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  • 1. Stiegler, Morgen African Experience on American Shores: Influence of Native American Contact on the Development of Jazz

    Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2009, Music Ethnomusicology

    Over the past century, musicians and researchers alike have argued how specifically “African” or “European” jazz is. Some camps stand by a clearly African origin of Jazz with its common elements of syncopation, polyphony, and presence of “blue” notes and raspy timbre elements that cannot be traced to Western music, while others who attribute jazz a more Western parentage often cite non-African elements such as a written music tradition and the use of Western harmonic structure. An inconsistency in these arguments, however, emerges in some styles of jazz; for example, early jazz, blues, and ragtime were not always “swung.” This inconsistency, among others, might be attributable to European music, to some styles of African music, or even to Native American music, a possibility that has been largely overlooked by jazz scholars. Jazz is often characterized by the “African” elements of oral transmission, repetition, and the centrality of rhythm; these elements, however, are also characteristic of most Native American musics. Despite the debates above, the exact origins of jazz remain obscure. One point that scholars most often agree on is that, regardless of where jazz's musical roots lie, the very beginnings of this American music were synthesized by the “African experience on American shores” (Gerard 136), which involved cultural contact with both Europeans and Native Americans during and after slavery and into the period when jazz started to develop in cities such as New Orleans and Chicago. The living experience of Africans in America, in at least some parts of the country, was often collective with Native Americans. These two groups frequently shared blood, culture, and sometimes even the experience of slavery together. The shared African American and Native American history can be seen not only in remaining musical and cultural remnants in New Orleans (often considered the birthplace of jazz) but also in the heritage of many of the jazz “greats,” such as George Le (open full item for complete abstract)
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    Committee: David Harnish Dr. (Advisor); Chris Buzzelli (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; American History; American Studies; Black History; Fine Arts; Folklore; History; Music; Native Americans; Native Studies; Social Studies Education

  • 2. Goecke, Norman What Is at Stake in Jazz Education? Creative Black Music and the Twenty-First-Century Learning Environment

    Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2016, Music

    This dissertation aims to explore and describe, in ethnographic terms, some of the principal formal and non-formal environments in which jazz music is learned today. By elucidating the broad aesthetic, stylistic, and social landscapes of present-day jazz pedagogy, it seeks to encourage the revitalization and reorientation of jazz education, and of the cultural spaces in which it takes place. Although formal learning environments have increasingly supported the activities of the jazz community, I argue that this development has also entailed a number of problems, notably a renewal of racial tensions spurred on by 1) the under-representation of non-white students and faculty, especially black Americans; 2) the widespread adoption of 'color-blind' methodologies in formal music-learning environments, which serve to perpetuate ambivalence or apathy in the addressing of racial problems; 3) a failure adequately to address cultural studies related to the black heritage of jazz music; and 4) the perpetuation of a narrow vision of jazz music that privileges certain jazz styles, neglects others, and fails to acknowledge the representative intersections between jazz and related forms of black music. The study seeks to answer two main questions: What is the nature of the twenty-first-century learning environment? Moreover, how do cultural and racial dynamics affect the ways in which jazz is taught and understood in formal and non-formal settings? My proposition is that teaching jazz as a part of a broad spectrum of black musical styles and cultural traditions, which I shall call the black musical continuum, provides solutions for the dearth of cultural competency and narrow vision of jazz found in many learning environments. Through a continuum theory, I seek to provide a framework for viewing, teaching, learning, and performing jazz that situates it within the larger socio-cultural context of black American music. I argue that such a reorientation toward African-American cu (open full item for complete abstract)
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    Committee: Graeme Boone (Committee Chair); Ryan Skinner (Committee Member); William McDaniel (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; American Studies; Black History; Black Studies; Cultural Anthropology; Fine Arts; Folklore; Music; Music Education; Performing Arts

  • 3. Goecke, Norman What is "Jazz Theory" Today? Its Cultural Dynamics and Conceptualization

    Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2014, African-American and African Studies

    This thesis examines the complex sociocultural dynamics that surround the concept of jazz theory from two broad perspectives: formalized or academic jazz theory, which emerged as a result of the formal institutionalization of jazz in the academy, and organic or intrinsic jazz theory, which first arose from African American music-making practices. This dichotomy does not suggest that the majority of jazz community members exist at the extremes of either of these two poles. Contrarily, most musicians tend to occupy the grey area somewhere in between. The aim of this study was to shed light on the complex and elusive intersection between formalized and organic approaches to jazz theory. Through an analysis of informal, formal, and virtual (internet-based) jazz music-learning environments, the results offer a thick description of the way in which notions of "jazz theory" affected the social lives of musicians, fostered racialized jazz identities, defined community boundaries, and influenced music-making practices. The paper includes a variety of case studies, such as Miles Davis' experience studying music at Julliard, an analysis of the first methodological theory books published for jazz students and educators, online forums where jazz students discuss music theory, and ethnographic data related to modern day jazz theory that I collected from nonacademic and academic jazz learning environments. Two theory-related books examined included George Russell's Lydian Chromatic Concept and David Baker's Jazz Pedagogy: A Comprehensive Method of Jazz Education for Teacher and Student. In both, the cultural contexts in which the works were created and how many students and educators misinterpreted or omitted elements that reflect the tabooed subject of race were considered. The study also relied on original ethnographic content collected during a field study at a Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop, a racially charged debate between two Aebersold camp attendees, a meeting wi (open full item for complete abstract)
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    Committee: William McDaniel PhD (Advisor); Ryan Skinner PhD (Committee Member); Horace Newsum DA (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; Music; Music Education

  • 4. Belck, Scott LICKETY SPLIT: Modern Aspects of Composition and Orchestration in the Large Jazz Ensemble Compositions of Jim McNeely: An Analysis of EXTRA CREDIT, IN THE WEE SMALL HOURS OF THE MORNING, and ABSOLUTION

    DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2008, College-Conservatory of Music : Trumpet

    Rayburn Wright's text, “INSIDE THE SCORE” has become a standard reference for professional arrangers and university arranging courses. In this text, Wright analyzes jazz ensemble arrangements of three influential jazz arrangers: Sammy Nestico, Thad Jones and Bob Brookmeyer. Jim McNeely is at the forefront of the American school of jazz ensemble composition. His position as composer-in-residence of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra establishes his place in the lineage of important writers connected to that ensemble, most notably Thad Jones and Bob Brookmeyer. This document is conceived as a fourth chapter to Wright's text. Through a series of reductions and breakdowns, it applies Wright's analysis formulae to three of McNeely's composition/arrangements: In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, Extra Credit, and Absolution. It presents commentary on the salient features of McNeely's writing and orchestration, and should provide a useful foundation for studying his music.
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    Committee: Alan Siebert (Advisor); Rick VanMatre (Committee Member); Kim Pensyl (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

  • 5. Aldridge, James Sounds of Dissent: Sonic Representations of Resistance in 1960s Free Jazz

    Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 0, Musicology

    Jazz historians and scholars interested in the resistive practices of disadvantaged communities have mined the 1960s Free Jazz movement time and again for anti-institutional, counterhegemonic acts committed by canonic jazz figures. Generally speaking, these acts fall into two categories: (1) overt political “speech” – e.g. published social critique, programmatic music with distinct political messages, musicians' manifestos, etc.; and (2) covert “political” music – i.e., experimental music that seems or sounds as though it is inspired by political interests, attitudes, or agendas. Recently, jazz scholars – among them Ingrid Monson (2007, 160) and Clay Downham (2018, 6) – have cautioned against category two because it involves conjecture. At its best, they argue, it is inferential and speculative; and at its worst, it is essentialist and based on the harmful assumption that experimental music is necessarily political if it comes from a disenfranchised community of performers. Absent from this critique, I argue, is the acknowledgment that it is possible to identify resistance, defiant intentionality, and countercultural purpose in jazz's sounding content, provided there is evidence that it exploits weaknesses, loopholes, and ambiguities in the genre's organizing paradigms and traditions. In this dissertation, I identify strategies, stratagems, and procedures used by 1960s jazz musicians to overcome these burdensome, and in some cases oppressive, aesthetic traditions (e.g. “acceptable” sound palettes, “tolerable” instrumentations, and “respectable” styles). Moreover, I argue that key avant-gardists – among them Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, and Eric Dolphy – engaged in resistive musical practices rooted in clever, cautious repurposings and defiant misreadings of core jazz concepts in order to secure new aesthetic freedoms and expand the genre's body of tolerated sounds.
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    Committee: Daniel Goldmark (Advisor); Susan McClary (Committee Member); Francesca Brittan (Committee Member); Mark Turner (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; American History; Black History; Black Studies; Fine Arts; Music; Performing Arts

  • 6. Harvey, Stephen Jazz Chamber Music: An Analysis of Chris Potter's Imaginary Cities and a Musical Composition

    Master of Music, Youngstown State University, 2016, Dana School of Music

    This essay is a critical analysis of the mixed ensemble writing of jazz musician and composer Chris Potter, from his 2015 album Imaginary Cities. This analysis focuses on the compositional aspects of Potter's music when incorporating a string quartet into his ensemble setting. The essay discusses topics such as pentatonic harmonization, rhythmic layering, harmonic development, 20th-century influences, and modern jazz composition, which are prevalent in his work. Along with this analysis, the essay also discusses an original composition by the author. This composition is a mixed ensemble piece with three movements. The essay reviews compositional methods, influences, and programmatic elements of the piece, as well as its relationship with the analysis preceding it.
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    Committee: David Morgan PhD (Advisor); Kent Engelhardt PhD (Committee Member); Steven Reale PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

  • 7. Gaffney, Nicholas The networks of jazz production and consumption and the marketing-out of the black working class /

    Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2005, Graduate School

    Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects:

  • 8. Whitacre, Caryn An exploration into the lived experience of the Jazz Funeral

    Psy. D., Antioch University, 2017, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology

    This qualitative phenomenological study set out to explore and understand the subjective lived experience of the Jazz Funeral ritual of New Orleans, Louisiana. This dissertation was guided by two principal research questions: 1) What is the lived experience of participation in the Jazz Funeral ritual? and 2) What elements of the Jazz Funeral are beneficial to bereavement as reported by the subjects? Research data were collected and arranged through the utilization of phenomenological research protocol. By recognizing that people are the experts of their own lived experience and listening to participants describe their lived experiences of this ritual, this researcher was able to construct knowledge as to what it means to participate in the Jazz Funeral ritual. For the participants, the ritual's significance could change within and throughout the funeral procession and the meaning of the Jazz Funeral continued to change over time. Participants reported that collective grieving added to their experience of the Jazz Funeral, as collective grieving provided a sense of dignity and respect within the community and between community members. Participants said that the Jazz Funeral ritual, framed in tradition and meaning, has changed with the passage of time, but the healing aspect provided by the music has nevertheless remained consistent. Participants also reported that ritual participation allowed them to maintain a sense of hope in the midst of loss, while providing a feeling of togetherness that strengthened the community. Finally, through listening to the words and experiences of participants, this researcher was able to understand the experience of grieving as an active process that can be contained and processed through ritual. The meaningful experience of ritual participation and its celebratory and communal elements come together in the service of facilitating grief.
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    Committee: Salvador Trevino PhD (Committee Chair); Allen Bishop PhD (Committee Member); Cynthia Hale PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

  • 9. Seong, Sekyeong Bagatelles No. 6 and No. 8, Op. 59 by Nikolai Kapustin: Background, Analysis, and Performance Guideline

    Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2015, Music

    Abstract During the 20th century, there was a growing tendency among classical art music composers to incorporate non-classical music elements into their compositions. They moved away from traditional compositional techniques and attempted to use more experimental compositional ideas in their works in terms of rhythm, harmony, and melody. As a genre, jazz became a great resource for finding new ideas, offering the opportunity for composers to utilize elements from both classical and jazz to form a new musical style. In particular, Nikolai Kapustin broadened the point of view of classical music and raised awareness of the significance of jazz amongst contemporary composers. Kapustin, a contemporary Russian composer, was not well-known outside of his country until his first recording was released. His status as a classical composer has been widely misunderstood and his works have been underperformed until recently. Since his musical style is a mixture of classical and jazz idioms, his identity as composer is unclear and it is hard to classify his compositional style. For this reason, the questions are often asked, “Is Nikolai Kapustin a classical composer or jazz composer? Is he a classical musician performing and writing in a jazz style? How does Kapustin see himself? These questions are similar to those asked about Schubert: Was he a romantic composer with classical tendencies, or a classical composer with romantic tendencies? This document will shed some light on Kapustin's stylistic traits by observing his keyboard compositions, specifically the bagatelles Nos. 6 and 8, Op. 59. This document starts with a brief biographical sketch of Nikolai Kapustin (chapter 1) and historical background of Russian jazz music (chapter 2). The following pages explore third stream music (chapter 3) and a genre of bagatelle (chapter 4). In particular, chapter 3 will help performers understand why Nikolai Kapustin is currently hailed as a new force of third stream musi (open full item for complete abstract)
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    Committee: Steven Glaser (Advisor); Anna Gawboy (Committee Member); Shawn Wallace (Committee Member) Subjects: Music; Performing Arts

  • 10. Anthony, John Improvisational Devices of Jazz Guitarist Adam Rogers on the Thelonious Monk Composition “Let's Cool One”

    Master of Music, Youngstown State University, 2012, Dana School of Music

    Adam Rogers is one of the most influential jazz guitarists in the world today. This thesis offers a transcription and analysis of his improvisation on the Thelonious Monk composition “Let's Cool One” which demonstrates five improvisational devices that define Rogers's approach over this composition: micro-harmonization, rhythmic displacement, motivic development, thematic improvisation, and phrase rhythm. This thesis presents a window into the aesthetics of contemporary jazz improvisation and offers a prism for conceptualizing not only the work of Adam Rogers, but that of many contemporary improvisers working in the post-bop idiom.
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    Committee: David Morgan D.M.A. (Advisor); Kent Engelhardt Ph.D. (Committee Member); Randall Goldberg Ph.D. (Committee Member); Glenn Schaft D.M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

  • 11. Rogers, Seth Metric Displacement of Tony Williams' Early Career

    Master of Music, Youngstown State University, 2010, Dana School of Music

    Jazz drummer Tony Williams' musical and technical abilities surpassed those of his contemporaries'; allowing him to push the boundaries of the music he played. This was especially true at fast tempi. Through transcription and analysis of Williams' phrasing, this study identifies the ways he obscured pulse, meter, and form. He used three major techniques to do so: accent variation, accentual shift, and metric superimposition. The examples within this study demonstrate both a regular formal structure as well as a clearly articulated macro-beat from the walking bass line. In using the aforementioned techniques, Williams created a variety of rhythmic displacement that occurs not only at metric levels, but formal as well. Williams was not the first drummer to use these techniques, but what is especially significant is his use of them at such fast tempi. The two songs represented throughout each come from the first year of Williams' professional recording career. While only seventeen at the time, his playing demonstrates a clear technical leap on the instrument over his contemporaries. These concepts of metric displacement became a hallmark of Williams' playing throughout his entire career, and helped to establish him as one of jazz drumming's most significant contributors.
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    Committee: Kent Engelhardt PhD (Advisor); Glenn Schaft DMA (Committee Member); David Morgan DMA (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

  • 12. Maskell, Katherine Who Wrote Those “Livery Stable Blues”?: Authorship Rights in Jazz and Law as Evidenced in Hart et al. v. Graham

    Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2012, Music

    In 1917, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (ODJB) released what has been famously known as the first mass-disseminated jazz record. A title change during production led to copyright registration for the B-side of the record bearing the title, “Barnyard Blues.” Due to a labeling error, the record itself displayed the title, “Livery Stable Blues.” The unauthorized release of sheet music titled “Livery Stable Blues,” allegedly based on the B-side song, prompted the ODJB to release its own sheet music titled “Barnyard Blues,” and to file for an injunction against the competition on copyright infringement grounds. In the resultant case, Hart et al. v. Graham, the court determined substantial similarity between the two pieces of sheet music. This finding, coupled with conflicting witness testimonies recounting the compositional process and identity of the song, raised questions about the function of the musical author and his rights to the song as intellectual property. This document is a case study that explores extant court records and period sources to evaluate the ways in which jazz musicians and legal professionals responded to these questions. Such analysis reveals points of contention between the jazz and legal communities with regard to the musical author's rights, rooted in different definitions of the song as property. I propose that in contrast to the author's moral claim in the jazz community that treated the song as dynamic property, period copyright law provided a narrower scope of rights dependent on copyright formalities. Despite the new tangibility afforded jazz by recordings, this restriction limited the legal protection for songs that jazz musicians claimed as their own. As the first significant intersection of jazz and copyright law arising from the first famous jazz record, Hart sheds light on what would become points of contention between the jazz and legal communities in future decades. Divergent perceptions of the function of the musical author, t (open full item for complete abstract)
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    Committee: Graeme Boone PhD (Advisor); Charles Atkinson PhD (Committee Member); Mark Rudoff MM/LLB (Committee Member) Subjects: Law; Music

  • 13. Venesile, Christopher The Acquisition of Pedagogical Content Knowledge By Vocal Jazz Educators

    Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2010, Music Education

    The purpose of this study was to identify and describe the forms of pedagogical content knowledge needed by vocal jazz educators. A secondary purpose was to examine the role of professional development in the acquisition of pedagogical content knowledge by vocal jazz educators.Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is the specialized type of knowledge teachers possess that is characterized by an overlapping and interaction of subject matter content and pedagogical understandings (Shulman, 1986). Using PCK as a theoretical construct, the researcher designed the Vocal Jazz Educator Knowledge and Skill Inventory (VJEKSI), a survey that contained primarily quantitative, closed-ended items, with a few open-ended responses also solicited. The survey was delivered online to 271 purposefully selected secondary and post-secondary vocal jazz educators. Ninety- three respondents returned completed surveys, representing a return rate of 34.3%. Data analysis prioritized the statistical examination of the quantitative data, but also employed qualitative data analysis in a sequential explanatory strategy to highlight conclusions and illuminate broad points with a personal perspective (Creswell, 2003). Respondents rated all 15 subject matter knowledge and 14 pedagogical skill items between “4” (moderately important) and “5” (important) on a 5-point Likert-type scale. The knowledge and skill data was further delineated into eight categories for additional analysis. Study participants indicated that they acquired their PCK from a variety of sources, with regular, focused listening to live and/or recorded jazz, attending jazz festivals as a member or director of an ensemble, self-study on various topics related to jazz, and participation in jazz workshops most frequently utilized. The top topics that participants indicated interest in for future professional development included vocal jazz ensemble rehearsal techniques, new literature sources, and opportunities for net (open full item for complete abstract)
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    Committee: William Bauer PhD (Committee Chair); Lisa Koops PhD (Committee Member); Kathleen Horvath PhD (Committee Member); Richard Varga PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music Education

  • 14. Keeler, Matthew BESSIE SMITH: AN AMERICAN ICON FROM THREE PERSPECTIVES

    Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2005, Music Ethnomusicology

    Bessie Smith: an American Icon from Three Perspectives examines biographies, literary studies, and black feminist writings about the quintessential blueswoman of the 1920s American recording industry. Problems have arisen from each group of scholars interpreting Smith's contributions and importance to American culture differently, often at the expense of someone else's viewpoint. Historically, biographers tried to dispel myths in order to determine the true events of Smith's life, but dismissed the necessity of myth in shaping her legacy. Literary scholars analyzed Smith's lyrics for deeper social meanings and contributions to literature, but overlooked her role as a performer. Black feminists acknowledged Smith as a model for strong African-American womanhood among the urban working-class, but neglected her innovations as a musician. All of these perspectives contribute to our overall understanding of Smith, but possess fundamental flaws. I have examined nearly fifty years of Bessie Smith scholarship, considering the socio-cultural backgrounds, time periods, genders, and research limitations of scholars representing these various groups. Ultimately, their biases compromise our understanding of Smith. To address this problem, future researchers need to look beyond individual histories to understand the reasoning and research processes that created them.
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    Committee: Steven Cornelius (Advisor) Subjects:

  • 15. Valladares, Gabrielle Women and Feminism in Classical and Jazz History: Katherine Hoover's Clarinet Concerto in Context

    Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Music

    The following document discusses Katherine Hoover's Clarinet Concerto (1987), while setting the Concerto in context with the rich history of women in classical music, jazz, and feminist theory. It traces the intersection of history, feminism, and genre, discussing feminist theory and its application to music. Flutist and composer Katherine Hoover (1937-2018) was a world-renowned composer, known for her elegant and intense style for wind instruments, primarily the flute. Her repertoire for clarinet is not only versatile, but virtuosic, and explores a wide variety of genres, from jazz to Greek folk song. The Clarinet Concerto (1987), written for jazz clarinetist Eddie Daniels, is a powerful work, which presents challenges both with traditional performance and jazz-based improvisation. An in-depth biographical sketch of Katherine Hoover is provided, documenting her development from a young student with limited music education, into a world-renowned artist and composer. Also included is a brief history of women composers and performers in both classical music and in jazz, along with biographical sketches of historic jazz clarinetists and their impact on the genre. Finally, the Clarinet Concerto is explored as a performance guide, including tips on improvisation for those who might be uncomfortable with the medium. The Clarinet Concerto is promoted herein for clarinetists, not only for its invaluable musical elements that blend jazz and classical sounds, but for its reflection of a feminist work that has helped to shape music today.
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    Committee: Caroline Hartig (Advisor); Russel Mikkelson (Committee Member); Karen Pierson (Committee Member); Graeme Boone (Committee Member) Subjects: Music; Womens Studies

  • 16. Chen, Yuanzhu Two Sonatas for Flute and Piano by Jin Ta: An Analysis, Descriptions, and Composer Interviews

    Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Music

    This document introduces two sonatas for flute and piano by Chinese flutist and composer, Jin Ta. Jin Ta was born in China, educated in the United States, and since 1998, lives in Singapore. The sonatas are published by Tu & Du International Co., LTD in Taiwan. Included is a transcript of the interviews and a listing of Jin Ta's works. The purpose of this document is to broaden the knowledge of flute repertoire by Chinese composers. To better contextualize the historical aspects of this document, a brief history of Chinese composers and a brief history of Western flute music in China are included. Interviews with the composer provided information for the descriptions and analysis of the two sonatas. Performance insights were also gained from the interviews.
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    Committee: Katherine Jones (Committee Chair); Russel Mikkelson (Committee Member); Graeme Boone (Committee Member); Michael Torres (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

  • 17. Schuelke, Patricia Nostalgia, Race, and the Music of Cuphead

    Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2022, Music History

    When animators like the Fleischer Brothers and Tex Avery pioneered the new medium of film animation in the early twentieth century, they looked to earlier American popular culture successes like vaudeville and blackface minstrelsy to inspire their cartoons. Almost a century later, Studio MDHR remediated 1930s animation, big band jazz, the likeness of Cab Calloway, and other historical entertainment nostalgia points in their 2017 videogame Cuphead. This corresponds with a prominent trend in video games of the twenty-first century: nostalgia expression and formation through the remediation of past popular culture. Cuphead's connections to the past include game mechanics from the 1980s and 1990s, music recorded on vintage microphones and composed with historical compositions in mind, and visual aesthetics and animation processes that reflect those of 1930s American cartoons. These nostalgia points do not come without their problems. Amination in this earlier era catered to a majority white audience, and therefore included racist caricatures of Black people and Black music, like big band jazz. Remediating these visual elements opened Studio MDHR up to criticism. Composer Kris Maddigan brought direct musical quotations into some of the pieces in Cuphead's soundtrack, drawing on nostalgia points that have been remediation in popular culture throughout the 20th century. These examples of musical texturing connect to earlier media that bring their own baggage to the amalgam that makes up Cuphead's sonic and visual aesthetic. A large fandom has nevertheless grown up around the game since its release in 2017, creating fan music that represents different aspects of the game they now find memorable and even nostalgic.
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    Committee: Ryan Ebright PhD. (Advisor); Katherine Meizel PhD. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

  • 18. Savard, Nicolas Queer Legacies: Tracing the Roots of Contemporary Transgender Performance

    Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2021, Theatre

    While the past decade has seen a rapid increase in media visibility for transgender celebrities, it has not necessarily led to greater inclusion of transgender people within the United States' major performing arts institutions. The resulting increased awareness among the general public has reinforced the prevailing cultural narrative that the transgender community is a newly emerging population. The theatre has contributed to this perception, framing trans narratives as novel and “trending,” which perpetuates what ethnographer Andre Calvacante calls the ideology of transgender impossibility. This dissertation challenges the theatre industry's ideology of transgender impossibility by tracing the artistic and political origins of contemporary transgender performance and by illuminating the ways in which such an ideology obscures the history and distinct aesthetics of trans artists. Using interviews and what LGBTQ theatre historian Sean F. Edgecomb terms lateral historiography, this project locates transgender performance and aesthetic practices within communities practicing queer solo performance, the theatrical jazz aesthetic, and spoken word poetry. Building upon these varied queer legacies, transgender performers have developed a particular set of aesthetic practices and dramaturgical strategies based in embodied experience, queer time/transtemporality, disidentification, and community-building. The exploration of trans aesthetics here examines performance strategies which trouble the actor-spectator relationship through the lenses of Rebecca Schneider's explicit body performance, Jack Halberstam's transgender gaze, and accountable audience participation. The project closes with an illustration of how the ideology of transgender impossibility—as a function of the cis white gaze—operates within theatrical spaces, perpetuating a cycle of marginalization and delegitimization of trans aesthetics, histories, voices, and experiences.
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    Committee: Beth Kattelman (Advisor); Nadine George-Graves (Committee Member); Guisela Latorre (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts; Gender Studies; Glbt Studies; Performing Arts; Theater; Theater History; Womens Studies

  • 19. Crooker, Matthew Cool Notes in an Invisible War: The Use of Radio and Music in the Cold War from 1953 to 1968

    Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2019, History

    The current status of the literature involving radio broadcasts and music from the Cold War delves into either one area of concentration or the other. That is, either historians have little to no mention of radio, or historians explore music without mentioning radio. There are no studies that solely focus on the use of radio and music in combination with one another. This is what the thesis offers to this area of concentration. In addition to examining the use of radio and music in combination with one another, this work delves into radio directly after the conclusion of the Second World War and what its purpose would be as the Cold War progressed. Other areas of concentration are three music genres popular from 1953 to 1968, which helped with subversion against the Soviet Union and the Eastern European states. These three music styles are: jazz, rock and roll, and British pop music with a heavy focus on the Beatles. This thesis will argue that radio and music, in combination with one another, did contribute as a significant factor to the peaceful demise of the Soviet Union in the long term. In addition, both were used as a subversive measure that allowed those behind the Iron Curtain to experience Western culture.
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    Committee: Jonathan Reed Winkler Ph.D. (Advisor); Susan Carrafiello Ph.D. (Committee Member); Drew Swanson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: History; Music

  • 20. Kerwin, Ryan DEVELOPING A MELODIC VOCABULARY FOR JAZZ IMPROVISATION: NON-PLAYING PRACTICE ALTERNATIVES FOR TRUMPET STUDENTS

    Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2019, Music

    The purpose of this study was to present non-playing practice techniques for the development of the melodic vocabulary for jazz improvisation. Specific research questions included: 1) What non-playing practice techniques have shown to be effective in cultivate music performance skills? 2) What are the most commonly recommended practice techniques for developing the melodic vocabulary for jazz improvisation? Why are these important? 3) What, if any, non-playing practice techniques have been recommended for developing the melodic vocabulary for jazz improvisation? Why are these important? Relevant literature was reviewed from the following 7 categories: (a) studies of non-playing practice techniques within instrumental music education, (b) historical accounts of top improvisers; (c) mainstream printed jazz pedagogy; (d) recently-published alternative jazz pedagogy; (e) online jazz pedagogical resources; (f) dissertations/theses relating to jazz pedagogy; and (g) Music education research related to jazz pedagogy. Semi- formal interviews were also conducted with pedagogues Jamey Aebersold and Hal Crook. The study concludes with a presentation of a 5-step method for the development of melodic vocabulary which includes: 1) Engage in immersive listening, 2) Develop an intellectual understanding, 3) Internalize the language, 4) Connect theoretical and aural understanding to fingering technique, and 5) Apply ideas in context.
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    Committee: Matthew James (Advisor) Subjects: Music