ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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The purpose of this research was to ascertain the knowledge and skills that would be most practical for individuals aspiring to administrative or leadership roles in schools or departments of music, and to design a doctoral cognate that would supply that knowledge. The author reviewed the available research into administrative training for individuals pursuing administrative work in schools and departments of music. Interviews were then conducted with current or former music administrators from across the United States, inquiring about their experiences as administrators, any administrative training they received, and the types of things they wished they had known when first working in an administrative capacity. The author used this information to make recommendations concerning the creation of a doctoral cognate in administration for graduate students preparing to become music faculty so that they are equipped to undertake administrative responsibilities.
The resulting cognate area consists of four courses: a course in finance, budgeting, and development; a course on organizational structure and behavior; a course on management and leadership theory; and a practicum or independent study in administration, in which students spend time observing and shadowing their department administrator(s) to apply the principles learned in the previous three courses.
Analysis of data revealed that participants engaged with music when outside of school by practicing, teaching, gigging, recording, playing music with others, attending live musical performances, socializing with other musicians, listening, and engaging with non-jazz musical styles (aside from listening). They engaged with music because of: 1) the love of music, 2) the desire for musical excellence, 3) financial considerations, 4) the aspiration to affect others positively with music, and 5) the connection with other musicians. Participants indicated that they learned by practicing, listening to recordings, attending live performances, playing paid engagements, socializing, teaching, and reading. In-school and out-of-school experience and learning had substantial but not complete overlap.
The study implies that a balance between in-school and out-of-school musical experience may help undergraduate jazz studies students to maximize their overall musical learning. It also suggests that at least some jazz studies majors are fluent in a wide variety of music learning practices that make them versatile, flexible, and employable musicians. Further implications are provided for undergraduate jazz students as well as collegiate jazz educators, the music education profession, and schools of music. Additional implications concern future research and the characterization of jazz study in academia.
well as the identities of the musicians who participate in them. By employing ritual and
performance studies theories of liminality, I demonstrate ways in which jazz musicians,
jam sessions, and other social structures are mobilized and transformed during their
social and musical interactions. I interview three prominent members of the jazz scene in
the greater Phoenix area, and incorporate my experience as a professional jazz musician
in the same scene, to conduct a contextually and socially embedded analysis in order to
draw broader conclusions about jam sessions in general. In this analysis I refer to other
ethnomusicologists who research improvisation, jazz in ritual context, and interactions,
such as Ingrid Monson, Samuel Floyd, Travis Jackson, and Paul Berliner, as well as ideas
proposed by phenomenologically adjacent thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze, Martin
Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Karen Barad.
This thesis attempts to contribute to current jam session research in fields such as
ethnomusicology and jazz studies by offering a perspective on jam sessions based on
phenomenology and process philosophy, concluding that the jam session is an essential
mechanism in the ongoing social and musical developments of jazz musicians and their
scene. I also attempt to continue and develop the discourse surrounding theories of
liminality in performance and ritual studies by underscoring the web of relations in social
structures that are brought into contact with one another during the liminal performances
of their acting agents.