Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemCowboy Bebop and Lupin lll: an investigation of the role of brass in anime opening music( 2021)This thesis identifies and examines the role of brass instrumentation in the opening songs for the anime, Lupin III and Cowboy Bebop. This examination is conducted through an investigation of the impact of Japanese jazz and nostalgia in Japanese culture together with specific influences of Western television. By providing contextual and historical information through this investigation, and using facets of both Western and Japanese culture, I describe how and why brass instruments are being used in the opening sequences for Lupin III and Cowboy Bebop. Through an examination of these two anime, this thesis provides a framework to understanding the interaction between brass and anime opening music. The findings for this thesis were drawn from books, journal articles, various fan sites, and anime cataloguing systems. I used an interdisciplinary approach engaging with resources spanning the literature on Japanese jazz, nostalgia, Western television, and anime. This thesis discusses how through the two anime series, Japanese jazz has come to reflect a point of nostalgia and resistance for Japanese people. This discussion looks at the presence of jazz cafes, the banning of jazz in Japan from around 1937 as a result of hostilities towards the United States, bebop, and jazz fusion. I examine how these facets of Japanese jazz work together to describe the interaction between how brass is portrayed in the anime opening songs, how brass works together with the visual elements of the openings, and the overall themes that each anime represents.
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ItemCurled into the Antihero: An Exploration of the Kinaesthetic and Visual Artefacts of Jaguar Jonze( 2021)This thesis examines the visual and kinaesthetic identities of Brisbane-based musician and artist Jaguar Jonze. It analyses the production of her artefacts as continuing the narratives written in the music and lyrics, and suggests they are an emotional and physical form of expression that powers the cultural memory formed of the artist. A comprehensive visual narrative for a musician is powerful when planned in alignment with the music, creating a multifaceted, multi-platform engagement and identity for the musician that extends beyond a sonic language. Drawing on sensory ethnography, social and cultural studies, psychoanalysis and popular music studies, I argue that Jaguar Jonze is a significant example of a multisensorial design culture and musical identity. Performing myths and folklore, utilising recurring colours, themes and bodily movements, this thesis reads the visual artefacts and movements of Jaguar Jonze as a whole with the music. This thesis contributes to the limited research on the creative practices of emerging contemporary Australian musicians and the merging of their artistic forms in the post-digital music industry.
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ItemAn Analysis of Elisabeth Lutyens's The Valley of Hatsu-Se( 2021)This dissertation is a musical analysis of Elisabeth Lutyens’s The Valley of Hatsu-Se (1965), a setting of ancient Japanese poems for soprano and chamber ensemble. The first part of the dissertation examines the serial language of the work. This includes the intervallic structure and segmentation of the row, textural use of rows, links between rows and serial ‘anomalies.’ The serial analysis concludes with a brief comparison to the mature serial languages of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, as well as to Luigi Dallapiccola, who has a similarly lyrical approach to serialism. The next part of the dissertation addresses non-serial elements, especially exploring the variety of contrasting textures. It focusses on textural devices, such as counterpoint and ostinato, as well as the transformation of motifs and voice-leading. There is also a brief discussion of potential Japanese influences on the work. This dissertation aims to facilitate a greater understanding of the serial language and the array of distinctive textures to enhance an appreciation of The Valley of Hatsu-Se, and bring increased awareness to the music of Elisabeth Lutyens.