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"Being" a Stickist: A Phenomenological Consideration of "Dwelling" in a Virtual Music Scene

Musical instruments are not static, unchanging objects. They are, instead, things that materially evolve in symmetry with human practices. Alterations to an instrument's design often attend to its ergonomic or expressive capacity, but sometimes an innovator causes an entirely new instrument to arise. One such instrument is the Chapman Stick. This instrument's history is closely intertwined with global currents that have evolved into virtual, online scenes. Virtuality obfuscates embodiment, but … more

Date: May 2010

Creator: Hodges, Jeff

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries

open access

Caught Between Jazz and Pop: The Contested Origins, Criticism, Performance Practice, and Reception of Smooth Jazz.

In Caught Between Jazz and Pop, I challenge the prevalent marginalization and malignment of smooth jazz in the standard jazz narrative. Furthermore, I question the assumption that smooth jazz is an unfortunate and unwelcomed evolutionary outcome of the jazz-fusion era. Instead, I argue that smooth jazz is a long-lived musical style that merits multi-disciplinary analyses of its origins, critical dialogues, performance practice, and reception. Chapter 1 begins with an examination of current mis… more

Date: December 2008

Creator: West, Aaron J.

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries

open access

It's Not Fusion: Hybridity in the Music of Vijay Iyer and Rudresh Mahanthappa

This thesis concerns the performance of identity in the music of Indian American jazz musicians Rudresh Mahanthappa and Vijay Iyer. In combining the use of Indian classical music elements with jazz, Iyer and Mahanthappa create music that is inextricably tied to their multifaceted identities. Traditional musicological analysis is juxtaposed with a theoretical framework that draws on postcolonial theory and the history of Asian immigrant populations to the U.S. I chronicle the interactions betwee… more

Date: December 2012

Creator: Govind, Arathi

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries

open access

Opera at the Threshold of a Revolution: Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites (1953-1956)

Francis Poulenc’s three-act opera Dialogues des Carmélites (1953-1956) depicts the struggles of the novice nun Blanche de la Force during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. The use of Latin liturgical music at critical points in the opera conveys the ritualistic nature of Catholic worship. The spiritual message of mystical substitution, along with the closely related notion of vicarious suffering, imbue the opera with a spirituality that offers a sharp contrast to earlier operatic … more

Date: December 2011

Creator: Beard, Cynthia C.

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries

open access

Performing the “Classical”: the Gurukula System in Karnatic Music Society

Recent scholarship has revealed that the representation of Karnatic music as a “classical” art form in South Indian society was a complicated process bound to the agendas of larger early twentieth-century nationalist projects in India. This thesis explores the notions of classicalness as they are enacted in Karnatic music society through the oral transmission process from guru to shishya, or disciple. Still considered one of the most important emblems of the “classical,” the gurukula (lit. “g… more

Date: August 2012

Creator: Harris, Myranda Leigh

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries

open access

Physical Gesture, Spatialization, Form and Transformation in Watershed I/IV, for Solo Percussion and Real-time Computer Spatialization, by Roger Reynolds

Watershed I/IV, for Solo Percussion and Real-time Computer Spatialization was composed in 1995 by Pulitzer prize-winning composer Roger Reynolds. This work is a 25-minute choreographed music drama for one multiple-percussionist, in which Reynolds incorporates the musical transformation of percussion instrument families, the physical gestures of the performer, and the spatialization of processed sounds around the audience. This dissertation addresses several aspects of Watershed, which include… more

Date: December 2009

Creator: Licata, Julie M.

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries

open access

“Sounds for Adventurous Listeners”: Willis Conover, the Voice of America, and the International Reception of Avant-garde Jazz in the 1960S

In “Sounds for Adventurous Listeners,” I argue that Conover’s role in the dissemination of jazz through the Music USA Jazz Hour was more influential on an educational level than what literature on Conover currently provides. Chapter 2 begins with an examination of current studies regarding the role of jazz in Cold War diplomacy, the sociopolitical implications of avant-garde jazz and race, the convergence of fandom and propaganda, the promoter as facilitator of musical trends, and the influence… more

Date: August 2012

Creator: Breckenridge, Mark A.

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries

open access

The Waning of Victorian Imperialism: Stylistic Dualism in Gustav Holst's One-Act Opera Sāvitri (1908-9)

Gustav Holst's one-act opera Sāvitri (1908-9) represents a turning point in his compositional style, which came at a significant time in British history. Holst combines a simpler style informed by his work with English folksong with the Wagnerian style that permeated his earlier compositions. Although influenced by a British imperialist view of the world, Sāvitri renders Hindu-Indian culture in positive terms without relying on the purely exotic, offers a perspective on gender relationships tha… more

Date: May 2005

Creator: Broughton, Joseph Earl

Item Type: Thesis or Dissertation

Partner: UNT Libraries