Composer Isang Yun developed an idiosyncratic musical language that blends Eastern-Asian and Western-European art traditions. Exiled from Korea due to political conflict, he continued his compositional career in Germany, where his music is renowned for its use of the Hauptton (“main-tone”) technique. Yun was the first to discuss this technique, which he interprets as a process rooted in East-Asian musical traditions, including Taoism philosophy. His music is remarkable in that it fuses this process within the context of Western formal structures. I combine Straus’s associational model with Yun’s Hauptton theory to analyse the second movement of Duo für Violoncello und Harfe (1984) in order to show the inclusion of Eastern-Asian and Western-European musical elements in Yun’s music. I begin by analysing several Haupttöne at the surface level through associational relationships, followed by a large-scale analysis of the entire movement with one fundamental Hauptton.

Composer Isang Yun developed an idiosyncratic musical language that blends Eastern-Asian and Western-European art traditions. Exiled from Korea due to political conflict, he continued his compositional career in Germany, where his music is renowned for its use of the Hauptton (“main-tone”) technique. Yun was the first to discuss this technique, which he interprets as a process rooted in East-Asian musical traditions, including Taoism philosophy. His music is remarkable in that it fuses this process within the context of Western formal structures. I combine Straus’s associational model with Yun’s Hauptton theory to analyse the second movement of Duo für Violoncello und Harfe (1984) in order to show the inclusion of Eastern-Asian and Western-European musical elements in Yun’s music. I begin by analysing several Haupttöne at the surface level through associational relationships, followed by a large-scale analysis of the entire movement with one fundamental Hauptton.

Composer Isang Yun developed an idiosyncratic musical language that blends Eastern-Asian and Western-European art traditions. Exiled from Korea due to political conflict, he continued his compositional career in Germany, where his music is renowned for its use of the Hauptton (“main-tone”) technique. Yun was the first to discuss this technique, which he interprets as a process rooted in East-Asian musical traditions, including Taoism philosophy. His music is remarkable in that it fuses this process within the context of Western formal structures. I combine Straus’s associational model with Yun’s Hauptton theory to analyse the second movement of Duo für Violoncello und Harfe (1984) in order to show the inclusion of Eastern-Asian and Western-European musical elements in Yun’s music. I begin by analysing several Haupttöne at the surface level through associational relationships, followed by a large-scale analysis of the entire movement with one fundamental Hauptton.

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This PhD consists of an artistic work (an album of music) and an exegesis. The album contains eleven works for a variety of ensembles, including an eight-piece pop fusion group, a string quartet, an eleven-piece a cappella ensemble, a five-piece contemporary classical ensemble and a six-piece percussion ensemble. Each of these works embraces a blend of African and Western techniques and aesthetics. These works are the result of a compositional praxis which is closely integrated with a theoretical framework that I develop in the exegesis. The purpose of the exegesis is to provide a framework from which to understand the compositions. Perspectives such as postcolonialism are immediately engaged because of the fact that two distinct world cultures are referenced by these compositions. Similarly, the musical aesthetics of the two source cultures are examined because I need to understand the ways that the value systems are expressed in musical terms, and how they might interact in cross-cultural composition. Examination of the literature reveals that there has been a trend in recent decades towards cultural analysis of cross-cultural music but very little work has been done on the technical analysis of such works (Utz 2003). A preliminary list of issues is developed from a survey of ten relevant composers’ works and these issues are categorised into three analytic dimensions: the contextual (cultural), aesthetic and technical. African “musics” and musical cultures are discussed with regard to issues of Western interpretation (Agawu 2003) and appropriate representation, social and cultural preferences and aesthetic values. Likewise Western musical culture is examined in order to understand its colonial impact, its stylistic consistency and ideas that have emerged about aesthetic preferences and the interpretation of meaning (Cone 1972; Kivy 2001). Four frameworks are developed to address each of these analytical dimensions. The first deals with cultural identity and the appropriation of musical ideas, the second with the sensitivity of certain materials. The third framework enables the examination of the aesthetic preferences for each of the cultures involved and the fourth framework provides a taxonomy and vocabulary of terms for use in analysis of the structural and other technical features of cross-cultural Western/African musics. These four frameworks are applied to the eleven compositions that I have completed for this project. I identify distinct approaches to appropriation, aesthetic preferences, the predominance of rhythmic structure and the performative embodiment and narrative transformational processes in my compositions. I conclude by categorising the technical and stylistic preferences embodied in my work, and identifying possible future directions for my compositions and the development of the analytical frameworks.

Cross – cultural composition has been defined as the creation of a cultural synthesis of the old and new, traditional and foreign into philosophical, artistic, stylistic and aesthetic product that communicates to various audiences. The study adopted a mode of creativity / dynamic approach through the synthesis of traditional Samia marriage music and Western compositional techniques and approaches. To ground the study in the rich cultural traditions of the Samia people of Funyula Division in Western Province of Kenya, an anthropological documentation formed an important part of the study. The study adopted Absolute Formalism theory by Reimer (1989) based on component relationships in which different parts like harmony, melody, and text rhythm relate to one another to create unity. The study also incorporated Aesthetic Functionalism theory by Akuno (1997) on social functions in which; the contextual meaning of the composition was based. The study used the Accommodation theory on Convergence, Giles and Smith (Giles & St Clair, 1979) to unify the analogous aspects in the two stated theories. In the study, descriptive and creative designs were used to cater for the music and social context. In the descriptive phase, Samia marriage folk songs were collected from traditional performers, who were also, interviewed using a questionnaire. Purposeful and snowball sampling techniques were used to select twenty folk songs. They were recorded, transcribed and analysed for dominant traditional musical features and compositional promise. In the creative phase, lyrics were identified and reorganised, the prevalent features isolated and used. The result was a compositional inspiration on which the Marriage Suite was based. The ultimate product of the study was an artistic model framework that could guide the creation of art music using Kenyan traditional music idioms; accomplished through the Marriage Suite. To safeguard contextual and music fidelity, member checking was consistently maintained during data collection and creative phase. Rhythmic and melodic accuracy of the transcribed songs was ascertained by play backs using FINALE music notation. Social identity in the composition was taken into account through use of Samia music characteristics that included intervals, solo-responsorial aspects, overlapping entries, parallelism and common rhythmic patterns. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / D. Litt et Phil. (Musicology)

Cross – cultural composition has been defined as the creation of a cultural synthesis of the old and new, traditional and foreign into philosophical, artistic, stylistic and aesthetic product that communicates to various audiences. The study adopted a mode of creativity / dynamic approach through the synthesis of traditional Samia marriage music and Western compositional techniques and approaches. To ground the study in the rich cultural traditions of the Samia people of Funyula Division in Western Province of Kenya, an anthropological documentation formed an important part of the study. The study adopted Absolute Formalism theory by Reimer (1989) based on component relationships in which different parts like harmony, melody, and text rhythm relate to one another to create unity. The study also incorporated Aesthetic Functionalism theory by Akuno (1997) on social functions in which; the contextual meaning of the composition was based. The study used the Accommodation theory on Convergence, Giles and Smith (Giles & St Clair, 1979) to unify the analogous aspects in the two stated theories. In the study, descriptive and creative designs were used to cater for the music and social context. In the descriptive phase, Samia marriage folk songs were collected from traditional performers, who were also, interviewed using a questionnaire. Purposeful and snowball sampling techniques were used to select twenty folk songs. They were recorded, transcribed and analysed for dominant traditional musical features and compositional promise. In the creative phase, lyrics were identified and reorganised, the prevalent features isolated and used. The result was a compositional inspiration on which the Marriage Suite was based. The ultimate product of the study was an artistic model framework that could guide the creation of art music using Kenyan traditional music idioms; accomplished through the Marriage Suite. To safeguard contextual and music fidelity, member checking was consistently maintained during data collection and creative phase. Rhythmic and melodic accuracy of the transcribed songs was ascertained by play backs using FINALE music notation. Social identity in the composition was taken into account through use of Samia music characteristics that included intervals, solo-responsorial aspects, overlapping entries, parallelism and common rhythmic patterns. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Litt et Phil. (Musicology)

British Columbia (BC) is becoming increasingly diverse, so I began this research in an effort to understand the practices of other teachers across BC regarding the inclusion of musics that reflect the cultural diversity of their students. With the introduction of a new curriculum in BC beginning in 2015, music educators across the province can now meaningfully include musics that embrace the cultural diversity of their students. Additionally, Indigenous musics, worldviews, and teachings have their own elevated position as part of the new curriculum and are no longer grouped together with other musics as part of musics from a variety of cultural and social contexts. Thus, I surveyed BC music teachers to understand their current practices, experiences, and attitudes using a mixed-methods questionnaire using both open- and closed-ended questions. Decolonization and historical, philosophical, and theoretical supports for non-Western music education are the frameworks for this research. I distributed my questionnaire via the BC Music Educators’ Association listserve and conference, and I received eighty valid responses (N = 80). I discovered that 68% of participants currently utilize non-Western musics (nWM) in their own practices and of the 32% of participants who do not include nWM, 42% have used nWM in the past. Educators reported many benefits that they experienced through the inclusion of nWM, but they also reported some difficulties or barriers. Therefore, I will share the results of this exploration of the current practices, experiences, and attitudes of music educators in BC. / Graduate