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.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Music History
Description
The American sublime aesthetic, discussed frequently in literature and art of the United States, is equally manifest in the nation’s symphonic music as a concurrent and complementary aesthetic. The musical application of the American sublime supports and enriches current scholarship on American musical identity, nationality, and the American symphonic enterprise. I suggest that the American sublime forms an integral part of nineteenth-century American music and is key to understanding the symphony as a genre in the United States. I discuss American symphonic works by Anthony Philip Heinrich, George Frederick Bristow, William Henry Fry, Dennison Wheelock, and Florence Beatrice Price, aided by an analytical tool which I developed, to illuminate my appraisal of the nineteenth-century American symphonic enterprise. Their compositions contribute meaningfully to the complex history of identity formation for both American composers and the nation. In focusing on these incorporations of the sublime by white composers and composers of color from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, my research demonstrates how the American sublime expanded and transformed to better accommodate the country’s diverse citizenry, despite the marginalization of some.
The nineteenth-century trans-Atlantic dialogue between Americans and their European contemporaries sustained a “distinctly cosmopolitan cultural ethos,” a phenomenon also described by Douglas Shadle as “one of the most vibrant intercultural exchanges in all of Western music history.” This dialogue shaped the cultural formation of identity for many American composers throughout the century and provided the foundation for a symphonic repertoire, which became internationally recognized for the first time as “American.” In this cosmopolitan environment, the Americanization of the sublime aided in the rebranding of long-established European artistic expressions like the symphony, while perpetuating the idealization of the nation’s geography, its people, and its beliefs. Perhaps most importantly, the American sublime supported the widely held belief in American exceptionalism and manifest destiny. The applicability of the American sublime to various genres made it a useful tool to assert autonomy and individuality in forms such as the symphony. For this reason, a revaluation of American symphonic music and its relation to the American sublime amplifies the significance of this repertoire.
The nineteenth-century trans-Atlantic dialogue between Americans and their European contemporaries sustained a “distinctly cosmopolitan cultural ethos,” a phenomenon also described by Douglas Shadle as “one of the most vibrant intercultural exchanges in all of Western music history.” This dialogue shaped the cultural formation of identity for many American composers throughout the century and provided the foundation for a symphonic repertoire, which became internationally recognized for the first time as “American.” In this cosmopolitan environment, the Americanization of the sublime aided in the rebranding of long-established European artistic expressions like the symphony, while perpetuating the idealization of the nation’s geography, its people, and its beliefs. Perhaps most importantly, the American sublime supported the widely held belief in American exceptionalism and manifest destiny. The applicability of the American sublime to various genres made it a useful tool to assert autonomy and individuality in forms such as the symphony. For this reason, a revaluation of American symphonic music and its relation to the American sublime amplifies the significance of this repertoire.
ContributorsHicks, Glen Wayne (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Shadle, Douglas W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
According to the profile of the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, the Philippines consists over a hundred ethnolinguistic groups, twenty-seven of which were direct descendants of prehistoric settlers in the country. As a nation of diverse indigenous cultures, multiple precolonial rituals are practiced even after four centuries of Western occupation. Beside strong oral and written traditions, Filipino contemporary music contributed to the preservation of these indigenous societies. Filipino composers in the second half of the twentieth century and beyond were able to incorporate native musical concepts with Western compositional language, thereby producing a new style of contemporary music unique to the Philippines. This development did not only bring greater awareness of indigenous music to city-dwelling Filipinos, but also to the larger Western music community. While newer works from Western classical composers are performed frequently today, pieces for violin by contemporary Filipino composers are largely unknown. In this research paper the author aims to bring understanding of and visibility to Filipino contemporary music to the Western violin community through an in-depth analysis of two representative works for solo violin: Abot-Tanaw II (1984) by Filipino National Artist of Music Dr. Ramon Santos, and Darangun (1985) by award-winning composer Conrado Del Rosario.
The research paper will first explore a brief history of the Philippines and its relationship with Western classical music, from precolonial times to the twenty-first century. The succeeding chapters will be devoted to the in-depth study of the two solo violin works. After providing a biography of each composer, I will present the backgrounds and contexts of their respective works. Finally, the present author will provide thorough structural analyses of these pieces and interpretative suggestions to serve as a general performance guide for interested violinists. To gather substantial data for these chapters, the author collaborated with the composers through virtual personal interviews and electronic communication.
This research paper culminated in a lecture recital performed by the author on October 21, 2021 in Katzin Hall of the School of Music, Dance and Theater at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
ContributorsSoberano, Ramon Alfonso Cobangbang (Author) / Jiang, Danwen (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Following mixed method ethnographic research conducted between January 2020 and January 2022, this thesis discusses how United States all-female mariachi musicians, or mariacheras, express femininity in the mariachi femenil. Mariachis femeniles are all-female mariachis. Building upon Mary Lee Mulholland’s (2013) discussion of how mariacheras in Jalisco are often valued more for their physical appearance than for their musical skills, this thesis investigates how similar phenomena manifest in the United States’ professional mariachi femenil circuit. Applying a Chicana Feminisms lens to a collection of 28 mariachera plática-interviews, generational and transborder mariachi knowledge production, visual expressions of mariachi femininity, and aural feminine expressions in the mariachi setting are complicated. Each participant details what it means to be a mariachera, breaking down concepts of purity in the face of dichotomous cultural gender expectation and the genre’s visual expectations of how female musicians should present themselves in society. These sociocultural phenomena led these women in many ways to disidentify and resignify various pieces of the mariachi tradition to “carve out” their own space in the practice, expressing the concern they want to be respected as a musician, not as just a visual object. Ultimately, the “carved out” space allows mariacheras to perform a “different” sound of mariachi—a negotiation of strength, femininity, and balancing sociocultural expectations of the mariachera in and out of performance.
ContributorsFlores, Cameo Rachelle (Author) / Fossum, Dave (Thesis advisor) / Estrada, Emir (Committee member) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Wells, Christi Jay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
In 1568, Vincenzo Galilei published the first edition of Fronimo as a guide to the art of intabulating vocal music for the lute. A second edition was released in 1584 in which Galilei presents “26 Ricercari” to demonstrate the sound of each Glarean mode. These short works provide a methodical approach to experiencing the Renaissance modes through his beautiful writing for the lute.
This research project focuses on the “26 Ricercari” and explores the challenges of transcribing and arranging Renaissance lute tablatures to be played on the guitar. Topics such as making decisions for voicings, fingerings, tactus reductions, and formatting are examined. Historically-informed playing suggestions such as articulations, lute techniques, and tempo are also included.
Many lute and vihuela works, like the ricercari, have not yet been transcribed. The ricerari tablatures are idiomatic and instantly playable for guitarists who are familiar with different forms of tablature, but most classical guitarists today are familiar only with modern staff notation. Because of this, Galilei’s works have been wrongfully neglected.
My project presents the first guitar edition of these works, along with the documentation of my methodology, and serves as an aid to others for transcribing lute tablatures.
This research project focuses on the “26 Ricercari” and explores the challenges of transcribing and arranging Renaissance lute tablatures to be played on the guitar. Topics such as making decisions for voicings, fingerings, tactus reductions, and formatting are examined. Historically-informed playing suggestions such as articulations, lute techniques, and tempo are also included.
Many lute and vihuela works, like the ricercari, have not yet been transcribed. The ricerari tablatures are idiomatic and instantly playable for guitarists who are familiar with different forms of tablature, but most classical guitarists today are familiar only with modern staff notation. Because of this, Galilei’s works have been wrongfully neglected.
My project presents the first guitar edition of these works, along with the documentation of my methodology, and serves as an aid to others for transcribing lute tablatures.
ContributorsOeth, John (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Alongside New York City, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, Minneapolis, Minnesota has become a cradle of hip-hop, breeding a distinct style that has grown swiftly from the 1980s to the present day. While Minneapolis is more commonly associated with the upbeat funk rhythms and prominent synthesizers of its favorite son, Prince (1958 – 2016), Minnesota hip-hop provides a strikingly contrasting listening experience characterized by dark, self-deprecating, and introspective traits. Minnesota and other regional hip-hop scenes have been overshadowed by academic studies that focus principally on New York City or Los Angeles. In this thesis, I advocate for a shift away from the Billboard charts and the East and West Coast, into the world of underground hip-hop of the Upper Midwest. This thesis explores and documents the development of hip-hop in Minnesota, specifically the Twin Cities and independent label Rhymesayers Entertainment, who have established Minneapolis as one of the largest hip-hop hubs in the country. A location that thrives on the “Minneapolis sound” of artists such as Prince and Morris Day (b. 1956), Minnesota hip-hop offered an alternative and more calloused genre for artistic expression. Following the arrival of hip-hop in Minnesota in the early 1980s, a group of like-minded youths gathered together to practice the art of hip-hop, which led to the creation of the Headshots Crew. Despite not having much of a local scene, the Headshots Crew created opportunities and performance spaces to showcase their talents, which eventually led to the creation of their own label, Rhymesayers Entertainment. Unlike many other independent labels Rhymesayers has found a way to sustain their success for over 25 years while maintaining their independence. Their most famous artist act is rap duo Atmosphere. By incorporating primarily biographical and historical methodologies this study means to create a cohesive understanding and foundation of Minnesota hip-hop.
ContributorsYuknas, Matt (Author) / Wells, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020