Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemNo Preview AvailableLiminaire: Performance Contexts and Cultural Dynamics of the Saxophone in Australia, 1853–1938( 2023-06)This project explores the largely untold first eighty-five years of the saxophone in Australia. For a unique Australian context it examines, and ultimately challenges, the long- and widely-held view that the instrument was solely a product and expression of popular or ‘lowbrow’ musical culture; instead, it argues that the saxophone’s character in Australia between 1853 and 1938 was enduringly cosmopolitan, stylistically diverse across the cultural strata, and a mirror to evolving notions of Australian identity. A five-chapter dissertation, weighted at 80%, details the saxophone’s Australian efflorescence in a variety of performance contexts from the goldrush to the cusp of the Second World War. A number of landmark performers and performances are established, including the headline discovery that the instrument debuted in Australia before being first heard in the United States. Drawing on categories established by John Whiteoak, this study incorporates ‘approved’ musical settings that were seen to reinforce social cohesion, such as the concert stage and the bandstand, and ‘anonymous’ settings, including the commercially-oriented domains of minstrelsy, vaudeville, and jazz. Notions of liminality are employed to explain and contextualise the saxophone’s marginal, and yet still remarkably potent, place in musical and wider cultural and social life over this time. This argument is built on research into a wide range of primary sources, including historical newspaper and journal articles, sheet music, sound recordings, silent and sound film, and interviews with notable Australian musicians. An accompanying audio-visual folio, weighted at 20%, features 33 minutes of new recordings for saxophone ensemble, saxophone and piano, and concert band in march and art music transcription forms.
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ItemIn Dowland's Own Words: Lachrimae and Flow my teares( 2022)This research project connects the historical performance practice conventions of John Dowland’s lute songs to related music in his solo lute repertory. Through a written dissertation and live recorded recital, I explore the influences of vocal music on Dowland’s compositions, and discover tangible performance insights that are informed by the relationship between Dowland’s songs and solo lute pieces. John Dowland (1563-1626) was amongst the finest lute players of his time and is widely recognised as the greatest English composer of lute music and lute song. Despite there being nearly one hundred sources containing Dowland’s music, only ten percent of these can be directly connected to Dowland, and only four published under his supervision. The dilution of Dowland’s original source material is particularly acute because Renaissance tablature manuscripts lack phrase markings, dynamic markings, tempo indications and articulation markings. This means modern scholar-performers are often required to look beyond the tablature manuscript in pursuit of interpretive justification for performance decisions in other historical sources. There is a small but important collection of Dowland’s compositions that exist in two forms: songs and instrumental dances. Many performers and scholars are aware of Dowland’s practice of recycling musical content, but less commonly explored are the specific insights that may be gained into the performance practice of Dowland’s music by studying these sources. Because Dowland was directly involved with the publication of his lute songs, they are particularly reliable and undiluted examples of his work. Unlike the vast collection of tablature attributed to Dowland from disparate manuscript sources, his published lute songs provide an insightful opportunity to directly examine the original composition and draw parallels between Dowland’s songs and their related solo pieces. The links are not always immediately clear or easy to identify, but once established, provide opportunities to learn from the vocal music when interpreting a related solo piece. This performance-led research thesis comprises a recorded recital (60%) and written dissertation (40%). The recital aims to highlight the inherit melodiousness of Dowland’s compositions, alongside other lute composers that are equally indebted to the voice and song. The written dissertation examines the most famous example of a Dowland piece existing in two forms, the lute solo “Lachrimae pavane” and the lute song “Flow my teares”. An examination of these two pieces reveals insights into interpretative details such as the accentuation, articulation and phrasing relevant to the performance of both versions.
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ItemMelodic Excursions: The Brazilian cavaquinho’s global journey( 2021)This research project explores the long and diverse history of the cavaquinho through a combination of practical performance and archival research. This four-string soprano guitar is a ubiquitous instrument in several musical cultures and its origins may be traced to Portugal where very similar instruments have been in use since the seventeenth century. The cavaquinho, and closely related instruments, spread across the globe along routes of migration and this study will focus on four key traditions, those of Brazil, Portugal, Indonesia, and Hawaii. These historical links will be investigated through recorded performances played on the modern Brazilian cavaquinho, together with written analysis of historical and performance contexts. A diverse portfolio of recordings showcases performance practices and repertoires from the nineteenth century, through to the flourishing tradition of the twentieth century and new and emerging contemporary genres. The Brazilian cavaquinho is the instrument through which I engage with these contrasting repertoires, drawing on the richness of the instrument’s technique and performance style. The recordings are not presented as historical recreations, but as extensions of the distinct evolving traditions through the application of contemporary practices. Collaborations with renowned international practitioners feature on many of the recordings, and the creative element of this thesis extends to original arrangements and compositions. Through a combination of performance recordings, research, analysis and original arrangements and compositions, this project demonstrates how the cavaquinho is the perfect vehicle to illuminate and reinvigorate historically linked traditions and styles.