Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4
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- All Subjects: Saxophone
- All Subjects: music and gender
- Creators: Norton, Kay
Description
The integration of yoga into the music curriculum has the potential of offering many immediate and life-long benefits to musicians. Yoga can help address issues such as performance anxiety and musculoskeletal problems, and enhance focus and awareness during musical practice and performance. Although the philosophy of yoga has many similarities to the process of learning a musical instrument, the benefits of yoga for musicians is a topic that has gained attention only recently. This document explores several ways in which the practice and philosophy of yoga can be fused with saxophone pedagogy as one way to prepare students for a healthy and successful musical career. A six-week study at Arizona State University was conducted to observe the effects of regular yoga practice on collegiate saxophone students. Nine participants attended a sixty-minute "yoga for musicians" class twice a week. Measures included pre- and post- study questionnaires as well as personal journals kept throughout the duration of the study. These self-reported results showed that yoga had positive effects on saxophone playing. It significantly increased physical comfort and positive thinking, and improved awareness of habitual patterns and breath control. Student participants responded positively to the idea of integrating such a course into the music curriculum. The integration of yoga and saxophone by qualified professionals could also be a natural part of studio class and individual instruction. Carrie Koffman, professor of saxophone at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, has established one strong model for the combination of these disciplines. Her methods and philosophy, together with the basics of Western-style hatha yoga, clinical reports on performance injuries, and qualitative data from the ASU study are explored. These inquiries form the foundation of a new model for integrating yoga practice regularly into the saxophone studio.
ContributorsAdams, Allison Dromgold (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / McAllister, Timothy (Committee member) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Standley, Eileen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
"Recontextualizing Music for Social Change" proposes alternative ways through which the traditional setup of a vocal recital may be transformed into a multidisciplinary performance with a specific social purpose. This task might be achieved by the conscious use and merging of elements such as innovation, ritualistic significance of music, and hopes for social change.
Rather than exclusively analyzing the nature of these three elements, this document seeks to exemplify the artistic use of these tools through the description of two doctoral recitals. These performances focus on the portrayal of two specific social issues concerning gender identity: the femme fatale, and sexual identity.
The first performance, "Defatalizing the Femme Fatale: The Voice behind a Stereotype," reflects on the negative connotations of the French femme fatale stereotype. This dangerous image has been perpetuated through popular and mass media since the nineteenth century. The femme fatale has achieved an iconic status thanks to her appealing, damaging, unrealistic, and hypersexualized traits. Nevertheless, this male-constructed stereotype was actually conceived as a parody of female emancipation. "Defatalizing the Femme Fatale" seeks to create awareness of this image through a staged approach of Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite, feminist poetry and prose, and euphonium music.
The second performance, "Un-Labelling Love: A Scientific Study of Romantic Attachment in Four Seasons," analyses the biological nature of love. According to this perspective, "Un-Labelling Love" transforms a vocal recital into a scientific lecture. This lecture examines four developmental stages of romantic love through the performance of art songs and the inclusion of a narrator, who describes the biological and psychological changes experienced by two research subjects--the performers--during these love stages. Through a plot-twist at the end of the performance, "Un-Labelling Love" also questions the patriarchal assumption that heterosexual kinship represents, by default, the unmarked category of adult pair-bonding. In summary, and based on scientific facts, this vocal performance seeks to encourage social assimilation of non-heterosexual kinship systems.
Rather than exclusively analyzing the nature of these three elements, this document seeks to exemplify the artistic use of these tools through the description of two doctoral recitals. These performances focus on the portrayal of two specific social issues concerning gender identity: the femme fatale, and sexual identity.
The first performance, "Defatalizing the Femme Fatale: The Voice behind a Stereotype," reflects on the negative connotations of the French femme fatale stereotype. This dangerous image has been perpetuated through popular and mass media since the nineteenth century. The femme fatale has achieved an iconic status thanks to her appealing, damaging, unrealistic, and hypersexualized traits. Nevertheless, this male-constructed stereotype was actually conceived as a parody of female emancipation. "Defatalizing the Femme Fatale" seeks to create awareness of this image through a staged approach of Shostakovich's Michelangelo Suite, feminist poetry and prose, and euphonium music.
The second performance, "Un-Labelling Love: A Scientific Study of Romantic Attachment in Four Seasons," analyses the biological nature of love. According to this perspective, "Un-Labelling Love" transforms a vocal recital into a scientific lecture. This lecture examines four developmental stages of romantic love through the performance of art songs and the inclusion of a narrator, who describes the biological and psychological changes experienced by two research subjects--the performers--during these love stages. Through a plot-twist at the end of the performance, "Un-Labelling Love" also questions the patriarchal assumption that heterosexual kinship represents, by default, the unmarked category of adult pair-bonding. In summary, and based on scientific facts, this vocal performance seeks to encourage social assimilation of non-heterosexual kinship systems.
ContributorsVázquez Morillas, Mario (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Reber, William F. (Thesis advisor) / Kopta, Anne (Committee member) / Bowditch, Rachel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This project includes a recording, composer biographies, performance guides, and composer questionnaires for seven original works commissioned for either the Rogue Trio or Lotus. The members of the Rogue Trio are violinist Kathleen Strahm, saxophonist Justin Rollefson, and pianist Mary Cota. Lotus’s members include Samuel Detweiler, Justin Rollefson, and Kristen Zelenak on saxophone. Both ensembles are based in Tempe, Arizona. All seven original compositions were recorded at Tempest Recording in February of 2018.
The first piece, Four Impersonations (2016), was commissioned by the Rogue Trio and written by Theo Chandler (b.1992) for violin, soprano saxophone and piano. The second piece was written by Spencer Arias (b. 1990) titled He Said There Was No Sound (2015) for violin, alto saxophone, and piano. The final work is titled Cabinet Meeting (2017), composed by Zachary Green (b. 1993) for violin, alto and tenor saxophone, and piano.
The first piece commissioned by Lotus and composed by Spencer Arias is titled As I escape, the water calms (2017) for soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, and tenor saxophone. The second piece was composed by Graham Cohen (b. 1999), titled Introduction and Toccata (2017), written for soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. The third piece, titled Everything that rises, was written by David “Clay” Mettens (b. 1990) in 2014 for three soprano saxophones. Samuel Detweiler, Justin Rollefson and Tyler Flowers originally commissioned this piece. The final piece commissioned by Lotus was written by Matthew Kennedy (b. 1987) titled Triceratops: tasty grooves for saxophone trio (2017) for alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones.
The first piece, Four Impersonations (2016), was commissioned by the Rogue Trio and written by Theo Chandler (b.1992) for violin, soprano saxophone and piano. The second piece was written by Spencer Arias (b. 1990) titled He Said There Was No Sound (2015) for violin, alto saxophone, and piano. The final work is titled Cabinet Meeting (2017), composed by Zachary Green (b. 1993) for violin, alto and tenor saxophone, and piano.
The first piece commissioned by Lotus and composed by Spencer Arias is titled As I escape, the water calms (2017) for soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, and tenor saxophone. The second piece was composed by Graham Cohen (b. 1999), titled Introduction and Toccata (2017), written for soprano, alto, and baritone saxophones. The third piece, titled Everything that rises, was written by David “Clay” Mettens (b. 1990) in 2014 for three soprano saxophones. Samuel Detweiler, Justin Rollefson and Tyler Flowers originally commissioned this piece. The final piece commissioned by Lotus was written by Matthew Kennedy (b. 1987) titled Triceratops: tasty grooves for saxophone trio (2017) for alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones.
ContributorsRollefson, Justin David (Author) / Creviston, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This project’s goal is to expand the repertoire for soprano saxophone featuring improvisation. Each work detailed in this document features improvisation as an integral component. The first piece, Impetus, was written by Grant Jahn for soprano saxophone and piano. The second piece, Sonata, was written for the same instrumentation by Brett Wery. Ethan Cypress wrote the third work for solo soprano saxophone, Noir et Bleu. The final composition on the project, Counterpunch by Gregory Wanamaker, was written for saxophone sextet. This paper also includes composer biographies, program notes, performance guides, and composer questionnaires. The central component of this project is a recording of all these works which features the author.
ContributorsDetweiler, Samuel (Author) / Creviston, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018