find to use as a model for this document. The purpose of this thesis is to help fill that gap. It offers other technical writers a set of steps to follow when given the task of writing an SOP for an organization within higher …

Integrating Composition In Music Education For Grades 2-5: An Interdisciplinary Study, Natalie Frances Griffin

Theses and Dissertations

Composition is a vital aspect of music and music education. However, it is scarcely taught in elementary music classrooms. Can composition be taught to elementary students and will it be an enjoyable activity for them? Can instructors use compositions as a form of assessment? This research seeks to answer these questions through an original research study. Elementary students in grades 2-5 were taught composition and wrote two songs for the piano. These songs along with survey responses revealed that students are able to write compositions for the piano, that they want to learn more about song writing, and that each …

The Jigsaw Man: Puzzling Through The Pieces Of Modern American Manhood, Paul Bennett

Theses and Dissertations

The Jigsaw Man is a personal nonfiction narrative that examines modern American manhood. The author uses personal anecdotes and popular media to discuss manhood as experienced by his generation and those younger, the so-called "preadults" of Generations X, Y, and beyond. This thesis was written as part of the author's preparation for a book proposal, which would expand upon the themes and stories in this thesis.

Learning From Plot And Characters In Musical Theatre, Lindsay Grant

Theses and Dissertations

Musical theatre, from the 1920s to the present, acts as a conscience for the American people and attempts, through the plot and characters, to convey concepts from which all should learn.

Die Zauberflöte: A European Singspiel, Zachary Bryant

Theses and Dissertations

Through modern-day globalization, the cultures of the world are shared on a daily basis and are integrated into the lives of nearly every person. This reality seems to go unnoticed by most, but the fact remains that many individuals and their societies have formed a cultural identity from the combination of many foreign influences. Such a multicultural identity can be seen particularly in music. Composers, artists, and performers alike frequently seek to incorporate separate elements of style in their own identity. One of the earliest examples of this tradition is the German Singspiel. Through the synthesis of foreign and native …

Variations On A Sonnet: A Play And Accompanying Analysis, Hannah Carey

Theses and Dissertations

When I first began considering writing a play based on Shakespeare's sonnets, I toyed with the idea of dramatizing the poet's life as it is revealed in the sonnets. I had read the sonnets and imagined that it would not be terribly difficult to set some of them to prose scenes in which the amorphous jealousy, obsession, and longing found in the sonnets would blossom into clear conflicts and complex characters--the protagonist being Shakespeare himself, of course. The play would give a biographical portrait of Shakespeare and his life, without being preachy or boring. However, the more I studied the …

A Narrative In One Scene, Aliyah C. Anglin

Theses and Dissertations

Filmmakers are visual storytellers, thus it is important to understand basic film theory as well as the elements of a narrative, such as voice, look, and feel. It is just as important for filmmakers to understand how film theory and the elements of a narrative work together to effectively convey stories to the people viewing the film. In this thesis, I researched basic film theory and analyzed three personally influential movies and directors including Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936), Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible (2012), and Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai (1954). I chose one technique from each of the …

Exploring Low Brass Recording Techniques, Phillip Andrew Broome, Philip Andrew Broome

Theses and Dissertations

The modern day art and science of music recording evolved through a constant process of trial and error. Although many of these techniques are well-documented and commonplace in modern recording studios, most of them are generalized recording techniques used in the popular and classical music industries. Among these techniques, there is an observable lack of recognized standards for the recording of low brass instruments. This project aims to articulate quality techniques for low brass recording through research in early recording techniques and through an experimental study comparing many popular stereophonic microphone techniques. Although testing every low brass instrument would give …

Feet That Don't Touch The Floor: Perceptions In Marketing Theatre For Young Audiences, Melora Slotnick

Theses and Dissertations

It was once my dream to build the theatre of the future: to develop a new organization in the theatre community that would provide new ideas and imaginative learning. Reality and research, however, have pointed me in a new direction. From my perspective, we do not currently need another organization to add competition within our theatrical community. Though it is often appealing to start from scratch, what we need most now is to enhance our status and quality. Existing theatres must work toward a balance of competition and collaboration. Disparity is not the issue. Countless theatres in our nation and …

Material Meaning, Anne Jordan

Theses and Dissertations

The synthesis of old and new, analog and digital, and hand- and computer-based methods provides designers with an opportunity to work beyond the constraints of the computer and take advantage of the aesthetic effects that actual materials bring to visual communication. Designers who choose to actively participate in their process – bringing the aesthetic effects of working materially into the realm of the digital – will likely learn to reject an approach that relies too heavily on passive digital tools. Active participation in the design process can extend our creative vocabulary and humanize visual communication.

Through Process, Mitchell Goldstein

Theses and Dissertations

At the core of any designer’s activity is the process they engage with to create design. Process is not only a way to get from an idea to a completed work, it is also what determines our attitude towards design. This is the place where both the design and the designer are created. The gray area between nothing and something is where we go to discover design, and in turn to discover who we are and what matters to us. In this thesis I am investigating the nebulous place between ideas and things, thoughts and artifacts, and being just a …

Elevating The Everyday: Designed Objects As Companions, Cassie Hester

Theses and Dissertations

From fleeting interactions to long affairs, our relationships with things are diverse and complex. Like people, designed objects and environments are close companions in our lives. The way we understand and engage with artifacts is parallel to the way we interpret and interact with each other. A constant source of comfort and delight, frustration and anxiety, their personalities inform our everyday dialogues and experiences. Designed artifacts assume engaging and pleasurable personalities when they transcend materials, challenge perceptions, and garner active, reflective interactions. Through the investigation of familiar materials such as concrete, crayons, paper, sequins, and thread in unfamiliar formats and …

"You Are Safe": Black Maternal Politics Of Resistance And The Question Of Community Consensus In African American Women's Literature, Daniela Marinova Koleva

Theses and Dissertations

The study focuses on a number of African American women's literary texts that employ the figure of the black mother and the motif of infanticide to engage in critical statements about system arrangements, repressive practices, and theory designs with direct effect upon black people's choices for organizing their lives and existence. Such critical statements are inevitably political and their construction is offered in a most provocative and startling way given the choice of maternal infanticide to make the claims.

Angelina Weld Grimke's "The Closing Door" (1919), Georgia Douglas Johnson's Safe (c.1929), Shirley Graham's It's Morning (c. 1938-1940), and Toni Morrison's …

Visual Exploration Of Cultural Intersections, Sarah Weber

Theses and Dissertations

Personal exposure to, and in-depth investigations of cultural artifacts can be used to inform visual explorations that represent the universal experience of existing in a world where cultural boundaries are blurred and constantly evolving. Cross-cultural understanding and visual language are expanded throughout the research and making processes, resulting in work that has increased resonance with diverse audiences. Artifacts are not only expressions of a specific group of people, but also reflections of societal influences on one’s thinking, creating, and experiencing the world. In an increasingly global society, there is more interaction between cultures, resulting in a greater exchange of beliefs …

Pedagogy In Vietnamese International Schools, Robert Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a look at the evolutionary journey of applying dramatic pedagogy in a foreign land. It does not by any means specifically pertain to theatrical elements, but everything herein is a direct reflection on the training I received as a theatre practitioner. The last four years have also molded and defined what it means to be an American theatre student living, experiencing, and working in a land that is in many senses in infancy as a nation.

Towards A Better Use: The Utah Shakespearean Festival, Teaching Artists, And Outreach Programs, Karen Marie Kidd

Theses and Dissertations

Teaching Artists are an important component of the Utah Shakespearean Festival's Education Department's outreach touring program that visits K-12 schools throughout Utah each year. However, the Education Department could be using Teaching Artists in different and better ways to help K-12 teachers infuse theatre into their curriculum. This work looks carefully at the outreach offered by the Utah Shakespearean Festival's Education Department and then compares it to the outreach work being done by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Based on the analysis of the three festivals, assessment benchmarks are identified to aid the Education Department in evaluating …

The Female Experience: Study Abroad Students In Egypt, Heather Raquael Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the experiences of female students on study abroad programs, with the aim of answering the following questions: do they face unique challenges as female students (including harassment or assault), how do they avoid or cope with any negative experiences, and can we as language departments better prepare our students to have the best experiences possible? The participants for the study were primarily 12 of 50 students involved in the Brigham Young University Study Abroad to Cairo, Egypt during Spring and Summer terms 2010. Data include participant observation, student journals, and ethnographic interviews conducted during the last …

Female Spectators In The July Monarchy And Henry Scheffer's Entrée De Jeanne D’Arc À Orléans, Kalisha Roberts

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis I consider Henry Scheffer's Entrée de Jeanne d’Arc à Orléans, le 8 mai 1429 (1843) in relation to female audiences of the July Monarchy. As a part of the larger Galerie des Batailles in the Musée Historique instituted in 1837 by Louis-Philippe, Entrée de Jeanne d'Arc has been addressed relative to the political objectives of the monarchy. Limited scholarship surrounding the Galerie des Batailles has focused on its evolution from royal apartments in the château de Versailles to public museum. However, the broadening of audiences during the July Monarchy and potential points of engagement between viewer and …

Acquisition Of Spanish Voiceless Stops In Extended Stays Abroad, Mary Williams Crane

Theses and Dissertations

Although English and Spanish both have the voiceless stops /ptk/, they differ in VOT; English has long-lag voiceless stops and Spanish has short-lag. This difference means that native English-speaking learners of Spanish are likely to transfer the long voice lag typical of their first language (L1) to Spanish voiceless stops. This study measured the VOT of 20 native English-speaking learners of Spanish, each with a length of residence (LOR) in a Spanish-speaking country of almost 2 years. The study participants were found to produce voiceless stops intermediate to the averages of their L1 (American English) and L2 (Spanish), with some …

The Tornado Tree: Drawing On Stories And Storybooks, Toni A. Wood

Theses and Dissertations

Storytelling has been used by many cultures to record events, research genealogy, and to teach moral lessons. Some cultures passed on their histories and important events through oral narration, papyrus, or cathedral stained glass windows. More modern cultures write personal histories, and use modern technology to communicate with each other. This study is an arts based project based on writing a storybook. It is an exploration of why storytelling is important from a cultural point of view using my experiences to write a storybook based on a true event from my family history.

A Comparative Case Study: Investigation Of A Certified Elementary Art Specialist Teaching Elementary Art Vs. A Non-Art Certified Teacher Teaching Elementary Art, Jordan Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

Most colleges and universities offer a general course in elementary art education to provide instruction to the elementary generalist to enable that student to later provide art instruction to students at the elementary level. This course is commonly referred to as the two-credit course in elementary art education throughout this thesis. This thesis is a case study investigation of a certified elementary art specialist and a non-art certified teacher teaching elementary art in the Subject School District in Utah. It asks and gathers data on three main questions. How is art education valuable for elementary students? What is a quality …

Better Speakers Make More Friends: Predictors Of Social Network Development Among Study-Abroad Students, J Wyatt Brockbank

Theses and Dissertations

Social network development has been studied in the social sciences for the last several decades, but little work has applied social network theory to study-abroad research. This study seeks to quantitatively describe factors that predict social network formation among study-abroad students while in the host countries. Social networks were measured in terms of the number of friends the students made, the number of distinct social groups reported, and the number of friends within those groups. The Study Abroad Social Interaction Questionnaire was compared against these pre-trip factors: intercultural competence, target-language proficiency, prior missionary experience, gender, study-abroad program, neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, …