abstract: By studying of a piece of music paired with specific artwork from the time and place of its composition, one can learn more about the character and artistic merits of both the art and music, as well as their relationship to the culture in which they were created. It is the purpose of this paper to examine one specific idea within this vein of interdisciplinary study. This study explores the presentation of American visual art from the 1920s alongside Dupré's Variations sur un Noël, Op. 20. This correlation provides a platform for deeper insight into the composition. The sights and sounds of America that Dupré observed while composing his variation set, captured in artwork from that period, illustrate some of the unique and distinguishing features of the musical work. This study also explores the history and culture around music and art in the 1920's, as well as some of the existing research on the relationship between music and visual art. / Dissertation/Thesis / Track1 / Track 2 / Track 3 / Track 4 / Track 5 / Track 6 / Track 7 / Track 8 / Track 9 / Track 10 / Track 11 / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2014

abstract: This study catalogues symphonies for wind band from the origin of the genre in the late eighteenth century through 2014. Wind bands include any mixed wind group of eight or more players. Works using the word "symphony" or its derivatives in the title are included in the study. A total of 1342 works that fit these criteria were identified. An annotated bibliography (Appendix A) includes detailed information about 695 of these works. Such information was not available for an additional 621 wind band symphonies; consequently, these works are listed in a second appendix that includes a list of sources for each work so that future researchers might investigate them further. The final appendix lists 26 wind band symphonies that are no longer available based on the author's current sources. The titles included in this study were found by examining many repertoire resources for the wind band, including previous studies of wind band symphonies and more comprehensive repertoire resources like the Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music and the website "The Wind Repertory Project." Details of each piece in the annotated bibliography were found in their scores whenever possible. Contact with composers and publishers, through both their websites and direct correspondence, played a major role in this part of the study. The classified bibliography in this document sorts all of these sources categorically for easy reference. All parts of this document are intended as tools for conductors wishing to research or program symphonies for wind band. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2015

abstract: In this dissertation I use Henri Lefebvre's concept of the production of social space to study how political theatre companies and artists in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, appropriate and resignify, through performance, their current social space as a strategy to contest Puerto Rico's neoliberal state policies. As Lefebvre suggests, modern industrial cities like San Juan maintain hegemonic power relations through spatial practices, processes through which users and inhabitants of the city conceive, perceive and live space. Lefebvre further suggests that for social justice to be possible, space must be resignified in ways that expose otherwise invisibilized struggles for social belonging and differentiation. I argue that theatrical performance, by staging various social conflicts and contradictions between the dominating space and the appropriating space, can produce new "performance cartographies" through which its audiences – in large part disenfranchised from the neoliberal processes so celebrated elsewhere on the island – may find ways to resignify space or envision new spaces for social justice on their own behalf. Specifically, I examine five theatre groups and artists from oppressed sectors in San Juan, whose work is to various degrees in opposition to neoliberalism, to reveal how both their artistic and quotidian performances might be resignifying space toward these ends. How does the work of Agua, Sol y Sereno, Y no había luz, Teatro Breve, Deborah Hunt and Tito Kayak strategically claim or appropriate space? What kind of knowledges emerge from these spatial tactics, and how are they helping envision new forms of living and social justice in the city? / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Theatre 2015

abstract: "Play less and listen more" is the prevailing wisdom whenever two musical partners are having ensemble issues that interfere with their music-making. Accompanists, coaches, and collaborative pianists across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries devote many pages to these situations and explain what to listen and look for. An overview of this literature establishes a standard canon of ensemble issues for collaborative pianists working with a single partner, whether vocal or instrumental. The overview also discusses the various solutions these authors recommend for these problems. However, in exceptional moments of rehearsal or performance, the foregoing advice fails. After comparing several passing observations in these standard works with the author's own experience, a paradoxical situation becomes evident: at times, what works instead of listening more is listening less. As the author describes through multiple musical examples and commentaries, ignoring one's partner for a brief moment can benefit the duo's ensemble and artistry. The application of this principle is both narrow and wide-ranging and is meant to serve as a secondary course of action. It is decidedly not a replacement for the standard advice on coaching and collaborating, for such advice is successful far more often than not. However, it can be utilized when the collaborative pianist deems it the most successful and prudent solution to an ensemble situation that has remained problematic. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2015

abstract: Paseo is a postmodern dance performance that reveals the migrational passage of bodies through space and time. Paseo included five dance participants, and the choreographer/pedagogue. Paseo members participated in rehearsal and performance events that completed the investigational study. The creative process focused on integrating somatic and improvisational movement practices to design an environment where dancers could build body-mind awareness and sensitivity to their surroundings, participate democratically, and build agency in their performative decision-making. Paseo investigated the performance as an informal site for learning and understanding of migration, identity, and community. Another objective of Paseo was to explore the performance as an informal site of learning and its transformative effects on lived experiences that occur from the act of doing, the act of becoming, and experiential sensations. Paseo was part of the Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Film, Dance, and Theatre Emerging Artists I series, one of two performances that shared the stage with fellow graduate cohort member, Grace Gallagher. Paseo took place at ASU’s Margaret Gisolo Theatre, located at the Physical Education Building East. Performance dates were the following; fix punctuation Friday, November 6th, Saturday, November 7th, and Sunday, November 8th. Paseo had a fourth presentation on Saturday, December 5th, 2015, at Margaret Gisolo Theatre as part of the post-conference performance and dialogue event, “By The People.” The conference was hosted by the Participatory Government Initiative on the ASU Campus from December 3rd-5th, 2015. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Dance 2016

abstract: Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra created the character of Don Quixote in his book El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha, published in 1605. Since its creation, stories from the book have been reimagined in art, in literature and in music. Frequently, Cervantes – the man and author – and Quixote – the novel’s protagonist and hero – have been inextricably linked in character. Subsequent adaptors of the novel have been influenced by this connection: composers Jules Massenet (1842-1912), Jacques Ibert (1890-1962) and Mitch Leigh (1928-2014) all wrote their own versions of the Quixote saga. Though their approaches to the story are varied, the basic characteristics of it remain: Love, Life and Dreams. Those themes are reflected in the old knight’s death scene in each of their respective works. Here, the lives of the adaptors are briefly discussed and a dramatic and musical (Schenkerian), analysis of Quixote’s last hours are presented. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2016

abstract: Mongolian overtone singing (höömii) and Mongolian wrestling songs (tsols) are vocal styles that evoke physical and mental strength in the vocalist through the accessing of nature. The phrase “höömii-tsol-thinking computer” conveys my end-goal while composing, performing, and researching for my original composition strong.mng. I wanted to create a work in which the computer would be informed by the performance methods and philosophies employed during Mongolian höömii and tsols. Strong.mng is a 25-minute production for dancer, live digital illustrator, and overtone singer with a laptop computer serving as both a fixed and interactive responsive musical instrument. The music draws upon themes from höömii and tsols through the lens of virtual fieldwork, which was the research method I used to inform strong.mng. Through the composing and performing of strong.mng, I arrived at the following three-part hypothesis: firstly, the development of a robust symbiotic relationship between höömii, tsols, and today’s electronic music technology may transform the technological devices used into agents of deep ecology and bodily interconnectedness. Secondly, this transformation may metamorphose the performer into a more courageous being who is strengthened both physically and mentally by the Mongolian belief that, when performing höömii and tsols, the musician is drawn into kinship with nature. Lastly, I believe some computer music is restrained in its potential by techno-somatic discreteness as well as anthropocentrism, and that applying philosophies from höömii and tsols can help move computer music more towards a physically embodying means of sonification; one that is also akin with the natural world. / Dissertation/Thesis / This document provides links to audio and video of the dissertation composition. / Doctoral Dissertation Composition 2016

abstract: This creative project provides an adaptation of J. S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, for the Fritts Organ at Arizona State University. This organ was designed and built by Paul Fritts and Co. in 1992, and is in the style of the high-Baroque instruments of Northern Europe. Along with the musical score of the adaptation, this document discusses the registration choices included as well as relevant historical and performance practice details about the piece. A link to the recording of the author’s April 2017 performance of this edition of the Goldberg Variations on the ASU Fritts Organ is included with the project. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2017

abstract: This dissertation investigates vocal performance of art songs requiring authentic and appropriate regional dialects of the American South. Through close analysis of performance practice in American opera, musical theatre, and art song, this document follows the existence of regional southern dialects on the stage from the early 1800s to today’s practice. Evidence of specified regional southern accents is discussed regarding literary depictions in librettos, lyrics, and dialogue. Other topics include the ways regional nuances and colloquialisms differentiate southern regional accents, the existence of a generic “southern” accent to stand for any representation of rural whites, and, briefly, the nonspecific ways African American southern dialects are usually rendered. Art song selections from Kenneth Frazelle’s Appalachian Songbooks (1989) and Doug Borwick’s Southern Comfort (1989), which I studied, recorded, and transcribed into singer’s IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet), are the central texts of this discussion. The recording can be accessed online at https://soundcloud.com/nina-c-garguilo/sets/southern-study-through-song. This research will benefit the performers of American art song that specifically requires “white” dialects, the native and non-native speakers of some Southern-American dialects, and scholars who seek to promote authentic performance practice of southern oral tradition in concert music. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2017

abstract: Exploration of Practice in Partnering is a curriculum-based, research thesis, focused on the investigation of the potential impact of studying multiple forms of dance partnering through a constructivist learning lens. The primary goal was to discover concepts and practices that underlie effective dance partnering. The study was conducted in a 15-week university dance course that provided a survey of partnering dance forms taught by the researcher who is versed in the chosen forms. In addition to professional knowledge and experience, the researcher includes theory and pedagogy from his graduate coursework. Teaching frameworks and learning experiences for the study were informed by somatics and constructivist pedagogy; a student-centered approach to learning in which students might find knowledge and meaning through experience. The research documented in this thesis may be methodologically described as a case study and the data collection methods were qualitative. Due to IRB limitations, the data set draws only from biweekly journal entries from a class of eleven students, in addition to the researcher’s observation of students. Data streams from student journal entries were analyzed and interpreted using common protocols. Guiding questions for the research study included: How do students currently understand and perceive partnering? How do leader and follower roles play a part in dance partnering? What commonalities of partnering exist between different dance forms? Data gathered from the research revealed that each individual student’s understanding and definition of dance partnering changed over the course of the semester and students found increased meaning in their partnering interactions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Dance 2017