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- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Description
This project aims to produce repertoire that will help bridge the gap between classical music and jazz, particularly focusing on some of the obstacles that female classical saxophonists face when playing jazz. By commissioning six new works for saxophone and piano written by female jazz composers, this project facilitates an entry-level experience with improvised materials that will help break down this barrier for interested saxophonists. The compositions are From A to Z: Two Women’s Journeys by Ayn Inserto, Sunlit Dream by Annie Booth, Taking Flight by Katelyn Vincent, Des-Dunes by Sam Spear, Jogo by Yoko Suzuki, and Impromptu by Aida De Moya. For each work, this project provides recordings, performance guides, improvisation guides, biographical contents, and program notes. I hope to encourage young female saxophonists to explore their interests in jazz without fear or reservation through performance of these pieces.
ContributorsZelenak, Kristen (Author) / Creviston, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
As recent government administrations prioritized the criminalization and deportation of immigrants, Latinx are in danger of being targeted by police. Thus, it is important to investigate and assess Latinx views of the police in the US in order to create safe communities and reduce crime. To date, no instrument has captured Latinx perceptions of police beyond the frequency of past experience and global perception of the treatment of the general public. Therefore, creating a psychometrically supported measure that captures the unique perceptions of police among the Latinx population is necessary. The current study aims to psychometrically validate the Latinx Perceptions of Police Scale (LPOPS) (e.g., evidence of validity and reliability via confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, convergent and concurrent validity, mean differences among groups, and measurement invariance testing). The study’s final analytic sample included 248 individuals self-identified as Latinx using an online survey. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the three-factor model of the LPOPS with a Cronbach’s alpha above 0.85. The LPOPS contains 19 items and three subscales: Police Views of Latinx, Anxiety of Interacting with Police Officers, and Fear of Police Abuse. Results from the Pearson bivariate analysis provided evidence of convergent validity as there were associations between the LPOPS subscales, past measures of view of police (e.g., Perception of Police Scale, Police and Law Enforcement Scale), and other psychological constructs (e.g., anxiety, depression, stress, discrimination). Further, results of the multi-group confirmatory analysis indicated that the LPOPS could be used among (race; skin-tone). Lastly, participants who reported darker skin tones reported higher mean scores on the Anxiety of Interacting with Police Officers and Fear of Police Abuse subscales. By further validating a scale that captures perceptions of police among Latinx in a quantitative way, researchers can begin exploring its association with various mental health outcomes.
ContributorsAltamirano, Elizabeth (Author) / Dillon, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Capielo, Cristalis (Committee member) / Vargas, Edward D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
This paper highlights a method for jazz transcription, comprehension, and practice to be implemented primarily in applied saxophone instruction with undergraduate students. The purpose is the identify and mend the divide between jazz and classical that appears in academia. This divide is one that came about by necessity in the saxophone’s relative youth in the academic world as it found solid footing in conservatories around the world. A literature review establishes the current state of dialogue between both jazz and classical in the academic saxophone community, including the current state of crossover scholarship that discusses the interaction between multiple genres. This review investigates what serves as pedagogical material in an aural discipline like jazz. A thorough approach to transcription is crucial change to the standard practice of jazz transcription typically employed in applied saxophone studios. This approach takes the focus away from the product and places it on the process. This process is demonstrated through a transcription and deconstruction of Charlie Parker’s “Cheryl.” Though this approach is presented through the perspective of a saxophonist, this process can be applied to any number of instrumental disciplines seeking to understand jazz transcription and improvisation more fully.
ContributorsFeher, Patrick Francis (Author) / Creviston, Christopher (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Libman, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Caslor, Jason (Committee member) / Wells, Christi Jay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
William “Count” Basie (1904-1984) is one of the most beloved and imitated figures in American music. His name has long been ubiquitous among jazz scholars, critics, and practitioners. Basie’s sparse, minimalistic piano idiolect is immediately recognizable, and the 4/4 swing aesthetic of his Kansas City-born jazz orchestra is a cornerstone of the big band idiom. “Stories and Significations” critically examines prevailing narratives about Basie’s biography and musical output, many of which have not been substantively reconsidered since the 1980s. Through an interdisciplinary synthesis of methods ranging from Afrodiasporic modes of musical analysis, archival research, critical historiography, and African American literary theory, this project serves to enrich Basie’s legacy while also critiquing the mythology surrounding it. By signifying on the traditional “Life and Music” paradigm of jazz biography, in “Stories and Significations” I use preexisting scholarly and critical discourses as points of departure for critique while also offering scholars and practitioners new ways to write, talk, and think about Basie. In doing so, I bring Basie, the stories of his life, and the Significations in his music into the rich scholarly discourse of the New Jazz Studies that has added such valuable depth and detail to the legacies of numerous other figures in jazz history such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Miles Davis.
ContributorsDavis, Jayson Owen (Author) / Wells, Christi J (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Schmelz, Peter (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Immigrants and their U.S.-born children account for 26% of the American population as of 2020. Despite this large proportion, 14% of immigrants live below the federal poverty line compared to 12% of U.S.-born citizens. The immigrant population is vulnerable to food and housing insecurity and limited access to social services and medical care, on top of navigating the increasingly convoluted immigration system. Migrant women and children are especially at risk for systemic, poverty-related adversities. Periods of pregnancy and postpartum are particularly financially straining due to employment disruptions and additional expenses. Migrant mothers experience adverse health outcomes due to chronic stress, unstable living situations, integration barriers, and an unfavorable occupational environment during pregnancy. In addition to the postpartum needs of a new mother and her baby, these challenges may be barriers to maintaining breastfeeding. The unanticipated COVID-19 pandemic exasperated many existing systemic inequities and brought additional hardship. This study aims to investigate breastfeeding rates among immigrant mothers compared to U.S.-born mothers and other social disparities that affect health. While this study did not find a statistical difference between breastfeeding adherence and immigrant status during the COVID-19 pandemic, other risk factors relating to maternal-child health were identified. Immigrant families were more likely to experience job or income loss and a higher frequency of food insecurity compared to families with U.S.-born parents. The risks of being impoverished greatly reduce the incidence of breastfeeding, which can offer tremendous health benefits both to mother and baby. Most immigrants migrating to the U.S. are ethnic minorities who face additional societal disparities in culture, employment, economic stability, safety, and healthcare. The burden of social determinants of health that impact this population is not unique to adults. The moment a child is born into an immigrant family, particularly if they are also an ethnic minority, they inherit risk factors that can impact their entire lifespan. Ultimately, the risks associated with pregnancy and infant feeding are issues of social justice and health equity.
ContributorsFahmy, Gabriella (Author) / Whisner, Corrie (Thesis advisor) / Schuster, Roseanne (Thesis advisor) / Mayol-Kreiser, Sandra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The Stan Kenton Clinics changed music education in American public schools by providing inspiring jazz learning experiences to countless students and music teachers. Stan Kenton was a well-known mid-twentieth century jazz big band leader who devoted his time, money, and fame in support of these educational clinics. The clinics began in 1959 under the auspices of the National Stage Band Camps and continued until Kenton's death in 1979. The present study comprises a first-of-its-kind history of the clinics, focusing primarily on the first five years of their existence. This history is subsequently used as a case for contemplating future changes to music education.
ContributorsBotts, Nathan (Author) / Tobias, Evan (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Jacob, Richard (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
United States and Mexico population statistics show clear evidence of return migration. This study uses qualitative data collected in a municipality in the State of Mexico during the summer of 2010 from families comprised of Mexican nationals and United States-born children post-relocation to Mexico. Using Portes and Zhou's theoretical framework on modes of incorporation, this study illustrates the government policy, societal reception and coethnic community challenges the first and second generation face in their cases of family return migration. This study finds that the municipal government is indifferent to foreign children and their incorporation in Mexico schools. Furthermore, extended family and community, may not always aid the household's adaptation to Mexico. Despite the lack of a coethnic community, parents eventually acclimate into manual and entrepreneurial positions in society and the children contend to find a place called home.
ContributorsMedina, Dulce (Author) / Menjivar, Cecilia (Thesis advisor) / Seline Szkupinski-Quiroga, Seline (Committee member) / Glick, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Wage theft is a national epidemic that only recently became the focus of increasing research, critical public questioning, and activism. Given the socio- political climate in Maricopa County, Arizona and the heightened national attention on the state, this study answers important questions about the work experiences of immigrant workers in the region. Through an analysis of interviews with 14 low-wage Mexican workers from a local worker rights center, I explore workers' access to traditional recourse, the effects of wage theft on workers and families, and the survival strategies they utilize to mitigate the effects of sudden income loss. By providing an historical overview of immigration and employment law, I show how a dehumanized and racialized labor force has been structurally maintained and exploited. Furthermore, I describe the implications of two simultaneous cultures on the state of labor: the culture of fear among immigrants to assert their rights and utilize recourse, and the culture of criminality and impunity among employers who face virtually no sanctions when they are non-compliant with labor law. The results indicate that unless the rights of immigrant workers are equally enforced and recourse is made equally accessible, not only will the standards for pay and working conditions continue to collapse, but the health of Latino communities will also deteriorate. I assert that in addition to structural change, a shift in national public discourse and ideology is critical to substantive socio-political transformation.
ContributorsSanidad, Cristina (Author) / Téllez, Michelle (Thesis advisor) / Adelman, Madelaine (Committee member) / Gomez, Alan E (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In this study, I investigate the digital literacy practices of adult immigrants, and their relationship with transnational processes and practices. Specifically, I focus on their conditions of access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their life trajectories, their conditions of learning in a community center, and their appropriation of digital literacy practices for transnational purposes. By studying the culturally situated nature of digital literacies of adult learners with transnational affiliations, I build on recent empirical work in the fields of New Literacy Studies, sociocultural approaches to learning, and transnational studies. In this qualitative study, I utilized ethnographic techniques for data collection, including participant observation, interviewing, and collection of material and electronic artifacts. I drew from case study approaches to analyze and present the experiences of five adult first-generation immigrant participants. I also negotiated multiple positionalities during the two phases of the study: as a participant observer and instructor's aide during the Basic Computer Skills course participants attended, and as a researcher-practitioner in the Web Design course that followed. From these multiple vantage points, my analysis demonstrates that participants' access to ICTs is shaped by structural factors, family dynamics, and individuals' constructions of the value of digital literacies. These factors influence participants' conditions of access to material resources, such as computer equipment, and access to mentoring opportunities with members of their social networks. In addition, my analysis of the instructional practices in the classroom shows that instructors used multiple modalities, multiple languages and specialized discourses to scaffold participants' understandings of digital spaces and interfaces. Lastly, in my analysis of participants' repertoires of digital literacy practices, I found that their engagement in technology use for purposes of communication, learning, political participation and online publishing supported their maintenance of transnational affiliations. Conversely, participants' transnational ties and resources supported their appropriation of digital literacies in everyday practice. This study concludes with a discussion on the relationship among learning, digital literacies and transnationalism, and the contributions of critical and ethnographic perspectives to the study of programs that can bridge digital inequality for minority groups.
ContributorsNoguerón, Silvia Cecilia (Author) / Warriner, Doris S (Thesis advisor) / Faltis, Christian J (Committee member) / Mccarty, Teresa (Committee member) / Wiley, Terrence (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