This paper investigates the relationship between error and choice in jazz improvisation. In the first of four complementary chapters, key terms (e.g. error, jazz, improvisation) are defined within the context of this dissertation. Next, a series of original interchangeable exercises for musical improvisation are annotated. These exercises are discussed within a jazz-specific framework, however they are easily adaptable to a wide range of improvisational settings. Chapter Three details the effectiveness of these exercises in several case studies. Issues surrounding listening, interaction, error, and choice are examined. Finally, avenues for future study are considered, in particular a reframing of error within the process of jazz improvisation.

This paper investigates the relationship between error and choice in jazz improvisation. In the first of four complementary chapters, key terms (e.g. error, jazz, improvisation) are defined within the context of this dissertation. Next, a series of original interchangeable exercises for musical improvisation are annotated. These exercises are discussed within a jazz-specific framework, however they are easily adaptable to a wide range of improvisational settings. Chapter Three details the effectiveness of these exercises in several case studies. Issues surrounding listening, interaction, error, and choice are examined. Finally, avenues for future study are considered, in particular a reframing of error within the process of jazz improvisation.

The lotus is a divine symbol in Asian traditions representing virtues of purity and non-attachment. "Light and Soul," is a work for orchestra with a duration of thirteen minutes, uses the growth of the lotus as a model for formal construction and musical development. The roots of a lotus are in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment. In Buddhism, the heart of the human being is like an unopened lotus. When the virtues of the Buddha develop therein, the lotus blossoms, and that is why the Buddha sits on a lotus bloom. Confucian scholar Zhou Dunyi's short essay, "On the Love of the Lotus," points out there are many lovable flowers of grasses and trees both upon the water and on the land. In the Jin Dynasty, Tao Yuanming loved only the chrysanthemum. Since the Tang Dynasty, people of the world have loved the peony very much. However, Zhou Dunyi especially loves the lotus because while growing from the mud, it is unstained. Then he further lists out the reasons that he loves the lotus and comments that the lotus is a gentleman among the chrysanthemum and peony. The musical means of conveying this spiritual metaphor of the lotus in "Light and Soul" are primarily timbral, although there is a rigorous application of intervalic and scalar development in the music which gives it consistency and a sense of unfolding over the length of its duration.

The lotus is a divine symbol in Asian traditions representing virtues of purity and non-attachment. "Light and Soul," is a work for orchestra with a duration of thirteen minutes, uses the growth of the lotus as a model for formal construction and musical development. The roots of a lotus are in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment. In Buddhism, the heart of the human being is like an unopened lotus. When the virtues of the Buddha develop therein, the lotus blossoms, and that is why the Buddha sits on a lotus bloom. Confucian scholar Zhou Dunyi's short essay, "On the Love of the Lotus," points out there are many lovable flowers of grasses and trees both upon the water and on the land. In the Jin Dynasty, Tao Yuanming loved only the chrysanthemum. Since the Tang Dynasty, people of the world have loved the peony very much. However, Zhou Dunyi especially loves the lotus because while growing from the mud, it is unstained. Then he further lists out the reasons that he loves the lotus and comments that the lotus is a gentleman among the chrysanthemum and peony. The musical means of conveying this spiritual metaphor of the lotus in "Light and Soul" are primarily timbral, although there is a rigorous application of intervalic and scalar development in the music which gives it consistency and a sense of unfolding over the length of its duration.

Open and Shut Fiona M. Ryan Doctor of Musical Arts Graduate Department of Music University of Toronto 2013 Abstract “Open and Shut” is a short opera in two scenes composed with concert opera performances in mind; it could be performed with or without staging. There are five characters in this work. The protagonist is Bridget (Soprano). In the first scene Bridget encounters Martha (Soprano) and Rose (Mezzo Soprano), two fundamentalist Christians who are handing out religious pamphlets on the street. In the second scene Bridget meets her friends Frank (Tenor) and Paul (Baritone) in a café and tells them of her encounter with these two women (Martha and Rose); a heated discussion of religion ensues. Each character is represented by a distinctive style of music that fits with their personality and ideology. Martha's music and singing style is inspired by Baroque and Classical sacred music (well suited to a coloratura voice) to represent her traditional and authoritarian viewpoint: the instrumentation for her music is similar to a Baroque orchestra (strings, oboe, bassoon, and sometimes brass). Rose's music is inspired by traditional folk hymns and spirituals to represent both her traditional ideals and her earnest simplicity: her vocal lines feature repetition and gospel-inspired inflections, she is accompanied by textures featuring piano, bass, and flute. Frank is an opinionated, cynical atheist whose music is atonal (flexibly based on 12 tone procedures) and is filled with harsher chords and jagged melodies to represent his modern but rigid view; his vocal lines are often paired with cello. Paul is a hippie who supports people exploring spirituality, but is opposed to institutions; Paul's music is based on use of non-traditional modes and aleatoric principles with an emphasis on the interaction of percussion and voice. Bridget is caught between all of these worlds so her music is an intuitively composed fusion of tonal, modal, and atonal styles; Bridget's individuality is represented by a recognizable melodic theme (introduced at measure 41 and repeated throughout the piece by alto flute, viola, clarinet, and piano). Additionally, each scene starts with music inspired by the sounds of a city.

This thesis investigates the rise of the cultures and music of hip-hop and rap in the West and its effects on its female listeners and fans, especially those in academia. The thesis consists of two parts. First I conducted a content analysis of 95 lyrics from the book, Hip-Hop & Rap: Complete Lyrics for 175 Songs (Spence, 2003). The songs I analyzed were performed by male artists whose lyrics repeated misogynist and sexist messages. Second, I conducted a focus group with young female university students who self-identify as fans of hip-hop and/or rap music. In consultation with my former thesis supervisor, I selected women enrolled in interdisciplinary programmes focused on gender and race because they are equipped with an academic understanding of the potential damage or negative effects of anti-female or negative political messaging in popular music. My study suggests that the impact of hip-hop and rap music on young women is both positive and negative, creating an overarching feeling of complexity for some young female listeners who enjoy music that is infused with some lyrical messages they revile. The attraction to hip-hop and rap music and cultures by young women in academia seems to be largely contingent upon an appreciation of the aesthetics of the genre and music, including its rhythmic flow, melodic structure and the general appeal of the artists. Therefore, even when the messaging comes across as antagonizing or antithetical to the well-being of the young female academic listener, her enjoyment of the music remains intact. By organizing a discussion group and candid dialogue between young academic women who are self-described hip-hop and/or rap fans, I was able to obtain an intimate understanding of their personal struggle between this appealing musical aesthetic and the sometimes-violent messages of hip-hop and rap.

Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) is well known as a composer for his inventive tonal language and as a performer for his approach to rubato. As is evident through his piano roll recordings, Scriabin's pianism epitomizes the performance practice of the early twentieth century and raises significant issues for the modern interpreter of Scriabin’s scores. The diversity in Scriabin's compositional style has prompted a variety of analytic approaches. Chapter one surveys Scriabin’s stylistic development in terms of his piano music and explores relevant analytic and interpretive approaches. Chapter two explores Scriabin's pianism as described by his close friends, pupils, and critics of the time. These reports characterize Scriabin's playing as rhythmically flexible, sensitive to different layers of voicing, and subtle in its dynamic nuances. In Chapter three, the two central topics of the dissertation—rubato and climax—are explored in general and in relation to Scriabin’s music. In Scriabin’s early piano music the indication for rubato correlates with a specific melodic contour, and the broader connection between rubato and melodic contour is explored. The study of climax draws on Austin T. Patty’s theory of pacing, in which climaxes of different types arise through different handling of various musical parameters. The musical components of Scriabin’s climaxes evolve during his output. Chapters four and five examine the Piano Sonata No. 4, Op. 30, and Piano Sonata No. 10, Op. 70, respectively. These case studies provide a formal-thematic overview of each work, consider the use of rubato and the handling of climaxes with respect to the theoretical frameworks established in Chapter three, and assess performance choices with reference to several recorded performances. This dissertation provides an alternative outlook to the performance of Scriabin's music. Tempo graphs reveal the pacing between phrases and sections and permit comparisons among artists from different generations. The recordings surveyed for both sonatas indicate that the flexibility in timing within individual phrases or thematic sections is much greater in the earlier recordings compared to more recent ones, as is the degree of tempo contrast between slow and fast sections.

Over a century ago, Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865-1950) began experimenting with a pedagogical approach that would give students access to their personal musical voice and a system of technique to express that voice with ease and sensitivity. Music education had lost sight of certain key qualities of exceptional musicianship; qualities such as flow, nuance, imagination, and individuality, so valued in expressive performance, were absent in music pedagogy. According to Jaques-Dalcroze, the antidote to musical arrhythmy (a lack of musical ease and expressivity) lay in the integrated use of the whole body in both musical perception and performance, a coordination he termed eurhythmy. The purpose of this study is to investigate the applications of Dalcroze Eurhythmics to the choral context, including the ways in which the Dalcroze approach shapes the philosophical, pedagogical and musical outcomes of choral pedagogy and practice. More specifically, how do these two areas interact in relationship to the following topics: (1) conductor, chorister and choir as instrument, (2) conductor and chorister score study, (3) conductor and chorister gesture, and (4) choral pedagogy and rehearsal techniques? The original writings of Émile Jaques-Dalcroze provide a framework for the discussion, while interviews with two groups, Dalcroze master-teachers with choral conducting training and/or experience, and Dalcroze-trained choral conductors illustrate the specific applications of the choral context. Study participants reported the use of the Dalcroze approach for three main purposes in the choral context: (a) to develop choral skills, including vocal skills, aural skills, kinesthetic skills, ensemble skills and music literacy skills; (b) to prepare the whole body for accurate and expressive performance of choral repertoire (conducting and singing); and (c) to develop non-musical outcomes that support choral conducting and singing, including mental acuity, creativity, a contextualized view of self and others, self-confidence and risk-taking, and enjoyment in music making.

This dissertation investigates Cape Breton fiddle music from a popular culture perspective. It introduces a conception of musical groove comprising two interrelated components: a social component wherein individual musical actors retain their own identities and relationships with the music while also uniting collectively in their response to the music, and a sonic component consisting of an acoustical repeating of a rhythmic idea that forms the metrical underpinning for a piece of groove music. Each of these two components is informed and mediated by the other. Cape Breton fiddle music is considered here as a form of groove-based popular music, similar to other groove musics. The two dimensions of the groove are analyzed in turn, revealing aspects of social identity, political and commercial representation, and processes of intercultural syncretism that have resulted in the evolution of the music within the pop culture mainstream. The dissertation is divided into two large sections. The first section concerns the social component of the Cape Breton fiddle groove, considering aspects of cultural representation, social identity, globalization and perceived external threats, and intersections with popular culture. The second section examines the sound of Cape Breton fiddle music as a form of groove-based music by first proposing a general model for the analysis of groove-based musics, and then applying the model to the Cape Breton fiddle context. The social and sonic components of Cape Breton fiddle grooves are treated as mutually reinforcing components of the same cultural product. Explorations of social identity and cultural representation of Cape Breton fiddle music determine those aspects of the sonic dimension of the music with the most social salience. In turn, analyses of the sound of Cape Breton fiddle grooves influence the understanding of the contemporary and historical socio-cultural community. Cape Breton fiddle music is therefore used here as a case study for combining the powerful modes of inquiry from the disciplines of music theory and ethnomusicology, leading to a richer and more nuanced understanding of musical traditions and cultures in general.

The lotus is a divine symbol in Asian traditions representing virtues of purity and non-attachment. "Light and Soul," is a work for orchestra with a duration of thirteen minutes, uses the growth of the lotus as a model for formal construction and musical development. The roots of a lotus are in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment. In Buddhism, the heart of the human being is like an unopened lotus. When the virtues of the Buddha develop therein, the lotus blossoms, and that is why the Buddha sits on a lotus bloom. Confucian scholar Zhou Dunyi's short essay, "On the Love of the Lotus," points out there are many lovable flowers of grasses and trees both upon the water and on the land. In the Jin Dynasty, Tao Yuanming loved only the chrysanthemum. Since the Tang Dynasty, people of the world have loved the peony very much. However, Zhou Dunyi especially loves the lotus because while growing from the mud, it is unstained. Then he further lists out the reasons that he loves the lotus and comments that the lotus is a gentleman among the chrysanthemum and peony. The musical means of conveying this spiritual metaphor of the lotus in "Light and Soul" are primarily timbral, although there is a rigorous application of intervalic and scalar development in the music which gives it consistency and a sense of unfolding over the length of its duration.