Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Music Education

An Exploration of Musical Habits of Alumni from “The Lakewood Project” and How They Musick After High School By ELIZABETH AYLMER HANKINS ABSTRACT The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the musical habits of alumni from The Lakewood Project (TLP), a high school rock orchestra whose alumni tend to participate in music making experiences after high school at a high rate. Two lenses were used to explore this phenomenon. First, Christopher Small (1999) defined musicking as a person contributing, in any capacity, to a musical performance or in any activity that adds to the human encounter of music. Second, Situated Learning Theory, a theory derived from the apprenticeship model, stating that students are more inclined to learn when actively participating in their learning. Both components have been the bedrock of TLP environment. Thus, the research questions in this study included (1) the ways in which TLP alumni were motivated and enabled to musick after high school, (2) how TLP learning environment emulated their current musicking environment, (3) what aspects of formal music learning and informal music learning have they continued to use, and (4) what skills or knowledge were missing from their TLP experience. This multiple case study was based on ethnographic data collection techniques and included five TLP alumni. Data were collected through observations, interviews, and participant artifacts. Codes and themes were assigned following data analysis. Themes included musical motivation, voluntary risk-taking, the musical zone, camaraderie, and democratic collaboration. Within-case and cross-case analysis produced overarching themes, including a well-trained ear; arranging, composing, and improvising; knowledge of technology; and the ability to develop and implement performances. Unexpected findings included participants' motivation to give back to younger musicians and their comfort with failure. Embracing failure as an opportunity to achieve grea (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Nathan Kruse Dr. (Committee Chair); Kathleen Horvath Dr. (Committee Member); Matthew Garrett Dr. (Committee Member); G. Regina Nixon Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Music; Music Education

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2008, Music

In the face of increasing consolidation of the radio market, a more conservative political climate, and growing sensitivity to public dissent in the wake of the Patriot Act, there has been a dearth of anti-war music in the mass music market since 2001. While country radio has provided a platform for the musical articulation of pro-war positions, YouTube, a video-sharing website, has become a place where the increasingly individual experience of listening to anti-war music can be supplemented with more communal listening. On YouTube, users on both sides of the war debate can create their own political mashups, a medium comprised of mixed audio samples and/or mixed video samples preserved for public consumption. Observing the behavior as a silent participant on the message boards corresponding to mashups of Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)" and John Lennon's "Imagine," I demonstrate that political communities with specific communication and aesthetic values are being formed around these multimedia signs. Online communities offer a somewhat more democratic alternative for public articulation of political positions; however, the rhetoric of the online communities and of the larger musical-political climate post-9/11 is considerably parallel. Examining mashups from an aesthetic perspective reveals postmodern principles at work on multiple levels. The lines that once separated creators, producers, and consumers are blurred as editing software becomes available to more people, and as the flow of information increases. Producers and consumers no longer negotiate the meanings of particular signifiers within the confines of hierarchical corporate structures: these signifiers are now easily resignified, and reappropriated to make new meanings in different contexts. The increasing flow of information and postmodern principles of fragmentation and multiplicity that characterize mashups position users differently than more coherent, narrativ (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Danielle Fosler-Lussier PhD (Advisor); Daniel Avorgbedor PhD (Committee Member); David Staley PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies; Mass Media; Music