This body of writing serves to accompany a portfolio of scored works composed between 2007 and 2011. The first chapter deals with the definition of “experimental music,” first asking the question “what is experimental music?”, and then by giving a possible working definition of the term based on certain processes informed not only by music, but also by historiography and philosophy. The second chapter lays out the relationship between a piece of music and the score in relation to a mathematical model of understanding. This chapter further explores the different ways in which scores operate in terms of performer interaction, the different types of notation that composers can use in these scores, and how these topics may be related in practice. The third chapter deals specifically with performance of scored experimental works. “Audience” is considered as the performers who receive scores from composers. This relationship is then explored in various ways, based not only on the types of scores and notation presented in the previous chapter, but also on the different types of performers who may encounter the work. Aspects inherent to the performance of experimental music are often discussed. Finally, the question is raised as whether or not such a thing exists as experimental music performance practice, and if this can be catered to by a composer through scores and notation. In these first three chapters, numerous visual examples and quotes from other composers are provided to give context for the work in the portfolio. In contrast, final chapter consists of commentaries on pieces within the accompanying portfolio. Appendices after the first three chapters lie somewhere in tone between these commentaries on individual works and the main chapters, by way of personalising the abstract concepts laid out therein.

This research project consists of a portfolio of musical compositions and an accompanying commentary on these works. It was undertaken from the fall of 2009 to the summer of 2012. I am concerned in this project with developing a wide range of musical materials to serve as a pool of resources that I may draw upon when composing. I engage with these materials in a painterly fashion, repeatedly reworking them with respect to their physical reality much like a painter reshapes an image on canvas. I cultivate different emphases within materials ― such as the tac)lity of sound produc)on, superimposed rhythmic layers, and stasis ― to explore diverse musical functionalities. I interweave common source materials to create extensive networks of relationships within and across individual pieces. These relationships lead to composite and multipartite structures built from material inter references. Transferring materials into different contexts allows me to develop the same musical idea in multiple directions, leading to a diversity of forms and durations, from five-second solos isolating a specific gesture to twenty-plus minute pieces incorporating a range of instrumental groupings and material combinations. This diversity is most evident in An Incomplete Survey of the Act of Impingement, an extended project integrating a variety of materials, structures, and independent compositions into a composite whose interconnections allow for multiple programming possibilities. My understanding of such interconnection between heterogeneous elements is extended through resonance with the work of other artists and philosophers: for instance, Gilles Deleuze's and Felix Guattari's concept of the rhizome, Anthony Braxton's interwoven musical system, Ben Marcus's approach to organizing and categorizing his writings, and Matthew Ritchie's multimedia installations. The materials and methodologies cultivated in this project provide a foundation for future developments in my work.

The main focus of this commentary is the examination of the Vox Circuit Trilogy (2007) consisting of The Suicided Voice (2003/2007), Hand-to-Mouth (2007) and Etch (2007). The innovative use of interactive technologies and the architecture of the Bodycoder System in terms of its software, hardware and human-computer interface will be examined. Kinaesonics will be discussed in relation to the coding of real-time one-to-one mapping of sound to gesture and its expression in terms of hardware and software design. The compositional processes will be discussed, in particular: the use of performance simulations, workshop collaboration with the performer and the negotiation of creation, composition and performance in the final work. Rehearsal processes will be examined with particular reference to The Suicided Voice. The notion of expressivity will be interrogated and how four principle forms of expressivity are interconnected, modelled and realized to generate a totally integrated performance modality.

This PhD thesis explores dialogue-based, “intimate” collaboration through the creation of new works for clarinet. It borrows from Grounded Theory in order to facilitate an analysis through which emergent themes within a dialogue-based collaboration are discovered. The aim has not been to insist on one model of collaboration, but to discover methods for improving one’s collaborative skills and to identify ways in which one benefits from a focus on dialogue in collaboration. Furthermore, it aims to suggest that through collaboration one can make discoveries about the instrument: original contributions to clarinet technique are made within this thesis. The literature from which the research draws inspiration to further collaborative “technique” is cross-disciplinary and wide-ranging: it draws from social theory, collaborative creative writing, dance, the visual arts and of course, music. Added to this is a select discussion of collaboration throughout the repertoire of the clarinet. Finally, this consists of practice-based research. Seven new pieces for clarinet accompany the text.

This thesis investigates how the specific manipulation of a range of extended techniques for the saxophone can help the performer to highlight key aspects of the music. These techniques can be performed with varying levels of nuance through which the implicit thematic relationships within a composition can be emphasised. The performer's interpretation is therefore aided by the controlled manipulation of extended techniques, with the intention of using these techniques to serve the overall analysis of the composition. A brief summary of the acoustical phenomena which produces the saxophone's range of extended techniques is included, leading to discussion of the necessary physical manipulations of the oral cavity, alterations of fingerings systems, and other such physiological issues. The differences from performer to performer of the resulting sounds of the saxophone's extended techniques are considered through reference to recorded material. A discussion is presented regarding individual performers' attitudes to these techniques including the preparation of extended techniques, the importance of equipment, and the performer's opinion of the composer's utilisation of extended techniques within a composition. The final section outlines the preparation of seven compositions which use extended techniques: four of which are taken from the saxophone's standard repertoire and three of which were written in collaboration with the author. It is not the author's intention to present a global methodology by which extended techniques can be sounded in performance; rather it is the author's intention to highlight how the manipulation of these techniques, through an understanding of the acoustical and physiological nature of their production, can be performed with a nuanced production technique that can enhance the interpretation of the work as a whole.

The sociological and psychological literature reveals that the parents and the home may be the most important determinants in the development of interests and attitudes in the life of the child. Research in music education has contributed very little to show the effect of environmental conditions, such as different patterns of home life, on music education in the schools. Researchers in music education have, however, revealed the need to study the musical home background of the child. This study investigated the musical behaviour of parents from three subcultures, urban, suburban, and rural-farm, and tested the attitude parents have toward the musical education of their children. A questionnaire was constructed to gather the data in a face-to-face situation. There were 133 subjects in the sample. The method of paired comparisons was employed to measure the respondents' musical preferences toward six types of music. A Likert-type attitude scale was constructed to test parental attitudes toward a musical education for children. The questionnaire was tested for reliability and validity and considered adequate. These general conclusions were reached. No large or consistent differences were found between the urban, suburban, and rural-farm groups of parents with regard to their musical interests, activities, and preferences, as well as their attitude toward a musical education for children. However, some differences emerged. The mothers from the three areas seem to attach more importance to musical activities such as attending concerts or playing a musical instrument than do fathers. The analysis of the data showed that the relative preference for Folk Music versus Light Classical Music seems to differentiate the three groups, of parents. Rural-farm parents seem to prefer Folk Music more than Light Classical Music, whereas urban and suburban parents seem to prefer Folk Music less than Light Classical Music. The attitude test revealed another significant difference. Suburban mothers seem to differ from suburban fathers in their mean attitude toward a musical education for children. The mean attitude of suburban fathers appears to be lower than that of the mothers. With the exception of the noted differences, it seems that neither socio-economic position nor geographical location differentiate urban, suburban, or rural-farm parents in regard to their (1) musical interests, activities, and preferences, as well as their (2) attitude toward a musical education for children. This conclusion is, in part, not in conformance with the findings of earlier studies, which reported that musical preferences of adults appear to be very much influenced by socio-economic position and also by geographic location. The parents' reaction to the eleven statements of this study's attitude scale was such as to permit the following conclusion. It seems that a high proportion of urban, suburban , and rural-farm parents (possibly 80 to 90 per cent) have a favourable attitude toward a musical education for children. The "neutral" responses by nearly half the sample to an attitude statement about music education not receiving it’s due in our public schools suggest that many parents are unaware of what is happening in the elementary school classroom in regard to music education. Listening to music appears to be a very highly preferred leisure activity for a high proportion of urban, suburban, and rural-farm parents. Music on the radio, television musical programs, and records tend to be the most often utilized sources of listening to music, but many parents, probably 60 per cent or more, listen to music at concerts, recitals, musicals, operas, operettas, etc. either frequently or occasionally. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

This study was undertaken to determine whether or not young childrens’ preferences for contemporary art music, through participation in a classroom music program emphasizing creativity, can be altered. The students participating in this experiment were the grade three class at Vancouver College, a private boys school in Vancouver, B.C., where the researcher was employed as music instructor for the 1969-70 school term. A music preference inventory was given to the students prior to initiating the classroom program. The inventory consisted of the following eight selections chosen by the researcher as representative of various twentieth century compositional styles: "Ionisation" - Edgar Varèse; "Akrata" - Iannis Xenakis; "Gesang der Jünglinge" - Karlheinz Stockhausen; "Visage" - Luciano Berio; "Le Marteau sans Maȋtre" - Pierre Boulez; "Piece for Four Pianos" - Morton Feldman; "Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op.16" - Arnold Schoenberg; and, "Cantata No. 1, Op.29" - Anton Webern. Students marked their preference on a graphic rating scale of five divisions. The researcher later superimposed a twelve-point scale over the test-scale, in interpreting the scores. Following this pre-test, the students participated in a twelve-week classroom music program which stressed rhythmic improvisation, composition in twelve-tone technique, percussion pieces, exploration of sound sources, etc. The program was designed by the researcher based on work by Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly, R. Murray Schafer, Peter Maxwell Davies, Richard Addison and George Self. At the end of the program the same preference inventory was again administered to the students as a post-test. Final scores were interpreted by means of a two-tail test. Only one selection showed a change in preference (in this case, an increase) at a statistically significant level of five per cent. Stockhausen's "Gesang der Jünglinge" attained a critical ratio of 5.34. Certain limitations were recognized: 1) the small sampling of students (twenty-two); 2) the relatively short duration of the experimental part of the study (twelve weeks), and 3) the lack of any control group. The researcher therefore concluded that, within the severe limitations of this study, his hypothesis was invalid: that participation in a classroom music program stressing creativity will alter a grade three student's preference for contemporary art music. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

Changes occurring in the educational system of Ghana since independence in 1957 have been many and varied. The recent inclusion of the Cultural Studies program as part of the compulsory core curriculum is an example of such a change. The Cultural Studies program was designed to nurture cultural awareness and appreciation in the Ghanaian school child through music, drama, religion and social systems. The focus of this study was Music in the Cultural Studies program. The approach of the music teacher to music teaching and learning determines the successful realization of the curriculum. Music teaching strategies employed in Ghanaian elementary schools are many and varied. The content of the curriculum the teacher has to work with also enhances the realization of the program objectives. The purpose of this study was to identify and describe music teaching strategies and their degree of use in Ghanaian elementary schools and also offer suggestions for improving music instruction drawing on Ghanaian indigenous methods of music education, the Orff-Schulwerk, and Kodály pedagogy. In a survey involving fifty-six music teachers from five of the ten regions of Ghana, the researcher drew the following conclusions: a) the most frequently used teaching strategies included singing games, vocables, solfege, speech and poetry, movement and dance. b) there was evidence to suggest that the music teaching strategies of teachers are not related to their regional location, district, gender, teaching experience, or academic qualifications. c) It is feasible to combine the approaches of the Kodály pedagogy, the Orff-Schulwerk, and Ghanaian indigenous forms of music education in the development of a curriculum framework aimed at improving music instructional methodology in Ghanaian elementary schools. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the processes in which eight and nine year old children engaged as they composed generative expressions with music and language. This study was a classroom-based ethnography conducted by a teacher/researcher in the context of her own general music classroom and the home room of the participant students. Twenty-one boys and girls in a suburban grade three class were involved in this four and one-half month study; three children were chosen as target (focus) composers. This study was designed so that the primary voice and point of view was that of the student-composers rather than that of the adult teacher/researcher. To that end, methodologies for data collection and interpretation were flexible and emergent, to allow for inclusion of unexpected events, interactions, foci/directions, etc. and to ensure that student-composers' self-described decisions about their work were at the forefront of the discussion and interpretation of the data. A framework was devised to inform and clarify the teacher/researcher's understanding of what the children were doing as they composed. This framework provided a flexible structure for organization and illustration of data used for interpretive purposes. Data collected included: 1) journals, written self evaluations and in-process verbal critiques by all students 2) video-tapes of focus composers in: a) working sessions b) reflective discussion with the teacher/researcher 3) video-tapes of all students in: a) in-process sharing/critiquing sessions b) final performances of compositions 4) field notes of the teacher/researcher, including observations, informal conversations with student-composers, and observations and comments of the home room teacher. Findings from this study included these insights: 1) For these child-composers, process and product were intertwined throughout the making of their compositions; 2) These child-composers began with a holistic idea of what they wanted to do and proceeded to explore, revise and polish their compositions in the particular medium until they reached their self-determined goal; 3) Socio-cultural factors of informal (enculturated or acquired) learning, and general maturity, were primary influences in decision-making in compositions with both music and language; 4) Training made a difference in the baseline starting point in composing ability, attitude, speed of the compositional process, and expectations for the final product; 5) These eight and nine year old children, untrained in music, demonstrated that they could compose rather than just improvise; 6) These child-composers went through the same four processes of exploration, making choices, editing/drafting, and completing a coherent product, when composing in two different modalities; they engaged in these processes recursively as well as sequentially in both media. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study was to describe the current state of sight-singing pedagogy in choral ensembles at degree-granting institutions in the United States accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. A survey of collegiate choral conductors was designed and distributed nationwide. In total, 33.3% (N = 363) of those invited to participate responded. Substantial data were collected from conductors who indicated they occasionally integrated a sight-singing system into their choral rehearsals for specific purposes (n = 137) and those who indicated they frequently used a sight-singing system as a key rehearsal tool (n = 114). In addition, interviews with three survey participants were conducted for a more in-depth examination of their unique philosophies and practices. Survey data revealed that there was no significant difference between the number of choral conductors who did not use or very rarely used a system for music-reading, those who occasionally integrated a sight-singing system into their rehearsals for specific purposes, and those for whom a sight-singing system was a key rehearsal tool that they used frequently. However, among respondents in the latter two categories who did not hold a degree in music education, there was a significant (p = .018) preference for occasional rather than frequent use of a sight-singing system. Among those who occasionally or frequently used a system there was a significant preference for movable-Do solfège for major-key tonal solmization (p < .001), movable-Do solfège (tonic is "La") for minor-key tonal solmization (p = .001), and instrumental counting ("1-e-&-a 2") for rhythmic solmization (p < .001). Among those who frequently used a system, the data showed a significant decline in both the number of days per week they provided sight-singing instruction at the beginning of term, at the middle of term, and at the end of term (p < .01) as well as between the number of minutes per rehearsal they provided sight-singing instruction during those three periods of the semester (p < .01). Among those who frequently used a system, choral literature being prepared for performance was the significant first-choice, selected by 88%, of materials used to teach sight-singing. Among the same participants, 14% individually assessed their students' sight-singing, 44% sometimes did, and 43% did not. For conductors who frequently used a system, the most important perceived benefit of doing so was enabling their choirs to learn music faster. The attitude statements about which conductors agreed most strongly were that sight-singing ability is an important skill for all collegiate choral singers and that sight-singing ability should be a prerequisite for auditioned collegiate choral ensembles. Conductors who occasionally used a system agreed significantly more strongly with the latter statement than those who frequently did (p < .04), while conductors who frequently used a system agreed significantly more strongly with the statement that students generally enjoy instructional time devoted to sight-singing than those who occasionally did (p < .001). Music educators felt significantly stronger that empowering their students for lifelong music-making and improving performances were benefits of systematic sight-singing instruction than non-music educators did. Conductors contacted for interviews emphasized the importance of fostering choral rehearsal cultures in which complete musicianship and musical literacy are valued and provided philosophical and practical reasons for doing so. They outlined possible challenges to instituting choral sight-singing at the collegiate level as well as potential solutions to those difficulties. They also discussed the effects of sight-singing instruction on relationships with music theory and music education faculty. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2015. / July 17, 2015. / literacy, music, reading, sight-singing, solfege / Includes bibliographical references. / Judy Bowers, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Okerlund, University Representative; Alice-Ann Darrow, Committee Member; André J. Thomas, Committee Member.