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- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
Throughout history composers and artists have been inspired by the natural world. Nature's influence on music is extraordinary, though water in particular, has had a unique magnetic pull. The large number of compositions dealing with water, from Handel's Water Music (1717) to Ros Bandt's and Leah Barclay's Rivers Talk (2012), reflects this continuous fascination. Since the late 1940s, composers have ventured further and brought actual sounds from the environment, including water recorded on tape, into the musical arena. Moreover, since the 1960s, some composers have nudged their listeners to become more ecologically aware. Much skepticism exists, as with any unconventional idea in history, and as a result compositions belonging to this realm of musique concrète are not as widely recognized and examined as they should be. In this thesis, I consider works of three composers: Annea Lockwood, Eve Beglarian, and Leah Barclay, who not only draw inspiration from nature, but also use their creativity to call attention to pristine environments. All three composers embrace the idea that music can be broadly defined and use technology as a tool to communicate their artistic visions. These artists are from three different countries and represent three generations of composers who set precedents for a new way of composing, listening to, performing, and thinking about music and the environment. This thesis presents case studies of Lockwood's A Sound Map of the Danube River, Beglarian's Mississippi River Project, and Barclay's Sound Mirrors. This thesis draws on unpublished correspondence with the composers, analytical theories of R. Murray Schafer, Barry Truax, and Martijn Voorvelt, among others, musicological publications, eco-critical and environmental studies by Al Gore, Bill McKibben, and Vandana Shiva, as well as research by feminist scholars. As there is little written on music and nature from an eco-critical and eco-feminist standpoint, this thesis will contribute to the recognition of significant figures in contemporary music that might otherwise be overlooked. In this study I maintain that composers and sound artists engage with sounds in ways that reveal aspects of particular places, and their attitudes toward these places to lead listeners toward a greater ecological awareness.
ContributorsRichardson, Jamilyn (Author) / Feisst, Sabine (Thesis advisor) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Instrument design is intrinsic to multiple percussion solo performance preparation, from formulating a physical layout of instruments that best suit each work's technical requirements to fabricating unique instruments to fulfill each composer's sonic specifications. Several works in the multiple percussion repertoire require setups comprised partly or entirely of performer-built instruments. Given that performers have varying degrees of expertise with instrument design and construction, the specialized instruments created do not necessarily meet the level of care with which many of the masterworks in the percussion field were created. Even with the many articles, books, and other publications regarding the instrument design issues of specific works, solo percussion literature is so varied that many set-ups are created using a set of nebulous guidelines. Developing solutions to the problems inherent in multiple percussion instrument design is clearly a continuing effort. Instrument and setup design within selected works for solo multiple percussion is the focus of this document and will be addressed through specific examples from literature commonly performed on concert stages and educational institutions. The scope of this document is limited to the widely applicable design issues of three pieces: Maki Ishii's Thirteen Drums: for Percussion Solo, Op. 66 (1985), David Lang's The Anvil The Chorus: for Percussion Solo (1991), and Steve Reich's Music for Pieces of Wood: for claves (1973). The set-up designs for these pieces suggested by the author are largely the focus for which other material in this document is preparatory.
ContributorsColeman, Matthew (Author) / Smith, Jeffrey B. (Thesis advisor) / Sunkett, Mark (Committee member) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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
Due to the recent inclusion of a semi-regular "News from Latin America" column since 2007 in The Clarinet magazine and an increased emphasis on world music genre performances at the International Clarinet Association's annual ClarinetFest, Latin American clarinet compositions have become increasingly popular. Consequently, Latin American performers and composers are receiving more attention and recognition than ever before. The contemporary repertoire for clarinet increasingly includes works highlighted at the ClarinetFest international festivals, and many clarinetists express interest in finding new Latin American compositions. In order to supplement this growing Latin American repertoire and to introduce the life and works of Peruvian composer Armando Guevara Ochoa (1926-2013), this project presents a brief biography of the composer, a discussion of his musical style, and new editions of his popular works transcribed for clarinet. A recording of these works is included in an appendix to this document. Prior to this research, much of the scholarship written about Guevara Ochoa was in Spanish. While most sources and scholars relate that Guevara Ochoa composed over 400 works, the whereabouts of fewer than 200 are currently known. This project will supplement Guevara Ochoa's clarinet literature and raise awareness of his compositions in English-speaking countries.
ContributorsPalmer, Katherine H (Author) / Spring, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This document highlights the increased involvement of “ college boys ” or “ white college boys ” - better-educated middle-class white and light-skinned persons - in steelbands in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Following an introductory overview of the demography of Trinidad and Tobago, the history of Carnival, and the interregnum of the temporary instruments used between the ban of indigenous drums in the 1880s and the invention of the steelpan at the end of the 1930s, this document will examine the history and membership of these college boy bands, with particular emphasis on the Hit Paraders. Two factors that highlight the vital role played by these college boy steelbands are discussed: commercial sponsorship of bands, and support that bands received from the People's National Movement Party. A detailed timeline of steelpan invention and innovations is also included.
ContributorsDeLamater, Elizabeth (Author) / Smith, Jeffery B (Thesis advisor) / Sunkett, Mark (Committee member) / Bush, Jeff (Committee member) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The marimba has garnered increased attention in percussion performance over the past thirty years. Literature for beginners through professionals in a multitude of styles have been written. With the ever-growing number of marimbists since the 1980's there has been a high demand for new works. Numerous pieces were created through commissions: composers contracted to write music by individuals, institutions, and consortia. Three primary types of marimba solo music were written: unaccompanied solos, concerti, and marimba solos with electronic accompaniment. Since electronic music is relatively new in marimba performance, there is very little information published regarding this topic. Only a handful of well-known compositions in this genre have been widely performed, and a great number of existing works are unfamiliar to the percussion world. The goal of this study is to generate an overview of electronic music in marimba performance by compiling a chronological catalog of compositions written for solo marimba with electronics. In addition, this study wishes to promote this genre of solo marimba music through the commission, performance, examination, and recording of a new work for marimba and electronics. It is the author's wish to bring this topic to percussionists' attention, and to enrich the marimba solo literature by both exploring existing literature and encouraging the commissioning and performance of marimba music.
ContributorsChen, Yi-Chia (Author) / Smith, J.B. (Thesis advisor) / Bush, Jeffery (Committee member) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Sunkett, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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
The name of Geechie Wiley has surfaced only rarely since 1931, when she recorded her second session with the Paramount Company in Grafton, WI. A few scholars including Paul Oliver and Greil Marcus unearthed and promoted her music and called for further research on this enigmatic figure. In other publications, Wiley is frequently given only passing mention in long lists of talented female blues singer-guitarists, or briefly discussed in descriptions of songsters. Her music is lauded in the liner notes of the myriad compilation albums that have re-released her recordings. However, prior to this study, Marcus's three-page profile is the longest work written about Wiley; other contributions range between one sentence and two paragraphs in length. None really answers the question: who was Geechie Wiley? This thesis begins by documenting my attempt to piece together all information presently available on Geechie Wiley. A biographical chapter, supplemented with a discussion of the blues songster, follows. I then discuss my methodology and philosophy for transcription. This is followed by a critical and comparative analysis of the recordings, using the transcriptions as supplements. Finally, my fifth chapter presents conclusions about Wiley's life, career, and disappearance. My transcriptions of Wiley's six songs are found in the first appendix. Reproductions of Paramount Records advertisements are located in the final appendix. In these ways, this thesis argues that Wiley's work traces the transformation of African-American music from the general secular music of the songsters to the iconic blues genre.
ContributorsCordeiro, AnneMarie Youell (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Mook, Richard (Committee member) / Sunkett, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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
Venezuelan maraca playing is largely unknown to musicians with Western Art Music backgrounds. While some composers utilize the instrument and its associated performance practices, the resources available to learn about the subject are limited and scattered. Through research, observations, and studying with correspondences, this document will explore the vastness of Venezuelan musical concepts and maraca techniques to seek out common goals and generate a resource that is accessible to musicians and musicologists. A large part of this research will focus on the Contemporary Music in the Western tradition that has been inspired by Venezuelan maraca playing. I will explain the context in which this music is commonly found and how to apply it to a contemporary setting. The individuals I interviewed span a variety of backgrounds and expertise. All have extensive experience in Venezuelan maraca traditions. Their individual points of view will give unique perspectives to help affix the music of the past to the creation of music in the future. The limited resources on this subject inhibit education, performance quality, new music, and further research. Ultimately, my document and recordings will provide imperative examples to help develop a greater understanding of an understudied Venezuelan art form.
ContributorsMuller, Jeremy (Author) / Smith, Jeffrey (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Bush, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Sunkett, Mark (Committee member) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012