L'objectif de la thèse est d'établir une physionomie du maximalisme musical présent dans le répertoire de la popular music, plus précisément celui du Rock Progressif au travers l'exemple de King Crimson. Je me suis appliqué, pour ce faire, à identifier quels sont les éléments de l'idiome rock soumis au processus de maximalisation, et quels éléments, présents dans le langage du Rock Progressif, sont empruntés à des genres musicaux extérieurs à la popular music.La thèse comporte deux grands chapitres. Le premier explore les techniques d’écriture et l’esthétique de la popular music, en s’intéressant de près aux questions du langage musical, de l’improvisation et du sens, dans un corpus allant du blues à la pop music. La seconde partie détaille la manière dont se manifeste le processus de maximalisation des structures musicales (harmonie, rythme, forme) dans le répertoire du Rock Progressif anglais. L’exemple de King Crimson est de ce fait particulièrement remarquable dans la mesure où la démarche des musiciens était de combiner l’énergie du rock afro-américain à un vocabulaire musical issu de la musique savante occidentale du début du XXe siècle. Ainsi sont utilisées des structures de hauteurs faisant intervenir une division de l’octave par l’intervalle de triton, qui engendre, entre autres, l’échelle octotonique. L’analyse de la composition « Larks’ Tongues in Aspic » montre comment se combinent des structures de natures différentes, telles que des cycles d’intervalles, des tétracordes, l’échelle octotonique et l’échelle diatonique. / He goal of the thesis is to establish a physiognomy of musical maximalism in popular music’s repertoire, specifically that of the Progressive Rock through the example of King Crimson. I applied, for that purpose, to identify what were the elements of the rock idiom subjected to the process of maximalization, and what features of the Progressive Rock’s language were borrowed from outside musical genres.The thesis comprises two major chapters. The first explores the writing techniques and the aesthetics of popular music, as interested in issues of musical language, improvisation and meaning, in a corpus ranging from blues to pop music. The second part details the way in which occurs the process of maximalization of musical structures (harmony, rhythm, form) in the English Progressive Rock’s repertoire. The example of King Crimson is noteworthy insofar as the approach of musicians was to combine the energy of African-American rock to a musical vocabulary derived from early 20th century Western art music. So are used pitch structures involving a division of the octave at the interval-class 6, which produces, among other things, the octatonic scale. The analysis of “Larks' Tongues in Aspic” shows how are combined different pitch structures, such as interval cycles, tetrachords, the octatonic scale and the diatonic scale.

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In this project, I focus on women's relationships with technology in the context of contemporary music culture. In choosing this focus, I intend to elucidate the interplay between social constructs of gender, power and technology as they enacted in a particular arena of artistic and economic activity. The nature of this interplay is informed by prevailing regimes of truth which have emerged through historical processes and which surface in diverse social contexts, of which this is but one. My intention here is to identify such regimes and to situate women's discourses within them. In this undertaking, I draw on a body of theory which lies at the conjunction of contemporary feminist critique and the later work of Michel Foucault on power and the 'technologies of the self' to explore a model of power which promises cogent strategies in the feminist project of reworking notions of gender and social agency. The inquiry enlists the perspectives of women students in a university school of contemporary music through a guided interview process. The technologies referred to include musical instruments both of traditional and twentieth century design, as well as a range of sophisticated systems of equipment used for recording and amplifying, for composing and arranging music. Through analysis of the interview data and through readings from social science and musicology, I identify a dominant discourse, or regime of truth, which privileges men and marginalizes women in the realm of techno-musical activity. Alongside this prevailing regime are women's discourses which both comply with and dissent from its assumptions. In examining these discourses, I seek insights into the processes by which women collude in their own exclusion from a male-colonized terrain, but also exercise power to insist on entry. The alignment of technology and masculinity in contemporary music creates serious training and employment disadvantages for women in many facets of the industry. I contend that this anomaly demands attention in the interests of socio-economic justice, in the interests of the industry itself through full utilization of human resources and market potential, and in the interests of women's desires to expand their creative options and employment opportunities.

In order to evaluate the effects of an integrated curriculum on the learning of popular music, the Sting Curriculum was designed for senior secondary students of mixed ability. This nine week program was presented to a sample of 124 students aged between 16 and 18 years in urban Sydney (Australia).The results of tests conducted indicate that students in the sample achieved high scores when a greater emphasis was placed on performance than on the listening and composition activities. The principal findings of the study suggest that the Sting Curriculum was successful as a vehicle for learning popular music, providing students with an integrated and sequential program that motivated participants to become immersed in the music. Furthermore, in the context of an integrated curriculum, popular music learning was enhanced when teachers utilised a pedgogical approach which emphasised the performance activity. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis is a phenomenology highlighting the phenomenon of declining youth attendance at mainstream churches where traditional church music is used in worship and the emergence of megachurches where young people are attending and contemporary popular styles of music is used in worship. An Australian Broadcasting Authority survey in 1999 revealed that music is a major influence in the lives of youth, assisting in their identity creation, in their making friends, and in relieving their stress. The survey also notes that youth prefer contemporary popular music and, in particular, rock. This is in stark contrast to the traditional music played and sung in mainstream churches, which tends to be neither meaningful nor relevant to youth, largely because they do not identify with it. An increasing proportion of youth are rejecting the mainstream traditional churches such as Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, Uniting Church. National Church Life Surveys in Australia show that by 2001, only fourteen percent of church attenders were young adults. Young non-attenders complained they found church services boring and unfulfilling. This declining youth membership does not auger well for the mainstream church’s future. It is clearly evident that, in Australian society a culture gap has emerged between the secular world and the mainstream Christian church. This thesis examines the role of contemporary popular music in attracting young people to church. Although, in comparatively recent times there has been some movement towards contemporizing worship services in mainstream churches, the change has met strong resistance, but that resistance is based on invalid arguments and the mainstream church is yet to respond effectively to the increasing culture gap and growing alienation of the young. Mainstream congregations are not adequately encouraged to participate in singing praise and thanks to God. Although the lyrics of songs that focus on thanks and praise can teach a Christian message, as well as promote an awareness of the presence of God, the importance of this aspect of worship appears to have been overlooked, even though music has always been a part of worship, with multiple biblical scriptures cementing its pivotal role. In 1980 twelve people began Christian City Church (CCC), a new church which was not one of the mainstream churches, with a vision to communicate the Christian message to the whole of Sydney. CCC used contemporary music as a vehicle to make their message relevant. That church has been strikingly successful, and had grown to five thousand members by 2004. This thesis focusses on a case study of the music of CCC to test a hypothesis that the use of contemporary popular styles of music, with a focus on thanks and praise, can play a significant role in attracting young people to join and remain as members, and that such music can be influential in communicating an experiential understanding of the Christian message. The aim of the case study was to discover whether the music was similar in style to young people’s preferred styles of music, whether they actively participated in its performance, whether it communicated to them, whether the lyrics conveyed a Christian message, and finally whether the congregation was both increasing and retaining young people as members. The songs examined in the study revealed that the music and paramusical aspects of the songs were similar to those of contemporary popular songs. The lyrics of the songs included themes of thanks and praise to God, and as such conveyed a Christian message. Thirty percent of the worship service was devoted to music praising God, and forty-nine percent of the church’s 5,000 members in 2004, were under twenty-five years. Further, the congregation participated enthusiastically in singing, an emphasis on belonging to small groups encouraged fellowship, and sermons addressed problems relevant to young people. It is proposed that CCC provides a pattern that mainstream churches could adapt, including the encouragement of congregational singing and worship, creation of effective small groups, relevant preaching, education opportunities, and culturally appropriate music. It is clear that contemporary and culturally appropriate music has played a significant and vital role in CCC’s successful development. To attract and retain youth membership, music needs to be contemporary, and culturally appropriate, thereby filling the gap between the secular world and the church. Contemporary popular music could provide today’s song for tomorrow’s church.

From a mixed methodology perspective that includes ethnology, musicology and cultural anthropology, I argue that, despite initial detachment from folk revivalism, English folk-rock has moved closer to aspects of tradition and historical status and has embraced a revivalist stance similar to that of the folk revivals that occurred earlier in the twentieth century. Whereas revivalism often rejects manifestations of mass culture and modernity, I also argue that the early combinations of folk music and rock music demonstrated that aspects of preservation and commercialisation have always co-existed within this hybrid musical style. English folk-rock, a former progressive rock music style, has emerged in the post-punk era as a world music style that appeals to a broad spectrum of music fans and this audience does not regard issues such as maintenance of authenticity and tradition as key factors in the preservation process. Rock music has remained a stimulus for further change in folk music and has enabled English folk-rock to become regarded as popular music by a new audience with diverse musical tastes. When folk music was adapted into rock settings, the result represented a particular identity for folk music at that time. In a similar way, as folk music continues to be amalgamated with rock and other popular music styles, or is performed in musical settings representing new cultures and ethnicities now present in the United Kingdom, it becomes updated and relevant to new audiences. From this perspective, I propose that growth in the popularity of British folk music since the early 1970s can be linked to its performance as English folk-rock, to its connections with culture and music industry marketing and promotion techniques, and to its inclusion as a 1990s festival component presented to audiences as part of what is promoted as world music. Popularity of folk music presented at world music festivals has stimulated significant growth in folk music audiences since the mid-1990s and consequently the UK is experiencing a new phase of revivalism - the third folk revival.

The focus of this sociological research is on the five most popular and commercially successful Australian indie music festivals: Livid, Big Day Out, the Falls festival, Homebake, and Splendour in the Grass. The three key features of Australian indie music festivals are, firstly, that they are multi-staged ticketed outdoor events, with clearly defined yet temporal boundaries. Secondly, the festivals have a youth-orientated focus yet are open to all ages. Finally, the festivals are primarily dominated by indie-guitar culture and music. My aim is to investigate how these music festivals are able to strike an apparently paradoxical balance between the creation of a temporal community, or network of festivalgoers, and the commodity of the festivals themselves. My research methodology utilises a postmodern approach to ethnography, which has allowed me to investigate the festivalgoers as an ‘insider researcher.’ Data was collected through a series of participant observations at Australian indie music festivals which included the use of photographs and field notes. In addition I conducted nineteen semi-structured interviews and two focus groups with festivalgoers and festival organisers. The thesis adopts a post-subcultural approach to investigating the festivalgoers as an ideal type of a neo-tribal grouping. Post-subculture theory deals with the dynamic, heterogeneous and fickle nature of contemporary alliances and individuals’ feelings of group ‘in-betweeness’ in late capitalist/ global consumer society. I argue that Maffesoli’s theory of neo-tribalism can shine new light on the relationships between youth, music and style. Music festivals are anchoring places for neo-tribal groupings like the festivalgoers as well as a commercialised event. An analysis of the festivalgoers’ ritual clothing (t-shirts as commodities), leads to the conclusion that the festivalgoers use t-shirts to engage in a process of identification. T-shirts, I argue, are an example of a linking image which creates both a sense of individualism as well as a connection to a collective identity or sociality. Through a case study of moshing and audience behaviour it is discovered that the festivalgoers develop neo-tribal sociality and identification with each other through their participation in indie music festivals. Although pleasure seems to be the foremost significant dimension of participating in these festivals, the festivalgoers nevertheless appear to have developed an innate sense of togetherness and neo-tribal sociality. The intensity and demanding experience of attending a festival fosters the opportunity for a sense of connectedness and belonging to develop among festivalgoers. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Music is one of the most important aspects of cultural identity in Corsica. Rooted in ancient history and revitalized in the revolutionary political climate of the 1960s and 70s, its popular choral form--the paghjella--has come to define modern music upon the island. Music, like language, has the ability to communicate certain feelings and values beyond its structural form and can also serve as a marker for individual as well as collective identity. In a minority regional context such as that of Corsica, many view cultural expressions such as language and music as 'guardians' of a local tradition that is weakened in a globalizing world. Thus, according to them, these expressions should remain pure and 'faithful' to their heritage. Yet, and likely in part because of globalization, music in Corsica has largely changed in recent decades. Musicians there today are combining ancient and modern forms, adopting instruments and styles not native to the island, and, in some cases, rejecting altogether 'traditional' Corsican music. Yet many of these, in as much as they represent a growing norm, often come under close scrutiny by those who regard their music as either inauthentic or betraying of tradition. Although some balance or hybridity of both 'new' and 'old' appears to be the preferred form of modem musical expression, the very notions of traditional and non-traditional are still debated and are at present widely discussed in Corsica, in a larger, more general sense of identity. The island's music provides a valuable perspective of the ongoing processes of cultural awareness and change. / Graduation date: 2004

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 344-363). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request