Thesis--University of Michigan. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-248).

Thesis--University of Michigan. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-248). Also issued in print.

Current scholarship recognizes that music is a powerful channel that can manifest individual identity. But such research takes for granted music as a symbol of collective cultural identity, and, therefore, neglects examining how music in general, but musical performance in particular, functions to produce and reproduce a society at large. Indeed, what is missing is a rigorous understanding of not only how the act of performing forms collective identity, but also how it acts as an agency, indeed, perhaps the only agency that enables this process. As Thomas Turino suggests, externalized musical practice can facilitate the creation of emergent cultural identities, and help in forming life in new cultural surroundings. The present thesis examines the dynamics between cultural identity and music from the perspective of the performing musician. By examining musical situations in the context of the Armenian – Canadian diaspora, I will show how performers themselves both evoke feelings of nostalgia for the homeland and maintain the traditions of their culture through the performance event, while simultaneously serving as cultural ambassadors for the Armenian – Canadian community. My thesis outlines four key themes that are crucial in understanding the roles of musicians in Armenian culture. They are tradition bearer, educator, cultural ambassador, and artisan. As boundaries between peoples and nations progressively blur, I conclude that performance proves a vital medium where a search for national identity can occur, frequently resulting in the realization of one’s ethnic identity. Ultimately, without the labors of the performing musician, music would be unable to do the social work that is necessary in forming cultural, social, or even personal identities.

Current scholarship recognizes that music is a powerful channel that can manifest individual identity. But such research takes for granted music as a symbol of collective cultural identity, and, therefore, neglects examining how music in general, but musical performance in particular, functions to produce and reproduce a society at large. Indeed, what is missing is a rigorous understanding of not only how the act of performing forms collective identity, but also how it acts as an agency, indeed, perhaps the only agency that enables this process. As Thomas Turino suggests, externalized musical practice can facilitate the creation of emergent cultural identities, and help in forming life in new cultural surroundings. The present thesis examines the dynamics between cultural identity and music from the perspective of the performing musician. By examining musical situations in the context of the Armenian – Canadian diaspora, I will show how performers themselves both evoke feelings of nostalgia for the homeland and maintain the traditions of their culture through the performance event, while simultaneously serving as cultural ambassadors for the Armenian – Canadian community. My thesis outlines four key themes that are crucial in understanding the roles of musicians in Armenian culture. They are tradition bearer, educator, cultural ambassador, and artisan. As boundaries between peoples and nations progressively blur, I conclude that performance proves a vital medium where a search for national identity can occur, frequently resulting in the realization of one’s ethnic identity. Ultimately, without the labors of the performing musician, music would be unable to do the social work that is necessary in forming cultural, social, or even personal identities.

Current scholarship recognizes that music is a powerful channel that can manifest individual identity. But such research takes for granted music as a symbol of collective cultural identity, and, therefore, neglects examining how music in general, but musical performance in particular, functions to produce and reproduce a society at large. Indeed, what is missing is a rigorous understanding of not only how the act of performing forms collective identity, but also how it acts as an agency, indeed, perhaps the only agency that enables this process. As Thomas Turino suggests, externalized musical practice can facilitate the creation of emergent cultural identities, and help in forming life in new cultural surroundings. The present thesis examines the dynamics between cultural identity and music from the perspective of the performing musician. By examining musical situations in the context of the Armenian – Canadian diaspora, I will show how performers themselves both evoke feelings of nostalgia for the homeland and maintain the traditions of their culture through the performance event, while simultaneously serving as cultural ambassadors for the Armenian – Canadian community. My thesis outlines four key themes that are crucial in understanding the roles of musicians in Armenian culture. They are tradition bearer, educator, cultural ambassador, and artisan. As boundaries between peoples and nations progressively blur, I conclude that performance proves a vital medium where a search for national identity can occur, frequently resulting in the realization of one’s ethnic identity. Ultimately, without the labors of the performing musician, music would be unable to do the social work that is necessary in forming cultural, social, or even personal identities.

abstract: Armenian music has a rich history. It started as independent, monodic song, and succeeded in keeping its uniqueness from the influences of other countries' musical traditions. During the nineteenth century the great Armenian musicologist and composer Komitas started to travel and write down these songs from Armenian villages. Komitas, who had higher education in Western classical music, was one of the first composers to harmonize Armenian songs and sacred music using Western classical techniques. This was a milestone in the development of Armenian music. Arno Babajanian was a Soviet Armenian composer who, like Komitas, was interested in the combinations of Armenian folk and Western classical traditions. This document provides a formal and harmonic analysis of his Piano Trio in F-Sharp Minor, written in 1952. By identifying Armenian folk tunes used in his trio, I will demonstrate that Babajanian achieved interesting results by inserting exotic Armenian folk melodies, harmonies, and other elements into the Western classical sonata form. This document also points out the influence of other composers of the Soviet era on Babajanian's music. By combining Armenian folk and western classical elements in his Piano Trio, Babajanian created a piece that resonates with native Armenians and classical music lovers and deserves a place in the violin repertoire. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2016

Current scholarship recognizes that music is a powerful channel that can manifest individual identity. But such research takes for granted music as a symbol of collective cultural identity, and, therefore, neglects examining how music in general, but musical performance in particular, functions to produce and reproduce a society at large. Indeed, what is missing is a rigorous understanding of not only how the act of performing forms collective identity, but also how it acts as an agency, indeed, perhaps the only agency that enables this process. As Thomas Turino suggests, externalized musical practice can facilitate the creation of emergent cultural identities, and help in forming life in new cultural surroundings. The present thesis examines the dynamics between cultural identity and music from the perspective of the performing musician. By examining musical situations in the context of the Armenian – Canadian diaspora, I will show how performers themselves both evoke feelings of nostalgia for the homeland and maintain the traditions of their culture through the performance event, while simultaneously serving as cultural ambassadors for the Armenian – Canadian community. My thesis outlines four key themes that are crucial in understanding the roles of musicians in Armenian culture. They are tradition bearer, educator, cultural ambassador, and artisan. As boundaries between peoples and nations progressively blur, I conclude that performance proves a vital medium where a search for national identity can occur, frequently resulting in the realization of one’s ethnic identity. Ultimately, without the labors of the performing musician, music would be unable to do the social work that is necessary in forming cultural, social, or even personal identities.

The creative submission for my dissertation includes two of my documentary works: They Will Take My Island, a thirty-minute multimedia collaboration with filmmaker Atom Egoyan for amplified string octet, electronic track, and film, commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and Paper Pianos, a ninety-minute staged collaboration with director Nigel Maister and projection artist Kevork Mourad. The written submission for my dissertation is an examination of the ways in which experiences around transgenerational trauma inform and manifest in my creative practice. I offer a summary of my own family history of survivors of the Armenian Genocide and Lebanese Civil War, as well as a survey of displacement amongst the Armenian community in the past century. Furthermore, I discuss identity processing as diaspora and the act of cultural preservation, as inspired by genocide survivor, composer, priest, writer, and musicologist, Komitas Vardapet. I later examine these ideas in the context of creating They Will Take My Island and Paper Pianos, both of which were constructively motivated by transgenerational survivor’s guilt and draw from extra-musical documentary and horror genre practices.