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Description
E-Strings Academy (www.estringsacademy.wordpress.com) is a resource website intended for the beginning violinist, violist, cellist, and bassist. The mission of the website is to extend musical learning opportunities to students outside of the physical string classroom and to engage first-year string students in musical activities at home that supplement the instruction they receive in a school setting. The current website features five different areas for students to explore: lesson videos, tunes, listening activities, games, and resources. In each area, students have the opportunity to learn and reinforce musical concepts and skill sets that they will need in order to be successful in music, both in their first year of playing and beyond. I created E-Strings Academy with the intention that I use it with my own string students in my future teaching career. It is a flexible website that I will continue to revise, adapt, and enhance to best serve the needs of my students and enrich their musical learning outside of the classroom.
ContributorsCook, Christa Marie (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret (Thesis director) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Theory Jam is a series of online, education videos that teach music theory in a fun, engaging way. Our project is a response to the growing need for successful online education content. It incorporates strategies for creating effective educational video content and engages with contemporary debates in the field of music theory surrounding the purpose of a music theory education.
ContributorsCannatelli, Joshua Bryce (Co-author) / Daval, Charles Joseph (Co-author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Scott, Jason (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Due to increasing lack of resources and funding for budding student musicians, it is often not possible for this demographic to create, record, and produce their original music in the same high-budget studio environment in which music has been traditionally made. The objective of this project is to explore alternatives which are more accessible to young independent musicians and reveal the most cost-efficient routes to obtain a high-quality result. To make this comparison, the group created budget recordings of their original music in a bedroom in true DIY fashion, and then recorded the same songs in a professional music studio using the best music and recording equipment available. The DIY recordings were mixed and mastered by the group members themselves, as well as separately by a professional audio engineer. The studio recordings were also mixed and mastered by a professional audio engineer, resulting in three final products with varying costs and quality. Ultimately, the group found that without mixing and mastering experience, it is very difficult to achieve high quality results. With the same budget recorded tracks, the group found that quality of the final product vastly increased when a professional audio engineer mixed and mastered the tracks. As far as the quality of the result, the studio recorded tracks were by far the best. Not only was the quality of the sounds from the high-end music and recording equipment much higher, the band had more freedom to be creative without the responsibility of simultaneously serving as recording engineers as was the case in the low budget recordings. The group concluded that this project was highly successful and demonstrated that high quality results could be obtained on a budget. The DIY recording techniques used in this project prove that independent musicians without access to expensive equipment and resources can still produce high quality music at the cost of more effort to serve as audio engineers in addition to musicians. However, recording in a studio with the help of a producer and professional audio engineers affords creative freedom and an increase in sound quality that is simply not possible to reproduce without the equipment and expertise that money can buy.
ContributorsBonk, Alan (Co-author) / Dhuyvetter, Nicholas Alan (Co-author) / Wickham, Kevin (Co-author) / Tobias, Evan (Thesis director) / Swoboda, Deanna (Committee member) / W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The result of hundreds of hours of work is a few minutes of music. I am mechanical engineering student with a passion for music. The objective of this creative project was to learn as much as I could about music theory, composition, orchestration, notation, recording, and mixing, and to create some music of my own. I learned a great deal in my two semesters of work. My music was focused on small ensembles of strings and piano. I created over ten hours of musical audio sketches and produced notation for four pieces for the piano and strings. The finished scores fit together with similar tones and textures, all sharing a minor tonality. The first piece, "Little Machine," is a simple, methodical piano piece created in the style of second species counterpoint. The second piece, "Searching" is a duet between a piano and a cello. For most of the piece, the two instruments share a rhythmic sense of mutual independence, yet neither part can exist without the either. "Something Lost" is a piano solo written with a variety of sections and a unifying idea that pervades through the piece. Finally, "3 Strings & Piano" is a melancholy adagio written for the piano, two cellos, and a double bass. Overall, this project has helped to prepare me for a lifetime of continued learning and composition. In the future I will continue to write music, and I hope to specifically learn more about the tools and techniques used by professionals in the industry so that I can find more efficient ways to produce my own music.
ContributorsSchichtel, Jacob (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis director) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12
Description
This study investigates degree perseverance among African Americans who transitioned from an undergraduate music program at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) to a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). A framework based on Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory and Yosso’s community cultural wealth theory was employed to examine how academic, cultural, and social aspects of participants’ undergraduate and graduate school experiences influenced their perseverance. Because those aspects are intricately intertwined with race, I also employed critical race theory and double consciousness theory, and used Angela Duckworth’s Grit Scale to measure degree perseverance.
Eight African American male instrumental music educators participated in this study. Research questions included: What are the experiences of African Americans who have transitioned from undergraduate music programs at HBCUs to graduate music programs at PWIs?; How do these individuals compare academic, social, and cultural aspects of their experiences within two institutional environments?; What are their self-perceptions of their own degree perseverance?; and, What social, cultural, and academic aspects of their experiences influenced their perseverance?
After developing a portrait of each participant’s pre-college and college experiences, analysis reveled that participants were very persistent; however, academic, cultural, social, and racial experiences influenced their perseverance. Participants employed dominant cultural capital and community cultural wealth as well as their “Grittiness” to successfully transition from an HBCU to a PWI.
Recommendations for HBCUs, PWIs, and the profession are offered toward improving the experiences of African American music students in higher education. HBCUs must hold their faculty and students accountable for developing a broader musical experience beyond marching band, and address colorism on their campuses. PWIs should recognize and accept the capital that African Americans bring, acknowledge that African Americans need access to social support networks, and assess how their environments, actions, and decisions may devalue or discount African Americans. While more research is needed regarding the experiences of African Americans in music programs, African American students must also take active roles in shaping their own educational experiences by seeking assistance that will improve their experiences.
Eight African American male instrumental music educators participated in this study. Research questions included: What are the experiences of African Americans who have transitioned from undergraduate music programs at HBCUs to graduate music programs at PWIs?; How do these individuals compare academic, social, and cultural aspects of their experiences within two institutional environments?; What are their self-perceptions of their own degree perseverance?; and, What social, cultural, and academic aspects of their experiences influenced their perseverance?
After developing a portrait of each participant’s pre-college and college experiences, analysis reveled that participants were very persistent; however, academic, cultural, social, and racial experiences influenced their perseverance. Participants employed dominant cultural capital and community cultural wealth as well as their “Grittiness” to successfully transition from an HBCU to a PWI.
Recommendations for HBCUs, PWIs, and the profession are offered toward improving the experiences of African American music students in higher education. HBCUs must hold their faculty and students accountable for developing a broader musical experience beyond marching band, and address colorism on their campuses. PWIs should recognize and accept the capital that African Americans bring, acknowledge that African Americans need access to social support networks, and assess how their environments, actions, and decisions may devalue or discount African Americans. While more research is needed regarding the experiences of African Americans in music programs, African American students must also take active roles in shaping their own educational experiences by seeking assistance that will improve their experiences.
ContributorsMcCall, Joyce Marie (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret E (Thesis advisor) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study utilized symbolic interaction as a framework to examine the impact of mobility on four veteran elementary general music teachers' identities, roles, and perceptions of role support. Previous research has focused on teacher identity formation among preservice and novice teachers; veteran teachers are less frequently represented in the literature. Teacher mobility research has focused on student achievement, teachers' reasons for moving, and teacher attrition. The impact of mobility on veteran teachers' identities, roles, and perceptions of role support has yet to be considered. A multiple case design was employed for this study. The criteria for purposeful selection of the participants were elementary general music teachers who had taught for at least ten years, who had changed teaching contracts and taught in at least two different schools, and who were viewed as effective music educators by fine arts coordinators. Data were collected over a period of eight months through semi-structured interviews, email correspondence, observations, review of videotapes of the participants' teaching in previous schools, and collection of artifacts. Data were analyzed within and across cases. The cross-case analysis revealed themes within the categories of identity, role, and role support for the participants. The findings suggest that the participants perceived their music teacher roles as multi-dimensional. They claimed their core identities remained stable over time; however, shifts in teacher identity occurred throughout their years as teachers. The participants asserted that mobility at the start of their careers had a positive impact because they each were challenged to solidify their own teacher identities and music teacher roles in varied school contexts. Mobility negatively impacted role and teacher practices during times when the participants adjusted to new school climates and role expectations. Role support varied depending upon school context, and the participants discovered active involvement in the school community was an effective means of seeking and acquiring role support. Reflection experiences in music teacher preparation programs, as well as mentoring and professional development geared toward teacher identity formation and role maturation, may assist teachers in matching their desired school context with their teacher identities and perceptions of the music teacher role.
ContributorsGray, Lori F (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Bush, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
"EP \u2014 Kyan Palmer" is a compilation of three songs, "Hit List," "Queen Cobra," and "Burn Mona Lisa" all written and recorded by Barrett student, Kyan Palmer. The project explores the process involved in creating recorded music and exposes the vulnerability and self-reflection in writing a song. The following depicts the thought process that came about in the creation of each song from the lyrics, to the vocals, to the production. This paper depicts a journal-like writing style outlining the various events that took place while creating EP \u2014 Kyan Palmer. The bulk of this Thesis/Creative Project was the written, produced, and recorded music attached in the appendix. With that said, the following document is intended to be reflective rather than scholarly and acts as an accompaniment to the audio recordings and video entries.
ContributorsPalmer, Kyan (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis director) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
As the incorporation of popular music into secondary and university learning spaces continues to expand, of particular interest is how ways of learning and teaching popular music might be enacted in a school environment. Well-meaning teachers, music education organizations, and corporate entities, in an effort to codify these ways, continue to explore various methods of operationalizing popular music to fit within the paradigmatic structures and core narratives of music education. Given this climate, what might teachers employing popular music gain from developing a better understanding of the diverse ways popular musicians learn, create, perform, and teach?This narrative and multiple case study considers the stories of three professional musicians who, at some point in their performing career, also became music teachers. By exploring how the orientations (i.e., experiences, knowledges, beliefs, and practices) of these professional musician~teachers were cultivated through the diversity of their experiences encountered both on and off the gig as well as in and out of classroom, this study explores how these individuals blended their biographical pasts as professional musicians with their developing teaching practices in the popular music-focused classroom. Based on this exploration, the following questions guided this inquiry: 1) What are the individual orientations of professional musicians who also teach in popular music-focused learning spaces in secondary school settings?, 2) Where and how did these professional musician~teachers acquire their orientations during their time as student-musicians and as professional musicians?, 3) How do these professional musician~teachers approach teaching popular music in popular music-focused learning spaces in secondary school settings?, 4) How are their orientation(s) evident in their teaching practices?, and
5) How did their orientations evolve to include their newfound experiences as they developed their teaching practice?
Findings indicate these professional musician~teachers: 1) learned to teach by teaching and, through this process, developed a unique blend of content and pedagogical knowledge, 2) adopted a flexible perspective of classroom structures and teaching approaches and, 3) transferred evaluative skills gained from their experiences as professional musicians into the classroom as they sought out ways to improve their teaching practice.
ContributorsHolley, Steve (Author) / Tobias, Evan (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Schmidt, Marg (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Beneath the epidermis, the human body contains a vibrant and complex ecology of interwoven rhythms such the heartbeat, the breath, the division of cells, and complex brain activity. By repurposing emergent medical technology into real-time gestural sound controllers of electronic musical instruments, experimental musicians in the 1960s and 1970s – including David Rosenboom – began to realize the expressive potential of these biological sounds. Composers experimented with breath and heartbeat. They also used electroencephalography (EEG) sensors, which register various types of brain waves. Instead of using the sound of brain waves in fixed-media pieces, many composers took diverse approaches to the challenge of presenting this in live performance. Their performance practices suggest different notions of embodiment, a relationship in this music which has not been discussed in detail.
Rosenboom reflects extensively on this performance practice. He supports his EEG research with theory about the practice of biofeedback. Rosenboom’s work with EEG sensors spans several decades and continue today, which has allowed him to make use of advancing sensing and computing technologies. For instance, in his 1976 On Being Invisible, the culmination of his work with EEG, he makes use of analyzed EEG data to drive a co-improvising musical system.
In this thesis, I parse different notions of embodiment in the performance of EEG music. Through a critical analysis of examples from the discourse surrounding EEG music in its early years, I show that cultural perception of EEG sonification points to imaginative speculations about the practice’s potentials; these fantasies have fascinating ramifications on the role of the body in this music’s performance. Juxtaposing these with Rosenboom, I contend that he cultivated an embodied performance practice of the EEG. To show how this might be manifest in performance, I consider two recordings of On Being Invisible.
As few musicologists have investigated this particular strain of musical experimentalism, I hope to contextualize biofeedback musicianship by offering an embodied reading of this milestone work for EEG.
Rosenboom reflects extensively on this performance practice. He supports his EEG research with theory about the practice of biofeedback. Rosenboom’s work with EEG sensors spans several decades and continue today, which has allowed him to make use of advancing sensing and computing technologies. For instance, in his 1976 On Being Invisible, the culmination of his work with EEG, he makes use of analyzed EEG data to drive a co-improvising musical system.
In this thesis, I parse different notions of embodiment in the performance of EEG music. Through a critical analysis of examples from the discourse surrounding EEG music in its early years, I show that cultural perception of EEG sonification points to imaginative speculations about the practice’s potentials; these fantasies have fascinating ramifications on the role of the body in this music’s performance. Juxtaposing these with Rosenboom, I contend that he cultivated an embodied performance practice of the EEG. To show how this might be manifest in performance, I consider two recordings of On Being Invisible.
As few musicologists have investigated this particular strain of musical experimentalism, I hope to contextualize biofeedback musicianship by offering an embodied reading of this milestone work for EEG.
ContributorsJohnson, Garrett Laroy (Author) / Xin Wei, Sha (Thesis advisor) / Ingalls, Todd (Committee member) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The purpose of the study is to examine how professional growth is sustained over time through exploring a teacher’s narrative of personal and professional growth. The central question of this dissertation is: What creates sustainable and continuous positive professional change and growth in a teacher’s professional life? In this study, I discuss my journey towards understanding my practice while teaching a collegiate course and the implications of my journey for continual professional and personal growth. I used self-study methods to interrogate the personal, professional, and contextual experiences that shaped my thinking about teaching, learning, and my practice. The process of reflection was prompted by various data sources, including journal entries, storytelling, memory work, an experience matrix, concept-mapping, and education-related life histories. This self-study also includes action research projects that I conducted while teaching a college course over seven semesters. Data for action research projects included student reflective writing, observations of their learning, video recordings of group project meetings, and student value-creation stories.
Through reflection on how my personal, professional, and contextual knowledge of teaching developed, I examine how the values I held, the inquiries I undertook, and the communities in which I engaged affected my learning about teaching and shaped both my continuing professional development and who I am becoming as a teacher. Values that emerged in my teaching practice included: creating a student-friendly learning atmosphere, building a learning community, and being a reflective learner. Change agency functioned as a teacher lens and impacted student learning. I also analyzed patterns between my instructional plans, actions, and learning experiences in multiple professional communities. Professional and personal development relied not only on formal learning but was also promoted by informal learning opportunities and a personal learning process.
Findings suggest that teachers’ attempts to engage with external resources and awareness of their personal orientations as internal resources appear essential for sustainable change in teaching practice. Teacher professional growth requires exercising positive personal qualities, such as confidence, compassion, and courage, as well as resilience as an educator and a lifelong learner. Teacher reflection and self-study play a pivotal role in enabling teachers to sustain professional growth.
Through reflection on how my personal, professional, and contextual knowledge of teaching developed, I examine how the values I held, the inquiries I undertook, and the communities in which I engaged affected my learning about teaching and shaped both my continuing professional development and who I am becoming as a teacher. Values that emerged in my teaching practice included: creating a student-friendly learning atmosphere, building a learning community, and being a reflective learner. Change agency functioned as a teacher lens and impacted student learning. I also analyzed patterns between my instructional plans, actions, and learning experiences in multiple professional communities. Professional and personal development relied not only on formal learning but was also promoted by informal learning opportunities and a personal learning process.
Findings suggest that teachers’ attempts to engage with external resources and awareness of their personal orientations as internal resources appear essential for sustainable change in teaching practice. Teacher professional growth requires exercising positive personal qualities, such as confidence, compassion, and courage, as well as resilience as an educator and a lifelong learner. Teacher reflection and self-study play a pivotal role in enabling teachers to sustain professional growth.
ContributorsKang, Soyeon Sally (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020