Fine Arts and Music Collected Works - Theses
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ItemCritical reflections on how research design and the attributes of a music program can affect investigations of the psychosocial wellbeing benefits of musical participation in mainstream schools(University of Melbourne, 2015)This project explores the challenges of investigating the psychosocial wellbeing benefits of musical participation in mainstream schools. For a decade, Australian policy literature has claimed these benefits are to be expected outcomes of all students� participation in school music programs (Australian Government, 2005). Despite these claims, there is little to no consistent evidence supporting a link between musical participation and psychosocial wellbeing in this context (Grimmett, Rickard, Gill, & Murphy, 2010; Rickard, Bambrick, & Gill, 2012). The reason for this inconsistency has been linked to both the research designs and methods used (Knox Anderson & Rickard, 2007), as well as the nature of musical participation investigated (Darrow, Novak, Swedberg, Horton, & Rice, 2009). Despite the identification of these limitations, researchers have continued to use designs that contain them. This can be attributed to a lack of critical engagement with approaches to research in this field, including assumptions about the efficacy of certain research methods, and the capacity for generic school music programs to promote wellbeing. This lack of critical engagement appears to account for the enduring inconsistency of findings in this area. This thesis aims to address this lack of engagement by critically appraising the research approaches used in two small studies that aimed to demonstrate the psychosocial wellbeing benefits of school-based music programs. This was achieved by undertaking two critical reflection analyses on the methods, designs, and contexts of each study, as well as the attributes of the music programs investigated. The first of these identified a number of important research challenges related to the research methods and designs used. Among other things, these findings challenge the assumption that self-report surveys are a valid way of collecting data from students. The second analysis identified a number of music program attributes that are likely to inhibit the reporting of positive results. For example, findings suggest music education programs are unsuited to promoting psychosocial wellbeing. Based on these findings, this dissertation makes a number of recommendations for the design of future studies in this area. It is argued that research following these recommendations is crucial for this field. This is both to develop a richer understanding of the relationship between music in schools and psychosocial wellbeing, and to produce reliable evidence that is better placed to inform relevant policy. It is further argued that without such evidence, policymakers may continue to make uninformed claims regarding the link between music in schools and psychosocial wellbeing. In turn, this has the potential to destabilise policy support for music in Australian schools. Finally, this thesis calls on researchers in this field, and others, to critically engage with the way that knowledge is created. It is maintained that such engagement is the responsibility of all researchers in the social sciences, and that only when this occurs can we claim the knowledge we generate is meaningful, and serving the communities we investigate.
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ItemObjectifying animation(University of Melbourne, 2012)Two related but fundamental research questions are posed by this thesis: How can animation be contemplated in terms of the crafted glass object? and, inversely: How can the crafted glass object be defined in terms of animation? These questions investigate the overlapping practical and theoretical features that animation and such crafted forms may share. My central hypothesis is that animation may benefit from the contemplation of the physical object (particularly crafted glass forms), just as such physical objects may benefit from that of the animated. These scrutinies can, I argue, lead to the evolution of a new hybrid form that materialises animation into an object. Such a form does not merely articulate a synthesis, but anticipates an expanded, more vigorous entity capable of extending beyond the originating mediums. This proposition will be argued through a theoretical engagement with animation theory, phenomenology, apparatus theory, and an engagement with original creative works. It will ultimately consider animation in terms of materialism, and glass-craft in terms of movement. These questions will be investigated through the following dissertation (accounting for a 60% weighting) and a series of creative works (accounting for the remaining 40% weighting). The creative works are fully documented both within this written text and on the attached DVD.
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ItemAustralian contralto Ada Crossley (1871-1929) : a critical biography(University of Melbourne, 2010)
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ItemFrom fact to fiction: a reflexive analysis of how screenwriter and subject intersect in the transformative process of authoring a modern biopic( 2019)The choice to work within the fictional frame of the biopic genre gives the screenwriter powerful representational tools to vivify character. But the tension between historical fidelity, and narrative fiction, raises important ethical questions. What responsibility does the marketing phrase, "based on a true story" place on the shoulders of the socially responsible screenwriter who is essentially writing a fiction? This practice-based enquiry responds to these questions by challenging the pervasive expectation that writers of historical and biographical fiction defend their truth claims on the methodological terms of the historian, and offers an alternative to a media studies proposal to cross-fertilise screenwriting practice with media ethics. By reframing the conversation away from empirical notions of historical fidelity, and consequentialist models of ethical evaluation, a significant methodological issue emerges, one that stems from a profound misconception of filmmaking practice that views the making of moving images as the non-reflexive application of mechanical skills. To counter this misconception, a working definition of filmmaking methodology is articulated, where mise-en-scene is shown to operate as a core reflexive strategy. This definition is intended to open up a conversation, and contribute to a better understanding of how filmmaking practice, of which screenwriting is a part, can generate and disseminate new knowledge in a range of forms and genres, including the biopic. Defining filmmaking as a creative practice also provides guidance to scholars, irrespective of discipline, who wish to engage with filmmaking as a rigorous methodological approach to conducting their own enquiries.
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ItemPerforming Credibility( 2018)Theatre practitioners have displayed an increasing interest in staging Refugee narratives, with approaches undertaking a number of methodologies. This thesis intends to look at a larger pattern of socio-political power relations, rather than a case by case analysis. The focus is on frame and thus primarily theoretical. Essentially this research looks at how Refugee theatre reproduces colonial terms of enunciation that restrict, limit, prescribe and demand how Refugees must perform to particular characters and narratives—both on and off stage. The research asserts that the performative demands of Refugee as a socio-political identity- exists before the theatrical site- extending to the performance demands of Refugee Theatre. I suggest that Refugee Theatre primarily relies on truth claims not because they are the most effective of all forms; but because it remains problematically tied to expectations to prove truth, authenticity and innocence. Refugee is continually asked to speak to these, as a Performance of Credibility. This has severe implications who gets seen and how they get seen. I argue that Performing Credibility is silencing rather than self determining. Thus it argues that that Refugee theatre as Performances of Credibility, function as an extension of the geospatial border in that they are just as oppressive, violent and silencing in its performative demands. The thesis offers two performative interventions that frame ‘Refugeeness’ in ways that resist these colonial narratives, as a form of anti-Performing Credibility dramaturgy. Drawing upon Latin American decolonial scholarship, the thesis argues for a conception of Refugeeness as ongoing and navigational, displacing borders and evading nationalist frameworks. The thesis explores how Refugeeness might be a useful re-frame to ensure Refugee challenges borders, rather than be assaulted within them; Refugeeness as a generative, creative site towards re-emergence and a step away from the burden of continuously Performing Credibility.
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ItemMaking Waves: connecting art, science and principles of ecomuseology( 2019)How can geometric abstraction contribute to supporting the preservation of biodiversity and sustainable design? Grids dominate the visible and invisible landscapes that design and plan our world. Fast algorithms are paired with meshes to collect and compute data. The thesis addresses what I consider to be the biggest hurdle for the future, integrating design and nature in ways that are sustainable. In proposing solutions, it explains the development and value of slow algorithms in the creation of instruction-based artworks to produce large-scale wall drawings that are immersive, participatory, site responsive and convey fundamental concepts about diversity. The thesis examines the synergy between two distinct areas of activity in my arts practice. One is a contemporary art practice that explores conceptual and intuitive processes of abstraction to make geometric, non-objective art. The other is a collaborative, applied arts practice, working with a variety of everyday people and specialists to develop exhibitions and educational tools connecting local history and the environment in using an eco-museum framework. The thesis focuses on my development of a method of geometric abstraction that combines insights from eco-museology, physics and intuition to create new artworks which act as visualisation tools to convey patterns in nature and beyond in response to the current imperative to preserve biological and cultural diversity. The resultant artworks serve as reflective spaces in which to observe and experience the generation of diversity via abstraction. The thesis identifies future applications of the process of organic geometry, including the generation of adaptive meshes for use in conservation management to help refine our interrelationships with the natural world. Various artworks, projects and exhibitions are documented throughout the thesis and in two appendices to illustrate concepts within the pages of the thesis: The first Appendix, 'Whoosh #1', is a prototype instruction-based artwork used as a template for several series of wave drawings and future instruction-based artworks. As this Appendix is an original artwork, a redacted version is included here, access to the complete version of 'Whoosh #1' is conditional, see page 321 for further details. A second Appendix, 'Making Waves: activities and outcomes' (2012-19), documents artworks completed during the research period, these including four series of wave drawings, three public artworks and several workshops and talks as well an ecomuseum art program. This Appendix is attached to the thesis, see page 334.
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ItemA Cannibalist's Manifesto: Candomblé Rhythms for Drum Kit( 2019)Afro-Brazilian rhythms from the tradition of Candomble have had a significant influence on Brazilian secular music. That influence can be found in samba, choro, Brazilian jazz, and popular music. Although Candomble and associated musical practices have been investigated by musicologists and sociologists, the rhythmic and contemporary performance aspects are poorly represented in academia. As an Australian musician with a long-time interest in Brazilian music, it became a natural progression for me to develop an interest in the rhythms that form the basis of so much Brazilian music. As a drummer, my research has involved the adaptation of traditional drumming practices to the modern drum kit, with an emphasis on groove creation and improvisation. This is a creative research project that combines recordings with analysis. My processes and outcomes will in part be analysed relative to Oswaldo de Andrade's Manifesto Antropofagico (the Cannibalist Manifesto) - where the cultural cannibal seeks to absorb multiple and diverse influences in order to create something new.
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ItemEmbodiment of the Real: An interdisciplinary study of subjectivity, trauma and spiritual cultivation( 2019)In Lacanian psychoanalysis the Real stands for a register of the psyche that resists symbolisation. It may erupt through contingent traumatic events, unbearable bodily intensities, anxiety, or death. How is one able to process these painful events? Here, I refer to the tragic event of my father’s brain stroke, which turned him half-paralysed, our family breakdown and subsequent passing of both of my parents. This interdisciplinary practice-based research seeks to properly understand the above sorrowful events of eruption of the Real. My goal is to establish a plane of knowledge that allows viewing the psychophysical processes of encountering the Real positively, and to develop skilful means of integrating it into the subject’s life. Applying the Noble Eightfold Path of the Buddha as a method I seek to alleviate and integrate these psychophysical processes, primarily via practices of insight meditation and movement arts – taijiquan, parkour, martial arts, swimming and movement improvisation. My thesis seeks to provide phenomenological accounts pertaining to subjectivity in the form of creative writings describing my personal experience in undertaking the above practices. In addition to that, videos of movement practices and performances are to be provided as creative works.
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ItemMusic therapy as an anti-oppressive practice: critically exploring gender and power with young people in school( 2018)This project sought to locate music therapy within broader health, research, and education contexts, as a participatory and anti-oppressive practice for young people in school to explore issues related to gender and power. In parallel, the research aimed to expand music therapy as an anti-oppressive practice (Baines, 2013), specifically focusing on deepening music therapists’ understanding of critical issues related to gender, power, and young people in education settings. Predicated on the notion that schools can be both sites of violence, and microcosms for change-making, the project occurred during a time of significant shifts across education settings worldwide to respond to endemic gender-based violence (Chandra-Mouli et al., 2017). Meanwhile, young people themselves continue to demonstrate new forms of resistance to gender-based violence and dominant gender and sexuality norms (Bragg et al., 2018; Keller et al., 2018). This project responds to a need for approaches that support young people’s autonomy and challenge processes of pathologisation and individualisation; approaches that seek to understand social structures, and the ways in which young people are shaped by their relationships with these social structures, and with each other (Brunila & Rossi, 2018). Framed broadly as a participatory action research project, the study was informed by a series of music-based workshops conducted in the first year, exploring the issues that young people identified as most important in relation to gender. The project then established a music therapy group program in a government school. The school was located in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, with an index of community socio-educational advantage below the national average, and a high percentage of students with a language background other than English. This primary project took the form of a critical ethnography, and generated a wide range of data over nine months. Interviews were conducted with five staff and sixteen of the young people who participated in music therapy groups exploring issues related to gender and power. Discourses of risk and deficit emerged as critical issues to respond to in the project, and became a key focus of the four chapters of results. The research revealed the complex forms of violence that can occur when exploring gender-based violence in a school context, and how these relate to young people’s layered subjectivities and social positioning. The findings demonstrated a need to problematise and expand upon current responses to gender-based violence in the context of Australian education settings, especially where Whiteness and colonial relations remain profoundly underexamined. Chapter Six overviews the five broad, salient themes that emerged in relation to the role of music in creating conditions for young people to explore gender. Chapter Seven outlines the role of music therapists in supporting young people to do so, the unique skillset and critical lens required in this emerging practice, and a new method developed in the project: ‘Insight-Oriented Narrative Songwriting’. Informed by anti-oppressive and decolonial approaches to reframing violence and harm, music therapy is ultimately constructed as a practice congruent with shifting understandings and paradigms related to trauma. Overarchingly, the research exposes the complex conditions of power in schools, and explicates the potential of music therapy within these conditions, to support young people to resist discursive positioning, and rewrite their own subjectivities.