This thesis interrogates Andrew Tracey’s career as an ethnomusicologist and the significance of his research and publications on lamellophone (mbira) music of the Shona/Sena in Zimbabwe and Mozambique to subsequent scholarship of lamellophones throughout southern Africa. Through a survey of authors who have cited Tracey’s publications, this study assess how his use of the pulse notation transcription method and his theory of form and harmonic structure in mbira music, which he terms ‘the system of the mbira’ (A. Tracey, 1989) have influenced and contributed to the work of ethnomusicologists, musicologists and composers. Further this research evaluates the impact on subsequent publications by other scholars of Tracey's technical analysis of mbira music. Organizing and indexing Andrew Tracey's field collection in the ILAM archive gave direct knowledge of the scope of his work. The thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter contains a general introduction to the thesis and outlines the goals of the research. Chapter Two presents a biographical sketch of Andrew Tracey. A general introduction to the lamellophone (mbira) family of musical instruments in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Africa is presented in Chapter Three, which also addresses the social function of lamellophone music. Chapter Four gives a summary of Andrew Tracey’s research on the Shona mbira (his publications, recordings, films etc), and it analyzes his theory - “The system of the mbira” - in which he defines the form and structure of mbira music. Chapter Five examines the impact of Andrew Tracey’s research and publications on mbira music to subsequent scholarship and makes an analysis and evaluation of the significance of his contribution to the body of knowledge of the instrument and its music. In addition I relate my personal experiences with mbira music as a Shona person and mbira player and give my opinions on Tracey’s and subsequent scholars’ theories on mbira music. Chapter Six concludes with a summary of outcomes of this research. Basing on the analyses of presented data, it is deduced that, despite a few shortcomings, Andrew Tracey’s research on mbira music is crucial for it laid the groundwork for subsequent mbira scholarship.

This thesis examines the core concepts of early minimalism and the ways that they were influenced by recording as a medium of musical creation. The first chapter considers early minimalism’s historical lineage as the narrative has been passed down by music scholars, noting over-arching trends and problems of exclusion and misunderstanding inherent within it. Having established the myriad of concepts at the core of the early minimalist movement, the second chapter examines the recording medium’s effect on art music performance, noting trends in repetition, objectivity, and process that are represented within minimalism itself. With these ideas in mind, the idea of “post-minimalism” is interrogated, proposing that a music for the concert hall is not the natural development of the early minimalists’ expansive mission. In the third chapter, analysis of one iconic late-twentieth century musical style, techno music, demonstrates that it is fundamentally of the same artistic spirit as the early minimalists and an alternate manifestation of Minimal art. Ultimately, early minimalism and techno are “alternate minimalisms” of the age of the recording, referencing and embodying the musical consciousness of the twentieth century.

O presente trabalho objetiva compreender através da etnografia da música os processos e os procedimentos estéticos e sonoro-musicais, envolvidos nas musicalidades Funk na comunidade do Campo da Tuca, zona leste de Porto Alegre. Para tal, analiso a partir de trajetórias individuais e coletivas as representações e interações dos colaboradores e suas percepções sobre o Baile Funk e a comunidade. Busco também através da análise de páginas do Facebook, vídeos do YouTube, reportagens de jornais e entrevistas com funkeiros de diferentes gerações, bem como a observação participante entender como a produção musical Funk compõe uma rede de pessoas de diferentes capitais no fortalecimento e na circulação do cenário nacional e local de Funk. Os dados apontam para quase quatro décadas de bailes de música negra na cidade. O trabalho de campo desenvolveu-se entre julho de 2014 e dezembro de 2015. Baseio-me nas noções de espaço banal (Milton Santos), diáspora (Stuart Hall), evento musical (Anthony Seeger) e quilombismo (Abdias Nascimento). / This study aims to understand, through music ethnography, the aesthetic and sound-musical processes and procedures involved in the Funk musicality at Campo da Tuca, east zone of Porto Alegre. In order to reach this goal, I analyze, through individual and collective trajectories, the representations and interactions presented by collaborators and their perceptions on the “Baile Funk” and the community. I also try to understand, through the analysis of Facebook pages, YouTube videos, newspaper articles, interviews with “funkeiros” from different generations and participant observation, how Funk music production creates a network of people from different cultural capitals that contribute to the strengthening and to the circulation of the national and local Funk scenes. The data shows nearly four decades of black music parties in the city. The fieldwork was developed between July 2014 and December 2015. I base myself on the notions of banal space (Milton Santos), Diaspora (Stuart Hall), musical event (Anthony Seeger) and quilombismo (Abdias Nascimento).

O presente trabalho objetiva compreender através da etnografia da música os processos e os procedimentos estéticos e sonoro-musicais, envolvidos nas musicalidades Funk na comunidade do Campo da Tuca, zona leste de Porto Alegre. Para tal, analiso a partir de trajetórias individuais e coletivas as representações e interações dos colaboradores e suas percepções sobre o Baile Funk e a comunidade. Busco também através da análise de páginas do Facebook, vídeos do YouTube, reportagens de jornais e entrevistas com funkeiros de diferentes gerações, bem como a observação participante entender como a produção musical Funk compõe uma rede de pessoas de diferentes capitais no fortalecimento e na circulação do cenário nacional e local de Funk. Os dados apontam para quase quatro décadas de bailes de música negra na cidade. O trabalho de campo desenvolveu-se entre julho de 2014 e dezembro de 2015. Baseio-me nas noções de espaço banal (Milton Santos), diáspora (Stuart Hall), evento musical (Anthony Seeger) e quilombismo (Abdias Nascimento). / This study aims to understand, through music ethnography, the aesthetic and sound-musical processes and procedures involved in the Funk musicality at Campo da Tuca, east zone of Porto Alegre. In order to reach this goal, I analyze, through individual and collective trajectories, the representations and interactions presented by collaborators and their perceptions on the “Baile Funk” and the community. I also try to understand, through the analysis of Facebook pages, YouTube videos, newspaper articles, interviews with “funkeiros” from different generations and participant observation, how Funk music production creates a network of people from different cultural capitals that contribute to the strengthening and to the circulation of the national and local Funk scenes. The data shows nearly four decades of black music parties in the city. The fieldwork was developed between July 2014 and December 2015. I base myself on the notions of banal space (Milton Santos), Diaspora (Stuart Hall), musical event (Anthony Seeger) and quilombismo (Abdias Nascimento).

Instants et espaces investis par la musique, les sessions sont actuellement en Irlande un marqueur d'expression culturelle.En surface, celles-ci peuvent être définies en tant que regroupement prévu ou spontané de plusieurs musiciens dans le but de faire de la musique et de passer un agréable moment ensemble. Toutefois, un travail d'enquête réparti sur sept années de recherches dans le nord-ouest irlandais a révélé qu'en profondeur, les sessions représentent un phénomène socioculturel complexe, phénomène social autant que musical, fait musical autant que social, édifice symbolique mixte tissé d'interactions dont la combinatoire à chaque fois renouvelée implique un jeu de relations entre facteur individuel et les stratégies collectives qui, radicalement, affectent l'ensemble de la structure de l'évènement.Comprendre le fonctionnement d'une session revient alors à poser un certain nombre de questions ayant pour finalité de révéler la manière dont les deux pôles du social et du musical se trouvent, en même temps que distincts, inextricablement liés, à partir d'une procédure de mise en série, il est proposé d'apprécier les liens entre structure et contexte à travers l'analyse comparée d'un corpus de 26 pièces musicales, collectées dans le cadre de 7 situations de sessions distinctes. Il s'agit d'observer si 1)les spécificités sonores immanentes d'une performance musicale en session dépendent des rapports entretenus par les musiciens et leur environnement ; et si 2) des indices musicologique tangibles de cela existent, en même temps que suffisent à rendre compte des différents processus interactionnels auxquels on les suppose liés - l'idée en question étant bien ici celle d'une possible incarnation des faits interactionnels lesquels, figés en quelque sorte dans la musique, s'inscrivent dans le produit symbolique à l'instar pourrait-on dire du fossile prisonnier de la roche. Le sonore, comme objet formerait alors le témoin matériel d'une réalité symbolique mixte, la musique, aux contours restant toutefois à définir sur bien d'autres plans. / As period of time and spatial entities invested by music, sessions in Irleandnowadays are a marker of cultural expression, superficially, those can be defined as a gatering, planned or spontaneous, of several musicians with the prospect to produce music and to share a nice moment together. Yet, a survey pursued over a seven-year research work in north-western Ireland revealed that, in depth sessions represent complex socio-cultural events, social as much as musical, musical as well as social happening, symbolic entity enriched by interactions whose permanently renewed combination reflects the interplay between individual factors and group strategies, that, radically, affect the whole structure of the event.To understand how a session functions then requiredraising a number of questions whose end is to elucidate how the two poles, social and musical, happen to be inextricably linked, though distinct at the same time musical sessionsthus become a source of problems wich, a priori connected to the amount of knowledge specific of our topic, lead to overcome the exclusive domain od ireland up o facing the broader isuues of contemporary ethnomusicology. The present theses includes five chapters. The first ome is a general description of sessions. Attention is paid to the dynamic links operating between what belongs to music and what proceeds from a line more specifically social. Questions then raised trigger a second chapter, whose content is bipartite. First are exposed the major problems on which the thesis rests, and secondly the methodological answers related to the given problematic. A third chapter consists of setting the spectrum of methods required to conduct analyses, through a reflexion bearing on the system properties of the whole range of social and musical parameters comparative analysis of 26 musical pieces that were collected in the context of seven different situations in distinct sessions. In the fifth chapter, the thesis ends with a synthesis of all analytical results as a gathered in the previous chapters.

Investigação dos conjuntos denominados Bandas de Pífanos ou Zabumbas, atuantes na região do sertão baiano, nas proximidades da cidade de Canudos. Buscamos as fontes bibliográficas sobre o assunto, destacamos as abordagens acadêmicas e realizamos extensa pesquisa de campo na região. Apresentamos um estudo das características ogrnanológicas dos conjuntos com dados da nossa pesquisa de campo. Todos os conjuntos pesquisados utilizam o aerofone longitudinal, a gaita, apesar da denominação pífano também ser utilizada. Procuramos a desambiguação dos termos e tratamos das diferenças entre os aerofones transversais, pifanos, e os longitudinais, gaitas. Apresentamos 40 transcrições musicais realizadas e um estudo das característica musicais dos grupos pesquisados. Analisamos aspectos melódicos, harmônicos, formais e os gêneros musicais praticados pelas Zabumbas do sertão baiano. / Investigation of the bands called Bandas de Pífanos or Zabumbas, operating in the region of Bahia\'s countryside, near the town of Canudos. We draft the academic approaches of the subject, up to now, and present a study of the organological characteristics of the musical instruments based on our field research in the countryside of Bahia. All goups researched utilizes the longitudinal aerofone, the gaita, although the designation fife also be used. We seek the disambiguation of the terms and studied the differences between the transverse aerophones, fifes, and the longitudinal, gaitas. We also presented 40 musical transcriptions and a study of the reserched groups` musical caracteristics. Then, we anilysed the melodical, harmonical and forms aspects as well the musical genres practiced by the Zabumbas of the countryside of Bahia. We highlight our experience in field research and present a study of the characteristics of the musical band of Bendegó, from the Canudos Velho village. We analyze aspects of melodic, harmonic and cadential formula of beginning and termination of transcripts from artists in field research.

A autoetnografia tem sido utilizada em pesquisas em musicologia e, especialmente, em etnomusicologia, na busca de formas contemporâneas de aproximação entre a experiência artística e as exigências acadêmicas. Este trabalho apresenta uma autoetnografia em diálogo com os artistas que se juntaram a nós, o que permitiu a descrição de quatorze anos de existência do NUO-Opera. Portanto, o objetivo desta investigação é narrar, contextualizar e situar nos campos das artes (teatro, música, dança e performance) e sociedades (contexto político, econômico e social em que vivemos) o que me levou a construir uma proposta de criação e produção artística em ópera na cidade onde nasci, cresci e onde escolhi ser artista. Esta narrativa foi destinada não apenas a uma visão geral do trabalho realizado pela NUO, mas, tomando-o como eixo, proporcionou a identificação de questões retóricas ao longo das descrições que, por sua vez, nos levaram a dialogar com historiadores e diretores que escreveram sobre o conceito e o significado da ópera. Esses processos reflexivos nos levam a acreditar que a existência de uma casa-teatro e que o fazer ópera em uma perspectiva transdisciplinar permite a realização de um percurso singular no campo das artes e especialmente da ópera. A ideia da ópera como gênero transdisciplinar surge em nossas escolhas artísticas, mas também é apresentada nas descrições de pesquisas e no fazer de artistas que têm concebido e proposto espetáculos e performances operísticas ao longo do tempo. Ao final nós podemos conceber que a ópera não é apenas a adição ou a sobreposição de outras práticas artísticas, mas transita entre elas e isso está de acordo com nossas escolhas e propostas artísticas no NUO-Opera Laboratório. / Autoethnography has been used in research in musicology and, especially, in ethnomusicology, in the search for contemporary forms of approximation between the artistic experience and the academic exigences. This work presents an autoethnography in dialogue with the artists who were join with us, what allowed the description of fourteen years of NUO-Opera Laboratory. Therefore, the objective of this investigation is to narrate, contextualizing and situating in the fields of the arts (theater, music, dance and performance) and societies (the political, economic and social context in which we live) what led me to build a proposal of creation and artistic production in opera in the city where I was born, grew up and where I chose to be an artist. This narrative was intended not only to give an overview of the work carried out by the NUO but, taking it as axis, it was possible to identify rhetorical questions throughout the descriptions that led us to dialogue with historians and directors who wrote about the concept and the meaning of opera. This, in turn, leads us to believe that the existence of a house-theater and to do opera in a transdisciplinary perspective allows the realization of a singular course in the field of the arts, and especially of the opera. The idea of opera as a transdisciplinary genre emerge in our artistic choices, but also it are presented in the descriptions of researches and artists that conceives and stages the operatic spectacle over time. In this way, we can conceive that opera is not only the addition or the overlapping of other artistic practices, but it transits between them and that this is in line with our choices and artistic proposals at the NUO-Opera Laboratory.

In this thesis, I explore the dynamics of German Swiss folk music today in relation to the emerging musicians who have been involved in a folk music post-secondary program in recent years. Approaching the field as a community of musical practice (Lave and Wenger 1991), I attend to processes of learning and transmission and to the spaces of experience in which it takes place. In participant responses, three key themes emerged. The first was the significance of the recently-established folk music postsecondary program as a site of learning and participation for emerging German Swiss musicians. The second was the importance of creativity among this demographic, and the way in which learning environments and spaces of experience (Gosselain 2016), such as universities or festivals, shape this creative potential. The third was the centrality of Swiss folk music festivals to the continuance of this music and community, and the way in which they offer spaces of experience in which to connect, learn, share, and participate. In this thesis, I draw on the theoretical concepts of legitimate peripheral participation, boundary objects, spaces of experience, and genealogy, and explore issues pertaining to informal and formal learning, intergenerationality, access and power, and peripherality. / Graduate / 2018-08-31

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of Taiwan's hip-hop scene and an examination of rap music's emergence as a trenchant form of musical narrative discourse in the post-martial law era (1987 to the present). Its central argument is that performers have invoked rap as a storytelling practice to make sound and sense of the dramatic social and political transformations that transpired in the wake of Taiwan's democratization at the dusk of the twentieth century, and in the years thereafter. My discussion draws on a vibrant archive of materials collected over eighteen months of fieldwork and proceeds from two primary assumptions: first, that Taiwan rap is a narrative genre, with antecedents in an array of Afro-diasporic oral narrative traditions as well as local narrative traditions that employ speech-song techniques; and second, that storytelling can be understood as a process of collaborative social and political engagement that empowers artists and audiences to a sense of agency in the world they see around them. The document is divided into three main parts, the first of which approaches the history of rap in Taiwan as itself a narrative construction, subject to revision and reinterpretation at the hands of multiple authors. In this spirit, it unfolds not one but three distinct histories, each anchored by a different term used locally to designate "rap." The second part of the dissertation examines the people and places that collectively comprise the Taiwan rap community, with a dual focus on demographic representation vis-a-vis the interlocking categories of ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status, and the emplaced qualities of the music vis-a-vis its emergence from specific localities, places of learning, and places of production. The third and final part foregrounds rap’s specificity as a narrative genre to examine more closely the music’s poetics and politics. It considers the stories rappers tell and the means by which they tell them, in the process exploring works that reflect or construct larger narratives about Taiwan as a nation, as well as those that engage smaller, more specifically contextual narratives about relationships, family, school, and work. / Music

The Jew’s harp is unique among instruments, and in its apparent simplicity it is deceptive. It has been adapted to a wide array of cultural contexts worldwide and a diverse range of playing techniques, which, upon closer examination, reveal much about the cultures that generate them. Drawing on perspectives from organology, ethnomusicology, comparative musicology, ethnography, material culture, and the anthropology of the body, I situate my approach to the study of musical instruments as one that examines the object on three levels: physically (the interaction between the human body and the body of the instrument), culturally (the contexts in which it is used), and musically (the way it is played and conceptualized as a musical instrument). Integrating written, ethnographic, and musical evidence, this study begins broadly and theoretically, then gradually sharpens focus to a general examination of the Jew’s harp, finally looking at a single Jew’s harp tradition in detail. Using a case study of the Balinese Jew’s harp genggong, I demonstrate how the study of musical instruments is a untapped reservoir of information that can enhance our understanding of the human relationship with sound. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate