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The purpose of this study was to research and demonstrate various techniques that a double bassist may utilize when performing an unaccompanied solo in a jazz setting. This study primarily focused on pizzicato (plucked) styles and sought to maximize the polyphonic potential of the double bass, which has traditionally been considered a homophonic instrument. This study provides a written, organized approach that illustrates recorded examples and augments private instruction for the double bass. This study offers a vocabulary of techniques comprising chords and intervals that allow the double bassist to accompany oneself. It uses an intervallic approach to determining practical ways of voicing chords and accompanying melodic statements. Specific songs from the standard repertoire were chosen to demonstrate self-accompaniment techniques in the contexts of melodic and harmonic movement. Recorded examples are provided that show how specific bassists successfully used certain techniques in the context of songs. Bassists that were examined include Ray Brown, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Dave Holland, Charlie Hayden, Ron Carter, Edgar Meyer, Lynn Seaton, and David Friesen.

The discourse on education for Aboriginal people has long been limited to a curriculum of cultural assimilation often resulting in an erosion of self-esteem and disengagement. Consequently, this research puts forth narratives of how fiddle programs in northern Manitoba work as a culturally responsive curriculum that in turn address such curricular erosions. As a research methodology, Metissage afforded me pedagogical opportunities to weave the various perspectives of community members, parents, instructors, and former students into an intricate story that attempts to represent some of their social, cultural and historical experiences within the north. Braiding stories of the historical and present impacts of fiddle playing reveals the generative possibilities of school fiddle programs in Canadian Indigenous communities. In addition to building intergenerational bridges, the stories put forth in this thesis demonstrate how the fiddle has become a contemporary instrument of social change for many communities across northern Manitoba.

The discourse on education for Aboriginal people has long been limited to a curriculum of cultural assimilation often resulting in an erosion of self-esteem and disengagement. Consequently, this research puts forth narratives of how fiddle programs in northern Manitoba work as a culturally responsive curriculum that in turn address such curricular erosions. As a research methodology, Metissage afforded me pedagogical opportunities to weave the various perspectives of community members, parents, instructors, and former students into an intricate story that attempts to represent some of their social, cultural and historical experiences within the north. Braiding stories of the historical and present impacts of fiddle playing reveals the generative possibilities of school fiddle programs in Canadian Indigenous communities. In addition to building intergenerational bridges, the stories put forth in this thesis demonstrate how the fiddle has become a contemporary instrument of social change for many communities across northern Manitoba.

Composed entirely of runes, the 14th century manuscript Codex Runicus is comprised of 101 sheets and contains historical documents such as "Kings until Erik Menved" and "Boundaries between Denmark and Sweden." The end of the codex contains the oldest surviving Nordic music fragment with lyrical text "Drømde mik en drøm i nat um silki ok ærlik pæl" which translates as [I] dreamt me a dream last night of silk and lovely cloth. This melody, alongside three Norwegian folk slåttar written for fiddle, Fjellbekken (The Mountain Stream), Fjøllrosa (The Mountain Rose), and Syrgjefuen (The Bird of Sorrow), is used to generate the pitch material for this composition for string orchestra, english horn and french horn. The piece is contrapuntal in nature. A large portion of the work is formed from essentially five groups or layers of melody that comfortably co-exist towards, as well as away from, each other, their independent natures being most evident in the first half of the piece. Additionally, there are fluctuations within each group itself, for examples, forms of imitation, slippage, change in register, variation in playing technique, and micro-displays of rhythmic independence set against more heterophonic textures (Considerable use of rhythmic embellishment is derived from the ornamental style found in harding fiddle slåttar). Such micro-fluctuations further distinguish the texture-intentional orchestration of each group. Although the use of layered melody forms the framework for the entire composition, there is continual exploration of its possibilities through various parameters such as density vs. transparency, and continuation vs. fragmentation.

The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of the changing relationship between collectivist ideals and individualism within dispersed, transnational, and heterogeneous cultural spaces. I focus on musicians working in professional folk music, a field that has strong, historic associations with collectivism. This field consists of folk festivals, music camps, and other venues at which musicians from a range of countries, affiliated with broad labels such as ‘Celtic,’ ‘Nordic,’ ‘bluegrass,’ or ‘fiddle music,’ interact. Various collaborative connections emerge from such encounters, creating socio-musical networks that cross boundaries of genre, region, and nation. These interactions create a social space that has received little attention in ethnomusicology. While there is an emerging body of literature devoted to specific folk festivals in the context of globalization, few studies have examined the relationship between the transnational character of this circuit and the changing sensibilities, music, and social networks of particular musicians who make a living on it. To this end, I examine the career trajectories of three interrelated musicians who have worked in folk music: the late Canadian fiddler Oliver Schroer (1956-2008), the Irish flute player Nuala Kennedy, and the Italian organetto player Filippo Gambetta. These musicians are all notable for their taste for transnational collaboration and their reputations as mavericks and boundary-pushers. Through case studies of their projects, relationships, and collaborative networks, I explore transformations in the collectivist folk ideal by focussing on how these musicians are implicated in three phenomena: transnational festivals, new folk music sensibilities, and touring as social practice. This research is based on multi-dimensional, multi-sited fieldwork undertaken in Toronto, Genoa, Edinburgh, and at various festivals in Europe and North America between 2007-2013. I conclude that Schroer, Kennedy, and Gambetta experience transnational folk music space as a field of intersecting transnationalisms that are imaginaries and collectivities of varying size and scope. While festivals in this space increasingly celebrate a transcultural ideal and foster the formation of transnational networks, stable, heterogeneous transnational relationships are proving more difficult to attain. I argue that touring on this circuit generates a desire for community continuity that becomes part of the poetics of new instrumental folk music.

Composed entirely of runes, the 14th century manuscript Codex Runicus is comprised of 101 sheets and contains historical documents such as "Kings until Erik Menved" and "Boundaries between Denmark and Sweden." The end of the codex contains the oldest surviving Nordic music fragment with lyrical text "Drømde mik en drøm i nat um silki ok ærlik pæl" which translates as [I] dreamt me a dream last night of silk and lovely cloth. This melody, alongside three Norwegian folk slåttar written for fiddle, Fjellbekken (The Mountain Stream), Fjøllrosa (The Mountain Rose), and Syrgjefuen (The Bird of Sorrow), is used to generate the pitch material for this composition for string orchestra, english horn and french horn. The piece is contrapuntal in nature. A large portion of the work is formed from essentially five groups or layers of melody that comfortably co-exist towards, as well as away from, each other, their independent natures being most evident in the first half of the piece. Additionally, there are fluctuations within each group itself, for examples, forms of imitation, slippage, change in register, variation in playing technique, and micro-displays of rhythmic independence set against more heterophonic textures (Considerable use of rhythmic embellishment is derived from the ornamental style found in harding fiddle slåttar). Such micro-fluctuations further distinguish the texture-intentional orchestration of each group. Although the use of layered melody forms the framework for the entire composition, there is continual exploration of its possibilities through various parameters such as density vs. transparency, and continuation vs. fragmentation.

The aim of this dissertation is to contribute to an understanding of the changing relationship between collectivist ideals and individualism within dispersed, transnational, and heterogeneous cultural spaces. I focus on musicians working in professional folk music, a field that has strong, historic associations with collectivism. This field consists of folk festivals, music camps, and other venues at which musicians from a range of countries, affiliated with broad labels such as ‘Celtic,’ ‘Nordic,’ ‘bluegrass,’ or ‘fiddle music,’ interact. Various collaborative connections emerge from such encounters, creating socio-musical networks that cross boundaries of genre, region, and nation. These interactions create a social space that has received little attention in ethnomusicology. While there is an emerging body of literature devoted to specific folk festivals in the context of globalization, few studies have examined the relationship between the transnational character of this circuit and the changing sensibilities, music, and social networks of particular musicians who make a living on it. To this end, I examine the career trajectories of three interrelated musicians who have worked in folk music: the late Canadian fiddler Oliver Schroer (1956-2008), the Irish flute player Nuala Kennedy, and the Italian organetto player Filippo Gambetta. These musicians are all notable for their taste for transnational collaboration and their reputations as mavericks and boundary-pushers. Through case studies of their projects, relationships, and collaborative networks, I explore transformations in the collectivist folk ideal by focussing on how these musicians are implicated in three phenomena: transnational festivals, new folk music sensibilities, and touring as social practice. This research is based on multi-dimensional, multi-sited fieldwork undertaken in Toronto, Genoa, Edinburgh, and at various festivals in Europe and North America between 2007-2013. I conclude that Schroer, Kennedy, and Gambetta experience transnational folk music space as a field of intersecting transnationalisms that are imaginaries and collectivities of varying size and scope. While festivals in this space increasingly celebrate a transcultural ideal and foster the formation of transnational networks, stable, heterogeneous transnational relationships are proving more difficult to attain. I argue that touring on this circuit generates a desire for community continuity that becomes part of the poetics of new instrumental folk music.

The discourse on education for Aboriginal people has long been limited to a curriculum of cultural assimilation often resulting in an erosion of self-esteem and disengagement. Consequently, this research puts forth narratives of how fiddle programs in northern Manitoba work as a culturally responsive curriculum that in turn address such curricular erosions. As a research methodology, Metissage afforded me pedagogical opportunities to weave the various perspectives of community members, parents, instructors, and former students into an intricate story that attempts to represent some of their social, cultural and historical experiences within the north. Braiding stories of the historical and present impacts of fiddle playing reveals the generative possibilities of school fiddle programs in Canadian Indigenous communities. In addition to building intergenerational bridges, the stories put forth in this thesis demonstrate how the fiddle has become a contemporary instrument of social change for many communities across northern Manitoba.

abstract: ABSTRACT Classical violin playing and American fiddle music have traditionally been seen as separate musical worlds. Classical violinists practice and study long hours to master a standard repertoire of concertos and sonatas from the Western European school of art music. Fiddlers pride themselves on a rich tradition passed down through generations of informal jam sessions and innovation through improvisation. Mark O'Connor's Fiddle Concerto, premiered in 1993, sounds like a contradiction at first: a quintessential classical form combined with traditional fiddle playing. Examination of the Fiddle Concerto will show that the piece contains classical and fiddle-style elements simultaneously, creating an effective hybrid of the two styles. This document will explore how the history of the classical violin concerto and American fiddle music converge in Mark O'Connor's Fiddle Concerto. To gain an understanding of O'Connor's composition process, I submitted to him a list of questions, via email, in the summer of 2016. O'Connor’s responses provide a unique insight into the genesis of the Fiddle Concerto and his vision for musical compositions that originate from multiple genres. Chapter four of this document will discuss the melodic themes, formal makeup, and techniques presented in the Fiddle Concerto and show how both classical and fiddle elements coexist in the piece. The result of the mix is an exciting work that appeals to a broad audience of music lovers. The final chapter of this document will explore the growing repertoire of music created by cross-pollinating from different styles to create a new style, including selected O'Connor compositions completed since the Fiddle Concerto, as well as similar works by other composers who combined classical elements with other musical styles. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2016