Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemThe personality profile of Australian music therapists( 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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ItemRediscovering Mirrie Hill (1889-1986): composer in her own right( 2002)Australian composer, pianist and educator Mirrie Hill (nee Solomon) was born in Sydney in 1889. She studied piano with Joseph Kretschmann and Laurence Godfrey-Smith, theory with Ernest Truman and composition with Alfred Hill. The outbreak of World War One in 1914 thwarted Mirrie Solomon's plans to study music in Europe and led to her entering the newly established New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music. In 1916, she was awarded a composition scholarship by the Director, Henri Verbrugghen. She later took on the role of Assistant Professor of Harmony, Counterpoint and Composition at the Conservatorium from 1918 until1944. Her teaching position and role as an examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board served as complementary interests to her primary work as a composer. In 1921 Mirrie Solomon married the renowned Australian composer Alfred Hill. This marriage had a considerable impact on her ability to establish a reputation as a composer in her own right, and her contributions to Australian music have been largely overshadowed by Alfred Hill's more prominent status. Mirrie Hill composed over five hundred works across many genres. She wrote symphonic works, chamber music and film music and was a prolific writer of art songs, piano works and elementary works for children. Almost half of her compositions were published in Australia and many of her orchestral works were performed, broadcast and recorded during her lifetime. Mirrie Hill's reputation as a composer of 'miniatures' has lingered, despite her remarkable successes in other areas of music. To date, no in-depth study of Mirrie Hill has been attempted, and as such, her substantial creative output and contributions to Australian music have gone largely unrecognised. This thesis will explore both biographical and musical aspects of the composer and is intended as an overview of Mirrie Hill's contribution to many facets of Australian music throughout her lifetime.
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ItemTan Dun's death and fire: ad parnassum, animals and Paul Klee( 2002)This thesis examines the work Death and Fire: Dialogue with Paul Klee (1992) by Tan Dun, a significant composer of the twentieth-century. His musical language is unique in the sphere of the twentieth-century composers. Tan Dun's experiences from various backgrounds are integrated into his musical language today. The condition of humanity is a particular concern of Tan's. The natural world is also a strong influence on the composer. This aspect of his music is the primary concern of this thesis. In this thesis, it examines the importance of natural images of Klee's paintings as a source of inspiration for Tar_ Tan, in his thesis, mentions that the responses towards the paintings were inspired more by the technique of the paintings than the literal subject matter content. Through analysis of paintings and comparison between the responses in the music towards the paintings, it will be argued that the images of nature found in Klee's works apply a more influential factor in Tan's music than Tan acknowledges. The elements such as animals, birds, and the earth, are literally translated into three of the ten inserts: Insert 1: Animals At Full Moon, Insert 4: Twittering Machine and Insert 5: Earth Witches. Primary sources include the musical score and the thesis entitled Death and Fire: Dialogue with Paul Klee that were completed in 1992 by Tan Dun as his recital composition for the degree of Doctorate in Composition at Columbia University, nine paintings of Klee's used by Tan in Death and Fire: Dialogue with Paul Klee, and bibliography.
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ItemUnveiling the melodic interval: a phenomenology of the musical element in human consciousness( 2005)This phenomenology begins with an observation of a musical instrument, the piano. The piano is surrounded by an aura of lifelessness, for its sound world is dominated by tone-decay and a calcified intonation system. Therefore, a physically seamless legato rendering of melody is impossible for pianists, and the inflexible symmetry of given intervallic relations enforces a loss of tonal centre when a composer ventures into the intrinsically asymmetrical domain of chromaticism. However, the melodic interval - the element lying between the acoustically sounding pitches - is in essence always inaudible, whatever the instrument. Through the development of listening capacities directed specifically toward unveiling the non-positive musical element in its origin, namely, within human consciousness, it is possible to overcome external instrumental limitations. Human being’s intrinsic musicality is revealed through phenomenological observation of consciousness in its qualitatively differentiated, ordinarily related, temporally unfolding nature. External limitations can have no hold over living melodic expression when the essence of the melodic interval is discovered self-sufficiently within the non-positive dimension of human onticity, that is, within a consciousness in which the potential for clear spiritual cognition lies dormant. ‘Tonicness’ is discovered ultimately to be an inner awareness of self-voicefulness, independent from instrumental and linguistic contingencies; and the piano reveals an historical mission to awaken - from ‘death’ - new cognitive listening faculties. This research employs the spiritual-scientific method of Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophy, or wisdom of the human being, which involves meditation and the cultivation of sense-independent logic as well as of lucid feeling (as distinct from blinding emotion).
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ItemLeon Caron and the music profession in Australia( 2003)Leon Francis Victor Caron (1850-1905) was one of the major figures in Australian nineteenth-century opera and orchestral circles. He was a well-known and well-liked public figure, regarded with respect and affection by musicians and audiences alike. Little has been written concerning Caron’s career. Given the amount he contributed to the Australian stage, an assessment of his importance within the music profession is warranted. Most areas of Caron’s life are, as yet, totally unexplored; it falls outside the ambit of this thesis to present every detail pertaining to his varied and extensive musical career. Nevertheless, new information about a selection of Caron’s ventures is drawn upon here for the first time. Much of this material is used to examine the impact of Caron’s conducting on the orchestral profession in Melbourne and Sydney. Many of Caron’s performances (orchestral or otherwise) often featured the popular music of the day. The popular aspect of Caron as a composer is also considered, with particular reference to the incredibly successful pantomime Djin Djin. An examination of Caron’s performances gives great insight not only into the part he played in the wider profession; but it also sheds light on orchestral standards, performance practices and public tastes of the time. His contribution to the music profession in nineteenth-century Australia is extremely significant.
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ItemPercy Grainger's promotion of early music to Australian audiences in 1934: a critical evaluation( 2003)This thesis examines the argument made by Roger Covell in his 1967 Australia's Music in which he stated that Grainger's promotion of unfamiliar music, including early music to the Australian audiences in his 1934 Australian tour had been ineffective. Covell's argument was that Australia, at that time, was a conservative musical society 'that had barely considered the possibility of merit in any music outside the standard European classics' (p. 99). This thesis argues that Grainger's promotion of early music had not been ineffective but had an impact on the Australian audiences. This conclusion is reached after examining the press reception of Grainger's inclusion of early music in his lecture-recitals and orchestral concerts.
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ItemAlice Ellen Charbonnet: a French musician in nineteenth-century Australia( 2006)Alice Ellen Charbonnet (1860-1914) was one of the key French émigré artists of late nineteenth-century Australia. She was highly respected and sought after as a performer, teacher and composer. As little is known about her life and achievements, this thesis firstly provides an extended biographical outline of her life. It also studies the musical, social and cultural context of late nineteenth-century Australia with a focus on the French influence and presence. Charbonnet's role as a virtuoso performer is evaluated through her concert performances and reception. Her wide and varied solo piano and chamber music repertoire provides evidence of her outstanding technique. The programming of her concert series, recitals as well as her contributions at numerous charitable functions provides insight into the musical taste of nineteenth-century Australia. An investigation of her compositions sheds light on her writing style as well as the domestic consumption of music-making prevalent at the time. Charbonnet's contribution to music pedagogy is assessed through a close look at her French-inspired Conservatoire de Musique as well her Australian Musical Association examination board. The appendices include the complete programmes of her Sydney and Melbourne concert series in 1878-1881 and a comprehensive listing of her compositions. Charbonnet is arguably one of the foremost women musicians in late nineteenth-century Australia. Through an assessment of her life and accomplishments, this thesis recognises her important influence on Australian musical life.
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ItemThe 1870s Australian tours of Madame Arabella Goddard( 2001)The aim of this research paper is to explore the Australian components of the 1870s three-year world tour of the English pianist Arabella Goddard. This tour included two visits to Australia of more than four months each; the first began in June 1873, the second in June 1874. My desire was to document Goddard's itinerary, repertoire and programming within Australia and to reflect upon the reasons for her immense appeal throughout the country, as indicated through the press. In addition, her visits stimulated the discussion of wider cultural issues and therefore a concurrent study of the role of music in 1870s Australian society was appropriate. This paper aims to contribute knowledge to two areas. Firstly, it appears that there is no substantial text devoted solely to Arabella Goddard's life and career, from either a commercial or scholarly standpoint. Secondly, the study of the Australian press coverage enables a solid portrait to be drawn of the nature of touring at the time. Source material for this research was largely biased towards primary sources as the details of Goddard's Australian tours have not been previously documented. Some studies of the history of western art music in Australia do mention her as a visiting artist: Music in Australia: More than 150 Years of Development gives the basic framework of her visits. Orchard writes that Goddard arrived shortly after the violinist Jenny Claus (whose tour, Orchard writes, began in 1873), that she enjoyed a triumphant season performing in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Brisbane, had departed for India and then returned to Australian before visiting New Zealand. (From Introduction)
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ItemThe influence of Dr. A. E. Floyd as music critic and broadcaster on musical culture in Australia 1915-1974( 2001)Alfred Ernest Floyd arrived in Australia from the United Kingdom in February 1915 to take up an appointment as Organist and Master of the Choristers at St. Paul's Cathedral in Melbourne. Floyd devoted his professional life to the performance and promulgation of music. From the time of his arrival in Australia he exerted an enormous influence as educator, teacher, lecturer, examiner, adjudicator, organist, choir-trainer, writer, composer, music critic and broadcaster. Floyd brought the music at St Paul's to a pinnacle of musical performance and professionalism. At St. Paul's he trained many who later went on either to establish musical careers or to become active and useful amateur musicians. The focus of his promotion of music for all was education in the widest sense. This he undertook through the various media (press, radio and television) and through public lectures and music appreciation classes. As music critic for The Argus and as a broadcaster Floyd established a significant following as a commentator and entertainer and he was influential in shaping public taste in music and attitudes towards music. His work in schools, particularly at Melbourne Church of England Girls' Grammar School and at the Methodist Ladies' College engendered a joy of making and listening to music and many past pupils of these institutions have strong and fond memories of his classes and visits. The legacy of Floyd's personal papers now housed in the Grainger Museum at the University of Melbourne, radio archives, newspapers, journals, and the reminiscences of those who worked with him professionally, provided the material for an examination of his influence on Australian music culture from his arrival in Australia in 1915 until shortly before his death in 1974.
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ItemMaidservants to the muse: professional female musicians in Roman Italy, 200 BC - 400 AD: a consideration of the contexts in which female musicians were employed in Roman Italy, the demographics of this group and the socioeconomic implications of their profession( 2002)The thesis is presented in four chapters. Chapters One to Three discuss three key areas in which professional female musicians found employment; in the home, in the community, and in association with the public stage. Chapter Four considers professional female musicians collectively, and seeks to provide a preliminary overview of this group’s demographic composition and socio-economic position. The areas covered in this chapter have relatively limited direct evidence from primary sources, yet much can be surmised by considering the broader Roman context. Ultimately, this thesis seeks not only to question the role of professional female musicians in Roman Italy, but challenge our understanding of Roman musical culture.