Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 362
-
ItemNo Preview AvailablePhenomenological mechanics — an intercultural musical perspective: an inquiry into the experience of directional movement in intercultural music, applying time and motion concepts from physics( 2022)This study is an inquiry into the experience of “vectorial” (i.e., directional) motion in music. It proposes a conceptual model for the experience of directional motion. It then applies the model interculturally, examining the relationship between Western and Eastern linear and cyclic cultural representations of time and corresponding compositional organisation. In its conclusion, it proposes geometrical models of Western and Eastern musical forms as helix and vortex, respectively, presenting musical works that exemplify these concepts. The major research question of the dissertation is “What is the nature of the experience of directional movement in music, and how can this experience be conceptually represented?”. It examines this question via the principal methodological process of a thought experiment. There are four research areas — music as phenomenological mechanics, composition as intercultural metaphor, applications to musical performance and analysis, and newly imagined instruments and novel compositional processes — and 12 research propositions — three primary, three secondary (two exegetical), two tertiary, and four artefactual. The primary research propositions examine the experience of vectorial motion in music, proposing a phenomenologically determined, hierarchically organised, multi-parameter, form-void vector field model. Referencing this model, the dissertation proposes that the experience of directional motion in music can be compared to principles from mechanics, albeit at a purely phenomenological level — a proposition that gives rise to the concept of phenomenological mechanics. In the application of the concept of phenomenological mechanics to composition, the dissertation proposes a novel characterisation of musical development as a phenomenological representation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics — as the phenomenological “organisation of sound” from low to high potential energy states, and from chaos to order. The secondary research propositions present the idea that the experience of musical motion differs in Western and Eastern cultural contexts in accordance with contrasting Western linear and Eastern cyclic cultural representations of time — metaphorically apparent in their respective musical forms — and in accordance with the dualism and monism that characterise form-void representations and their paradigms more broadly. These secondary research propositions thus apply the concept of music as phenomenological mechanics to the concept of composition as intercultural metaphor. The dissertation proposes that, whereas Western music develops vectorially and teleologically to achieve an overall linear form, Eastern music develops non-vectorially and non-teleologically to achieve an overall cyclic form — a process consistent with the concept of intensification, as coined by UK ethnomusicologist Martin Clayton to describe “non-teleological large-scale processes" proceeding by "a process of expansion”. As an application of the research to the performance and analysis of music, the dissertation’s tertiary research propositions thus propose the concept of Western and Eastern musical forms as helix and vortex. Referencing the musical time concepts of Zuckerkandl, Clayton, Kramer, Cage and Fraser, and the musical improvisation concepts of Feisst, the exegesis research propositions and discussion analyse the major and minor artefacts — respectively, a composition and an improvisation, for a 12-drum harmonic tabla set and two variations of modified guitar — as exemplifications of the concepts contained in the written work.
-
ItemAsexual and Aromantic Narratives in Musical Works: Towards an Aspec Canon( 2022)Asexual and aromantic (“aspec”) representation in media has grown over the last decade, yet remains limited in the realm of music and music research. By analysing the works of Euripides’ Hippolytus (428 BC)/Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie (1733), Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company (1970) and Moses Sumney’s Aromanticism (2017), the numerous ways these communities exist in music can be discussed and recognised. The changing adaptations of the Hippolytus story exposes the narrowing of possibilities for asexual life through the erasure of the titular character’s identity. In Company, an aromantic Bobby explores the challenges of individuality under the pressures of amatonormativity and the expectation of marriage. Finally, Aromanticism creates a space of intentional representation, conceptualising lovelessness as a “sonic landscape.” The growing musical awareness of aspec identity shown through these three case studies may inspire hope for an aspec lens in researching music, as well as the creation of new aspec works in the future.
-
ItemStory and Sound: Developing a narrative-led approach within Large Ensemble Jazz Composition( 2022)Music and storytelling have always held a significant relationship with each other. From antiquity to the 21st century, composers have employed the two mediums to produce context and meaning, and to express social and cultural identities within their work. One such composer was Richard Wagner, whose narrative-led compositional approach – and especially his use of leitmotif – left a lasting effect on not only 20th and 21st century classical music, but on music within other mediums (film, television, and video games). My research aims to further explore the relationship between music and storytelling, with a focus on its application in jazz composition. By unpacking thematic compositional devices employed by composers from different mediums, I have developed techniques and concepts to adapt and employ such devices in a contemporary large ensemble jazz context. Notably, I place a special focus on the concept of leitmotif and the various ways it can be employed in different contexts. Additionally, to assist in investigating more abstract meaning-making compositional techniques, I utilise an analytical framework derived from the conceptual metaphor theory of philosopher Mark Johnson, and the ecological approach to the perception of musical meaning by musicologist Eric Clarke. The techniques and insights derived from this practical and theoretical research are demonstrated in the composition of a new work using Dan Simmons’ 1989 novel Hyperion as the literary source material, in which the novel’s narrative will be “retold” in a multi movement suite for large jazz ensemble.
-
ItemAn Exploration of Duo Singing in Virtual Reality and Videoconferencing( 2023)This thesis explored the key considerations of duo singing in virtual reality (VR) and videoconferencing (VC). The ability for musicians to interact in person has been highly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing performers online in search of suitable collaboration platforms. While VR has re-emerged an alternative visual choice for musical collaboration, limited research exists that examines its affordances alongside VC for communication in networked music performance contexts. The purpose of this study was to explore the participant experience of singing with a partner in a VR and VC setting. A mixed-methods study was designed involving ten participants from Australia and the United States with access to the internet and a VR headset. Following a singing session in both settings, a semi-structured interview was conducted alongside an online questionnaire, used to supplement the interview. Thematic analysis of interview data identified five key themes across both mediums: presence, performance, affect, usability, and usefulness. Interviews revealed the influence of the physical and virtual environmental setting on participants’ emotional states, linked to their sense of self-awareness and singing confidence. Participants reported feeling more copresent and less inhibited in the VR environment, helping contribute to a sense of fun and creativity. However, a lack of accurate facial expressions in the VR avatar made timing and synchronisation more difficult for musical performance, alongside challenges related to physical comfort and body ownership. In the VC setting, greater accuracy of visual cues assisted with performance, although on-screen visibility provoked feelings of self-consciousness for less experienced singers. Ultimately, survey results indicated a stronger sense of connection and natural discussion in the VR setting, as well as an overwhelming preference among all participants for singing in the VR setting. Interviews indicating this result as the combination of factors such as being in a virtual environment with another performer, reduced inhibition from being an avatar and the overall novelty of the VR experience. Together, the findings suggest that the current suitability of platforms for online singing is contextuality dependent. VR may be suited for casual musical collaboration less confident singers, while VC may be ideal when the accuracy of facial cues is more important. Findings support prior research on the importance of visual cues in networked music performance while expanding knowledge into the use of VR platforms. These results help broaden our understanding of the influence of self-awareness on inhibition, while contributing to knowledge on visual communication in online music collaborations.
-
ItemSelf-Sampling in a Multimedia Practice: An Exploration of Sampling Transformation Techniques & Typologies( 2022)Digital sampling has become a prevalent creative technique in contemporary music and multimedia practices. It allows a practitioner to sample existing recorded media and recontextualise it through a multitude of transformation techniques, offering a potent creative tool that has been utilised by many artists to create new works and develop an individual artistic aesthetic. The transformation of media also allows the identity of artistic works to remain fluid - rather than fixed - as the recontextualisation of media pluralises the outcomes of singular events. This practice-led research project comprises a folio of multimedia works and an accompanying dissertation that investigate the use of self-sampling: where the sampled media originates from within the practice itself, rather than being externally sourced. This allows an individual creative aesthetic to emerge through the transformation and recontextualisation of self-made media. A secondary benefit to this approach is that the legal and ethical issues that influence sample-based practices are avoided by removing externally-sourced media; instead focusing on the techniques of transformation, without concern for sample ownership. Alongside these legal and ethical concerns, the process of examining sample-based music can be difficult due to the reliance on aural analysis methods - as heavily transformed samples may escape identification without additional knowledge of the media origin. The analytical tools used in this process can also suffer from a lack of standardised terminology and inconsistent methods of sample categorisation. To aid the process of analysing the works, a Typology of Sampling Transformation Techniques has been developed and is presented in this dissertation. This typology is used to analyse and categorise the techniques of transformation that have been used within the folio of works, uncovering methods and approaches of the creative practice that may otherwise remain veiled.
-
ItemThe development of a performance companion to the Third Clarinet Concerto of Carl Stamitz played on five- and six-key period clarinets: an analysis of technical capability and performance style through practice-led research( 2022)This study explores the process of learning to play five- and six-key Classical clarinets from the perspective of a modern clarinettist. Utilising practice-led research methodology, this project consists of an exegesis and a full-length recital informed by this research. The recital featured a range of clarinet compositions of the Classical period including; Johann Stamitz (1717–1757) Clarinet Concerto (circa 1754–1755), Carl Stamitz (1745–1801) Third Clarinet Concerto (1785), Jean-Xavier Lefevre (1763–1829) Grand Sonata no.2 (c.1804–1805) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) ‘Kegelstatt’ Trio for viola, clarinet and piano, KV 498 (1786). The recital was performed on the Classical ‘period’ clarinet with fortepiano and ‘period’ viola. This research project was underpinned by an exploration of the evolution of the clarinet during the eighteenth century and the impact of clarinettists, composers and instrument makers on clarinet development and capability. The performance-led research comprises: 1. an exploration of the technical aspects of playing the five-and six-key Classical clarinets including the development of a new fingering chart; 2. an exploration of eighteenth-century performance style; and 3. the development of a performance guide to the Third Clarinet Concerto of Carl Stamitz. Through this research, I have discovered that learning to play the Classical period clarinet has many unique challenges which takes at least twelve months to appreciate and address. These include: the technical aspects of setting up the instrument to its optimal playing condition; mastering the fingering system, mouthpiece and reed setup which are quite different from a modern clarinet; producing a beautiful tone across the full range of the instrument; appreciating subtle variations in intonation, dynamics, articulation and timbre of this instrument; and finally, appreciating the many nuances of playing in the Classical period style with other classical period instruments.
-
ItemHandel’s Penultimate Oratorio Theodora: A Performance History( 2022)The performance histories of Handel’s oratorios have received little attention from musicologists, yet they provide important cultural and musical insights. Composed in 1749, Theodora is Handel’s penultimate oratorio. From Handel’s death in 1759 to the first commercial recording in 1968, the work was performed on at least fifty separate occasions. This research examines the reception of these performances using predominantly press reports. A focus of the thesis is the trend to stage oratorio that emerged in the 1920s and continues into the twenty-first century. A staging of Theodora in Chicago in 1935, and sets of performances in London in 1952, 1958 and 1966 are used as case studies. In addition, the research also considers early twentieth-century recordings of the aria ‘Angels, ever bright and fair’ which between 1903 and 1932 was recorded on at least twenty-nine occasions. This aria is used as an example to illustrate changes in performance practice and taste over an extended period. By examining both written and aural sources, the research provides insights into the changes in baroque interpretive practices between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries.
-
ItemThe Performer as Researcher, the Researcher as Performer: Articulating Arnold Schoenberg’s Connection with Johann Sebastian Bach through a Topically Informed Performance of His Complete Works for Solo Piano( 2022)The music of Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951) can be difficult for listeners and performers, who often find it cerebral and hard to understand. In this project, I take up the challenge of how pianists can present an eloquent performance—comprehensible and emotionally appealing to listeners—of Schoenberg’s complete works for solo piano. I seek the inspiration behind the music, contending that a listener can see past the image of Schoenberg as a controversial and intellectual composer, and better appreciate and connect with his compositions, if a performer makes artistic choices to emphasise his continuity with the past. I narrow down the problem to Schoenberg’s connection with one composer: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). I face this challenge as a performer as well as a scholar. The project consists of a thesis and a folio of performances. In the thesis, I substantiate the Schoenberg-Bach connection with a close reading of Schoenberg’s comments on Bach in his writings and a topical analysis of references to Baroque conventions in his piano works; in the folio, I demonstrate this connection through my recording of these works. I argue that the connection with Bach, which is explicit in Schoenberg’s writings, should also be implicit in his music, at both deeper and surface levels. The connection between the composers can, therefore, be illuminated in a topically informed performance of Schoenberg’s piano music. The performance folio features my recordings of Schoenberg’s complete published works for solo piano. This folio also includes my recordings of a selection of Bach’s works for solo keyboard, some of which illustrate the connection between the composers. The criterion for this selection of Bach pieces is that Schoenberg mentioned them in his writings. The first chapter of the thesis provides a literature review of existing scholarship on Schoenberg’s connection with Bach, his works for solo piano, and his use of topics. The second chapter outlines my theory and methods: three guiding ideas (haptic knowledge, Schoenberg’s perception of Bach, and musical topics) and three strategies (practice-led research, close reading, and topical analysis). This chapter also presents an original music-specific and performance-related methodology: the artistic-research interaction model. Chapter 3 offers a close reading of Schoenberg’s comments on Bach in the totality of his writings. Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 present a topical analysis of musical figures in Schoenberg’s piano music that can be connected to Baroque conventions. These include Baroque dance, the learned style, the Baroque improvisatory keyboard style, and the pianto. In the conclusion, I outline and anticipate further research into Schoenberg’s piano music, his connections with previous composers, and his use of topics. The thesis concludes with a reflection on the contribution of this project to the field of artistic research, as well as the potential of the interaction model developed and applied here for performer-scholars.
-
ItemA Proposed Framework for Collaboratively Producing a Soundtrack in Dramatic Community Theatre( 2022)Composing music for theatre presents inherent challenges that are often difficult to navigate for composers new to theatre composition. Through Practice-led research, derived from my experience of composing six soundtracks for a northwest-based Tasmanian community theatre company, a three-stage framework is proposed to facilitate producing soundtracks for dramatic community theatre. Based upon two principles - the Director’s vision and musical enhancement of the score - the framework proposes proceeding via collaboratively establishing a creative brief, conceptualising primary musical ideas, and then realising the soundtrack through a collaborative process with primary and secondary stakeholders. The framework also features experience-based strategies to maximise effectiveness. Developing and articulating the framework enabled me clarification to accelerate, maximise and develop my artistic capabilities and output. Furthermore, its development contributes to the literature, as a primary first-person source on how community theatrical soundtracks can be produced. It has the potential to be a useful starting point for composers new to writing for community theatre. The supporting folio of work also adds new music that can be reflected and evaluated regarding the time-period and demonstrates how an effective framework spotlights the composer.
-
ItemLooking for the Gold – A critical ethnographic study using drama therapy to explore voice, agency and power at the intersection of private and public life in aged care( 2022)This thesis details a critical ethnographic, drama therapy practice-based study examining the interconnectedness of aged care residents’ lived experiences within their socio-cultural environment. This was an emergent study that evolved over four cycles: (1) critical interpretative synthesis of the literature, which helped guide and shape the research design; (2) participant observations within the chosen research community (residential care home); (3) drama therapy (DT) workshops with a small group of residents; (4) semi-structured interviews upon finishing the DT workshops. The study examined the structures and dynamics of power within the research community and explored aged care from a broader socio-economic perspective in Australia. The findings illustrated a complex living environment with a lack of distinct boundaries between the private and the public spheres of residents’ lives. The findings show that negotiating these circumstances inevitably impacted the residents’ ability to enact their voice and agency within their living context. Against this backdrop, the study explored the role that drama therapy can have within the research community. The findings demonstrated that the active and collaborative processes in drama therapy enabled resident-participants to take ownership of their creative participation and witness themselves and others from a new perspective. The creative engagement in the DT group further enabled the participants to deconstruct their institutionalised, cultural, and social identities and explore a renewed sense of self. This transformative process empowered the participants to enact their voice and agency and meaningfully engage in the cultural shift within their home community, reporting a newly found sense of belonging within the DT group. This study makes recommendations for aged care settings to go beyond the mere accommodation of residents’ basic care needs and safety and equally address the disempowering nature of institutionalised living. The study demonstrates that drama therapy methods facilitated by a skilled therapist have the capacity to engage aged care participants in a compelling creative process in which they can exercise their voice and agency, direct their own narrative, and inform the wider socio-cultural system of their lived realities.