Matching Items (7)
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- All Subjects: Music Education
- Genre: Academic theses
- Creators: Solís, Ted
Description
The Fundación del Estado para el Sistema Nacional de Orquestas Juveniles e Infantiles de Venezuela (FESNOJIV), also known as El Sistema, is an internationally recognized social phenomenon. By promoting social reform and development through music education, El Sistema is enriching the lives of thousands of impoverished youth in Venezuela by providing a nurturing environment for children in government-sponsored orchestras, choirs, and bands. In this thesis, I contend that the relationship between music education and social reform cultivates sociocultural ideas and expectations that are transmitted through FESNOJIV's curriculum to the participating youth and concert attendees. These ideas and El Sistema's live and recorded performances engage both the local Venezuelan community and the world-at-large. Ultimately, I will show that FESNOJIV has been instrumental in creating, promoting, and maintaining a national Venezuelan identity that is associated with pride and musical achievement.
ContributorsPalmer, Katherine (Author) / Solís, Ted (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Haefer, J. Richard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The study of artist transcriptions is an effective vehicle for assimilating the language and style of jazz. Pairing transcriptions with historical context provides further insight into the back story of the artists' life and method. Innovators are often the subject of published studies of this kind, but transcriptions of plunger-mute master Al Grey have been overlooked. This document fills that void, combining historical context with thirteen transcriptions of Grey's trombone features and improvisations. Selection of transcribed materials was based on an examination of historically significant solos in Al Grey's fifty-five-year career. The results are a series of open-horn and plunger solos that showcase Grey's sound, technical brilliance, and wide range of dynamics and articulation. This collection includes performances from a mix of widely available and obscure recordings, the majority coming from engagements with the Count Basie Orchestra. Methods learned from the study of Al Grey's book Plunger Techniques were vital in the realization of his work. The digital transcription software Amazing Slow Downer by Roni Music aided in deciphering some of Grey's more complicated passages and, with octave displacement, helped bring previously inaudible moments to the foreground.
ContributorsHopkins, Charles E (Author) / Pilafian, Sam (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This project includes composer biographies, program notes, performance guides, composer questionnaires, and recordings of five new and lesser known works for saxophone quartet. Three of the compositions are new pieces commissioned by Woody Chenoweth for the Midwest-based saxophone quartet, The Shredtet. The other two pieces include a newer work for saxophone quartet never recorded in its final version, as well as an unpublished arrangement of a progressive rock masterpiece. The members of The Shredtet include saxophonists Woody Chenoweth, Jonathan Brink, Samuel Lana, and Austin Atkinson. The principal component of this project is a recording of each work, featuring the author and The Shredtet.
The first piece, Sax Quartet No. 2 (2018), was commissioned for The Shredtet and written by Frank Nawrot (b. 1989). The second piece, also commissioned for The Shredtet, was written by Dan Puccio (b. 1980) and titled, Scherzos for Saxophone Quartet (2018). The third original work for The Shredtet, Rhythm and Tone Study No. 3 (2018), was composed by Josh Bennett (b. 1982). The fourth piece, Fragments of a Narrative, was written by Ben Stevenson (b. 1979) in 2014 and revised in 2016, and was selected as runner-up in the Donald Sinta Quartet’s 2016 National Composition Competition. The final piece included in this project is a transcription and arrangement of Tarkus (1971), written by Keith Emerson (1944-2016) and Greg Lake (1947-2016) for the iconic progressive rock supergroup, Emerson, Lake & Palmer. This unique and unpublished arrangement was crafted by Peter Ford (b. 1964) for Ohio-based saxophone quartet Sax 4th Avenue and first featured on the ensemble’s 1998 album, Delusions de Grandeur. These pieces were recorded in the E-Media Studios of the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, as well as A2 Audio Studios in Cincinnati, Ohio, in January and February of 2019.
The first piece, Sax Quartet No. 2 (2018), was commissioned for The Shredtet and written by Frank Nawrot (b. 1989). The second piece, also commissioned for The Shredtet, was written by Dan Puccio (b. 1980) and titled, Scherzos for Saxophone Quartet (2018). The third original work for The Shredtet, Rhythm and Tone Study No. 3 (2018), was composed by Josh Bennett (b. 1982). The fourth piece, Fragments of a Narrative, was written by Ben Stevenson (b. 1979) in 2014 and revised in 2016, and was selected as runner-up in the Donald Sinta Quartet’s 2016 National Composition Competition. The final piece included in this project is a transcription and arrangement of Tarkus (1971), written by Keith Emerson (1944-2016) and Greg Lake (1947-2016) for the iconic progressive rock supergroup, Emerson, Lake & Palmer. This unique and unpublished arrangement was crafted by Peter Ford (b. 1964) for Ohio-based saxophone quartet Sax 4th Avenue and first featured on the ensemble’s 1998 album, Delusions de Grandeur. These pieces were recorded in the E-Media Studios of the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, as well as A2 Audio Studios in Cincinnati, Ohio, in January and February of 2019.
ContributorsChenoweth, Woodrow (Author) / Creviston, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The purpose of this study was to trouble existing conceptions of disability that ground music education literature and practice. I sought plausible insights into how disability is experienced in, through, and/or around music by participants who are disabled persons/persons with disabilities (DP/PwD). Insights gained might allow readers to complexify and trouble taken-for-granted assumptions about disability. Questions included: (a) How do participants experience disability in, through, and around music? (b) What plausible insights related to disability can be gained by attending to participants’ experiences of disability in, through, and around music? (c) What plausible insights related to inclusion can be gained by attending to participants’ experiences of disability in, through, and around music? The inquiry approach was grounded in Buberian relational ontology, phenomenology, interactional theories of disability, and narrative.
Seven DP/PwD participated in this study: (a) Erica, a 14-year-old diagnosed with a developmental disability of unknown etiology; (b) Duke, a drummer diagnosed with Williams syndrome; (c) Birdie, an abstract visual artist with epilepsy who used music to inform her art; (d) Daren, a b-boy/breakdancer diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, (e) Sienna, a legally blind social work college student who played banjo in a music therapy-based bluegrass band and participated in musical theatre; (f) Ice Queen, an undergraduate flute player recently diagnosed with Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and (g) Culann, an adult counselor and music listener with ADHD and mood disorders. Data generation included conversational interviews, observations, artmaking, and serendipitous data.
Data co-generated with participants were crafted into narratives of their lifeworlds, including description of their experiences with disability in, through, and around music and in other aspects of their lives. An envisioned conversation among all participants demonstrates the shifts and complexities in the meanings of disability and unpacks different ways participants describe and understand disability and the myriad roles that music plays in their lifeworlds. The final chapter of the study offers discussions and suggestions regarding thinking about and approaching disability (i.e., interactional theories, intersectionality, and identity), inclusion (i.e., belonging, suggestions by participants, and anti-ableist pedagogy), and research/writing.
Seven DP/PwD participated in this study: (a) Erica, a 14-year-old diagnosed with a developmental disability of unknown etiology; (b) Duke, a drummer diagnosed with Williams syndrome; (c) Birdie, an abstract visual artist with epilepsy who used music to inform her art; (d) Daren, a b-boy/breakdancer diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, (e) Sienna, a legally blind social work college student who played banjo in a music therapy-based bluegrass band and participated in musical theatre; (f) Ice Queen, an undergraduate flute player recently diagnosed with Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); and (g) Culann, an adult counselor and music listener with ADHD and mood disorders. Data generation included conversational interviews, observations, artmaking, and serendipitous data.
Data co-generated with participants were crafted into narratives of their lifeworlds, including description of their experiences with disability in, through, and around music and in other aspects of their lives. An envisioned conversation among all participants demonstrates the shifts and complexities in the meanings of disability and unpacks different ways participants describe and understand disability and the myriad roles that music plays in their lifeworlds. The final chapter of the study offers discussions and suggestions regarding thinking about and approaching disability (i.e., interactional theories, intersectionality, and identity), inclusion (i.e., belonging, suggestions by participants, and anti-ableist pedagogy), and research/writing.
ContributorsRathgeber, Jesse (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra L (Thesis advisor) / Mantie, Roger (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan S (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In Arizona part-time instrumental music educators often spend more time per week with high school students than full-time core subject teachers. Members of the gig economy and heavily involved in the marching arts, these part-time teachers make the conscious choice to seek multiple gig positions to piece together a full-time income void of traditional employee benefits. The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the American workforce, prompting employers to hire more gig workers than standard salaried employees across all industries. However, some part-time workers who rely on social interactions for income are struggling to maintain a career throughout the health crisis. Although unable to see their students in person and prepare for competitions like a normal season, part-time instrumental music educators are continuing to work and teach. Whether each teacher is explicitly aware of it or not, the entire part-time teaching community relies on the accrual and mobilization of social capital to secure and maintain gigs and, by extension, a living. In this thesis, I employ Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of capital to investigate how part-time instrumental music educators are adapting to virtual remote teaching prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and why they have not experienced job loss to the same extent as many other Americans in this arduous time. Through participant-observer ethnography and direct interviews with 12 active part-time instrumental marching music teachers I analyze not only the social mechanisms that lead to career success but also how each teacher conceptualizes their own vocational narrative. Unlike the idealized “American Dream” narrative of hard work and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, part-time teachers attribute their success to social relationships and luck. As Arizona prepares for a harsh decline in music student enrollment over the next five years due to the pandemic part-time music educators must be aware of how to encourage their students to become the next generation of teachers and how they can work to overcome the daunting privilege gap in musical ensemble participation.
ContributorsBranson, Tabitha Ann (Author) / Fossum, David (Thesis advisor) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Traditional jazz refers specifically to iterations of New Orleans style jazz since its beginnings in the early 20th century. It has been labelled "Dixieland," "Classic Jazz," "New Orleans jazz," "Trad," or "Our Kind of Music (OKOM)" among other names. As a scholar-performer, I learned this style of music in my undergraduate studies in Provo, Utah and later taught it as a graduate student in Phoenix, Arizona. This research grows out of the challenges I encountered mediating between the academic institution, the non-academic tradition, and student needs. Combining musicological methods such as historiography and artifact analysis with reflexive ethnography and performance pedagogy more typical of other disciplines, I consider how educators might represent traditional jazz in a more culturally responsible way. To begin, I reference historical newspapers and oral histories to show how the labels of “Dixieland” and “traditional jazz” have evolved over time and taken on a variety of associations. Specifically, I note how the word “Dixieland” is problematic for the ways it reinforces nostalgic fantasies of the “old south” and prevents African Americans from participating without the oppressive and offensive stereotypes created by white minstrel entertainers. I then consider how prominent figures have established their authority to speak for traditional jazz by looking at several pedagogical artifacts for the style of traditional jazz drumming. I highlight how each of these artifacts’ authors present the subject and color their audience’s view of traditional jazz. Having analyzed these methods of genre definition, I discuss the tenuous place of traditional jazz within university jazz programs and its potential futures through interviews I conducted with jazz educators. These interviews focus on teaching traditional jazz within the academy and the potential for the jazz ensemble as a site of scholar-performer interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, following models of reflexive ethnography established by ethnomusicologists leading world music ensembles, I analyze my own experience teaching traditional jazz ensembles. My synthesis of methods from musicology, ethnomusicology, music education, and jazz performance departments serves as an important bridge between these disciplines, and in turn, improves jazz instruction, offers insight into genre definition, and illuminates how institutional structures shape the subject.
ContributorsWiggins, Zachary Thomas (Author) / Wells, Christi Jay (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Mental health of children has been a topic of concern in recent years, and was brought to the forefront again in 2020 due to exacerbated stress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the amount of time children spend in school, the effects of their emotional stress and mental health challenges are seen by their teachers. Studies have shown that teachers often have high levels of concern about student mental health, but also do not feel as though they have enough resources and guidance from their schools to be able to support the mental health of the students in their classrooms on a daily basis. Research also shows that music is an effective tool for addressing children’s mental health and bolstering their mindfulness. The goal of this study was to better understand whether or not a subset of elementary school music teachers use music to help students who are feeling anxiety, stress, or other emotional or mental disturbances. To that end, I surveyed a convenience sample of elementary music educators, mainly from Arizona’s Maricopa County, about the following research questions: (1) are educators utilizing music in their classrooms expressly for mental health and mindfulness purposes? (2) how do music educators perceive the mental health of their students? (3) how do they manage related behaviors or challenges in their classrooms? (4) do they feel they have adequate resources to address student mental health? A secondary purpose of the study was to utilize the responses to inform my creation of a website intended to provide resources that would be useful for music educators who are willing to address student mental wellbeing.
In addition to receiving many individual pieces of helpful information, I analyzed survey responses for general trends. My sample indicates that music teachers do have more than moderate levels of concern over their students’ mental health. It also revealed a lack of consistency in teacher pre-service preparation and also in the kinds of programs and associated training that are in place which address student mental health.
ContributorsCole, Casey (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021