Matching Items (29)
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- All Subjects: Music
- Creators: School of Life Sciences
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Description
The purpose of this study is to analyze the stereotypes surrounding four wind instruments (flutes, oboes, clarinets, and saxophones), and the ways in which those stereotypes propagate through various levels of musical professionalism in Western culture. In order to determine what these stereotypes might entail, several thousand social media and blog posts were analyzed, and direct quotations detailing the perceived stereotypical personality profiles for each of the four instruments were collected. From these, the three most commonly mentioned characteristics were isolated for each of the instrument groups as follows: female gender, femininity, and giggliness for flutists, intelligence, studiousness, and demographics (specifically being an Asian male) for clarinetists, quirkiness, eccentricity, and being seen as a misfit for oboists, and overconfidence, attention-seeking behavior, and coolness for saxophonists. From these traits, a survey was drafted which asked participating college-aged musicians various multiple choice, opinion scale, and short-answer questions that gathered how much they agree or disagree with each trait describing the instrument from which it was derived. Their responses were then analyzed to determine how much correlation existed between the researched characteristics and the opinions of modern musicians. From these results, it was determined that 75% of the traits that were isolated for a particular instrument were, in fact, recognized as being true in the survey data, demonstrating that the stereotypes do exist and seem to be widely recognizable across many age groups, locations, and levels of musical skill. Further, 89% of participants admitted that the instrument they play has a certain stereotype associated with it, but only 38% of people identify with that profile. Overall, it was concluded that stereotypes, which are overwhelmingly negative and gendered by nature, are indeed propagated, but musicians do not appear to want to identify with them, and they reflect a more archaic and immature sense that does not correlate to the trends observed in modern, professional music.
ContributorsAllison, Lauren Nicole (Author) / Bhattacharjya, Nilanjana (Thesis director) / Ankeny, Casey (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Harrington Bioengineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
For my creative project, I began an art press that produces small-run vinyl records and artist's books. Initially, the venture began as a means to circumvent record pressing facilities as a vinyl record-cutting service. By the end of this project, the focus shifted to encompass more visual art products than just vinyl records. The project began with vinyl records because I saw a need in the market; in the past decade, the industry has grown dramatically, but the dozen record pressing plants in the country cannot keep up with the demand. Because record pressing companies prioritize large orders, it is difficult for many small bands and independent record labels to produce work on this medium. This is due to the long lead times, high prices, and large minimum order sizes. I located a man in Germany, who invented a machine that makes high-quality, lathe-cut records. I named the project Blushing Soup, as homage to my father, who passed during my first semester of college. It is through his passing that I was able to secure funds to pursue this venture. I brought on a partner, who was more familiar with art and audio recording than myself. In the summer of 2015, we met with this inventor to learn how to use his machine. By October of 2015, a machine of our own had arrived. In early November, Blushing Soup won a grant from the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art. During this time, we released two vinyl records for local bands. For a culminating project, I coordinated a Record Store Day compilation album consisting of six bands featuring. After securing all of the music, the machine started having problems, which forced me to cancel this release. Recognizing the delicacy of the machine, prompted a shift in the aim of Blushing Soup. During this process, I started learning printmaking processes, and I realized that Blushing Soup could function as more than a record cutting service; we could be an art press. In the last few month of this project, I started making artist's books. By the end of April 2016, Blushing Soup will have released vinyl records for two bands, as well as produced four handmade books. This creative project centered around the process of creating art through lathe cutting and printmaking; the objective was not to maximize profits but rather refocus the consumption of art (in a sustainable practice).
ContributorsStringer, Shelby Manning (Author) / Essig, Linda (Thesis director) / Peck, Sidnee (Committee member) / School of Art (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The music business has constantly evolved since its inception. Sheet music was the first physical form of music sold and was influenced by innovations in printing technology. Recorded music came about in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with Thomas Edison pioneering the phonograph record. Technology shifted from records to 8-tracks to cassettes, and finally, digital audio, which revolutionized the entire industry. Compact discs (CDs) skyrocketed in popularity during the 1990s and early 2000s, but so did file-sharing. To combat piracy, record labels began selling and streaming music online. Music sales have plummeted in all formats. Streaming reigns as the most popular form of music distribution, but it produces a mere fraction of the revenue traditional albums once did. The loss affects all those in the industry, especially the artists, who see an average of only $23.40 for every $1000 in music sold. But technology has allowed the independent artist to record and distribute their music to the world for little cost compared to their major label predecessors. Many wonder if the music industry is dead, but as with any other technological change in history, the adaptors and innovators will survive.
ContributorsDamiano, Alec (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis director) / Whyte, Rutger (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Only in the world of acting can an individual be denied a job simply on the basis of their appearance, and in my thesis, I sought to explore alternatives to this through the concept of nontraditional casting and casting against "type", which included the presentation of a full-length production of the musical "Once on this Island" which I attempted to cast based on vocal quality and skill alone rather than taking physical characteristics into account. I researched the history and implementation of nontraditional casting, both in regards to race and other factors such as gender, socio-economic status, and disability. I also considered the legal and intellectual property challenges that nontraditional casting can pose. I concluded from this research that while nontraditional casting is only one solution to the problem, it still has a great deal of potential to create diversity in theater. For my own show, I held the initial auditions via audio recording, though the callback auditions were held in person so that I and my crew could appraise dance and acting ability. Though there were many challenges with our cast after this initial round of auditions, we were able to solidify our cast and continue through the rehearsal process. All things said, the show was very successful. It is my hope that those who were a part of the show, either as part of the production or the audience, are inspired to challenge the concept of typecasting in contemporary theater.
ContributorsBriggs, Timothy James (Author) / Yatso, Toby (Thesis director) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2014-12
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
21st Century Breakdown: The Influence of Social Media on New Bands in the 21st Century is a creative project that explores the development of social media in its relation to music and how, over time, it has impacted the music industry. More specifically, the documentary explains the significance of social media to new bands at this moment in time (2017), which is seen through the development of local Phoenix band The Breaking Pattern. The documentary follows The Breaking Pattern for a year from the release of their debut album to the early stages of their second album. The documentary reveals that social media is essential to new bands, allows smaller bands to stay competitive in the industry and allows artists to present a certain identity, genuine or cultivated, to the public. Keywords: social media, identity, music, internet, documentary
ContributorsBosselman, Haley Erin (Author) / Jacoby, Jim (Thesis director) / Russell, Dennis (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
A piece of music consisting of a single movement was composed with baroque and classical elements. The piece is written in common time in D minor, and the key, along with the slow tempo, give the piece a somber mood. It is written for a string quartet: violin I, violin II, viola, and cello. The prominence and complexity of each of the four parts is evenly balanced so as not to give the impression that certain parts are more important. The piece is centered around a theme, which each of the parts plays in some form in the piece. This structure was largely inspired by Bach's Art of the Fugue, which introduces a theme (first played unaccompanied and unmodified in Contrapunctus I) and adds different variations in later movements. Like Bach's Art of the Fugue, the theme is passed between the four parts with new modifications in each introduction. After the completion of the theme, the progression was composed without specific inspiration to keep the piece as original as possible. To maintain a baroque style, the parts were composed separately and viewed as independent melodic lines. Ensuring that the lines were harmoniously interdependent was one of the largest challenges in this project. The piece was originally composed by hand on notebook paper, but a majority of the work was done using the professional music writing program Dorico. Dorico was an incredibly useful tool in this process because it easy to learn and allows users to try it free for a month.
ContributorsMunson, Cody (Author) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis director) / Fritz, Gregory (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
DescriptionReflections of Self is an original score containing three movements composed and transcribed entirely by myself (Cameron Labban) under the guidance of Dr. David Schildkret. The foundation of the movements within the score are based upon stand-alone melodies created since I first began teaching myself how to play the piano.
ContributorsLabban, Cameron Wael (Author) / Schildkret, David (Thesis director) / Evans, Bartlett (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In everyday life, unfocused attention can be detrimental to life either through driving vehicles, cutting vegetables, and learning new languages. In order to increase sustained attention, Binaural Beats were introduced. Binaural Beats have two different frequency tones which oscillate to produce different effects. Each of these beats operates at different frequencies thus having different sound production: theta, delta, alpha, beta, and gamma. In the experiment beta Binaural Beats with frequencies of 200 and 216 Hertz, Hz (unit of measurement for frequency), were used with a control of 200 Hz flat noise. The experiment utilized the psychomotor vigilance task to measure changes in response times and utilized Affectiva to measure changes in facial musculature. The response times were then analyzed to explain why the Binaural Beats condition had significantly shorter response times compared to the control group throughout the task. In terms of emotional change, some trends were noticed for the Binaural Beats and the control condition; however, none of the trends were significant. Moving forward with the experiment, an increased number of participants can be recorded to strengthen the validity and test different frequencies of Binaural Beats for accuracy.
ContributorsObulasetty, Mohitha (Author) / Brewer, Gene (Thesis director) / Wingert, Kimberly (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (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