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

This dissertation describes the motivation, methodology, structure and content of a new symbolic corpus of rap vocal transcriptions known as the Musical Corpus of Flow (MCFlow). This corpus is intended to afford and inform research into the sonic organization of rapped vocals. An operational music theory of rap is presented, identifying the most artistically important features of rapped vocals and their most basic organizational structures. This theory informs and motivates the sampling and encoding scheme of MCFlow, which is described in detail. The content of the current MCFlow dataset is described as well: the current dataset includes transcriptions of 124 hip-hop songs by 47 artists, comprising 6,107 measures of music which contain 54,248 rapped words. Several preliminary descriptive analyses of the current dataset are presented as illustrations of MCFlow's usefulness for: (1) identifying normative structures in rap; (2) comparing the styles of different artists; (3) studying the historical evolution of rap artistry. Information regarding access to MCFlow data and tools for analyzing the data are presented and the MCFlow online Graphical User Interface---usable by any user with no special software requirements---is described.

Committee: David Huron (Advisor); Graeme Boone (Committee Member); Johanna Devaney (Committee Member) Subjects: Computer Science; Music

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, ED Physical Activities and Educational Services

Phonological awareness skills (i.e., phonemic awareness, rhyme awareness, awareness of alliteration, etc.) are important to the reading ability of all participants (National Early Literacy Panel, 2007; National Reading Panel, 2000). More specifically, these skills are critical to the success of participants defined as at risk for reading disabilities (Adams, 1990; Juel, 1988). This study analyzed the effects of explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, rhyme awareness and awareness of alliteration as well as instruction in discrimination of the differences among the skills and their relationships. This study also provided a basis for introducing a computerized format of the Get it, Got it, Go and to compare the results obtained from the computer-based version with the traditional format of the assessment. Results indicate that participants responded favorably to the explicit instruction through increased responding if they had evidence of the individual skills prior to the beginning of instruction and emergence of the skill and growth in responding after instruction started. The computerized format was also found to be a valid and reliable format of the Get it, Got it Go assessment instrument. Lastly, contributions of this study and future research are presented

Committee: Ralph Gardner, III PhD (Committee Chair); Gwendolyn Cartledge PhD (Committee Member); Sheila Alber-Morgan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Software

Master of Arts in Education, Defiance College, 2008, Education

Sixteen preschool students enrolled in a preschool participated in this study. The purpose of this project was to determine if integrating rhymes and music with early reading instruction increased preschool students' basic phonemic and phonological awareness skills. The effects of rhyme and music on the acquisition of these skills were made through the use of a phonics program that utilized rhyme as a means of instruction. The change in students' phonological and phonemic awareness was measured by four monthly assessments using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Emergent Literacy Skills. Results indicated that as a class, students improved in their early literacy skills.

Committee: Fred Coulter (Advisor); Jo Ann Burkhardt (Committee Member) Subjects: Literacy; Music Education; Preschool Education