<p> I (Andrew Jamieson) discuss my creative process, centered around the transcendence of structures, or the dialogue between them. I define structures broadly, from musical meter and texture to political structures and life circumstances. My core inspiration is black Pentecostal worship. I illustrate black Pentecostalism with examples from City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco. Visiting this church, I experienced music and communal interaction with a clear structure that facilitated presence of the Holy Spirit and even the ability challenge oppressive circumstances. In a similar way, experimental musicians, such as Sun Ra and John Oswald, present and challenge established structures, from jazz grooves to preexisting recorded music and the institutional structure it represents.</p><p> My own work, <i>Where Perhaps It's Worse,</i> presents structures from preexisting musical material against which musicians perform their own material and express my own ideas. The primary structural backdrop is the third movement of Luciano Berio's Sinfonia, itself a quote collage. I explore the various ways my work challenges both musical and extramusical structures.</p>

<p>Two churches were studied through observations and interviews to examine the role of music in their worship services. One of the churches was a Pentecostal church that was predominantly Caucasian and the other was a nondenominational church that was predominantly African-American. The interviews determined that despite cultural differences, including musical style, the perceived role of the music was basically the same in both churches. The role of the music is to create an environment that encourages and enhances high levels of praise. Both churches were consistent in the belief that God is actually present in some form if there are high levels of praise. </p>

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Degree Not Listed / Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance / Frederick Burrack / Ruth Gurgel / My lesson plan shown in my video teaching demonstration will show 5th graders performing a traditional song from the Apache tribe by singing, playing xylophones and other non-pitched percussion instruments, and playing a passing game. These students will accompany their voices by playing an ostinato pattern on the xylophone. I have developed as a teacher through the Masters’ Program because I have learned new ways of teaching, especially when it comes to exposure to Orff and Kodaly methodologies, and improvisation within the classroom. I am now more comfortable incorporating improvisation, as well as music from many other cultures into my lessons, and my students are growing as musicians and as people due to it.

The study described through content analysis the general music course in the secondary school as perceived in selected curricular sources from the 1960's and 1970's. As various writers of curricular sources developed their own content and methodologies, a vast amount of data became available which seemed unmanageable because of the particular philosophical goals chosen for the course. The study organized in a systematic manner the content and methodologies of the.course by means of eighteen categories. Categories of high frequency inclusion in the general music sources were shown to be the elements of music, music vocabulary as a specific area for learning, the predominant choice of classical Western/art music, the use of listening and creative activities and the discussion of psychological learning principles.

Hollywood film composers work within a complex process of film production, with limited control over the final outcome. Certain contextual agents have shaped the developing craft and caused recent Hollywood film music (since 1980) to depart from the symphonic neo-Romantic style that has traditionally and commonly been associated with Hollywood film scores. Developments in storytelling, changing demographics among filmmakers and composers, evolving business models, and the influence of television have altered the content and style of Hollywood films and film music. Furthermore, technological advances in film, soundtrack, and music production have contributed to changes in prevalent composer practice. Film music is always mediated by the films it accompanies and contemporary Hollywood films that speak a progressive language tend not to use conventional music of the classical Hollywood tradition. Film music must bow to commercial pressures that are often at odds with originality. An analysis of the workload distribution among composers in the 50 top-grossing Hollywood films each year between 1980-2009 reveals an uneven distribution skewed towards a select few individuals. These composers exert considerable influence on their field. Further findings summarized in this thesis also show a statistically significant increase in non-melodic minimalist writing as well as strong correlations between non-orchestral instrumentation and non-traditional musical styles over the past three decades. This thesis assesses recent Hollywood film music practice and the opportunities and challenges screen composers face. Acknowledging the role and influence of so-called contextual agents in film music composition means to consider film scores in the spheres of conceptualisation and compositional practice. The key research question addressed in this thesis is: 'What is the context in which Hollywood film composers actually work and how does this affect their creative practice and the musical outcome?'

The purpose of this survey was to find patterns in methods elementary general music teachers use to create a successful environment in the inclusive music classroom. Twenty-four participants completed the survey. The most frequently used accommodation and modification methods were considered a part of the participants' regular teaching practice. The participants also indicated they did not collaborate with other teachers very often, which conflicted with findings from other studies. Further research would benefit from a larger sample size to make results more generalizable.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the musical engagement of adolescent males enrolled in a general music class in order to learn what factors of the environment adolescent males perceive as impactful in the development of their musical identities (cf. MacDonald, Marshall, & Miell, 2002). Secondly, because researchers have posited that informal music contexts are pivotal in the development of adolescent identity and that connections can be drawn between formal and informal settings (cf. Green, 2008; Hargreaves & Marshall, 2003), I wanted to learn what role, if any, in-class connections to students’ informal musical contexts might play in the engagement of their musical identities. The following research questions were explored: In what ways, if any, are adolescent males’ musical identities engaged in the general music classroom? What role, if any, do in-class connections to informal contexts play in this engagement? Musical identities were understood through a social psychological perspective encompassing identities in music and music in identities: the socio-cultural musical roles individuals fill and the ways in which music serves other, non-musical aspects of an individual’s identity. An all-male school in the Midwest United States served as the research site. Participants were adolescent males, ages 11 through 14, enrolled in a compulsory general music program. I collected data via questionnaire, focus group interview, individual interviews, video reflections, researcher memos, and artifacts. Four factors emerged as key in the engagement of participants’ musical identities in the music classroom: 1) freedom in decision-making, 2) belonging to the classroom community, 3) distinction among peers, and 4) exposure to the other. Participants reported they could more fully engage their musical identities when each of these factors were present in the classroom, with the exception of distinction, which at times helped and at times hindered the expression of particular self-concepts. In-class connections to informal contexts were revealed in the roles of both freedom and exposure to the other in students’ engagement of musical identities. I concluded by discussing the implications of these findings as they relate to teaching, program advocacy, and recommendations for future research.

No description available.

Elementary general music teachers often enter the teaching field with minimal training and field experiences related to teaching students with disabilities (Colwell & Thompson, 2000; Frisque et al., 1994; Gfeller et al., 1990; Hahn, 2010; Hammel, 2001a; Heller, 1994; Salvador, 2010). Many research studies have focused on the preservice preparation for teaching music to students with disabilities, but neglect to examine the ways in which in-service elementary music teachers acquire competency for teaching music to students with disabilities following a deficient teacher preparation program. Thus, examining the how music teachers acquired competency for teaching music to students with disabilities warranted examination. Using inclusion as a conceptual framework (Adamek & Darrow, 2018), I conducted a phenomenological case study so I might better understand: (a) the lived experience of elementary music teachers for acquiring competency to teach music to students with disabilities, (b) how elementary music teachers reflected Hammel’s (2001b) essential competencies for including students with disabilities in the elementary music classroom, and (c) and how elementary music teachers utilized reflective practice to acquire competency for the instruction of students with disabilities in the elementary music classroom (Schön, 1987). Three participants were chosen according to their school district of employment, recognition as a music teacher leader, and level of preparedness to include students with disabilities in the elementary general music classroom following completion of their initial teacher preparation program. I interviewed and observed each participant in an inclusive setting. Field notes and interview data were coded, and emergent themes were presented concerning their sources and experiences for acquiring competency for teaching music to students with disabilities and how they reflected identified essential competencies for teaching music to students with disabilities in their classrooms. The findings from the research indicate that experience, compassion, and seeking and participating in professional development opportunities were the participants’ sources of growth for acquiring competency for teaching music to students with disabilities. Additionally, each participant reflected identified competencies for teaching music to students with disabilities; however, findings indicate the need to extend the competencies to include the ability to utilize reflective practice to inform instruction. Implications from this study are related to considerations for teacher training and suggestions for resources from policymakers. Findings from this study may inform music teacher educators, schools and school districts, and music educators associations for the planning and development of opportunities for teacher development related to meeting the musical needs of all students in the inclusive setting. / 2024-09-13T00:00:00Z