Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses

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    The personality profile of Australian music therapists
    Holmes, Matthew John ( 2004)
    Personality characteristics of music therapists were examined in a sample of 60 registered Australian music therapists who completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R), and a general questionnaire (GIQ) about professional background and experiences. Personality differences between Australian music therapists across self-nominated clinical specializations were also examined. Statistical analysis revealed that Australian music therapists share a common profile of high Neuroticism, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and low Self-Discipline. These results are compared with previous research on both classical and popular musicians, and other health professionals (e.g., doctors, therapists). Four Australian music therapists additionally completed the Personality Web Interview Protocol (PWIP), which elicits narrative personifications of the self by first asking interviewees to describe 24 key attachments from the storied self, including 6 persons, 6 important events (e.g., positive or peak experiences, and negative or nadir experiences), 8 objects and place attachments, and 4 aspects of body orientation (e.g., liked and disliked body parts) . The four interviews revealed consistent associations between storied self labels such as 'creativity' with the domain of Openness to Experience, 'at home with self and 'people in my heart' with the domain Agreeableness, and 'adventurous self with high Extraversion scores. Results are discussed in terms of incorporating data from all three personality assessment strategies (e.g., NEO-PI-R, GIQ, and PWIP) into a clear and coherent profile portrait of the Australian music therapist.
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    Where heaven and earth meet : the buklog of the Subanen in Zamboanga Peninsula, Western Mindanao, the Philippines
    Berdon-Georsua, Racquel ( 2004-02)
    This thesis examines the music of the Subanen people of the Zamboanga Peninsula in western Mindanao, the Philippines through an investigation of their most important ceremony, the Buklog. Esteemed as the most elaborate and expensive socio-religious festival of the Subanen, the Buklog derives its name from a wooden structure holding the dancing platform called buklog. The Buklog is generally celebrated to propitiate the gods in some specific event in which the entire Subanen community participates. The occasion may be a thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest, for healing, or for prestige for a new leader or a home comer. A Buklog may also be held as a memorial for the recent dead to reinstate their souls to heaven or as a fulfilment of a ritual vow or debt to restore order and salvation to creation after natural disasters, calamities and epidemics. The thesis is based on a detailed analysis of a Buklog celebration held in Dampalan, Pagadian City in May 2002. It describes the social life and cosmological ordering principles of Subanen society in general, identifies the common principles underlying the Buklog ritual and the myth expressly associated with it, and relates the sound and social structures and organisation found in the special performative and musical processes in the whole Buklog complex. This study of the Buklog begins by presenting the context of Subanen society. Contained in Chapters 1, 2 and 3, this background bears upon understanding of the Buklog as the aural embodiment of Subanen social and cosmological organisation. Chapter 1 describes the specific concepts that are central to Subanen cosmological system and worldview. Chapter 2 charts the organising principles related to the domains that are considered more practical, real and concrete in Subanen social life and organisation. Chapter 3 explores the relationship between the natural, social and mythical worlds of the Subanen through the general coherence of the symbols and meanings depicted in the Buklog myths and rituals. The analysis that occupies Chapters 4, 5 and 6 elucidates the connections between the structural features of Subanen social and cosmological systems and the contextual-performative framework of the Buklog in which meaningful and material processes are ordered. Chapter 4 focuses on the preparation of the Buklog's sacred implements and ritual space. Chapter 5 illustrates the customary characteristics and the practical sequences of the attendant rituals, and the intentions, effects or transformations for performing them. Chapter 6 analyses the three special performative processes of the Buklog: the Giloy (vocal genre), Gbat (dance), and Guni Gusharan (instrumental genre) and shows the common underlying principles between these genres and Subanen cosmological and social life. Together, the three chapters describe the total performance contexts of an actual Buklog that I witnessed in Dampalan in 2002 by examining the different symbolism and meanings of the various ritual paraphernalia, actions, sounds, visions and use of music in the preparation and performance of these rituals. The final chapter provides the summary and conclusion.