This thesis includes an Introduction, which explains some of the ideas and procedures involved in a series of compositions I produced during the period from October, 2008 through November, 2011, a discussion of the works themselves individually and in roughly the same chronological order in which they were composed, and a summary of Conclusions which may be drawn. Included as an Appendix are texts for reference while listening to the vocal works. Complete scores of the works with representative recordings make up the main body of the thesis, except in the case of the solo piano suite Equilibria, where the score is included but the work remained unrecorded at the time of submission. Ideas discussed include some which unite or distinguish the processes of musical improvisation with/from more methodical modes of composition. Also the theme of musical collaboration is considered in contrast to the notion of the composer who works – or appears to work – in isolation. Research into traditions of music is regarded as important to compositional practice overall. Among the Conclusions is that my own orientation to these ideas places me in the category of post-minimalist composers. Throughout this discussion I have involved commentary from other relevant and important thinkers, critics and composers.

L'objet du présent mémoire est l'improvisation-spectacle. Cette recherche quantitative de type exploratoire tente, à l'aide d'un questionnaire distribué à un maximum d'improvisateurs, de comprendre les fonctions de l'improvisation-spectacle au Québec afin de mieux saisir ce milieu, ce champ, encore peu traité au Québec. Il sera donc question d'explorer le rôle de l'improvisation dans divers cadres tel que celui de l'école, ainsi que de se pencher sur le rôle de l'improvisation pour les joueurs eux-mêmes. Nous pourrons également explorer le milieu de l'improvisation, ses particularité, ses différentes ligues, son rapport au milieu artistique. Afin de mieux comprendre cette réalité, une vingtaine de ligues d'improvisations ont été approchées pour comprendre la structure dans laquelle les joueurs évoluent. Un questionnaire a ensuite été distribué à plus de 120 improvisateurs afin de dresser le portrait du milieu de l'improvisation et de ses différentes fonctions. Nous verrons donc ce qu'est l'improvisation-spectacle et son historique au travers la LNI, puis nous approcherons cet objet afin d'avoir une emprise sociologique sur celui-ci. Nous établirons la méthodologie et verrons qui sont les joueurs et comment ils pénètrent ce champ. Finalement, nous verrons quelles sont les fonctions de l'improvisation-spectacle. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Fonction de l'improvisation, milieu de l'improvisation, improvisation spectacle, match d'improvisation.

<p>Bilagor: 1 partitur, 1 CD</p>

Based on theories from: Educational or Process Drama. Improvisaiional Theatre. Drama Therapy and Psychology: this thesis is an in depth exploration of a methodology for educational drama that can be used lo examine values. This method proposes a system that will assist participants to discover and assess their own altitudes and bring them into dialogue with other value systems. The theoretical focus of this thesis was drawn from selected theorists: Roai. Iz/.o. Panely, Vogler and Heathcole amongst others: which conlribuled to the establishment of a practical methodology that provides a process of self discovery through improvisational drama and role-play. The dichotomous relationship between art and nature (perceived rcalitx), allows the participant lo engage in the discourse of self evaluation and social conscientisaiion. The methodology is based on the narrative structure of myth and the archetypes that populate mythic landscapes. Myths relate the journey of a hero, who undergoes personal growth as the result of a change of perspective. This occurs during the hero's journey from her ordinary world to a special world where adventure and danger awaits. The hero must find the elixir that will heal her own wounds and the wounds of her communitw Ihe archetypes play a unique role in helping the hero lo face her own desires, values and altitudes and to lest these \ allies in the Ileal of physical battle or emotional turmoil. With Participatory Action Research as main methoclologv. the thesis used questionnaires, interviews, journal entries and dramatic workshops for data gathering. The longitudinal nature of this exploration look place over a period of two years and the cohort group comprised of adolescent girls and boys, aged 14 to 16 years. The research found that the method was very successful for inciting critical discussion and moral debate. In the safety of the dramatic context, the cohort group gained new understanding about the conflict between the good of the community verses the individuars desires. Consequently they were able to come to terms with those desires that influence their behaviour and talk about these in relation to other values. Keywords: Values interrogation, educational drama, process drama, drama therapy, drama journeys, improvisation, role-play, social conscicntisation. Tcmenos, dramatic play, educational play, archetypes, psychological transference, meaning making process, practical methodology, dichotomy. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

This research is an analysis of the range of skills and knowledge required to produce, effectively, results in the Art of Lyric Improvisation in the field of jazz singing. Lyric Improvisation is the art of retaining the primary lyrics of a song but, using improvisational inventiveness, changing every other aspect. The study focuses on the manipulation of melody, rhythm, time feel, style, range, articulation and improvisation in the performances of renowned jazz vocalists Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. The research is based on their multiple recordings of "Sometimes I'm Happy" (Youmans/Caesar) between the years1955-1965. The method compares different elements of the individual singers' improvisations to the published notation. These elements include: syncopation of the rhythm, motific development, expanding the range of pitch, variances in timbre and articulation and spontaneous re-composition of the melody all while maintaining the original lyric. The outcomes, however, can be applied over a multitude of tunes from any American Song Book composer or jazz standard sung in historically swing styles of the past century, or with contemporary developments.

Jazz musicians traditionally learned jazz improvisation by transcribing other musicians they admired in order to absorb, assimilate and retain important stylistic elements of jazz. Indeed, many famous jazz musicians have testified to the importance of transcribing as part of their jazz education. By the latel960's, jazz increasingly gained acceptance as a legitimate American genre within academia. As jazz studies programs became more formalized in colleges and universities, a plethora of methods and materials have followed suit. Lately, critics of these programs claim that many of the procedures, methods and materials used have abandoned the aural-imitative tradition. This study examines the current use of and the viability of future jazz education methods based primarily on aural-imitative procedures.Forty-one jazz faculty from universities and colleges throughout the United States participated in an interview process. An open-ended questionnaire survey was used to elicit responses. Each was asked a series of questions directly related to transcribing. The responses were recorded via cassette and were transcribed verbatim. In addition, four music teachers at schools at four schools for the blind were asked a similar series of questions. Their interviews responses were analyzed for similarities and differences.The results suggest that current methods do not contain adequate aural representations and that transcription could be a viable alternative to current methods. A practical system based on the transcription paradigm could and should be developed. Current digital technologies and Internet developments may help facilitate an all-transcription based methodology. Certain recordings and solos have become recognized as `masterpieces' that deserve to be transcribed and studied. The insights gained from school for the blind suggest that certain musical aspects may be beet gained from an aural-centric perspective. / School of Music

The research field addressed by this thesis is the commedia dell'arte and its iconography in the period preceding Callot's Balli di Sfessania engravings of c. 1621. Its main aim is to provide a broad overview of the surviving early pictures in order to contribute towards a more detailed understanding of the history of the commedia deH'arte in the opening decades of its existence, 1560-1620, by using late renaissance pictures as a documentary source. My research method has three main steps. These are firstly, the identification of relevant pictures, on the basis of a detailed understanding of the early history of the commedia dell'arte, and taking a deliberately inclusive approach; secondly, the classification of such pictures according to art-historical methods, in order to associate them with specific named artists so that they can be placed in the context of an oeuvre and place of production; thirdly, interpretation of their theatrical content. Integral to the thesis are the 340 plates. Many feature pictures which were anonymous or implausibly attributed, and unknown to theatre historians, before they appeared here or in my publications. My inclusive approach has contributed towards the marked rehabilitation of carnival pictures which is evident in the most recent scholarship in this area. My new discoveries, and attributions and re-attributions of some of the 340 plates, summarized in the plate list, have enabled me to identify significant bodies of commedia-related pictures by a number of named late renaissance artists not previously associated with theatre iconography, and provide a broad overview of the early stock types, their costumes and settings; contributions which are stimulating further research in this area. Section I summarises the rise and spread of professional acting in sixteenth century Italy, some forerunners of the commedia dell'arte, and its early stock types. It also presents new documentary material, discovered in the course of my archival researches, which is relevant to the earliest commedia performance for which a comprehensive description survives, staged in Munich in 1568. Section II presents art-historical analyses of three groups of prints in Stockholm, and six paintings which are the subject of an article published in 1943. It also presents an overview of a large group of Flemish pictures whose relation to two Italian prints demonstrates the progressive stereotyping of commedia-related motifs which was already occurring around 1600. Section III offers theatrical interpretations of the pictures, concentrating on scenery, set and stages; actresses; a selection of stock characters, including Harlequin, Zanni and Pantalone, and also some less wellknown figures such as tedescos and matachins; and multiple and serial images. The renaissance Italian comedians' multiple roots in amateur humanist comedy, professional entertainment and popular carnival ritual gave them their early creativity and wide appeal, and left their mark on the iconography which, by the seventeenth century, like the commedia dell'arte itself, was, for the most part, settling into a predictable routine based on precedents and conventions.

Laptop performance---performance on a standard computer system without novel controllers, usually by a solo musician---is an increasingly common mode of live computer music. Its novelty is diminishing, however, and it is frequently described as being uninteresting. Laptop performance often lacks the sense of effort and active creation that we typically expect from live music, and exhibits little perceivable connection between the performer's actions and the resulting sound. Performance software designs tend to constrict the flow of control between the performer and the music, often leading artists to rely on prepared control sequences. Laptop performers become "pilots" of largely computerized processes, detracting from the live experience. / This thesis project presents an alternative software interface that aims to bring a sense of active creation to laptop performance. The system prevents the use of prepared control sequences and allows the live assembly of generative musical processes. The software resembles a freehand drawing interface where strokes are interactively assembled to create looping and cascading animated figures. The on-screen animation is mapped to sound, creating corresponding audio patterns. Networks of strokes are assembled and manipulated to perform music. The system's use of freehand input infuses the music with natural human variability, and its graphical interface establishes a visible connection between the user's actions and the resulting audio. / The thesis document explores the above issues in laptop performance, which motivated this research. Typical examples of performance software are presented, illustrating the interface design patterns that contribute to this situation. The thesis software project is presented, describing its goals, design and implementation. The properties of the interface are discussed in light of the project's initial objectives. It is concluded that the system is a solid step toward a novel approach to laptop performance software.

Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, 2003. / "Thesis submitted for Doctor of Philosophy October 2003." Accompany video shows Appendices 7.4 to 7.13 of thesis. References: leaves 290 - 325.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references.