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CYOA is a prototype of an iPhone application that produces a single, generative, musical work. This document details some of the thoughts and practices that informed its design, and specifically addresses the overlap between application structure and musical form. The concept of composed instruments is introduced and briefly discussed, some features of video game design that relate to this project are considered, and some specifics of hardware implementation are addressed.
ContributorsPeterson, Julian (Author) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This study analyzes syllabi for first-year college composition courses and interview responses to examine how the choices made by instructors affect online course design. Using the Syllabus Assessment Instrument designed by Madson, Melchert and Whipp (2004), this dissertation looks specifically at attendance and participation policies, course behavior policies, contact information, required material choices, course organization decisions and tool decisions to reveal how instructors do or do not accommodate online class pedagogies. This study finds that the choices instructors make in syllabus design provide significant information about the overall online course design itself. Using Selber's multiliteracies as a frame for understanding the choices made by instructors, this study finds that instructors focus primarily on functional literacies in their discourses and in the way they communicate their choices to students. Instructors vary in how they inform students of the mechanics of how to interact with tools, how often to interact with the online course, and how to use the tools within the online course. While these aspects of online courses are important, focusing on these aspects of the online course overshadows alternative perspectives on tool use that could encourage critical reflection by both instructors and students. To help instructors and departments design more effective syllabi and courses, this study raises questions and offers observations about how instructors communicate policies and how they understand these policies and pedagogies in online courses. In providing general guidelines for syllabus design and course design, this study will help writing instructors and composition programs better understand the significance of the choices they make in online course design.
ContributorsPfannenstiel, Amber Nicole (Author) / Goggin, Peter (Thesis advisor) / Daly Goggin, Maureen (Committee member) / Hayes, Elisabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Three Meditations on the Philosophy of Boethius is a musical piece for guitar, piano interior, and computer. Each of the three movements, or meditations, reflects one level of music according to the medieval philosopher Boethius: Musica Mundana, Musica Humana, and Musica Instrumentalis. From spatial aspects, through the human element, to letting sound evolve freely, different movements revolve around different sounds and sound producing techniques.
ContributorsDori, Gil (Contributor) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Past research has shown that students have difficulty developing a robust conception of function. However, little prior research has been performed dealing with student knowledge of function composition, a potentially powerful mathematical concept. This dissertation reports the results of an investigation into student understanding and use of function composition, set against the backdrop of a precalculus class that emphasized quantification and covariational reasoning. The data were collected using task-based, semi-structured clinical interviews with individual students outside the classroom. Findings from this study revealed that factors such as the student's quantitative reasoning, covariational reasoning, problem solving behaviors, and view of function influence how a student understands and uses function composition. The results of the study characterize some of the subtle ways in which these factors impact students' ability to understand and use function composition to solve problems. Findings also revealed that other factors such as a students' persistence, disposition towards "meaning making" for the purpose of conceptualizing quantitative relationships, familiarity with the context of a problem, procedural fluency, and student knowledge of rules of "order of operations" impact a students' progress in advancing her/his solution approach.
ContributorsBowling, Stacey (Author) / Carlson, Marilyn P (Thesis advisor) / Thompson, Patrick W (Committee member) / Moore, Kevin C (Committee member) / Milner, Fabio (Committee member) / Van de Sande, Carla (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The purpose of this study was to compare perceptions of success and failure, attributions of success and failure, predictions of future success, and reports of out-of-class engagement in composition among middle school band students composing in open task conditions (n = 32) and closed task conditions (n = 31). Two intact band classes at the same middle school were randomly assigned to treatment groups. Both treatment groups composed music once a week for eight weeks during their regular band time. In Treatment A (n = 32), the open task group, students were told to compose music however they wished. In Treatment B (n = 31), the closed task group, students were given specific, structured composition assignments to complete each week. At the end of each session, students were asked to complete a Composing Diary in which they reported what they did each week. Their responses were coded for evidence of perceptions of success and failure as well as out-of-class engagement in composing. At the end of eight weeks, students were given three additional measures: the Music Attributions Survey to measure attributions of success and failure on 11 different subscales; the Future Success survey to measure students' predictions of future success; and the Out-of-Class Engagement Letter to measure students' engagement with composition outside of the classroom. Results indicated that students in the open task group and students in the closed task group behaved similarly. There were no significant differences between treatment groups in terms of perceptions of success or failure as composers, predictions of future success composing music, and reports of out-of-class engagement in composition. Students who felt they failed at composing made similar attributions for their failure in both treatment groups. Students who felt they succeeded also made similar attributions for their success in both treatment groups, with one exception. Successful students in the closed task group rated Peer Influence significantly higher than the successful students in the open task group. The findings of this study suggest that understanding individual student's attributions and offering a variety of composing tasks as part of music curricula may help educators meet students' needs.
ContributorsSchwartz, Emily, 1985- (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra L (Thesis advisor) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Broatch, Jennifer (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Preservation Symphony is a short, multi-movement, orchestral composition that explores the versatility of the [016] pitch class set as the dominant unifying force of this cyclical work. The composition is scored for Piccolo, two Flutes, two Oboes, English Horn, two Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, full complement of Brass, Timpani, two Percussionists, and Strings. Movement one is in sonata form; the [016] set is used in structuring its overall formal scheme. The primary focus of the movement is on the tritone [0 6] as a replacement for the traditional tonic and dominant polarity. The movement features a driving force that alternates between pulse subdivisions of even sixteenth notes and sixteenth-note triplets. Movement two is in simple binary form with a central tonality of A. An English Horn solo functions as both the opening of the movement and a transition from the tonality of movement one (F) into the new tonal center of A. The unifying pitch class set [016] is used in this movement in a Phrygian context. Movement two has a contemplative and dark tone, which is in stark contrast to the outer movements. Movement three has a lighter, upbeat nature. The movement is in rondo form with its main theme written in a folk-like character. This movement returns to F as the central tonality, completing the overall tonal plan of the work. As in movement one, it explores the tritone polarity of F and B. The movement also revisits the chromatic mediant relationship found in the middle of movement two in the oboes. The pitch class set is now used in the context of a Lydian-Mixolydian (or acoustic) scale, from which both the central and secondary themes of the rondo are derived.
ContributorsKemp, Tyler (Composer) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The study develops a better understanding of what is valued in L2 academic writing in IEP and FYC programs through a comparative case study approach, identifying the assumptions and underlying values of program directors and instructors in both types of instructional settings. The goal of the study is to understand more about second language writing pedagogy for international students in these programs, as well as to provide university administrators with a better understanding of how to improve writing instruction for multilingual students, who have become a key part of the U.S. higher education mission. Data include program-level mission statements, course descriptions and objectives, curricular materials, as well as interviews with teachers and program directors. Major findings show that there is a tension between language-focused vs. rhetoric-focused approaches to second language writing instruction in the two contexts. IEP instruction sought to build on students' language proficiency, and writing instruction was rooted in a conception of writing as language organized by structural principles, while the FYC program emphasized writing as a tool for communication and personal growth. Based on these findings, I provide recommendations for improving graduate education for all writing teachers, developing more comprehensive needs analysis procedures, and establishing administrative structures to support international multilingual students.
ContributorsHammill, Matthew Joseph (Author) / Matsuda, Paul Kei (Thesis advisor) / James, Mark A (Committee member) / Rose, Shirley (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Since 1999, a small group of groundbreaking orchestral works for turntables and orchestra has surfaced on the concert stage. These compositions explore the possibilities of the turntables and invite an intriguing fusion of musical cultures of the classically trained musician and the hip-hop DJ. Since DJ turntablists typically follow an improvised tradition and do not read music, the composer must find an effective means of notating the turntables and collaborate with the turntablist in the execution of the work. As interest in turntables composition grows, there is a need for discussion and a compositional guide with advice based on present day works. In effort to contribute a guide for turntablism composition, my research includes a historical and composer perspective that discusses turntables techniques, operation of the equipment, digital technology, hip-hop background, history of the instrument, and works of the past and present with musical excerpts pertaining to the notation and use of the turntables. Specific sources include: RPM by Nicole Lizée, Concerto for Trumpet, Turntables, and Orchestra by Paul Leary, Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra by Gabriel Prokofiev, and Stephen Webber's turntable method book The Art of the DJ Turntable Technique. Interviews with composers Prokofiev, Lizée, and Leary have provided important primary source information regarding their experience with turntablism composition and performance. Unrelated to the above research and attached as an appendix, my composition Andrew's Ritual for Bedtime for chamber orchestra is a single movement for choreographed dance that depicts a mother preparing her energetic young son for bed. The title references the nightly rituals parents undertake in order to prepare their children for bedtime.
ContributorsOuper, Jeffrey Thomas (Author) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Thesis advisor) / Standley, Eileen (Committee member) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
A systematic approach to composition has been used by a variety of composers to control an assortment of musical elements in their pieces. This paper begins with a brief survey of some of the important systematic approaches that composers have employed in their compositions, devoting particular attention to Pierre Boulez's Structures Ia . The purpose of this survey is to examine several systematic approaches to composition by prominent composers and their philosophy in adopting this type of approach. The next section of the paper introduces my own systematic approach to composition: the Take-Away System. The third provides several musical applications of the system, citing my work, Octulus for two pianos, as an example. The appendix details theorems and observations within the system for further study.
ContributorsHarbin, Doug (Author) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Etezady, Roshanne, 1973- (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Delirium is a piece for large wind ensemble that synthesizes compositional techniques to generate unique juxtapositions of contrasting musical elements. The piece is about 8:30 long and uses the full complement of winds, brass, and percussion. Although the composition begins tonally, chromatic alterations gradually shift the melodic content outside of the tonal center. In addition to changes in the melody, octatonic, chromatic, and synthetic scales and quartal and quintal harmonies are progressively introduced throughout the piece to add color and create dissonance. Delirium contains four primary sections that are all related by chromatic mediant. The subdivisions of the first part create abrupt transitions between contrasting material, evocative of the symptoms of delirium. As each sub-section progresses, the A minor tonality of the opening gradually gives way to increased chromaticism and dissonance. The next area transitions to C minor and begins to feature octatonic scales, secundal harmonies, and chromatic flourishes more prominently. The full sound of the ensemble then drops to solo instruments in the third section, now in G# minor, where the elements of the previous section are built upon with the addition of synthetic scales and quartal harmonies. The last division, before the recapitulation of the opening material, provides a drastic change in atmosphere as the chromatic elements from before are removed and the tense sound of the quartal harmonies are replaced with quintal sonorities and a more tonal melody. The tonality of this final section is used to return to the opening material. After an incomplete recapitulation, the descending motive that is used throughout the piece, which can be found in measure 61 in the flutes, is inverted and layered by minor 3rds. This inverted figure builds to the same sonority found in measure138, before ending on an F# chord, a minor third away from the A minor tonal center of the opening and where the piece seems like it should end.
ContributorsBell, Jeremy, 1986- (Composer) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011