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Description
I believe the human mind is not an accurate reproducer of objects and events, but a tool that constructs their qualities. Philosophers Bowman Clarke, James John, and Amy Kind have argued for and against similar points, while Daniel Hoffman and Jay Dowling have debated cases from a psychological perspective. My understanding of their discourse surfaces in Cognize Normal-Like Pleez, a video installation designed to capture the enigmatic connection between perceivers and the things they perceive. The composition encapsulates this theme through a series of five videos that disseminate confusing imagery paired with mangled sounds. The miniatures operate in sequence on computer monitors set inside a haphazardously ornamented tower. Though the original sources for each video communicate clear, familiar subjects, the final product deliberately obscures them. Sometimes sounds and images flicker for only brief moments, perhaps too fast for the human mind to fully process. Though some information comes through, important data supplied by the surrounding context is absent.
I invite the audience to rationalize this complexing conglomerate and reflect on how their established biases inform their opinion of the work. Each person likely draws from his or her experiences, cultural conditioning, knowledge, and other personal factors in order to create an individual conceptualization of the installation. Their subjective conclusions reflect my belief concerning a neurological basis for the origin of qualities. One’s connection to Cognize’s images and sounds, to me, is not derived solely from characteristics inherent to it, but also endowed by one’s mind, which not only constructs the attributes one normally associates with the images and sounds (as opposed to the physics and biology that lead to their construction), but also seamlessly incorporates the aforementioned biases. I realize my ideas by focusing the topics of the videos and their setting around the transmission of information and its obfuscation. Just as one cannot see or hear past the perceptual barriers in Cognize, I believe one cannot escape his or her mind to “sense” qualities in an objective, disembodied manner, because the mind is necessary for perception.
I invite the audience to rationalize this complexing conglomerate and reflect on how their established biases inform their opinion of the work. Each person likely draws from his or her experiences, cultural conditioning, knowledge, and other personal factors in order to create an individual conceptualization of the installation. Their subjective conclusions reflect my belief concerning a neurological basis for the origin of qualities. One’s connection to Cognize’s images and sounds, to me, is not derived solely from characteristics inherent to it, but also endowed by one’s mind, which not only constructs the attributes one normally associates with the images and sounds (as opposed to the physics and biology that lead to their construction), but also seamlessly incorporates the aforementioned biases. I realize my ideas by focusing the topics of the videos and their setting around the transmission of information and its obfuscation. Just as one cannot see or hear past the perceptual barriers in Cognize, I believe one cannot escape his or her mind to “sense” qualities in an objective, disembodied manner, because the mind is necessary for perception.
ContributorsLempke, John Paul (Author) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Thesis advisor) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Stover, Chris (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Advances in computational processing have made big data analysis in fields like music information retrieval (MIR) possible. Through MIR techniques researchers have been able to study information on a song, its musical parameters, the metadata generated by the song's listeners, and contextual data regarding the artists and listeners (Schedl, 2014). MIR research techniques have been applied within the field of music and emotions research to help analyze the correlative properties between the music information and the emotional output. By pairing methods within music and emotions research with the analysis of the musical features extracted through MIR, researchers have developed predictive models for emotions within a musical piece. This research has increased our understanding of the correlative properties of certain musical features like pitch, timbre, rhythm, dynamics, mel frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC's), and others, to the emotions evoked by music (Lartillot 2008; Schedl 2014) This understanding of the correlative properties has enabled researchers to generate predictive models of emotion within music based on listeners' emotional response to it. However, robust models that account for a user's individualized emotional experience and the semantic nuances of emotional categorization have eluded the research community (London, 2001). To address these two main issues, more advanced analytical methods have been employed. In this article we will look at two of these more advanced analytical methods, machine learning algorithms and deep learning techniques, and discuss the effect that they have had on music and emotions research (Murthy, 2018). Current trends within MIR research, the application of support vector machines and neural networks, will also be assessed to explain how these methods help to address the two main issues within music and emotion research. Finally, future research within the field of machine and deep learning will be postulated to show how individuate models may be developed from a user or a pool of user's listening libraries. Also how developments of semi-supervised classification models that assess categorization by cluster instead of by nominal data, may be helpful in addressing the nuances of emotional categorization.
ContributorsMcgeehon, Timothy Makoto (Author) / Middleton, James (Thesis director) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
For my honors thesis, I chose a creative project that would incorporate expertise and skills from both of my undergraduate degrees at Arizona State University: Music Performance and Music Theory and Composition. The main goal for this project was to design and experience an artistic process of musical production and create a professional musical work to release on digital platforms. The musical process included five main components: Listening, Transcribing, Composing, Recording, and Post Production. The final product is a full album, titled This is Jam Music, that consists of eight pieces and a run time of 33 minutes.
ContributorsArora, Vashawn Michael (Author) / Gardner, Joshua (Thesis director) / Knowles, Kristina (Thesis director) / Libman, Jeffrey (Committee member) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
ABSTRACT
Wind band directors in the State of Arizona are required by the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association (ABODA) to choose at least one music selection from the “State Lists of Required Compositions” of Florida, Texas, and/or Virginia for their ABODA scholastic concert band festival presentation and adjudication. The works could also be used for school performance. Additionally, the Arizona State Department of Education requires Certified Wind Band Teachers to use the Arizona Academic Standards in the Arts Music – Performing Ensembles (updated in 2015) as source material for the standard that should be met by the conclusion of the academic year. This research explores the educational and pedagogical correlations between the state standards and an annotated list of select Wind Ensemble repertoire.
The Florida Bandmasters Association, Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association, and Texas’s University Interscholastic League’s lists of required compositions include thoughtfully selected titles that promote musical growth. A fourth list found in Richard Miles’ textbook series entitled Teaching Music Through Performance in Band (Volume 1-11) which promotes music education through rehearsal preparation and performance-based practices. This list will only include compositions that all four compilations selected. The list will convey the following information:
1. The average grade, title, composer and date of the composition
2. A brief program note about the composition
3. A description of each teaching standard covered by the selected repertoire
Additionally, the author has decided to add some works to the list to ensure the inclusion of race and gender diversity. These additional works may one day make the state required performance lists as time allows the selection process to catch up with the volume of repertoire added.
Wind band directors in the State of Arizona are required by the Arizona Band and Orchestra Directors Association (ABODA) to choose at least one music selection from the “State Lists of Required Compositions” of Florida, Texas, and/or Virginia for their ABODA scholastic concert band festival presentation and adjudication. The works could also be used for school performance. Additionally, the Arizona State Department of Education requires Certified Wind Band Teachers to use the Arizona Academic Standards in the Arts Music – Performing Ensembles (updated in 2015) as source material for the standard that should be met by the conclusion of the academic year. This research explores the educational and pedagogical correlations between the state standards and an annotated list of select Wind Ensemble repertoire.
The Florida Bandmasters Association, Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association, and Texas’s University Interscholastic League’s lists of required compositions include thoughtfully selected titles that promote musical growth. A fourth list found in Richard Miles’ textbook series entitled Teaching Music Through Performance in Band (Volume 1-11) which promotes music education through rehearsal preparation and performance-based practices. This list will only include compositions that all four compilations selected. The list will convey the following information:
1. The average grade, title, composer and date of the composition
2. A brief program note about the composition
3. A description of each teaching standard covered by the selected repertoire
Additionally, the author has decided to add some works to the list to ensure the inclusion of race and gender diversity. These additional works may one day make the state required performance lists as time allows the selection process to catch up with the volume of repertoire added.
ContributorsKoch, Paul Andrew (Author) / Hill, Gary W. (Thesis advisor) / Caslor, Jason (Committee member) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Concert bands as we know them today started in the nineteenth century. The repertoire at that time consisted primarily of orchestral transcriptions penned almost exclusively by people who identified as white male. In the twentieth century, even as the creation of original works for concert band became common place, the rate of compositions written by someone other than a white male was minimal. Composers from other communities were seldom played or introduced into the canon. Today, the instances of concerts including only white male composers are increasingly rare. Diverse and innovative programming have become much more the norm and the opportunities for composers from underrepresented communities have never been greater. This project describes the commissioning and recording process of six new compositions for concert band from composers of traditionally underrepresented communities and backgrounds. And since several of the pieces are playable by public school bands, it also includes a pedagogically-based performance guide for each work.
ContributorsJones, Malcolm James Arthur (Author) / Caslor, Jason (Thesis advisor) / Hudson, James G (Committee member) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Myers, Nathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Previous literature on synchronization to music using finger tapping tasks in a laboratory or otherwise controlled setting has led to some invaluable, albeit dated, theories about time and synchronization. In an effort to modernize some of the approaches utilized in research on music synchronization, this study applies established theories of music entrainment to a fieldwork study. Specifically, this study focuses on the extent to which participants of Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art disguised as a dance, synchronize to external timekeepers by analyzing icti in several types of movements and comparing them to musical rhythmic beats.
Sports psychology studies have shown that the presence of music can have involuntary effects on exercise. For example, walkers and runners will spontaneously synchronize gait to auditory signals. However, runners do not normally focus on choreology, acrobatics, and environmental stimuli while exercising. This study contributes to this field of research by adding observations and analyzing degrees of synchronization in a martial art, which may be more cognitively demanding than running.
In Capoeira, participants are still expected to attend to music. The degree of synchronization that occurs in a Capoeira class can then be compared with synchronization in martial arts that have music solely as a background component. These future studies would be analyzing music entrainment in real-life environments with physical activities that are more cognitively complex than running. Moreover, these future studies can help to confirm or challenge current theories of attention and music entrainment and synchronization.
Sports psychology studies have shown that the presence of music can have involuntary effects on exercise. For example, walkers and runners will spontaneously synchronize gait to auditory signals. However, runners do not normally focus on choreology, acrobatics, and environmental stimuli while exercising. This study contributes to this field of research by adding observations and analyzing degrees of synchronization in a martial art, which may be more cognitively demanding than running.
In Capoeira, participants are still expected to attend to music. The degree of synchronization that occurs in a Capoeira class can then be compared with synchronization in martial arts that have music solely as a background component. These future studies would be analyzing music entrainment in real-life environments with physical activities that are more cognitively complex than running. Moreover, these future studies can help to confirm or challenge current theories of attention and music entrainment and synchronization.
ContributorsRossi, Alex (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Knowles, Kristina (Thesis advisor) / Fossum, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
As research on injuries, performance anxiety, and general wellbeing of performing musicians broadens, many institutions and orchestra have begun to integrate health and wellness programs into their curriculums. Music is both a physical and mental discipline and the systemic practice of yoga may aid in developing good habits and body awareness, help musicians maintain proper posture, strengthen commonly injured parts of the body, remove stiffness, and combat performance anxiety.
While the musical world is recognizing the need to implement programs that preserve health and wellbeing, very few performing musicians are actually trained and certified to provide guidance in the area, particularly yoga. This document explores the history of yoga, since the studies used along with the authors experience encompass multiple schools and aspects of the yoga practice.
The author lays out the aspects of a successful performance: mental well-being, physical well-being, and preparedness of music. Studies are explored to provide understanding of the physical and mental challenges musicians frequently face. To aid in preventing and coping with these challenges, physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation are the tools explored within this document.
The author utilizes scientific studies, research, anatomical knowledge, and yoga teaching experience to lay out the many ways that yoga may benefit musicians. This document concludes by to laying out sequences of postures for the reader. The postures, breath practices, and meditations suggested within these sequences are explained within the documents so that the reader may practice safely and correctly. The intention is that any performing musician is able to participate in the postures and sequences and benefit from the practice of yoga, without any yoga experience. The integration of yoga and performing musicians by qualified professionals could shift a readers experience with performance anxiety or performance injuries.
While the musical world is recognizing the need to implement programs that preserve health and wellbeing, very few performing musicians are actually trained and certified to provide guidance in the area, particularly yoga. This document explores the history of yoga, since the studies used along with the authors experience encompass multiple schools and aspects of the yoga practice.
The author lays out the aspects of a successful performance: mental well-being, physical well-being, and preparedness of music. Studies are explored to provide understanding of the physical and mental challenges musicians frequently face. To aid in preventing and coping with these challenges, physical postures, breathing exercises, and meditation are the tools explored within this document.
The author utilizes scientific studies, research, anatomical knowledge, and yoga teaching experience to lay out the many ways that yoga may benefit musicians. This document concludes by to laying out sequences of postures for the reader. The postures, breath practices, and meditations suggested within these sequences are explained within the documents so that the reader may practice safely and correctly. The intention is that any performing musician is able to participate in the postures and sequences and benefit from the practice of yoga, without any yoga experience. The integration of yoga and performing musicians by qualified professionals could shift a readers experience with performance anxiety or performance injuries.
ContributorsBorden, Brianne (Author) / Hickman, David (Thesis advisor) / Swoboda, Deanna (Committee member) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Most violinists of the Western classical tradition are untrained in the aural skills and left-hand techniques of microtonal intervals. This document surveys the nature of the problem and presents a manual for self-teaching the three-quarter tone step—the equal tempered ‘neutral second’ (N2) a quarter tone between the major and minor second intervals—through the melodic syntax of specific Persian classical music (PCM) modes. While the paper does not teach PCM performance, it does offer a method of melodic functional hearing through a new solmization system designed specifically for PCM. Additionally, the paper guides readers through the PCM repertoire by grouping modes with a shared functional usage of the N2. Combined with the pedagogical research of learning modalities and Edwin Gordon’s Music Learning Theory, these tools provide violinists with a method for achieving the aural accessibility and performance mastery of the N2. This process serves as a future model for learning unfamiliar intervals both within and without the Western classical tradition.
ContributorsDiBarry, Michael (Author) / McLin, Katherine (Thesis advisor) / Buck, Nancy (Committee member) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
There are as many different approaches to artistic collaboration theory as there are authors who have created them. This paper postulates that collaboration is a stage of the artistic co-creative group-work process. Theories of collaboration were examined to isolate verbiage used in various attempted definitions of artistic collaboration. Two theories were selected to serve as a joint model for the creation and maintenance of a collaboration stage during the artistic co-creative group-work process including a derived series of conditions required for a co-creative initial stage to qualify as collaboration. Those conditions were then applied to five collaborative situations to determine if each situation had established a collaboration stage, how that establishment occurred, if that collaborative atmosphere was maintained over the life of the co-creative process, how the presentational outcome of the group-work was affected by the presence or lack of a collaboration stage, and finally this collaborator’s general reactions to the process.
ContributorsBusch, Ashlee T (Author) / Bolanos, Gabriel (Thesis advisor) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Temporal Creative Entanglement and the Composer’s Search for a Unique Voice is about some of the creative challenges inherent in the composing process. Creative entanglement is when a composer gets caught up—entangled—in the creative process and it tarnishes their sense of how to appropriately assemble the formal structure of a piece. The word temporal means that I’m focusing on how a lot of creative entanglement happens because of process / product disparities related to time. Process / product disparity is the term I use to describe the enormous differences between the experience of composing and the experience of hearing the premiere of a work. And, I bring up the composer’s search for a unique voice because composers are especially vulnerable to creative entanglement when they are trying to write in a new style. I try to identify some different ways a composer can become entangled by discussing some specific ways that people subconsciously process music (musical expectations and information flow). I draw on the works of David Huron, Fred Lerdahl, and John Sloboda, among others, to paint a picture of the different mental processes that occur during composing and listening. I discuss how schematic, veridical, and dynamic expectations work in the mind of composer and the listener, and how these relate to creative entanglement. I also discuss how the conception of large-scale form fits into this topic. In the conclusion, I offer some thoughts on approaching composing from the perspective of creative entanglement. To close, I offer a perspective about artistic satisfaction and composing.
ContributorsClay, William (Author) / Bolanos, Gabriel (Thesis advisor) / Temple, Alex (Committee member) / Knowles, Kristina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021