Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemFootprints: the assimilation of extra-Classical elements in a compositional language( 2015)Footprints: The Assimilation Of Extra-Classical Elements In A Compositional Language consists of a folio of compositions in two volumes, and a dissertation. Both the folio and the dissertation explore a range of extra-Classical elements that are assimilated into my artistic output. The dissertation also investigates the musical genesis of each element, and how their assimilation creates my own compositional language. A preliminary discussion defines applicable terms, and the differences between borrowing and stylistic allusion, before moving into a broad literature review. An array of extra-Classical influences are investigated, along with their role in my compositional process. The focus then moves to a progressive analysis of my orchestral work Ithaka. The integration of extra-Classical elements within the work is examined, followed by a similar investigation into my chamber works Organica and Concertino. An analysis of the presence of extra-Classical influences in my other folio works concludes the investigation. An overall conclusion revises the diverse elements present in my creative output, how they interact to form my unique compositional language, and what directions the assimilation of these elements might take in the future.
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ItemVerdi's exceptional women: Giuseppina Strepponi and Teresa Stolz( 2015-05-15)This thesis investigates several of the persistent myths that surround Verdi’s life and career and those of the women with whom he had intimate relationships. Verdi’s self-image as a poor peasant whose success owed nothing to anyone else except his father-in-law, and the unwillingness in the scholarly literature to acknowledge any permanent threat to the unassailable solidarity of his marriage to a saintly wife whose past left no scars, reveal conflicts between public myth and private reality. In addition, the stereotype of the imperiously demanding ‘diva’, when applied to the two women under discussion, is not sustainable on close investigation. This thesis explores Verdi’s professional and personal relationship with exceptional women, focussing on two of the most important women in his life, the singers Giuseppina Strepponi and Teresa Stolz. It demonstrates his shifting power-balance with Giuseppina Strepponi as she sought to retain intellectual self-respect while his success and control increased. It presents a fresh appraisal of Teresa Stolz through examination of her letters from 1871 to 1895 and claims that, far from showing her to be an unintelligent and sometimes malicious gossip as is often stated in the scholarly literature, the letters demonstrate her astute evaluations of operatic performances and her buoyant affection for Verdi. The thesis argues that the two women fulfilled different functions as ‘handmaidens’, the one supporting and enhancing Verdi’s creativity at the beginning of his professional life, the other sustaining his sense of self-worth, at the end of his professional life; that each woman was an essential benefactor without whom Verdi’s career would not have been the same.
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ItemMusical identities of young people recovering from mental illness( 2015)This thesis details a Participatory project investigating how and why promoting young people’s musical identities can facilitate their recovery from mental illness. Studies describe how young people use music listening for managing aspects of their mental health across community-based (McFerran & Saarikallio, 2014; Saarikallio & Erkkila, 2007) and mental health settings (Cheong-Clinch, 2013). Music therapy is also articulated as a way to facilitate processes of recovery from mental illness (McCaffrey, Edwards, & Fannon, 2011; Solli, Rolvsjord, & Borg, 2013). Despite growing awareness of the potential of music to support recovery from mental illness, little is known about what conditions actually facilitate growth of musical identity in ways that foster recovery processes. This project aimed to address this gap by investigating what is needed in order to promote young people’s musical identities in ways that facilitate their recovery from mental illness. The intention was to understand both the processes involved and the resources required to facilitate recovery. A Participatory orientation (Minkler & Wallerstein, 2008) was chosen to align with the recovery approach (Davidson, Row, Tandora, O'Connell, & Lawless, 2009; Slade, 2009b) of the youth mental health service where this study took place. The Participatory philosophy was also seen as appropriate to the social agenda of the study in seeking to address young people’s access to musical resources to promote their recovery. Eleven young people currently attending the music therapy program at the youth mental health service chose to participate across two emergent cycles of action and reflection. In the first cycle, young people participated in collaborative qualitative interviews exploring how their musical identities changed with experiences of mental illness and recovery. A critical interpretation of Constructivist Grounded Theory was used to gather and analyse the data. The finding from this cycle was a constructed grounded theory that detailed young people’s recovery of musical identity. A second cycle of research emerged from this theory, to explore what community-based resources are needed to further facilitate recovery. This cycle involved mapping young people’s musical needs compared to what was available and possible in the local community. Findings from this study were an identified set of musical needs of young people, and the initiation of the Youth Music Action Group to begin addressing the meeting of these needs through community partnerships and advocacy. Findings from this study indicate that promoting musical identity can facilitate young people’s recovery from mental illness by: contributing to a health-based identity, facilitating meaning-making, and supporting social participation. However, the findings indicate a number of conditions are necessary to facilitate these processes. First, the music therapy theory through which to construct these processes needs to accommodate both the pathology of young people’s expression of musical symptoms as well as acknowledgement of the resource of musical identity for recovery. Second, music therapy needs to be available to support young people’s recovery of musical identity during early stages. Third, community-based music resources need to be available and appropriate to young people immediately following their experience of music therapy. Fourth, modes of research need to expand in order to promote greater democratic participation of young people in ways that promote their equal citizenship. These findings contribute to music therapy and youth mental health knowledge, and can inform future service design.
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ItemCritical reflections on how research design and the attributes of a music program can affect investigations of the psychosocial wellbeing benefits of musical participation in mainstream schools( 2015)This project explores the challenges of investigating the psychosocial wellbeing benefits of musical participation in mainstream schools. For a decade, Australian policy literature has claimed these benefits are to be expected outcomes of all students’ participation in school music programs (Australian Government, 2005). Despite these claims, there is little to no consistent evidence supporting a link between musical participation and psychosocial wellbeing in this context (Grimmett, Rickard, Gill, & Murphy, 2010; Rickard, Bambrick, & Gill, 2012). The reason for this inconsistency has been linked to both the research designs and methods used (Knox Anderson & Rickard, 2007), as well as the nature of musical participation investigated (Darrow, Novak, Swedberg, Horton, & Rice, 2009). Despite the identification of these limitations, researchers have continued to use designs that contain them. This can be attributed to a lack of critical engagement with approaches to research in this field, including assumptions about the efficacy of certain research methods, and the capacity for generic school music programs to promote wellbeing. This lack of critical engagement appears to account for the enduring inconsistency of findings in this area. This thesis aims to address this lack of engagement by critically appraising the research approaches used in two small studies that aimed to demonstrate the psychosocial wellbeing benefits of school-based music programs. This was achieved by undertaking two critical reflection analyses on the methods, designs, and contexts of each study, as well as the attributes of the music programs investigated. The first of these identified a number of important research challenges related to the research methods and designs used. Among other things, these findings challenge the assumption that self-report surveys are a valid way of collecting data from students. The second analysis identified a number of music program attributes that are likely to inhibit the reporting of positive results. For example, findings suggest music education programs are unsuited to promoting psychosocial wellbeing. Based on these findings, this dissertation makes a number of recommendations for the design of future studies in this area. It is argued that research following these recommendations is crucial for this field. This is both to develop a richer understanding of the relationship between music in schools and psychosocial wellbeing, and to produce reliable evidence that is better placed to inform relevant policy. It is further argued that without such evidence, policymakers may continue to make uninformed claims regarding the link between music in schools and psychosocial wellbeing. In turn, this has the potential to destabilise policy support for music in Australian schools. Finally, this thesis calls on researchers in this field, and others, to critically engage with the way that knowledge is created. It is maintained that such engagement is the responsibility of all researchers in the social sciences, and that only when this occurs can we claim the knowledge we generate is meaningful, and serving the communities we investigate.