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Professional orchestral string musicians represent a population at risk for performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD). Research literature suggests the influence of stress in the incidence of work-related and performance-related musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively investigate the role of holistic health (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social) and stress management in the prevention of PRMDs in professional orchestral string musicians. Five musicians representing different instruments, genders, and PRMD histories were recruited and sorted from a single professional orchestra in Canada. This study combined quantitative data - in the form of basic demographic information and a Health and Well-being Assessment - with qualitative interview data. This combined data provided a focused, in-depth view of typical instances in the professional orchestral string population. The musicians reported a variety of occupational and non-occupational risk factors, as well as a range of intrinsic risk factors. They also reported a variety of PRMD prevention strategies and lifestyle behaviours. The musicians in this study provide evidence that stress may play a mediating role in PRMDs and that the management of biomechanical and psychosocial stressors through holistic health practices may positively influence the incidence, severity, and treatment of PRMDs in orchestral string musicians. This dissertation recommends that increased awareness and education in holistic health practices be encouraged for the purpose of improved PRMD prevention in professional orchestral string musicians.

Examinations administered by the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) play a major role in the musical education of many individuals across Canada. The evaluative process needs to be a constructive one in order to ensure its positive impact on students’ musical education. Examiners who are confident and comfortable in their roles as assessors are more likely to provide this ideal environment for the students. Individuals at the dawn of their examining careers are prone to lower confidence and comfort levels due to their inexperience. Yet all music students deserve an optimal examination situation, even from new examiners. Ensuring that an examiner receives proper training will help to increase their confidence and comfort levels while assessing students. This study examined the elements of an examiner’s education, experience and preparation which contributed to higher confidence and comfort levels as they participated in the RCM evaluative process. Ten individuals participated in surveys and interviews. Seven were recent apprentices of the examiner training program and three were senior examiners. Their experiences and insights given in a narrative form shed light on which elements of their background and training benefited them as examiners. According to the participants, varied and extensive pedagogical training, taking exams as students and intensive performance education gave them the most advantages during their early careers as examiners. Regarding the examiner apprenticeship program, participants felt that they would have benefited from more practical experience during the early classroom seminar, additional opportunities to observe students at varying performing levels and more time for discussion with their mentors. These recommendations for background preparation and enhanced training are intended to give examiners greater confidence in their evaluative roles early in their careers, enabling them to provide constructive and effective assessments for students and their teachers.

Professional orchestral string musicians represent a population at risk for performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD). Research literature suggests the influence of stress in the incidence of work-related and performance-related musculoskeletal disorders. The purpose of this study was to qualitatively investigate the role of holistic health (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, and social) and stress management in the prevention of PRMDs in professional orchestral string musicians. Five musicians representing different instruments, genders, and PRMD histories were recruited and sorted from a single professional orchestra in Canada. This study combined quantitative data - in the form of basic demographic information and a Health and Well-being Assessment - with qualitative interview data. This combined data provided a focused, in-depth view of typical instances in the professional orchestral string population. The musicians reported a variety of occupational and non-occupational risk factors, as well as a range of intrinsic risk factors. They also reported a variety of PRMD prevention strategies and lifestyle behaviours. The musicians in this study provide evidence that stress may play a mediating role in PRMDs and that the management of biomechanical and psychosocial stressors through holistic health practices may positively influence the incidence, severity, and treatment of PRMDs in orchestral string musicians. This dissertation recommends that increased awareness and education in holistic health practices be encouraged for the purpose of improved PRMD prevention in professional orchestral string musicians.

Examinations administered by the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) play a major role in the musical education of many individuals across Canada. The evaluative process needs to be a constructive one in order to ensure its positive impact on students’ musical education. Examiners who are confident and comfortable in their roles as assessors are more likely to provide this ideal environment for the students. Individuals at the dawn of their examining careers are prone to lower confidence and comfort levels due to their inexperience. Yet all music students deserve an optimal examination situation, even from new examiners. Ensuring that an examiner receives proper training will help to increase their confidence and comfort levels while assessing students. This study examined the elements of an examiner’s education, experience and preparation which contributed to higher confidence and comfort levels as they participated in the RCM evaluative process. Ten individuals participated in surveys and interviews. Seven were recent apprentices of the examiner training program and three were senior examiners. Their experiences and insights given in a narrative form shed light on which elements of their background and training benefited them as examiners. According to the participants, varied and extensive pedagogical training, taking exams as students and intensive performance education gave them the most advantages during their early careers as examiners. Regarding the examiner apprenticeship program, participants felt that they would have benefited from more practical experience during the early classroom seminar, additional opportunities to observe students at varying performing levels and more time for discussion with their mentors. These recommendations for background preparation and enhanced training are intended to give examiners greater confidence in their evaluative roles early in their careers, enabling them to provide constructive and effective assessments for students and their teachers.

Ce mémoire propose une analyse critique du discours de l’enregistrement sonore à domicile (home recording). Dans la foulée des propos mettant de l’avant l’ «accessibilité» et la «démocratisation» de l’enregistrement sonore, ce mémoire analyse les relations de savoir/pouvoir produites et légitimées par le discours, ce qu’elles permettent et contraignent, autorisent et excluent. Le corpus à l’étude est issu de la presse musicale ainsi que de forums de discussion en ligne relevant de sites spécialisés. Les méthodes utilisées sont inspirées de l’approche du discours développées par Michel Foucault et de ce que Johnson et. al. (2004) appellent l’interprétation critique. L’analyse met en évidence les deux principaux sujets du discours de l’enregistrement sonore à la maison : les professionnels de l’enregistrement et les «pros» de l’enregistrement à domicile, deux groupes constitués d’hommes financièrement aisés. Les règles qui régissent l’enregistrement à domicile semblent reprendre, en les adaptant, celles régissant les studios professionnels. Ce mémoire suggère que la «démocratisation» telle qu'énoncée dans ce discours articule l'«accessibilité contemporaine» à certains savoirs et certaines technologies à des exclusions singulières – comme des femmes et des personnes de moyens limités – qui rendent ce discours possible. Être dans le vrai, dans ce discours, c’est échanger, argumenter, discuter et prescrire des façons de faire et de dire qui font des studios professionnels l’espace des normes et des légitimités. Mots clés: enregistrement, musique, maison, domicile, studio, démocratisation, technologie, l'analyse du discours, relations de pouvoir/savoir, Michel Foucault. / This thesis proposes a critical analysis of the discourse of home recording. It aims to question home recording's will to truth by investigating what makes its statements possible, or what is the system of rules that authorize certain things to be said within the discourse. Driven by enunciations regarding home recording's "accessibility" and "democratization", this thesis analyzes the power/knowledge relations that have been produced and legitimized within the discourse, as well as what they enable and constrain, allow and exclude. Music magazines and Internet discussion forums form the corpus of this thesis. The methods used in this research are inspired by Michel Foucault's theory and method of discourse and by the approach known as critical interpretation (Johnson et al., 2004). This thesis' analysis shows that the government in home recording seems to be exerted by two main subjects: recording professionals and home recording "pros", who are overall characterized as well-off men. Moreover, the rules of home recording seem to be a replication and an adaptation to the home environment of the organizing principles of professional studios. This thesis suggests that "democratization" as enunciated and produced within and by the discourse of home recording articulates the discursive notion of a "contemporary accessibility" in terms of technology and knowledge to the exclusions – such as that of women and people of limited means – that make this discourse possible. These exclusions are legitimized through what is considered the "truth" within the discourse, as well as the norms and regulations established within it, which in turn follow the logic of the professional studio. Keywords: home, recording, studios, democratization, technology, discourse analysis, power/knowledge relations, Michel Foucault.

Fluid flow creates an expansive range of acoustic possibilities, particularly in the case of water, which has unique turbulence and vortex shedding properties as compared with the air of ordinary wind instruments. Sound from water flow is explained with reference to a new class of musical instruments, hydraulophones, in which oscillation originates directly from matter in its liquid state. Several hydraulophones which were realized in practical form are described. A unique user-interface consisting of a row of water jets is presented, in terms of its expressiveness, tactility, responsiveness to derivatives and integrals of displacement, and in terms of the direct physical interaction between a user and the physical process of sound production. Signal processing algorithms are introduced, which extract further information from turbulent water flow, for industrial applications as well as musical applications.

Fluid flow creates an expansive range of acoustic possibilities, particularly in the case of water, which has unique turbulence and vortex shedding properties as compared with the air of ordinary wind instruments. Sound from water flow is explained with reference to a new class of musical instruments, hydraulophones, in which oscillation originates directly from matter in its liquid state. Several hydraulophones which were realized in practical form are described. A unique user-interface consisting of a row of water jets is presented, in terms of its expressiveness, tactility, responsiveness to derivatives and integrals of displacement, and in terms of the direct physical interaction between a user and the physical process of sound production. Signal processing algorithms are introduced, which extract further information from turbulent water flow, for industrial applications as well as musical applications.

This dissertation provides both an historical outline and contemporary ethnographic account of the Panamanian musical practice called “música típica popular,” which is commonly understood in Panama to denote a specific kind of vernacular music that is widely embraced. By examining the social-historical processes, events and discourses that have contributed to the genre’s development, this study seeks to develop greater understanding of what I argue is this music’s particular and pronouncedly ambiguous relationship to prominent themes of Panamanian cultural nationalism. Specifically, I endeavour to show that early on in its history música típica popular epitomized Panama’s (liberalist-identified) national ethos of progressive modernity and cultural cosmopolitanism while at the same time maintaining alignments to specific territories and musical practices significant to Panamanian vernacular imaginaries. The historical outline covers música típica popular’s development beginning from the late nineteenth century to the present. Its focus is on the genre’s tandem commercialisation and massification, performance and production technologies and associated performance modalities, shared musical/sonic traits, repertoire and approaches to innovation through musical mixing or fusión (fusion). One of the central goals here is to trace and examine points of alignment between música típica popular and dominant paradigms governing isthmian geo-cultural self-identification—particularly the interplay between a rural-identified “vernacular” culture and the perceived urban cosmopolitanism of Panamanian metropolites. Through ethnographic research this study also aims to examine the various sonic, social and economic factors that contribute to notions of música típica popular as a particular socio-musical collectivity actively in dialogue with discourses of Panamanian national and cultural identity. To this end, notions of “genre” and “style” provide an analytical framework particularly for coming to terms with the interplay between sensibilities of convention and common practice, and a need for meaningful differentiation among practitioners. It is my contention that while música típica popular practitioners actively cultivate links both to themes of Panamanian music-cultural vernacularism and cosmopolitanism, on the whole the relationship of the genre to nationalist discourse should be more properly understood as one of sustained ambiguity: not wholly aligned to one theme or the other, and in fact doggedly and often productively resistant to such binary categorizations.