Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemFrom resistance to incorporation: how Kendrick Lamar turned from Black saviour to Black salesman( 2019)Rapper Kendrick Lamar came to prominence with his 2015 album, To Pimp A Butterfly, an album built upon a platform of political resistance and Black liberation. However, on his 2017 album, DAMN., we see him move away from this political standpoint and cater to a mainstream audience. This thesis examines how this shift manifests and how Black artists fall victim to the process of incorporation by the mainstream culture industry. As racial symbolism is commodified and consumed by mainstream audiences, who may ignore or misread the political history of hip hop and Black resistance, how can Black identities remain authentic? How can racial minorities attain liberation from white supremacy?
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ItemBorder crossing: tracing the influences of Brazilian guitarist Yamandu Costa( 2018)Born in 1980 in Rio Grande do Sul, Yamandu Costa is one of Brazil’s most celebrated guitarists. Yamandu Costa began his musical journey at the age of seven, taking informal guitar lessons from his father, Algacir Costa. Raised in a musical family, his childhood was marked by extensive touring alongside the family band, who made their living from entertaining at vibrant dance parties across Brazil. His father was the leader of the band Os Fronteiriços, whose music was rooted in the regional music of southern Brazil, known there as música gaúcha (gaúcho music). Amidst this inherently regional upbringing, Yamandu Costa’s music was shaped and influenced by the gaúcho culture and music of southern Brazil and Argentina. In addition, the migration of Argentinian guitarist Lucio Yanel to Rio Grande do Sul in 1982 had a major impact on the life and music of Yamandu Costa. Finding lodging at the Costa family home in Passo Fundo during the initial period of his migration, Yanel brought with him to Brazil his guitar music, rooted heavily in the folkloric regional styles of Argentina. The young Yamandu Costa found a musical mentor in Yanel, resulting in a musical career that would come to be heavily influenced by Yanel’s pioneering approach to gaúcho music as a guitar soloist. A composer and virtuoso guitarist, the presence of Yamandu Costa’s gaúcho identity is unmistakable. Yamandu Costa frequently draws upon idiomatic instrumental and compositional techniques indicative of his gaúcho music influences. His music is eclectic, as he pieces together a mosaic of diverse Brazilian music styles like choro with Argentinian chamamé, chacarera and zamba. Through an analysis of five original works, this thesis illuminates the influences of Yamandu Costa and demonstrates the presence of gaúcho musical idioms in his music. The analysis is contextualised amidst biographical details, and investigates his formative years spent in Rio Grande do Sul and his relationship with Lucio Yanel, which are critical to his musical formation. The legacy of Yanel’s presence in Rio Grande do Sul is measured by an analysis of parallels in guitar technique between Yanel and Yamandu Costa, and demonstrates the musical cues the protégé has taken from his mentor. This thesis shows that Yamandu Costa’s roots in gaúcho music distinguish him amongst the Brazilian guitar landscape.
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ItemMusic, politics and ideology: a critical look at the ideological perspectives that shape our observations of music and politics( 2018)A critical look at the ideological perspectives that shape our observations of music and politics
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ItemHurdy-gurdy: new articulations( 2016)The purpose of this thesis is to expand existing literature concerning the hurdy-gurdy as a contemporary musical instrument. Notably, it addresses the lack of hurdy-gurdy literature in the context of contemporary composition and performance. Research into this subject has been triggered by the author’s experience as a hurdy-gurdy performer and composer and the importance of investigating and documenting the hurdy-gurdy as an instrument capable of performing well outside the idioms of traditional music. This thesis consists of a collection of new works for hurdy-gurdy and investigation of existing literature including reference to the author’s personal experience as a hurdy-gurdy composer and performer. It will catalogue and systematically document a selection of hurdy-gurdy techniques and extended performance techniques, and demonstrate these within the practical context of new music compositions created by the author. This creative work and technique investigation and documentation is a valuable resource for those seeking deeper practical and academic understanding of the hurdy-gurdy within the context of contemporary music making.
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ItemThe Brazilian seven-string guitar: traditions, techniques and innovations( 2013)Since the early 1980s a new and unique repertoire has emerged for the seven-string guitar, known in Portuguese as the violão de sete-cordas, a Brazilian instrument typically played in choro ensembles. This thesis demonstrates, through musical analysis, that this new repertoire is a result of two converging musical influences, both the Brazilian six-string guitar repertoire and the traditional accompaniment role of the seven-string guitar in choro ensembles. Choro is a genre of Brazilian instrumental music that developed in Rio de Janeiro during the late nineteenth century and continues to be played throughout Brazil, as well as gaining popularity in other parts of the world. The Brazilian seven-string guitar emerged in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the twentieth-century; photographic evidence and recordings confirm that it was included in choro ensembles as early as the 1910s. Traditionally strung with steel strings and played using a metal thumb-pick, the instrument provides a counterpoint accompaniment line that is generally improvised. In the early 1980s a small number of musicians experimented with the use of nylon strings; this resulted in timbral variations and greater expressive qualities similar to the standard classical guitar. Guitarists began to use this new version of the seven-string guitar as a solo instrument, as well as in other musical settings outside of typical choro groups; this significant development is referred to as the duas escolas or two schools of performance practice. In this thesis, a selection of works composed between 1983 and 2012 is analysed, considering elements such as rhythm, harmony, melody and form, along with issues of performance practice and instrumental techniques and discussing the distinguishing musical features that contribute to the new seven-string guitar repertoire.