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The image and social status of female musicians in TaiwanPan, Li-Ming January 2014 (has links)
In Taiwan, female musicians who play Western classical music have often been considered a group with a fixed image regarding their appearance. The stereotype is common amongst Taiwanese people, including female musicians. It has become an important criterion for assessing whether an individual can be considered legitimate as a female musician. Although the visual factor plays a critical role for Taiwanese female musicians, it has never been seriously investigated. This thesis aims to establish why and how the stereotype is formed, what elements constitute the favoured image, what messages are sent by the principal components, what is its mechanism and how does it affect the life and career of female musicians in Taiwan. First, the thesis traces the development and current condition both of women’s status and of Western classical music in Taiwan to clarify the position of female musicians in Taiwanese society. Due to its association with the hegemonic cultural and imperial powers/domination of the West, Western classical music is considered the embodiment of progress and civilisation in Taiwan. Female musicians are also deemed a group of high class and with an appealing image. This particular status has usually made them popular and advantageous in the marital market. This is partly revealed from the analyses of newspaper reports. The statistics in the present study show that, when female musicians are discussed in newspapers, most topics centre on their marriage and appearance. This demonstrates how most people think of female musicians and which aspects of female musicians are considered important in Taiwanese society. After reviewing the background of the status of female musicians, the thesis analyses what elements constitute the stereotype by scrutinizing the concert poster. The concert poster can be viewed as the most influential medium for displaying female musicians’ images, because of its prevalent circulation, its focus upon directly displaying the appearance of female musicians, and the fact that it is produced by the musicians themselves. The images of female musicians on their posters demonstrate high similarity. The thesis examines the critical elements of the posters by comparing them with ancient and modern women’s images. Through investigating these elements and the culture in which they are rooted, the meanings and connotations involved in the poster image will be clearly demonstrated. The findings show that most images of female musicians are designed from the angle of the male gaze. The interview data further illustrate that the posters are not only designed to satisfy the male gaze, but also relate to real men’s looking pleasure and interests in many cases. This thesis undertakes interviews with 17 female musicians. These in-depth conversations with the participants reveal why most female musicians are brought up to be musicians. It is often a decision made from an early age by their parents due to the gendered stereotype and partly to enhance their marital prospects. Nonetheless, whether or not they conform to the image significantly influences their partner searching and career development. Most participants are so accustomed to the image that it is often hard to detect its presence and operation. Through the examples of the social event and the experiences of the participants, the thesis intends to denaturalise the stereotype. It also explores the possibility of changing the image through concert posters.
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Mid-fifteenth-century English mass cycles in continental sourcesCook, James Matthew January 2014 (has links)
Fifteenth-century English music had a profound impact on mainland Europe, with several important innovations (e.g. the cyclic cantus firmus Mass) credited as English in origin. However, the turbulent history of the Church in England has left few English sources for this deeply influential repertory. The developing narrative surrounding apparently English technical innovations has therefore often focussed on the recognition of English works in continental manuscripts, with these efforts most recently crystallised in Curtis and Wathey's 'Fifteenth-Century English Liturgical Music: A List of the Surviving Repertory'. The focus of discussion until now has generally been on a dichotomy between English and continental origin. However, as more details emerge of the opportunities for cultural cross-fertilisation, it becomes increasingly clear that this may be a false dichotomy. This thesis re-evaluates the complex issues of provenance and diffusion affecting the mid-fifteenth-century cyclic Mass. By breaking down the polarization between English and continental origins, it offers a new understanding of the provenance and subsequent use of many Mass cycles. Contact between England and the continent was frequent, multifarious and quite possibly reciprocal and, despite strong national trends, there exists a body of work that can best be understood in relation to international cultural exchange. This thesis helps to clarify the provenance of a number of Mass cycles, but also suggests that, for Masses such as the anonymous Thomas cesus and Du cuer je souspier, Le Rouge's So ys emprentid, and even perhaps Bedyngham's Sine nomine, cultural exchange is key to our understanding. This thesis also offers a more detailed overview of the chronology of fifteenth-century English Mass cycles and defines their various structural norms, as well as those Masses which depart from these.
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An intimate understanding : the rise of British musical revue 1890-1920Moore, James Ross January 2000 (has links)
A close examination of more than 100 play scripts and the unpublished writings of Revue impresario Andre' Charlot (1882-1956) provides the original bases for this thesis. Although it is usually assumed that British musical Revue's origins must be French, a close look at its genealogy shows that the elements of Revue existed in British musical theatre before 1890. These included Burlesque, Burletta, Musical Comedy, Variety, Concert Party and Ballet. The rise of the up-to-date thing called Revue was partly the product of general social change during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras. Of particular importance to the development of Intimate Revue--the notably British contribution to the genre--was the physical development from 1890 of London's West End, particularly the building of many small and medium-sized theatres. A number of "proto-revues" and short "revues" included in Variety bills preceded the arrival of "real" Revue in 1912. In that year, Revue escaped Variety via the latest of many changes in jurisdiction which finally allowed its presentation in "theatres". Revue might not have developed beyond the Spectacular type except for the 1914-1918 war and its austerities. Charles B. Cochran's serendipitous Odds and Ends (1914-1915) is properly the first Intimate Revue, though the genre was subsequently given its definitive shape by Charlot. The development of its distinctive theatrical form is characterised in the development of Revue specialists, the most important of which are shown to be the literary-minded authors of mini-dramas: "sketches." All the elements of the developed form meet in the Charlot revue Buzz Buzz (1918-1920). It is argued that Intimate Revue, while gradually losing its "musical" aspect, held to this model for more than three decades; it is also argued that Intimate Revue's example altered the course of Revue in the United States.
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The historical editing of Mozart’s keyboard sonatas: history, context and practiceGeorgiou, Christina January 2011 (has links)
This thesis investigates the editing and publishing of music from the late-eighteenth century until present day, with particular reference to W. A. Mozart’s sonatas for solo keyboard. The Introduction provides a concise description of the topic and, through a literature review, illustrates the purpose of this thesis and its place within relevant research. Chapter One consists of a historiographical study of terms which are vital to the further investigation of editing and interpretation, such as ‘work’, ‘text’, ‘intention’ and ‘Werktreue’, also addressing relevant issues of musical ontology and eventually establishing a working definition for this study. A description of the late eighteenth-century context within which Mozart’s Keyboard Sonatas were composed and published is provided in Chapter Two, exploring the musical culture, the place of keyboard music within contemporaneous repertory and the printing and publishing practices of that time. Chapter Three investigates Mozart’s relationship with publishers and the extent of his involvement in the publishing process, going on to examine the relationship between his autograph manuscripts and the first editions of the sonatas in the eighteenth-century Case Study. The nineteenth-century context within which Mozart’s works were reproduced is analyzed in Chapter Four, through a discussion of the rise of musical literacy and of the evolution of printing and publishing in Europe, and especially in Germany. Chapter Five investigates the formation of editorial practices in the nineteenth century, underlining their theoretical framework and desired outcomes. Posthumous historical editions of Mozart’s Keyboard Sonatas are presented in Chapter Six and are juxtaposed with the primary sources in its nineteenth-century Case Study. Chapter Seven sets the twentieth century scene, featuring the evolution of musicology and technology, as well as the growth of the urtext ideal and its relevance to the rise of Urtext Editions during the second half of the century. Modern Mozart scholarship and its impact on editions is the subject of Chapter Eight, which features a Case Study comparison of selected twentieth-century historical editions with their nineteenth-century counterparts and the primary sources. Chapter Nine addresses the digital transformation of music publishing during the first decade of the twenty-first century, featuring comparisons of a twenty-first century edition with preceding editions in the Case Study, while the Epilogue that follows, elaborates on the future perspectives of editing and publishing.
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The Ritus Canendi Vetustissimus et Novus of Johannes Legrense : a critical edition with translation, introduction and notes on the textHughes, Richard Vaughan January 1996 (has links)
The aim of the present work is to provide for the reader a modern edition of Ritus Canendi from which Coussemaker's frequent misreadings have been removed. The late Professor Albert Seay's own edition, published in 1980, also contains errors, many of which remain serious enough to mislead the reader, and it was on these grounds that a re-working of the Latin text was felt to be justified. The work also contains a full English translation of the Latin text, in the belief that such treatises should enjoy as wide a readership as possible. The process of translation has involved the present editor in a study of such word usage as is relevant, and this in turn has provided an insight into Johannes' unnamed sources and influences. The Introduction can be read without reference to the full text, since it contains ample quotations from the body of the treatise, with the original Latin accommodated in the footnotes in all cases. Two main influences are identified in the Introduction: 1. The long tradition of the medieval speculative treatise is clearly represented. Here the emphasis is on Reason, and the close relationship between musical interval and mathematical ratio as portrayed in the legendary Pythagoras. If one is to view Johannes' work solely within this context, he is seen as a true conservative, for he mounts a strong attack against Marchetto da Padua's anti-Pythagorean views, and in particular his equal division of the whole tone and his ensuing chromaticisms. The views of modern commentators on Johannes' standpoint are also here discussed. 2. The Introduction also portrays Johannes as part of that spirit of enquiry which characterized Renaissance humanism, for he becomes the first to seek to interpret aspects of Greek music theory as described in the De Musica of the sixth century theorist and philosopher Boethius. Particularly significant here is Johannes' inspirational grasp of the basis of Boethius' modes; a summary of the medieval perception of these modes provides the context whereby incongruities in Johannes' text are identified, and the observations of recent writers commented upon.
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The creation of 'ancient' Scottish music history, 1720-1838Clements, Joanna January 2013 (has links)
This thesis examines the writing of Scottish music history from the 1720s to 1838. It concludes that the Scottish music histories written over this period were fundamentally shaped by the interaction of ideas about universal historical progress with ideas specific to the Scottish context of the work. Ramsay’s pioneering claims that Scots songs were ancient were supported by parallels between the features of song – simplicity, pastorality and naturalness - and ideas about the nature of the past held more widely. The contrasts he drew with Italian music and English verse further supported his claims in ways specific to the Scottish context. In the later eighteenth century the Enlightenment model of universal historical progress – simple and pastoral societies developed into complex and commercial ones over time - came to underpin the continued perception that Scots songs were ancient. This same universal model underpinned narratives of scalic development, and narratives of preservation. Contemporary perceptions of the place of the Scottish Highlands and rural societies in the universal model of historical progress resulted in the collection of more purportedly historic song from Highlanders and the rural poor of the Lowlands and Borders. These same perceptions also seem to have resulted in the differing use of written sources to create a picture of a gradually evolving Lowland/Border music history and a static Highland music history. Specifically Scottish destructive events were used to explain the lack of other forms of evidence of purportedly ancient songs in the past: the Reformation, defeudalisation, and the modernisation of the countryside form turning points in many of the narratives. Writers’ reasons for writing Scottish music history similarly reveal twin concerns with the universal and the particularly Scottish. In foregrounding the social and cultural factors which underpinned the construction of Scottish music history in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, this study challenges the continued inclusion of elements of the present-day received view. In addition, in demonstrating the parallels between music-historical and historical writings more broadly this thesis enriches our understanding of Enlightenment historical thought.
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This woman's work : Kate Bush, female fans and practices of distinctionVroomen, Laura January 2002 (has links)
This thesis proposes a broader understanding of the nature of women’s investments in popular music. Through a case-study of a group of mostly mature, middle class, white and heterosexual female fans for the British performer Kate Bush (1958- ) this thesis asks questions about the way in which gender, age, class, race/ethnicity and sexuality circulate within the field of popular music fandom, a field which has traditionally privileged masculinity and youth. Studies of popular music consumption have tended to emphasise the notion of resistance to dominant culture, often by young, working class men. This has obscured the investments more mature and middle class women might have in popular music. This thesis shows that these investments are, instead of wholly conservative as is usually implied, both resistant and reactionary. In a similar way, these investments do not necessarily lead to powerful positions for the women (for instance, in a domestic context), but they do empower them to deal with the demands of work and relationships. The women’s claims to distinction as serious music lovers are often made at the expense of other fans, especially young girls, and as such reinforce existing notions of the undiscriminating and ‘eroticised’ female fan. At the same time, however, their claims to distinction on account of their ‘feminine cultural capital’, enabled by Kate Bush’s blend of a ‘masculine’ musical virtuosity and a ‘feminine’ address, partly challenges the male domination of the popular music field. Furthermore, the women’s articulation of popular music and a mature sensibility challenges the medium’s youth ethos and offers an understanding of the way in which popular music returns its value for listeners through the long term.
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Music & migration : aspects of black music in the British Caribbean, the United States, and Britain, before the independence of Jamaica and Trinidad & TobagoCowley, John January 1992 (has links)
While there have been a number of publications in the last few years that describe the origins and progression of the reggae from Jamaica, much less attention has been given to other popuiar forms of black music from the English-spealdng West Indies. A particular omission is the nineteenth-century background to such evolutions. The primary objective of this study is to address this lacuna and to explore dynamics of continuity and change in these musical developments.
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Sounds of future past : the poetics of electronicaAlbiez, Sean January 2013 (has links)
Electronica developed in the last decade of the twentieth century as an area of limited musical practice that breached the creative and institutional divides between academic and popular electronic music. In forging innovative modes of composition and technological practice, electronica artists created a musical terrain requiring new modes of analysis to develop an understanding of the poetics of electronica. This study responds to a shortfall in previous work in the field by developing an integrative and multi-perspective analysis of the creative practices and contexts of electronica. This is achieved through historical, contextual, theoretical and practical research that synthesises material drawn from the fields of cultural studies, sociology, musicology and popular music studies. In considering how electronica comes into existence, the study identifies the individual and social factors that combine in the compositional practices of electronica. It explores the historical development of electronica, and examines genre, style and how electronica has challenged the fixity of popular and institutional musical categorisation. The social authorship of music, where electronica musicians are identified as seantifically and dialogically channelling earlier musical voices, is balanced with an outline of psychotopographic internal music dialogue. The producer-creator is identified as drawing both from individual and social repositories in forming musical works. Moving beyond technological determinist and constructivist models, the study emphasises the affordances of music technologies, and the compositional practices that electronica musicians have developed as a response to and in collaboration with these technologies. A development of themes concerning atemporality and spectrality in the fields of glitch and hauntology provides a backdrop to my creative practice as obe:lus that informs and was informed by the findings of my historical, contextual and theoretical research. Both glitch and hauntology are viewed as problematising notions of future and past by critiquing and foregrounding the media through and from which they are created.
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Record production and the construction of authenticity in the Beach Boys and late-sixties American rockButler, Jan January 2010 (has links)
This thesis explores the paradox that occurred at the time that rock emerged as a new genre in America in the mid-1960s. Recordings were becoming increasingly manipulated in the studio, but at the same time there emerged a growing ideology of authenticity that developed as the decade progressed, first focussing on records, but ending by privileging live performance. The study falls into three parts. The first traces the development of authenticity in relation to music through history and explores its possible nature in order to illuminate the development of authenticity in relation to rock in the 1960s. The second section writes a history of the record industry in the 1960s, focussing on organisational practices, which I argue were strongly influenced by an ideology of authenticity related to beliefs about the conditions necessary to create art in a commercial framework. These organisational changes lead to the adoption by the industry of the figure of the entrepreneur producer. The final section looks at how the industry interacted with the conflicting ideologies of authenticity that were developed in the counterculture in relation to rock, employing rock cultural intermediaries both to bring rock bands into the industry, and to sell their music back to the counterculture from which they came. The more theoretical points of my discussion are exemplified through the use of a case study of the Beach Boys, whose career spans the decade, and who, despite early success as a rock band, experienced difficulty negotiating the changing ideologies of authenticity that emerged as the decade progressed.
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