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Born in the political turmoil of the 1989 student movement, Chinese rock music is often understood as an ideological weapon to against the Communist principles due to its western origin. The movement pushed Chinese rock to an unprecedented height of cultural prominence in the. early 1990s. Chinese rock, however, lost this cultural prominence in the mid-1990s. The political suppression is generally regarded as the key reason causing the crisis, but the real reason is much more complicated and deep inside China's society. . The 1990s is a decade when China was profoundly transformed into a new nation in every dimension. The substantial economic growth hid other social problems, such as the unparalleled development between economy and culture. The crisis of Chinese rock is just evidence demonstrating how cultures are co-produced by multi-forces social movements rather than any single factors. Social powers and the political power are often mixed in previous studies. It is also incorrect to treat ordinary people as a passive group who actually had exerted their influences on the formation of Chinese rock in the 1990s. Qualitative data (such as the lyrics and comments) and quantitative data (such as the number ofrock album and economic figures) display why the crisis happened. The political-concentrated content and the purely artistic form are the two direct causes of the crisis, but digging deeper, social power, social classes, and cultural capital play vital roles. The immaturity of Chinese rock music itself is the direct reason, but the immaturity of China's society is the essential and primary reason for the crisis. The crisis of Chinese rock, however, does not mean its death, but a period when rockers, the music industries, the media, fans, and even the government needed to learn and accumulate adequate source and capital to develop this new culture. It cannot be an overnight task. The comeback of Chinese rock in the new millennium demonstrates that Chinese rock is a culture related to China. Its social significance and role likely differ from its western counterpart. Because China has been opened up to the outside world since 1979, the development of intercultural exchange is inevitable, which makes rock music develop in China in a together-in-difference situation.

Dub reggae and the techniques associated with it have, since the late-1980s, been used widely by producers of dance and ambient music. However, the term was originally applied to a remixing technique pioneered in Jamaica as far back as 1967. Recording engineers produced reggae tracks on which the efforts of the producer were often more evident than those of the musicians - these heavily engineered tracks were termed 'versions'. The techniques used to produce versions quickly evolved into what is now known as 'dub'. The term, in this sense, arrived in 1972 and was largely the result of experiments by the recording engineer Osbourne Ruddock/King Tubby. Over the decades, not only has dub evolved, but it has done so especially in the UK. Indeed, much contemporary music, from hip hop to trance and from ambient soundscapes to experimental electronica and drum 'n' bass is indebted to the 'remix culture' principally informed by dub techniques. However, while obviously an important genre, its significance is rarely understood or acknowledged. Part One of the thesis examines the Jamaican background, necessary for understanding the cultural significance of dub, and Part Two analyses its musical, cultural and political importance for both African-Caribbean and, particularly, white communities in the United Kingdom during the late-1970s and early 1980s. Particular attention is given to the subcultures surrounding the genre, especially its relationship with Rastafarian culture the history and central beliefs ofwhich are related to reggae and examined. There is also analysis of its cultural and musicological influence on punk and post-punk, the principal political music in late-1970s Britain. Finally, moving into the period of the decline of postpunk and, indeed, British dub in the early 1980s, there will be an examination of what can be understood as the postmodern turn in dub. The principal focus of this final discussion will be the work of the most influential post-punk producer, Adrian Sherwood, who, in the late 1970s, formed several fluid musical collectives - most notably, Creation Rebel, African Head Charge, and Dub Syndicate - in order to experiment with the dub sound. These developments were enormously influential, and would eventually go on, in the 1990s, to shape the emerging rave and dance cultures. In summary, the thesis is a confluence of several lines of thought. Firstly, it provides a cultural and musical history of dub from its early days in Jamaica to the decline of post-punk in early-1980s Britain. Secondly, it examines the religio-political ideas it carried and traces .these through to the ideologies informing the subcultures of the late-1970s and, finally, to their transformation and, arguably, neutralisation in the postmodern pastiche of post-punk dub. Thirdly, with reference to these lines of thought, it looks at dub's and roots reggae's contribution to race relations in 1970s Britain. Finally, it analyses the aesthetic and arguably 'spiritual' significance of dub, looking at, for example, its foregrounding of bass and reverb. Quite simply, therefore, in demonstrating the political, cultural, spiritual, and musicological significance of dub, the thesis seeks to contribute to a revision ofits current 'unsung' position in contemporary popular music history.

This dissertation re-establishes Paris, through its symbiotic relationship with the royal court, as a major centre for the production, performance and transmission of sacred and secular polyphonic repertoires at the turn ofthe fifteenth century. It shows that the French royal court anchored in Paris represented an important point of reference for all musicians, including the composers Jean Vaillant, Jacquet de Noyon, J. Solage, Jean Carmen and Jean Cesaris, and paves the way for new interpretations ofthe surviving musical repertoires. Chapter 1 underlines the importance ofParis to the careers of musicians active in royal courtly circles as an ideal location for the development of networks ofsocial and professional acquaintances for musicians. The clerical nature of singers' and organists' training set them on a par with those clerks employed in the royal court and the governmental bodies based on the lIe-de-la-Cite, who patronized polyphonic music in the capital's ecclesiastical institutions. Chapter 2 focuses on the Sainte-Chapelle ofParis as a centre of musical excellence. The Sainte-Chapelle was linked to the court, through accumulation ofoffices and frequent movements ofpersonnel, and to the citY, through accumulation ofbenefices at Parisian churches and chapels. Sainte-Chapelle musicians performed during processions through Paris, at royal courtly events contexts or on more private occasions patronized by clerks active in royal service. Chapter 3 highlights points ofcontact between musicians active in the University quarters and those active at the royal court, setting the scene for the transmission and discussion of courtly repertoires in the University. Information concerning the patronage of polyphony at the Dormans College by clerks active in royal service supports the theory of shared musical repertoires at court and in the University.

This submission takes the form of a) ten compositions written between 2001 and 2006; b) an 11 ,ODD-word commentary, and c) audio-visual documentation (one audio CD of .aiff files and one data CD of a .mov file (QuickTime». . The commentary is in interview format and discusses the following issues and topics representative of fi~ years of thought and research about composing: cliche, pastiche, critique, purity in musical modernism, informal process music, obfuscation, satire, absurdity, subverting constructs, modernism with inappropriate material, sampling, technological metaphors, information theory, redundancy, ambiguity of 'serious' and 'funny', locating musical meaning, 'overmodemism', violence, recognising 'the new', sequelae of established models, value judgments, politics an.d music, waking up the audience, contextual dissonance, theatre and comedy, performers under duress, recontextualising performance parameters, post-tonality, structure and form, Logic Audio, computer-driven music, the cover version, conceptually-driven music, regUlar phrase-lengths, repetition, instinctive behaviour, Eros and Thanatos, musical teleology, pleasure and pain, aesthetic differences between countries, aesthetics and morality, naivety and sophistication and speaking to the heart.

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This portfolio comprises video and audio recordings of five projects which have formed the core of my practice during the period of study, and a document which develops some strategies for thinking about and engaging with the projects based on an understanding of their relationship to other work, to the wider world and to my working methods. Four principle issues are considered; prisms through which to view the works presented: Interaction, Feedback/Interference, Mistranslation and the Body. In addition some thoughts are given on my strategies for engaging with the objects and environments as designer, performer and listener. Themes of circularity, of recontextualisation and of ambiguity become clearly important. The works are additionally documented on a DVD comprising audio recordings, video recordings and photographs of situations, performances and events.

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