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- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Creators: Arizona State University
Description
Gloria is a work written for SATB choir and brass quintet that uses the traditional Latin text of the Gloria found in the ordinary of the Mass. The piece is approximately fourteen minutes and explores a variety of textures, colors, and timbres of the brass quintet and choir. The composition uses quartal sonorities mixed with upper tertian structures while avoiding simple triads and stable root position voicings until the most important climactic moments. The Gloria opens with a fanfare presenting the initial rhythmic motive in a call and response between the brass and choir before the irregular meters of the A section enter. The piece develops a variety of sonorities, pitch collections, and timbres before arriving at the first climactic moment on the text "Rex" (King). The music slowly comes to a point of repose with a brass interlude revealing the motives used in the B section. The choir begins the B section a cappella on the text "Dómine Fili unigénite, Jésu Chríste" (Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son). The section features a dialogue between the brass and choir, though the two groups never sound together. The section includes a lyrical soprano duet incorporating dissonant intervals preceding the choir's response on the text requesting the mercy of the Lord. The section comes to a somber, penitential rest ending with the brass quintet response. The piece gradually builds and accelerates to the second climactic moment on the word "Jésu." From there it once again gains momentum toward the return of the A section on the text "Cum Sáncto Spíritu" (With the Holy Spirit). After a climactic "Amen" section, the composition concludes with a return to the material found in the introduction followed by an affirming brass postlude.
ContributorsRichard, Nathan Daniel (Author) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Gentry, Gregory (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The number of Brazilian immigrants in the United States has greatly increased over the past three decades. In Phoenix, Arizona, this population increase reveals itself through a greater number of large Brazilian cultural events and higher demand for live Brazilian music. Music is so embedded in Brazilian culture that it serves as the ideal medium through which immigrants can reconnect to their Brazilian heritage. In this thesis, I contend that Brazilian immigrants in Phoenix, Arizona maintain their identity as Brazilians through various activities extracted from their home culture, the most prominent being musical interaction and participation. My research reveals three primary factors which form a foundation for maintaining cultural identity through music within the Brazilian immigrant community in Phoenix. These include the common experiences of immigration, diasporic identity, and the role of music within this diaspora. Music is one of the stronger art forms for representing emotions and creating an experience of relationship and connections. Music creates a medium with which to confirm identity, and makes the Brazilian immigrant population visible to other Americans and outsiders. While other Brazilian activities can also serve to maintain immigrants' identity, it is clear to me from five years of participant-observation that musical interaction and participation is the most prominent and effective means for Brazilians in Phoenix to maintain their cultural identity while living in the U.S. As a community, music unites the experiences of the Brazilian immigrants and removes them from the periphery of life in a new society.
ContributorsSwietlik, Amy (Author) / Solís, Ted (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Pilafian, Sam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACT A cultural overview of the so-called "early music movement" in Arizona, specifically the musicians who performed early music in the mid-to-late twentieth century, has never been undertaken. In applying ethnographic methods to Western art music, Kay Kaufman Shelemay suggests, in her 2001 article, "Toward an Ethnomusicology of the Early Music Movement," that a musical anthropology "would seem to hold great potential for the study of `Western music.'" In this paper I analyze and discuss issues related to "early music" in Arizona from roughly 1960 to 2008. In focusing primarily on the musicians themselves, I address issues in three primary areas: 1) the repertory and the so-called "early music revival;" 2) specific types of early music which have been presented in Arizona and the effects of economic factors; and 3) Arizona musicians' attitudes toward the repertory and their motivations for specializing in it. I then analyze Arizona musicians' involvement with both the early music repertory itself and with the community, identifying how musicians were exposed to early music and whether or not those first exposures began a long-lasting involvement with the repertory. In this section I also describe ways in which musicians define early music for themselves as well as analyze more critical areas such as musicians' formation of an "early music identity." I also asked informants to discuss how they see early music as being fundamentally different from other types of "classical" music and how they view their own places in that community of "difference." Finally, I compare musicians' thoughts on the "transformative" effect that some early music can have on performers and listeners and how that effect compares with similar phenomena in other types of Western art music.
ContributorsDe Fazio, James M (Author) / Haefer, John R (Thesis advisor) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
This thesis examines the jazz jam session’s function in the constitution of jazz scenes as
well as the identities of the musicians who participate in them. By employing ritual and
performance studies theories of liminality, I demonstrate ways in which jazz musicians,
jam sessions, and other social structures are mobilized and transformed during their
social and musical interactions. I interview three prominent members of the jazz scene in
the greater Phoenix area, and incorporate my experience as a professional jazz musician
in the same scene, to conduct a contextually and socially embedded analysis in order to
draw broader conclusions about jam sessions in general. In this analysis I refer to other
ethnomusicologists who research improvisation, jazz in ritual context, and interactions,
such as Ingrid Monson, Samuel Floyd, Travis Jackson, and Paul Berliner, as well as ideas
proposed by phenomenologically adjacent thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze, Martin
Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Karen Barad.
This thesis attempts to contribute to current jam session research in fields such as
ethnomusicology and jazz studies by offering a perspective on jam sessions based on
phenomenology and process philosophy, concluding that the jam session is an essential
mechanism in the ongoing social and musical developments of jazz musicians and their
scene. I also attempt to continue and develop the discourse surrounding theories of
liminality in performance and ritual studies by underscoring the web of relations in social
structures that are brought into contact with one another during the liminal performances
of their acting agents.
well as the identities of the musicians who participate in them. By employing ritual and
performance studies theories of liminality, I demonstrate ways in which jazz musicians,
jam sessions, and other social structures are mobilized and transformed during their
social and musical interactions. I interview three prominent members of the jazz scene in
the greater Phoenix area, and incorporate my experience as a professional jazz musician
in the same scene, to conduct a contextually and socially embedded analysis in order to
draw broader conclusions about jam sessions in general. In this analysis I refer to other
ethnomusicologists who research improvisation, jazz in ritual context, and interactions,
such as Ingrid Monson, Samuel Floyd, Travis Jackson, and Paul Berliner, as well as ideas
proposed by phenomenologically adjacent thinkers such as Gilles Deleuze, Martin
Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Karen Barad.
This thesis attempts to contribute to current jam session research in fields such as
ethnomusicology and jazz studies by offering a perspective on jam sessions based on
phenomenology and process philosophy, concluding that the jam session is an essential
mechanism in the ongoing social and musical developments of jazz musicians and their
scene. I also attempt to continue and develop the discourse surrounding theories of
liminality in performance and ritual studies by underscoring the web of relations in social
structures that are brought into contact with one another during the liminal performances
of their acting agents.
ContributorsLebert, Raymond Russell (Author) / Wells, Christopher J. (Thesis advisor) / Stover, Christopher (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Anglophone music festivals in the U.S. can be traced back to singing schools of the 1700s, which eventually blossomed into regular, outdoor musical performances, growing in popularity between 1840 and 1875. The first annual music festival in the United States was founded in Massachusetts in 1858. Modern single-destination music festivals grew in popularity in the United Kingdom and the United States during the late twentieth century. Although the Woodstock Music and Arts Fair of 1969 was not executed perfectly, it was an iconic event with a lasting cultural impact. Modern music festivals are modeled on the rural open-air festivals of the 1970s. In the past sixty years, the music industry has had to reconcile with the environmental impact of single-destination music festivals. Capitalistic ventures are inherently at odds with the environment—even music streaming has a significant carbon footprint. Corporate entities have been known to make insincere efforts to address their environmental impact, a tactic known as “greenwashing.” Music festivals hosting thousands of attendees generate a large amount of human waste on top of the already significant carbon emissions associated with travel, transport of equipment, and production. Event organizers must take significant measures to appeal to modern-day environmentally-conscious audiences. Burning Man and Bonnaroo are two events that once stood out among other large, corporate festivals for being developed by independent organizers. The two festivals are hosted on two strikingly different environments for which the organizers have made unique sustainability considerations. Burning Man celebrates radical individualism and self-reliance in a dry Nevada lakebed desert. On the other hand, Bonnaroo, hosted on the humid, rolling grassland of Tennessee is branded as an environmentally responsible event. The organizers of both festivals have promoted sustainability in their respective efforts to mitigate the environmental byproducts of their events, producing varying results. Sustainable festival practices have been utilized at Bonnaroo since its inception, whereas many of the longstanding traditions of Burning Man are antithetical to sustainability. This case study explores the rise of these two festivals, the environmentally conscious values held by both, and how they have changed over time.
ContributorsSheller, Nikhita (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Navarro, Fernanda (Committee member) / Little, Bliss (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The importance of interactive electronic devices in the twenty-first century is a quickly expanding one, and the field of music technology is not exempt from this. Most traditional acoustic instruments pose challenges for individuals lacking fine motor skills, coordination, or grip strength. The author has responded to this issue as they experience it by developing a programmable interactive instrument system using a Mugic Motion System hardware, which includes a gyroscopic sensor, and Max/MSP, a visual programming environment which allows for customizable musical engagement for a variety of user types and requirements. This thesis explores the potential of interactive electronic devices to revolutionize the field of music as well as their potential in larger immersive environments, allowing creativity to reach a wider range of people regardless of physical limitations. The use of interactive sensor devices presents a not yet completely explored path for creating forms of sonic and multimedia interaction to a degree that has not yet become standard within either the musical field nor the emerging field of immersive environments and storytelling. The implications of a more fleshed out sensor-based system extend beyond the sound potential explored within this paper, and could allow interaction with visual aspects and motion based interactive art installations. This technology can also be applied as part of larger interactive systems, such as those found in theme parks and other large interactive attraction spaces. The author offers a novel approach to the democratization of music by leveraging the potential of interactive electronic devices for a population traditionally overlooked in music.
ContributorsMeconiates, Stacia (Author) / Temple, Alex (Thesis advisor) / Paine, Garth (Committee member) / Cechanowicz, Laura (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This paper is based on research conducted during my ongoing collaboration as a participant-observer with the Cuyamungue Institute (CI) of New Mexico, a self-identified nonreligious organization that uses postures to help participants achieve ecstatic trance experiences via a ritual process that prominently features sonic support of trance by the sound of a rattle or drum. While the purpose of the practice—which the Institute has referred to in such terms as “Ecstatic Trance Postures (ETP)” and “Ritual Body Postures”—is ostensibly spiritual in nature, apparent benefits for physical and emotional health have been reported by participants and observed in empirical studies carried out in collaboration with the CI. With appropriate nuance, the Institute traditionally emphasizes the ways these benefits demonstrate the process’s spiritual efficacy more than how they are outcomes desirable on their own merit. As I have continued to work with the CI, the discourse has gradually shifted. At present, the leadership of the Institute give more consideration than before to emotional health benefits as specific goals of the practice, yet spiritual conceptions maintain a dominant presence in conversations and achieving a deep connection with the “alternate reality / spirit realm / unbounded universe” remains the primary objective.
ContributorsMalnory, Lawson (Author) / Fossum, Dave (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
ABSTRACT The catalyst for this research was rooted in a patient satisfaction survey reported the need for an ambient quiet setting. This study used a descriptive comparative design augmented with qualitative data. The sample consisted of 54 participants came from one of three primary care clinics listened to 22 minutes of existing natural clinical sounds while the others listened to therapeutic sound hertz in a treatment room. The survey data correlated identify if an association existed or not to add therapeutic soundscape hertz back into a clinical ambient setting could affect the patient experience and wellness. Rather than, continue with abatement program efforts to remove unwanted sounds or mask the noise. Quantitative data were collected on mood states and biometric measures consisted of respiratory, heart, pulse systolic, and diastolic blood pressure rates. Qualitative data 5-Point Likert scale and open-ended questions determined participants' awareness of ambient sounds within the clinical setting. Data from participants were analyzed and compared separately for each clinic. The metrics were found to be statistically correlated (p<0.05) for the POMS-A survey and biometric measures using a Chi-square test. After the intervention, two clinics reported a 60%, and the third clinic an 80% mood state changes. Clinic 2-M reported the greatest significant mood state change. The t-Test validation biometric measures showed no significant evidence among the test and control groups for Clinic 1-L (396, 417, 444 Hz). Clinics 2-M (528, 639 Hz) and Clinic 3-H (714, 852 Hz) did share significant evidence to respiratory, heart, and systolic blood pressure rates. The respondents revealed 27% had a positive opinion of the therapeutic sound hertz perceived as silent or quiet, 59% had a negative opinion of unwanted sounds included communication as disruptive, and 16% felt the clinic’s physical design was poor. As a whole, this study indicates exposing patients to therapeutic sound hertz had a positive impact on their biopsychosocial wellness states. The value and novelty of this study show by adding selective distinct therapeutic sound hertz levels back into the clinic setting have profound implications for future researchers to build upon how the quality soundscape performance effects on the patient.
Contributorstate, angela diane (Author) / Bender, Diane (Thesis advisor) / Takamura, John (Committee member) / Lamb, Gerri (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
This thesis closely reads black gay pornography and NeoSoul music from the 1990s to theorize the digital transformations of the adult entertainment and music industries during the commercialization and boom of the Internet. Acknowledging black sex workers and musical artists as knowers and agitators whose labor and artistry teased and troubled these transformations, I employ an American Studies analytic to archives and genres that highlights the economic and historical undergirding of black sexual economies in the United States. I argue that black musical artists and sex workers facilitate a mapping of black sexual economies and an ecosystem of labor and pleasure upended by the commercialization of the Internet that pronounces a dialogic relationship between the adult entertainment and music industries, black musical artists and sex workers, and black musical and pornographic genres. Through close reading and nut chasing methods, I intimately describe the musical and sexual performances of sex workers and musical artists in three pornographic films and one music video to analyze the complexities of instrumentation and cinematography during this technological era, how they narrativize sound and place, and the sensorial and physiological effects of witnessing and listening to these performances. In this project, I ask: how does porn and music remember sound and place, how does black music and black gay pornography narrate black sexual economies and geographies, and how did the commercialization of the Internet in the 1980 and 90s change black musical genres and (black) gay pornography?
ContributorsAnderson, K (Author) / Bailey, Marlon M (Thesis advisor) / Roane, JT (Committee member) / Anderson, Lisa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The genre of world music and its market’s reliance on musical exoticism, othering, and the audience’s insatiable quest for musical authenticity have influenced and shaped the way artists construct and negotiate their musical representation. With the popularization of democratized music platforms such as Bandcamp, artists have greater autonomy in terms of artistic representation and musical distribution in the online world. Although the internet has in some ways disrupted the old power structures of the music industry, the old forms of world music marketing have been reinscribed into a new context. Old stereotypes and narratives of authenticity in world music have permeated the digital representation of artists and their music. Music recommendation algorithms also shape the way artists are represented in digital environments. Semantic descriptors such as social tags play a vital role in musical identification and recommendation systems implemented by streaming platforms. The use of social tags such as #worldmusic homogenizes diverse cultural sounds into a single umbrella genre. #World music also creates avenues for old stereotypes and narratives of authenticity to re-emerge. This re-emergence of the old tropes of world music creates less equitable recommendation and representational outcomes for musicians operating within the genre. In the age of streaming, where does world music belong? How do artists negotiate representation online? This thesis explores the dynamics of representation and the projections of “authenticity” between world music artists and record labels inside of Bandcamp’s digital ecosystem. By juxtaposing the traditional framework of “world music” marketing with new and evolving methods of distribution and artistic representation, it is possible to see how digital media are reshaping but also reproducing some of the old paradigms of world music. I also propose that a new framework needs to be established to study the impact digital streaming has on the genre of world music. This new framework, which I call “World Music 3.0,” will encompass how algorithms, tech companies, and the democratization of musical practices interact within a globalized community.
ContributorsCureno, Eric Leonel (Author) / Fossum, Dave (Thesis advisor) / Hayes, Lauren (Committee member) / Paine, Garth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021