Matching Items (4)
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- All Subjects: narrative
- Creators: Schmidt, Margaret
- Creators: Stauffer, Sandra
- Creators: Kocour, Michael
Description
Jazz continues, into its second century, as one of the most important musics taught in public middle and high schools. Even so, research related to how students learn, especially in their earliest interactions with jazz culture, is limited. Weaving together interviews and observations of junior and senior high school jazz players and teachers, private studio instructors, current university students majoring in jazz, and university and college jazz faculty, I developed a composite sketch of a secondary school student learning to play jazz. Using arts-based educational research methods, including the use of narrative inquiry and literary non-fiction, the status of current jazz education and the experiences by novice jazz learners is explored. What emerges is a complex story of students and teachers negotiating the landscape of jazz in and out of early twenty-first century public schools. Suggestions for enhancing jazz experiences for all stakeholders follow, focusing on access and the preparation of future jazz teachers.
ContributorsKelly, Keith B (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The purpose of this study is to raise questions by exploring, writing, imagining, and telling the musical life stories of Billy Cioffi. Billy Cioffi is a professional musician, band leader, private teacher, professor of English, and, formerly, a musical director for acts such as Chuck Berry, Del Shannon, and others. In this document I explore the life of Billy Cioffi with the following questions in mind: 1. What might Billy's musical experiences, expertise, teaching, and learning teach us about music education? 2. What might the story of Billy’s musical life cause us to question about institutional music education? 3. How might his story trouble beliefs and perceptions about music teaching and learning? Prior to Billy’s story, which appears as a novella, I raise questions about popular music, its histories, and its place in music education contexts. Following the novella, I invite readers into four different “endings” to this document.
ContributorsBickmore, Isaac (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Mantie, Roger (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Thompson, Jason (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
LGBTQ research in music education has become more available and accepted in the past ten years. LGBTQ studies in music education have focused on how gay and lesbian music educators negotiate their identities, the role of music education in the lives of transgender students, and the inclusion of LGBTQ issues in music teacher education programs. Studies have been limited to a singular content experience, such as gay vocal music educators or lesbian band directors. Additionally, studies have not explored multiple generations of LGBTQ music educators. The purpose of this study was to explore the lives as lived of six K-12 music teachers. Six individuals, from various career points, various generations, and various career paths shared their stories with me. To guide my analysis, I considered the following questions:
• How do lesbian and gay music educators describe their sexual identity and professional identity?
• How do gay and lesbian music educators negotiate the tensions between these identities?
• What internal and external factors influence these negotiations?
• What are the similarities and differences among the participants of different generations?
Two large emerged from the analysis that provided a better understanding of the participants’ lives: finding sexual identity and finding professional identity. Within those themes, smaller sub-themes helped to better understand how the participants came to understand their sexuality and professional identity. External factors such as social and family support, religion, and cultural and generational movements influenced the ways in which the participants came to understand their sexual identity. Participants desired to be seen first as a competent music teacher, but also understood that they could have an impact on a student as a gay or lesbian role model or mentor. Sexual identity and professional identity did not function as separate constructs; rather they were interwoven throughout these lesbian and gay music educator’s self-identities.
In order to connect the reader with the participants, I engaged in a creative non-fiction writing process to (re)tell participant’s stories. Each story is unique and crafted in a way that the participant’s voice is privileged over my own. The stories come from the conversations and journal entries that the participants shared with me. The purpose of the stories is to provide the reader with a contextual understanding of each participant’s life, and to offer some considerations for ways in which we can engage with and support our lesbian and gay music educator colleagues.
This paper does not end with a tidy conclusion, but rather more questions and provocations that will continue the conversations. I hope this document will encourage thoughtful and critical conversations in the music education profession to help us move us forward to a place that is more empathetic, socially-just, and equitable.
• How do lesbian and gay music educators describe their sexual identity and professional identity?
• How do gay and lesbian music educators negotiate the tensions between these identities?
• What internal and external factors influence these negotiations?
• What are the similarities and differences among the participants of different generations?
Two large emerged from the analysis that provided a better understanding of the participants’ lives: finding sexual identity and finding professional identity. Within those themes, smaller sub-themes helped to better understand how the participants came to understand their sexuality and professional identity. External factors such as social and family support, religion, and cultural and generational movements influenced the ways in which the participants came to understand their sexual identity. Participants desired to be seen first as a competent music teacher, but also understood that they could have an impact on a student as a gay or lesbian role model or mentor. Sexual identity and professional identity did not function as separate constructs; rather they were interwoven throughout these lesbian and gay music educator’s self-identities.
In order to connect the reader with the participants, I engaged in a creative non-fiction writing process to (re)tell participant’s stories. Each story is unique and crafted in a way that the participant’s voice is privileged over my own. The stories come from the conversations and journal entries that the participants shared with me. The purpose of the stories is to provide the reader with a contextual understanding of each participant’s life, and to offer some considerations for ways in which we can engage with and support our lesbian and gay music educator colleagues.
This paper does not end with a tidy conclusion, but rather more questions and provocations that will continue the conversations. I hope this document will encourage thoughtful and critical conversations in the music education profession to help us move us forward to a place that is more empathetic, socially-just, and equitable.
ContributorsMinette, Sarah Marie (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Paparo, Stephen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
With this thesis, I have set out to answer two fundamental questions within music: does music mean anything, and should music mean anything? In answering those questions, I also set out to create a creative project that would implement these ideas: an original concept album of music that is programmatic in nature and incorporates motivic composition, jazz improvisation, lyrics, extra-musical audio and more all in the service of telling a narrative, a story, through music. I have done research into understanding music as a language, finding that this language is primarily communicative and recreational, rather than representational, of meaning. As well, I discuss the various different ways that music composers from Wagner to Williams have created narrative meaning in their works, using examples of leitmotif and other devices, as well as tracing the contextual associations of meaning that occurs when music is perceived in certain contexts. Furthermore, I discuss the dialogue between absolute and programmatic music, and also talk about the role of jazz improvisation in adding meaning to works.
For the second part of my thesis I talk about how I came to create the creative project aspect. I discuss how and why I designed the narrative that I did, and also analyzed the music I have created to illustrate how I implemented the various methods of musical storytelling that I detail in the first part of the paper. Lastly, I discuss my plans for publication and release of the creative project.
The third part of this thesis is a sample of the creative project. There is a version of the narrative that goes along with the creative project, as well as one of the eight pieces of original music on the creative project, entitled Journey.
Overall, I found that music does have meaning, it is just meaning that society ascribes to it based off of artistic intent and context, and as to whether music should mean anything, I believe that this is a question best left to be answered on an individual basis. Music can be whatever it wants to be.
For the second part of my thesis I talk about how I came to create the creative project aspect. I discuss how and why I designed the narrative that I did, and also analyzed the music I have created to illustrate how I implemented the various methods of musical storytelling that I detail in the first part of the paper. Lastly, I discuss my plans for publication and release of the creative project.
The third part of this thesis is a sample of the creative project. There is a version of the narrative that goes along with the creative project, as well as one of the eight pieces of original music on the creative project, entitled Journey.
Overall, I found that music does have meaning, it is just meaning that society ascribes to it based off of artistic intent and context, and as to whether music should mean anything, I believe that this is a question best left to be answered on an individual basis. Music can be whatever it wants to be.
ContributorsPrice, Alexander (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Libman, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05