Master-Arbeit Univ. St. Gallen, 2007.

abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine and explore Hatha Yoga and how it relates to a practice consisting of singer-friendly yoga postures, how these postures may benefit the singer's mental and physical health, and how these techniques relate to designated research. The study also investigates yogic breathing techniques and how these exercises relate to selected research. Lastly, the paper examines how the voice student and professional singer may alleviate anxiety by introducing a practice of daily yogic mediation of mudra and mantra techniques, and how voice teachers may better understand and assist their students with stage performance anxiety. / Dissertation/Thesis / Yoga Poses / D.M.A. Music 2014

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Throughout the twentieth century, Boris Goldovsky (1908-2001) played a significant role in training the operatic singer-actor. One of his most significant contributions was integrating music and drama. He taught his students how to develop a character, how to find dramatic clues in the music, and to become expressive artists free from monotonous operatic gestures and posturing. As author of the first textbook for training the operatic singer-actor, his curriculum was developed from experience, acting traditions, and mentor-student relationships. A new forum, Opera Workshop, allowed him to experiment and test his methods. Although Goldovsky is known to some scholars as the “Father of Training the Operatic Singer-Actor,” his presence in modern day training material is almost non-existent. How can we understand the needs of educating today’s operatic singer-actor without knowing the very foundation upon which it was built? This paper applies Goldovsky’s method of training to a staging and performance of Act II scene I from Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel. Providing this modern application of his training will demonstrate the relevance of his contributions for educators in a contemporary university setting. My findings suggest that Goldovsky’s approach and philosophy to training the young singer-actor provides practical and valuable knowledge that is still viable for today’s university singer-actor educator.

La conjecture de Kadison-Singer traitant de l’existence et de l’unicité d’extension d’état pur de la C*-algèbre des opérateurs diagonaux dans B(H) sur B(H) fut émise en 1959 par Kadison et Singer. Il faut attendre jusqu’en 2013 pour que l’une de ses équivalences soit finalement résolue. La première partie de ce mémoire étudie le lien entre la conjecture et le résultat prouvé via deux autres équivalences. La seconde partie traite en profondeur de la preuve du résultat en passant par plusieurs concepts, tels que les familles entrelacées, la notion de stabilité et le polynôme caractéristique mixte. Enfin, la dernière partie porte sur une équivalence particulière, soit la conjecture de Feichtinger.

Dans cette thèse, on aborde trois thèmes : problème de sélection de colonnes dans une matrice, distance de Banach-Mazur au cube et estimation de la covariance de matrices aléatoires. Bien que les trois thèmes paraissent éloignés, les techniques utilisées se ressemblent tout au long de la thèse. Dans un premier lieu, nous généralisons le principe d'invertibilité restreinte de Bourgain-Tzafriri. Ce résultat permet d'extraire un "grand" bloc de colonnes linéairement indépendantes dans une matrice et d'estimer la plus petite valeur singulière de la matrice extraite. Nous proposons ensuite un algorithme déterministe pour extraire d'une matrice un bloc presque isométrique c’est à dire une sous-matrice dont les valeurs singulières sont proches de 1. Ce résultat nous permet de retrouver le meilleur résultat connu sur la célèbre conjecture de Kadison-Singer. Des applications à la théorie locale des espaces de Banach ainsi qu'à l'analyse harmonique sont déduites. Nous donnons une estimation de la distance de Banach-Mazur d'un corps convexe de Rn au cube de dimension n. Nous proposons une démarche plus élémentaire, basée sur le principe d'invertibilité restreinte, pour améliorer et simplifier les résultats précédents concernant ce problème. Plusieurs travaux ont été consacrés pour approcher la matrice de covariance d'un vecteur aléatoire par la matrice de covariance empirique. Nous étendons ce problème à un cadre matriciel et on répond à la question. Notre résultat peut être interprété comme une quantification de la loi des grands nombres pour des matrices aléatoires symétriques semi-définies positives. L'estimation obtenue s'applique à une large classe de matrices aléatoires / In this thesis, we address three themes : columns subset selection in a matrix, the Banach-Mazur distance to the cube and the estimation of the covariance of random matrices. Although the three themes seem distant, the techniques used are similar throughout the thesis. In the first place, we generalize the restricted invertibility principle of Bougain-Tzafriri. This result allows us to extract a "large" block of linearly independent columns inside a matrix and estimate the smallest singular value of the restricted matrix. We also propose a deterministic algorithm in order to extract an almost isometric block inside a matrix i.e a submatrix whose singular values are close to 1. This result allows us to recover the best known result on the Kadison-Singer conjecture. Applications to the local theory of Banach spaces as well as to harmonic analysis are deduced. We give an estimate of the Banach-Mazur distance between a symmetric convex body in Rn and the cube of dimension n. We propose an elementary approach, based on the restricted invertibility principle, in order to improve and simplify the previous results dealing with this problem. Several studies have been devoted to approximate the covariance matrix of a random vector by its sample covariance matrix. We extend this problem to a matrix setting and we answer the question. Our result can be interpreted as a quantified law of large numbers for positive semidefinite random matrices. The estimate we obtain, applies to a large class of random matrices

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I denna uppsats för jag en diskussion om huruvida Peter Singers preferensutilitarism är en hållbar moralteori för djuretik. Detta utförs genom en undersökning av kritik som riktats mot Singers teori för att sedan granska om argumenten står på en legitim grund. Det finns två argument i fokus som presenteras av Josephine Donovan och som vi kommer att se indikerar de att Singers teori faktiskt har några besvärliga element som behöver modifieras. Jag hävdar att de besvärliga delarna kan lösas av utilitarismens komplexitet. I den sista delen av uppsatsen presenterar jag en möjlig hybridteori som inkluderar delar från både Donovans teori och aspekter från den indirekta utilitarismen. / In this essay I present a discussion regarding if Peter Singer's preference utilitarianism is a tenable moral theory for animal ethics. This is done through an examination of criticism directed at Singer's theory and then examining whether the arguments stand on a legitimate basis. There are two arguments in focus presented by Josephine Donovan and as we will see they will indicate that Singer's theory does in fact have some troublesome elements that needs modification. I argue that the troublesome elements may be solved by the complexity of utilitarianism. In the final part of the essay I present a possible hybrid theory that includes parts from both Donovan's theory and aspects from the indirect utilitarianism.

In his well-known 1972 article, "Famine, Affluence, and Morality," and in subsequent books, Peter Singer argues that we can and should prevent the needless suffering and death of the global poor by giving to foreign aid. This call for charity and assistance is mostly uncontroversial. However, foreign aid's effectiveness is highly contested among the aid literature. As the first part of this paper shows, all aid encounters inefficiencies, with the major problems being diversion of funds and perverse incentives. I look at each of these in turn, concluding that most aid is ineffective and sometimes even harmful—with the possible exception of short-term humanitarian aid. Consideration of aid evaluation and emerging forms of aid like microfinance and unconditional cash transfers provides no solution to aid's problems. In the second part of the paper I consider potentially superior methods for preventing the suffering and death of the global poor. Free trade, open immigration, and increased consumption all seem like promising ways to alleviate poverty and grow developing economies, but only increased consumption of disposable luxury goods fulfills Singer's obligation for the individual to prevent bad things from happening. To show that this idea stands, the rest of the paper will focus on increased consumption's relation to manufacturing, so-called sweatshop labor, economic growth, and alleviation of poverty. Finally, I will address potential limitations and objections to my approach, concluding that consumption of disposable luxury goods is the best way to fulfill Singer's obligation to aid the global poor.

The People’s Poets of Texas: Literature Born Within the Singer/Songwriter Tradition of the Last Forty Years is a creative nonfiction exploration of the poetry found within the songs of multiple generations of modern Texas singer/songwriters and a case for the consideration of their work as a genuine regional literature. Studying the roots of Texas music, the musicality of Texan manners of speech and storytelling, and re-examining the Austin, Texas music scene of the 1970s that brought a national focus to the organic, reciprocal manner in which Texas music is traditionally experienced, radically altered the ways in which the songs were written, recorded, and marketed. An examination of this phenomenon allows us to understand that, first, a proliferation of Texas singer/songwriters of unprecedented quality has emerged in recent decades and that, second, a legitimate people's literature is emerging from their song-craft.