Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemThe ripieno bass section of the Dresden Hofkapelle during the reign of August the Strong, 1709–1733: players, repertoire, performance( 2017)This thesis examines the ripieno bass section of the Dresden Hofkapelle during the period 1709–1733, the final twenty-five years of the reign of Saxon Elector and King of Poland August the Strong (1670–1733). It was especially during this quarter century when significant changes to the membership, structure, and direction of this pan-European ensemble took place. There are three strands of the inquiry—players, instruments, and repertoire. After an introduction setting out the court’s musical life, each strand is explored through documentary archival and music manuscript studies, and contemporaneous writings. Biographies of the orchestral musicians associated with ripieno basso instruments are presented in chronological order by year of first court service and drawing on archival research. These men ranged from internationally famed individuals of the stature of lute virtuoso Silvius Leopold Weiss to numerous colleagues largely forgotten through the course of history. Personnel and other court records provide insight into the musical style and career activities each musician would have brought to the ensemble. As a group, these individual stories build a fascinating picture of the changing experience of being an orchestral musician at a major German court during the early eighteenth century. Especially relevant to understanding bass performance practices is the question of which instrument types were in use in Dresden. This point is discussed in detail. Local evidence of instruments, terminology and association with individual careers are drawn on to build a case for a more detailed understanding of changing practices, including the rising prominence of contrabass bowed strings and demise of basse de violon use. Examples of the third strand, select repertoire case studies, are presented where they are most meaningfully connected to material examined. Therefore these are placed next to individual biographies and instrument discussions. Available evidence suggests the Dresden Hofkapelle was indeed a crucible for the mixing of national French, Italian and local musical styles in the early eighteenth century, and that this was of particular importance for the realisation of the ripieno basso; however, studies of continuo practices cannot adequately capture what occurred in the larger ripieno basso. This is because an essential aspect of the full bass section is the reinforcing and potential for 16-foot doubling bass instruments not part of the core improvisatory group of the continuo, and this is not consistently covered by continuo studies alone. This study argues that significant changes to the Dresden Hofkapelle's membership, structure, and direction occurred in the period 1709–1733, and further that practices of Dresden were crucial to the development of the modern orchestra and styles of performance.
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Item‘The Trumpeter Re-Conceived’: An investigation of the creative and performative skills required in New Music Theatre works( 2017)THESIS ABSTRACT This thesis investigates the demands of New Music Theatre on the trumpeter engaging with this art form. It asks what are skills necessary to engage with the challenging works written for trumpet in this genre over the past decades? How are these skills acquired? Also, since one of the ‘new’ aspects of this type of work is the increasing demand of creatively and collaboratively devised works, how can the trumpeter learn to work in this environment? The need for the research is driven by the fact that the New Music Theatre repertoire that has emerged is still not integrated into mainstream expert learning, despite much being some 60 years old and offering an exciting and challenging scope for the instrumentalist. Indeed, the ‘new requirements’ demand multi-tasking and gives the performer a theatrical focus, moving away from the static recital platform to being able to embrace the dynamic of movement and dramatic action. Thus, although exciting, this ‘new’ approach remains an area of relatively little study from the performance perspective.
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ItemDeveloping a model and practice for vocal condition adaptation( 2017)This research project investigates vocal challenges commonly associated with preparation and performance of classical voice repertoire with wide ranging demands. It examines the challenges of managing a broad performance repertoire, especially when switching between varied vocal tasks in restricted time periods. To identify challenges that singing a broad repertoire may entail, the thesis reports interviews conducted with specialist vocal coaches, professional classical voice performers and medical professionals, and the author reflects on her own process as a performer transitioning through the diverse repertoire contained in the portfolio. Extracts from these recordings also serve as material for a quantitative test case in acoustic analysis. A working model is developed from collating the perspectives of all the chapters, examining how vocal condition adaptations (VCA) may become embodied in practice.
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ItemAre You in Tune?( 2017)This research explores the experiential and practical performance aspects arising through using Pythagorean Tuning. The focus is primarily on the application of the tuning system in the creation, performance and apprehension of new music. This research is supported by practice led enquiry where the primary researcher collaborated with a number of producers to create an original album of contemporary music. A second album was produced which explored a range of musical styles through re-imaging Christmas carols.
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ItemFrom social connectedness to equitable access: an action research project illuminating the opportunities and the barriers to accessing music for young people with disability transitioning from school to adult life( 2017)The action research project described in this thesis emerged from a partnership between the Community Inclusion Team of a large, not-for-profit disability service organisation in Australia (the Organisation) and the National Music Therapy Research Unit at the University of Melbourne (NaMTRU). The project developed following a question from the Organisation about how music could be an engaging part of young people’s lives as they transitioned from school to adult life. Community inclusion team members of the Organisation had identified that young people who accessed their services, many of who live with more complex disabilities, often experienced challenges in establishing a sense of social connectedness during the transition. The Organisation were interested in how involvement in music may play a role in addressing this challenge. As such, the project began with a focus on the role of music in social connectedness for young people. However, as the project unfolded, the focus began to broaden into the more pressing issue of equitable access to music. The project developed amid the backdrop of the introduction of a new disability funding model in Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). This change within the disability sector has had a significant influence on many aspects of this inquiry. An action research approach (Reason and Bradbury, 2008) was used for the project within a transformative paradigm (Mertens, 2009) as it relates to issues of social justice and human rights. This framework encompasses the aim of personal and social transformation within communities that experience oppression and discrimination. Grounded in community music therapy theory and disability studies, the project took the form of four cycles of planning, action and reflection. Cycle 1 involved a critical interpretive synthesis of the literature. Cycle 2 involved semi structured interviews with young people accessing the Organisation to learn about their experiences of social connectedness. Cycle 3 involved focus group discussions with facilitators of music programs accessible to young people to begin building a picture of opportunities to access music and finally, cycle 4 involved the establishment of an ongoing, collaborative community music program with a group of young people. Findings indicate that young people with disability lack sufficient opportunities to access music as a resource in their lives. A variety of opportunities exist that offer different ways of participating in music, but barriers to this participation are continually faced. These include limitations on independent access to information about the existence of programs and opportunities, inadequate funding for independent action and a lack of community infrastructure to accommodate people with differing needs. Once an opportunity was made available in this project, young people embraced the chance to work collaboratively to create the music program into what they needed. This included growing the group membership to satisfy social needs, taking on leadership and marketing roles, making group decisions about the music, the venue and performances. The research project outcomes have implications for roles and actions for music therapists and other facilitators of music programs aimed at a structural level to increase opportunities for young people to access music as a resource in their lives.
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ItemApplying György Sándor's basic technical patterns to Chopin’s Études Op. 10 and Op. 25: a commentary, annotated score and CD recording( 2017)This study applies György Sándor’s basic technical patterns to Chopin’s Études Op. 10 and Op. 25, as a means of reducing physical discomfort and technical challenge. Chopin’s Études are regarded as some of the most significant works of the piano literature, especially due to the high technical skill and artistic virtuosity they require from the performer. Pianists are often faced with technical and physical problems while they are learning these challenging pieces. Taking as a framework Sándor’s book titled On Piano Playing: Motion, Sound and Expression, I propose that his method can be applied to assist in overcoming the technical issues presented by the Études. György Sándor (1912 – 2005) established the fundamentals of a technical approach for playing the piano without physical obstacles, emphasising the appropriate utilisation of arm and wrist muscles. He also generated symbols for these patterns to convey their execution on a score so that they can be incorporated into the learning process. Even though various pianists and pedagogues have published on the technical challenges of the Chopin Études, no specific discussion of the application of Sándor’s technical patterns to Chopin’s Études exists to date. The primary aim of this research is to apply Sándor’s basic technical patterns to each of Chopin’s 24 Études in order to ascertain their effectiveness in diminishing performance-related pain and overcoming technical problems. Through a process of experimentation, my research resulted in two main outcomes: an applicable technical guide to the study of the Études, in the form of an annotated score employing Sándor’s own symbols, and my own performance of the complete Études Opp. 10 and 25, which is recorded on the CD. This study comprises five chapters. The first focuses on the Twenty-four Études, including a literature review and a survey of editions that were considered for the production of my annotated score. The second chapter concentrates on György Sándor and the relevant literature on his method and other pedagogues of his time. The third chapter discusses Sándor’s technical patterns and explains his symbols. The fourth chapter outlines my methodology, explaining how the annotated score was produced. The last chapter presents the commentary and annotated score for each of the études.
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ItemParents' and music therapists' reflections on the experience of music and home-based music therapy for paediatric palliative care patients and their families, who come from diverse cultural backgrounds( 2017)Music can be an important part of many young children’s lives, especially when a child is unwell, or dying. In recent years, the use of music therapy with children in paediatric palliative care (PPC) has become more widespread, across hospice, hospital and home settings. This qualitative inquiry investigated the experience of music, and home-based music therapy for PPC patients and their families, who come from diverse cultural backgrounds. The inquiry employed a constructivist approach and was informed by grounded theory and meta-ethnography. The inquiry examined how children in PPC and their families experience music, and music therapy in PPC, with a focus on how cultural beliefs and practices shape experience. The inquiry also identified barriers to accessing PPC, music, and music therapy for children and families of diverse cultural backgrounds. Four studies were conducted as part of this inquiry. Study One employed a repeated-interview design to interview six parents of children in PPC about their experience of music and music therapy in caring for a child in PPC. Five mothers and one father participated in an initial interview; and three of the mothers also participated in a six-month follow-up interview, to capture in-the-moment experiences and changes over time. Study Two employed a focus group design to interview three music therapists about their experience of providing music therapy for children and families of diverse cultural backgrounds in home-based PPC. Study Three employed an ethnographic approach for the author to reflect on her work in home-based PPC music therapy with 34 children and their families. Twenty themes emerged from the analysis of Studies One to Three, based around three distinct foci: the palliative care journey; the experience of music; and the experience of music therapy. Study Four conducted a meta-ethnography of Studies One to Three. The meta-ethnography provided a rich and detailed description of how children and families from diverse cultural backgrounds experience PPC, music and home-based music therapy; and also identified barriers to access. Key findings included: 1) Migration, length of time in Australia and cultural shaming can impact isolation, coping, and access to support; 2) Families want music therapy for their child, even if music is not part of their culture or family life; 3) Music can support family health and wellbeing, although the presence of multiple stressors in the family’s life can inhibit use of music; 4) Families use music to express their culture and maintain their cultural identity; 5) Music therapy can support families who have few/no family or other supports, reducing carer stress and isolation, and enhancing parental coping; 6) music therapy can uphold and support cultural and community patterns of relationship in the face of life-threatening illness; 7) child and family experiences of palliative care can be transformed in MT, positively impacting parental coping; and 8) the emotional intensity of music therapy in end-of-life-care can be overwhelming, and lead to family disengagement from music therapy. The thesis makes an important contribution to the fields of music therapy and PPC, in developing understanding of how culture impacts family experiences of PPC, music, and music therapy; and also offers insight into the complexities of conducting research with the highly vulnerable population of children in PPC.
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ItemPerforming difference: exploring the social world of the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Youth Chorus( 2017)This thesis explores member experiences of the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Youth Chorus (the Youth Chorus), Australia’s first community choir for Same Sex Attracted and Gender Diverse (SSAGD) young people. SSAGD young people are more likely to experience social exclusion for their sexuality and/or gender identity in Australia. This thesis uses an interpretative phenomenological approach to analyse interviews with ten members, exploring the nuanced ways in which the youth chorus supports wellbeing and identity formation through choral musicking in a community setting. It is guided by a broadly hermeneutic interest in better understanding the complex individual and collective experiences of choir members. Findings, considered through the lens of Tia DeNora’s sociological framework of the music asylum (DeNora, 2013), suggest that the youth chorus offers a place of safety within the structures of the choir and with the support of its establishing choral organisation, Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus Inc. The youth chorus affords its members a place of ontological safety as a foundation to make music and socialise, within a musicking community where queer is the norm rather than exception. This position of safety is central to the choir’s music and health ecology (Gary Ansdell, 2014), upon which the construction and performance of difference is expressed musically and socially. The youth chorus provides its members with a musical and extra-musical platform to test out, rehearse, and publicly perform musical and social identities of difference, but where members at times also value sameness and conformity. I bring a critical perspective to the study, interpreting individual and collective identities within a gender and queer theory context. This lens highlights a tension between outwardly queer choir identity that celebrates difference and seeks to destabilise, against the value of the youth chorus as a musical ecology that affirms stable SSAGD identities. Reflecting on the choir experience, I suggest there is a combination of paradoxes and tensions apparent. Paradoxically, understandings of choir as an exclusive place or clique contribute to the sense of safety and inclusiveness. I suggest this sense of exclusivity, which directly challenges the inclusive public profile and worldview of the youth chorus, offers a distinct perspective for community music scholars. I examine these attributes with reference to several formative conceptual ideas of Lee Higgins (2012). I suggest the youth chorus and choral singing offers a place of gentle activism as members navigate their individual gender identity and sexuality journeys. Reflecting on recent studies of choral pedagogy, I consider implications, challenges, and opportunities for community choral leaders and facilitators who must balance these tensions when working with SSAGQ young people in choral music settings.
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ItemGeorgiana McCrae’s manuscript music collections: a life in music( 2017)This thesis considers the biographical, historical and musical significance of manuscript music collections belonging to the diarist, artist and musician Georgiana McCrae, who brought her collections from London and Scotland to Melbourne in 1841 and continued to extend them after her arrival. McCrae used music to help maintain her sense of national, class and gender identity through various challenging events in her life, including her migration. This thesis contributes to an understanding of how domestic music collections were used in Britain and its colonies in the nineteenth century for the purposes of education, socialisation and memorialisation.
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Item'The Voice of England': the English soprano and the early music revival, 1920–1939( 2017)During the 1920s and 1930s, a generation of English sopranos—including Dorothy Silk (1883–1942), Elsie Suddaby (1893–1980) and Isobel Baillie (1895–1983)—cultivated successful careers as exponents of early vocal music. The most significant of these English sopranos was Dorothy Silk. From 1920 she introduced the English public to little known Bach cantatas and unknown works by Schütz, Tunder and Purcell through recitals—including her pioneering concert series, ‘Concerts of Old Music’ (1920–25)—broadcasts with the newly established British Broadcasting Corporation and performances with choral festivals and societies. In addition to Silk’s position as a leading early vocal music specialist, she became the soprano of choice for contemporary English composers, including Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), Gustav Holst (1874–1934) and Herbert Howells (1892–1982). This was often in connection with the long-standing choral festival and society tradition where she was repeatedly held up as the ‘perfect cathedral singer’. She established herself as a favourite with the English public, receiving unanimous praise from critics who admired her ‘pure’, ‘light’ and ‘natural’ voice, which they perceived as singularly appropriate for performances of early and English music. The emergence of English sopranos specialising in early and English repertoire in the years following the First World War was only possible because of a shift in the way in which early music was perceived and understood. Despite the prevalence of revivalist activities from 1920, little research has considered how musicians and the public engaged with early repertoire and the extent to which the revival interacted with English musical culture. This study, therefore, investigates the revival’s leading soprano exponents who were also significant Tables within England’s broader musical life. By limiting the focus to a small number of sopranos and thus vocal repertoire, this thesis is able to provide a more nuanced understanding of the revival of early music in England during the interwar period (1920–39). Specific attention will be given to the revivalist activities of Silk who was considered a pioneer. As will become evident, however, discussion of Silk’s career trajectory, engagement with early music and critical responses to her performances can also be applied to her colleagues. Previously unstudied primary material—including an extensive body of reviews and articles from English newspapers and periodicals together with concert programmes, correspondence and memoirs—form the basis of this thesis. Meaningful discussion of the ideas presented in the press is achieved through an understanding of the cultural, social and historical context in which Silk’s performances took place. By centring the discussion on Silk, and by extension her fellow early music sopranos, this thesis shows that following the First World War the revival of early music in England increasing became an intrinsic and active element of mainstream musical life reflecting English musical taste.