Musicology Commons^™

Vibes At The Village Vanguard: Hauntings, History, And The Construction Of Jazz Place, Mark Mccorkle

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There are ghosts that haunt the Village Vanguard. Or at least that’s what people say.

This dissertation examines the role of the contemporary jazz club as a site of heritage and meaning making in jazz cultures. I take New York’s revered jazz club, the Village Vanguard, as a case study, as it is the subject of many fanciful tales. These stories describe the club’s history as alive; the spirits of the legendary musicians from a bygone era of jazz who once performed at the Vanguard are said to haunt the present club’s soundwaves. Often described by writers as the club’s …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Early Twentieth-Century Music Appreciation And Community Music Movements In The United States, Andrew J. Blimke

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The music appreciation and community music movements sought to popularize, democratize, and socialize art music. While technology made it possible for anyone to listen to art music, its full aesthetic and social benefits seemed accessible only to those with talent and education in performance. Music appreciation proponents claimed that teaching active listening made it possible for the less talented, and those who needed to be taught to prefer art music to have a full musical-aesthetic experience without any training in self-performance. Community music proponents argued that music’s full benefits came from music making and worked to find ways to prove …

The Ghosts Of Madwomen Past: Historical And Psychiatric Madness On The Late Twentieth-Century Opera Stage, Diana Wu

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Insanity has been important to opera since the genre’s inception. For four hundred years, operas have featured characters driven mad by love, jealousy, and shame. In this same time period, however, cultural understandings of what it means to be insane have changed many times. This dissertation explores nine post-1945 British and American operas with mad characters: Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Medium, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Benjamin Britten’s Curlew River, Peter Maxwell Davies’s Eight Songs for a Mad King and Miss Donnithorne’s Maggot, Dominick Argento’s The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe and Miss Havisham’s Fire, …

The Contrabass Tuned In Fifths: Towards An Understanding Of Past And Present Applications., Stephen T. Bright

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the historical and contemporary practices of the contrabass tuned in fifths. Two descriptions of the tuning appear in the late eighteenth century: the three-string tuning, A2, D2, G1 (ADG), and its four-string counterpart, A2, D2, G1, C1 (ADGC). The ADG tuning was officially taught in the Conservatoire de Paris’s contrabass class from 1827 until 1832, when it was superseded by the four-string G2, D2, A1, E1 (GDAE) tuning in fourths for two major reasons: first, the additional whole-tone between open strings compelled contrabassists to shift more frequently; second the tuning’s limited depth (G1) forced contrabassists to use …

Seeing Thro The Musical Eye: Santo Daime, Fuke-Shū, 1960s Psychedelia, And The Antipodes Of Musical Experience, Forest Anthony-Muran

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis investigates the relationships between altered states of consciousness and the musical experience in religious tradition and practice. A common accompaniment to religious worship and ceremony, music is often used as a way of attempting to capture something of the ineffable and to help bring about a mystical experience. In this thesis, I make use of three contrasting case studies – the Brazilian syncretic religion Santo Daime, the historical branch of Zen Buddhism Fuke-shū, and the psychedelic rock of 1960s counterculture – to paint a portrait of the variety of ways that music has been used in different musical …

Music Of Peace And Protest: U.S. Composers And Musical Activism During The Vietnam War (1965-1971), April P. Morris

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation explores the involvement of U.S. composers in Vietnam War protest. The Vietnam War period was a fraught time in U.S. history. Strongly held and antithetical opinions about American involvement in the conflict prompted widespread social unrest and protest. During these turbulent years, many art music composers voiced their opposition to the war through their musical works, through protest concerts, and through non-musical activities. By considering some of these composers and their works in the context of the antiwar movement, changing understandings of American national identity, and the cultural connotations of art music, this dissertation seeks to arrive at …

Music Sounds Better With You, M Gillian Carrabre

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is a catalyst for creative expression, from the solo dance form known as shuffling, to “Flow Arts” activities (forms of self-expression inducing a flow state) like poi, hula hooping, orbiting, and gloving. Gloving is a subcultural practice and artform that couples LED lights with dexterous finger movements. It is a method of expression for dance music enthusiasts (also known as ravers) and has become an important component of the EDM scene, particularly over the past decade. Glovers engage in “secondary” performances to live music (DJs) using complex techniques such as symbolism, word painting, and what the …

“Fashionable To Be Ethnic”: Malka Marom, Yorkville Reimagined, And The Cbc’S A World Of Music, Maureen Chow

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In 1999, looking back at her 1960s career as a folk performer, Malka Marom commented that she and her former singing partner, Joso Spralja, had reached mainstream success in Canada when it was considered “fashionable to be ethnic.” Here, Malka is referring to the mid-1960s, when she was classified as an ethnic folk singer in Toronto’s Yorkville Village folk scene. She performed alongside Canadian folk “greats” such as Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, and Ian and Sylvia. Malka and Joso released four studio albums through Capitol Records of Canada and were later chosen to host their own CBC television show, A …

The Integration Of The Style Hongrois Into Brahms’S Musical Language In His Chamber Works, Raymond D. Truong

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The style hongrois is a musical language that Western European composers used to evoke the style of the Hungarian music performed by Romani musicians. This monograph explores the use of the style hongrois in the chamber works of Johannes Brahms. He uses this style often, to the point where it is integrated into his musical language. To understand where this language came from, this monograph provides a historical context of Hungary (the country of origin), the Roma who resided there and migrated westwards, and their musicians.

The second part of this monograph explores the integration of the style hongrois into …

The Alia Musica And The Carolingian Conception Of Mode, Matthew R J Nace

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Alia musica is perhaps the most idiosyncratic of the early treatises on the ecclesiastical modes. It is a composite made up of at least three independent treatises and additional commentary, and the majority of the scholarly attention that it has thus far received has been devoted to questions of dating and authorship, as well as to the place of the Alia musica in the development of the octave species paradigm of modality. However, the majority of the treatise is dedicated to the explanation of a complex harmonic numerology that applies the fundamental relation 12:9:8:6 (which generate the intervals of …

Sounding Unsettlement: Rethinking Settler States Of Mind And Re(-)Cognition Through Scenes Of Cross-Cultural Listening, Ryan Ben Shuvera

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this dissertation I consider how listening to music produced by Indigenous peoples might convince settler listeners to surrender settler states of mind. I focus on the elements of settler colonialism that are exemplified in and challenged by the experiences of listening to music produced by Indigenous peoples. I focus on these aesthetic encounters as a way of exposing the everyday presence and power of settler states of mind and, more importantly, exploring how settlers might go about rebuilding states of mind through these moments of aesthetic surrender that are spurred by embodied experiences of sound. My project builds on …

Music In The Moment Of "Cyber Culture:" An Outward Spiral, Brandon Sked

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The advent of the Internet, and file-sharing specifically, challenged the relationship between music and its monetary value. This thesis investigates what happened after music became “free.” Richard Middleton’s “moments of situational change” are used as a framework for discussion. Through a survey of recent history and twentieth-century technologies, it becomes clear that the amplification and acceleration of scale, pace and patterns of music consumption, production and distribution practices as incited by the Internet renegotiated music’s monetary value, but did not introduce us to the way we value music aesthetically, as a pastime, and as a means for constructing community and …

Domenico Dragonetti: A Case Study Of The 12 Unaccompanied Waltzes, Jury T. Kobayashi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis uses the 12 waltzes composed by the famous double bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti, as a case study to examine certain key aspects of his playing style. More specifically, this thesis seeks to answer the question: what aspects of Dragonetti’s playing could be deemed virtuosic? I select a number of instances in the waltzes where the demands posed by various passages suggest a specific solution required to execute the passage. I suggest various solutions to these passages that reveal the types of solutions Dragonetti might have employed and help shed light on my initial question. The analysis reveals that …

Exploring Being Queer And Performing Queerness In Popular Music, Rosheeka Parahoo

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

For many pop artists, queer is what they do, not who they are. They perform queerness, rather than identify as queer. The research I present here suggests that popular culture’s understanding of queerness relies on a heteronormative lens, whereby queerness is objectified and paraded primarily as an artistic performance. My analysis demonstrates that David Bowie’s influence rests in his ability to create a space where his fans can perform queerness, without necessarily being queer. As such, Bowie’s performances have come to form our expectation of what a queer performance should look like. Continuing his legacy, Lady Gaga’s tribute to Bowie …

Understanding Game Scoring: Software Programming, Aleatoric Composition And Mimetic Music Technology, Mack Enns

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

"Game scoring," that is, the act of composing music for and through gaming, is distinct from other types of scoring. To begin with, unlike other scoring activities, game scoring depends on — in fact, it arguably is — software programming. The game scorer‘s choices are thus first-and-foremost limited by available gaming technology, and the "programmability" of their musical ideas given that technology, at any given historical moment. Moreover, game scores are unique in that they must allow for an unprecedented level of musical flexibility, given the high degree of user interactivity the video game medium enables and encourages. As such, …

The Elements Of Production: Myth, Gender, And The "Fundamental Task" Of Producing Popular Music, Lydia Wilton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Using Antoine Hennion’s “anti-musicology”, this research project proposes a methodology for studying music production that empowers production choices as the primary analytical tool. It employs this methodology to analyze Kesha’s Rainbow, Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer, and St. Vincent’s Masseduction according to four, encompassing groups of production elements: musical elements, lyrical elements, personal elements, and narrative elements. All three albums were critical and commercial successes, and analyzing their respective choices offers valuable insight into the practice of successful producers that could not necessarily be captured by methodologies traditionally used for studying production, such as the interview. Further, as self-productions …

Contexts For Musical Modernism In Post-1945 Mexico: Federico Ibarra - A Case Study, Francisco Eduardo Barradas Galván

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This monograph examines the musical modernist era in Mexico between 1945 and the 1970s. It aims to provide a new understanding of the eclecticism achieved by Mexican composers during this era, using three different focal points. First, I examine the cultural and musical context of this period of Mexican music history. I scrutinize the major events, personalities, and projects that precipitated Mexican composers’ move away from government-promoted musical nationalism during this period toward an embrace of international trends. I then provide a case study through which to better understand this era, examining the early life, education, and formative influences of …

'Calling Out From Some Old Familiar Shrine': Living Archivism And Age Performativity In Bob Dylan's Late Period, Matthew Lipson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The release of Bob Dylan’s 30^th studio album in 1997, Time Out of Mind, marked an unlikely and triumphant return to critical acclaim following years of personal and creative decline. From this point onward, Dylan would maintain a quality of output comparable to his 1960s catalogue and unprecedented among artists in the twilight of their career. The proceeding albums, from “Love and Theft” (2001) to Triplicate (2017) would present Dylan as a living archive of traditional American genres – an intersection through which rock and roll, blues, bluegrass, and vocal jazz would pass. The notion of Dylan as …

1981: One Or Several Aesthetics?, Jacob Norris

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Gilles Deleuze’s monograph on Francis Bacon, The Logic of Sensation (1981), proposes a theory of aesthetic experience that prioritizes the material depths of sensation over stable, identifiable forms. Deleuze’s key references in The Logic of Sensation to playwright Antonin Artaud arouse the suspicion that Artaud’s schizophrenic experience of language, wherein words are reduced to phonetic ramblings, illuminates how Deleuze interprets this chaos of sensation in Bacon’s art. My work therefore calls back to The Logic of Sense (1969) and the first section of his book on Masochism (1967) to explore the waves of consistency between Deleuze’s understanding of language and …

The Political Power Of Carlos Chávez And His Influence Upon Silvestre Revueltas And Blas Galindo, Yolanda Tapia

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This monograph examines the political power of Mexican composer Carlos Chávez (1899–1978) during the first half of the twentieth century in Mexico, and his influence upon the careers and lives of composers Silvestre Revueltas (1899–1940) and Blas Galindo (1910–1993). I show how Carlos Chávez acquired institutional power through various cultural organizations such as the Orquesta Sinfónica de México, the Conservatorio Nacional, Departamento de Bellas Artes, and the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, and how his desire to bind music and culture with politics positioned him as the head of the cultural committee of Miguel Aleman’s presidential campaign of 1945. Chávez’s …

Audio Mastering As A Musical Competency, Matthew T. Shelvock

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this dissertation, I demonstrate that audio mastering is a musical competency by elucidating the most significant, and clearly audible, facets of this competence. In fact, the mastering process impacts traditionally valued musical aspects of records, such as timbre and dynamics. By applying the emerging creative scholarship method used within the field of music production studies, this dissertation will aid scholars seeking to hear and understand audio mastering by elucidating its core practices as musical endeavours. And, in so doing, I hope to enable increased clarity and accuracy in future scholarly discussions on the topic of audio mastering, as well …

Teleology In César Franck's Prélude, Choral Et Fugue, Stephanie Gouin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

César Franck’s Prélude, Choral et Fugue is a fine example of the composer’s mature style and contribution to musical form and language at the end of the nineteenth century. The use of a Baroque structure, such as the fugue, has a significant impact on the overall unfolding of this Romantic work. A teleological perspective will inform the analysis of the Fugue, which will constitute the core of the study. It will use concepts of design and purpose in order to explain the development of the piece as a whole, and the transformation of the musical language within the Fugue in …

Musical Forces In Claude Vivier’S Wo Bist Du Licht! And Trois Airs Pour Un Opéra Imaginaire, Emilie L. Marshall

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Claude Vivier’s (1947–1983) idiosyncratic and moving composition style often evades traditional, pitch-centred approaches to music-theoretical analysis; however, the somatic and sensual qualities of his style encourage a metaphorical appreciation of his music. This study analyses Wo bist du Licht! (1981) and the first two airs from Trois airs pour un opéra imaginaire (1982), which both feature his technique sinusoïdale, from the perspective of conceptual metaphor and musical forces. At the centre of this study are the dominant conceptual metaphors that linguist George Lakoff and philosopher Mark Johnson identify as being integral to our understanding of time, and which music …

The Copyright Board And Tribunals Process: Users In The Balance, Louis J. D'Alton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The wholesale adoption of copyright collective management as public policy tool has had an extraordinary impact on the information landscape. The unfettered expansion of collective rights organizations throughout the 20^th century has resulted in increased social costs and a burgeoning bureaucracy surrounding the collective use of rights.

This thesis considers the role of copyright tribunals within that process, and more importantly within a critical historical frame. While some work has been done with respect to copyright tribunals and their role in the policy process, none of it has considered the tribunals within a critical frame. This thesis considers those …

Game Scoring: Towards A Broader Theory, Mack Enns

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

“Game scoring,” that is, the act of composing music for and through gaming, is distinct from other types of scoring. To begin with, unlike other scoring activities, game scoring depends on — in fact, it arguably is — software programming. The game scorer’s choices are thus first-and-foremost limited by available gaming technology, and the “programmability” of their musical ideas given that technology, at any given historical moment. Moreover, game scores are unique in that they must allow for an unprecedented level of musical flexibility, given the high degree of user interactivity the video game medium enables and encourages. As such, …

Aspects Of Newtonianism In Rameau’S Génération Harmonique, Abigail Shupe

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation studies the influence of Newtonianism as a cultural phenomenon on the theoretical writings of Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764). Rameau’s Génération harmonique (1737) shows a change in his thinking from his earlier work that bears witness to the debates around Newtonian science in the scientific community. Scholars have discussed possible connections between Génération harmonique and Newton’s Opticks (1704) but none has studied this issue in detail. I argue that Rameau was influenced by Newtonianism rather than by Newton’s works, and that Rameau was not always aware of this influence. In order to situate Rameau’s work within the larger body of …

Toward A Postmodern Avant-Garde: Labour, Virtuosity, And Aesthetics In An American New Music Ensemble, John R. Pippen

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the aesthetic beliefs and labour practices of the American new music ensemble eighth blackbird (lower-case intentional). Drawing on ethnographic research conducted with the ensemble for the past six years, I show how the ensemble responds to specific cultural pressures endemic to the classical music scene, its new music vanguard, and to the contemporary United States. eighth blackbird, I argue, has created an ensemble identity and performance style designed to satisfy numerous audience positions, from experts well-versed in the intricacies of musical techniques to lay-persons unacquainted with the values and practices of new or classical music. This attempt …

The Orpheus Figure: The Voice In Writing, Music And Media, Jason R. D'Aoust

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study traces a historical trajectory of the voice as it encounters the Orpheus figure in writing, music, and other media. Following a critical discussion of Auerbach’s literary figuration, the author questions certain aspects of phonocentrism in relation to opera and texts using the voice for authoritative or rhetorical purposes. Grounded in the prefiguration of opera’s earlier displacement of the singing voice, the understanding of mass media and digital media then developed is critical of theories of immersion in media. The analyses of the series of works and figures (Orpheus, Ossian, and Tristan) in this study lead the author to …

The Halifax Pop Explosion: Music Scenes, Sloan, And The Case For A Halifax Sound, Danielle Hamel

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the early 1990s, the Halifax music scene was catapulted into the limelight as Canada's answer to the Seattle grunge scene. Dubbed the Halifax Pop Explosion, the surge of bands that became popular during this time came of age in an already well-established music scene with nurturing local infrastructure. At the forefront of the city's mainstream success, the band Sloan and their peers had developed a particular style of songwriting and performance that led the media and local audiences to believe that a particular 'Halifax Sound' had emerged, a notion that still reverberates in the local music scene. Using the …

Three Solitudes And A Dj: A Mashed-Up Study Of Counterpoint In A Digital Realm, Anthony B. Cushing

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation is primarily concerned with developing an understanding of how the use of pre-recorded digital audio shapes and augments conventional notions of counterpoint. It outlines a theoretical framework for analyzing the contrapuntal elements in electronically and digitally composed musics, specifically music mashups, and Glenn Gould’s Solitude Trilogy ‘contrapuntal radio’ works. Conventional studies of counterpoint encompass sixteenth- through early twentieth-century modernist and neo- classical materials but stop there. Composition by magnetic tape and computer software using pre-existing recorded audio offers the potential for a new study of music that displays clear contrapuntal elements but lacks the analytical models to outline …