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My dissertation is concerned with two central issues: analysis of theory-practice gaps in aesthetic theories applied to avant-garde musics, and problems of visibility and respect in theorizing across cultures. In the first chapter, I examine a case study, John Coltrane's successive improvisations on "My Favorite Things," under two different theories in order to show how theories shape our view of the practices we are trying to explain. In the second chapter, I take up Coltrane's practices and their relations to theories once again but, in a reversal of the previous chapter's focus, I show how examining theories through practices can reveal these theory-practice gaps and problematic assumptions. I move, from there, to an analysis, informed by feminist standpoint epistemology, of the extent to which political values influence our theory choices and thus help construct our metaphysical views. Out of this discussion, my third chapter argues that attempts to universalize a culturally-situated notion of 'the musical work' (one drawn from Western classical music) do violence to works and artists situated in other cultural traditions. Thus I construct an alternative view of the musical work that I call 'contextualized nominalism' which has the merit of being sensitive to these issues of cultural situation. The fourth chapter explores connections between avant-garde jazz practices and oppositional politics which can be made visible when performances of works are accorded priority over composition. Here I construct a performative notion of community which, in addition to making the most sense of improvisational musical practices, can also be the ground of an 'ethos of improvisation' extendable into other social contexts. Finally I turn to the need for a pluralistic framework in aesthetic evaluation of polycultural artistic processes and products, through a critical examination of universal notions of aesthetic value. I argue, from this and all of the preceding chapters, that where we cross cultures, or mix them, in aesthetic evaluations, we must do so as respectful pluralists and within a pluralist framework.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xv, 238 p.; also includes music, graphics Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-238). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 469-484) and discography (leaves 485-487).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1999. / "UMI number: 9938401"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references (p. 413-436) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 165-179).

This essay offers both a historical analysis of twentieth century avant-garde practices relating to representation in music, and a prescriptive model for contemporary methods of composition. I address the taxonomy problem in classical music, clarifying the ontological divide identified by German musicologist Michael Rebhahn Contemporary Classical music and New Music. I demonstrate how neoliberalism has developed a Global Style (Foster 2012) of "Light Modernity,” evident in both contemporary architecture and music alike. The central problem facing composition today is the fetishization of materials, ultimately derived from music's refusal to allow the question of representation to be addressed. I argue that composers have largely sought to define noise as sound-in-itself, eliminating the possibilities of representation in the process. Proposing instead that composers should strive to tackle representation head-on in the 21st century, I show how Jacques Rancière provides a model in which noise and sound—representation and abstraction—function in a conjoined, yet non-homogenized aesthetic regime. Governed by what he calls the "pensiveness of the image,” it allows for a renewed art form that rejects repetition and neoliberalism, re-connecting to the spirit of the avant-garde without slavishly echoing either its outmoded aesthetics or dogmatic philosophies.

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Orientador: Lia Vera Tomás / Banca: Marcos José Cruz Mesquita / Banca: Celso Luiz de Araújo Cintra / Resumo: O seguinte trabalho tem por objetivo abordar a natureza da música humorística em Erik Satie, sua aplicação, função e caráter estético. Para isto, através de sua obra musical, seus escritos, estudos acadêmicos realizados sobre o compositor, relatos e críticas musicais da época, buscou-se, inicialmente, reconstruir a lógica pessoal e composicional do compositor, ambas inerentes. Em seguida, a fim de tornar possível uma análise adequada do humor em suas obras, procurou-se, através da reflexão existente sobre o tema no âmbito da filosofia, atribuir uma definição clara e prática da natureza do humor, do riso, assim como, determinar a gênese de sua má reputação. A partir disto, com base no conceito de humor e em textos musicológicos sobre a música humorística, desenvolvemos um aparato técnico de reconhecimento e aplicabilidade do humor no âmbito da música. Com este referencial teórico em mãos, fez-se possível a análise da aplicação e função do humor em quinze conjuntos de peças humorísticas do compositor: Gnossiennes; Pièces Froides; Troix Morceaux en forme de Poire; Préludes Flasques (Pour un Chien); Véritables Préludes Flasques (Pour un Chien); Descriptions Automatiques; Croquis et Agaceries d'un Gros Bonhomme en Bois; Embryons Desséchés; Chapitres Tournés en Tous Sens; Vieux Sequins et Vieilles Curaisses; Choses Vues à droite et à gauche; Heures Séculaires et Instantanées; Trois Valses distinguées de précieux dégoûté; Avant-dernières Pensées; e Sonatine Bureaucratique. Em seguid... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The following work aims to approach the nature of Erik Satie‟s humorous music, its application, role played and aesthetical disposition. In order to do this, we sought, initially, through his musical works, writings, academical studies about the composer, reports and musical criticism at the time, to rebuild his personal and compositional logic, both inherent. Thereafter, for the purpose of making an appropriated analysis of humor in his works, we searched, through the existing reflection on the subject in the field of philosophy, to ascribe a clear and practical definition upon the nature of humor, laughter, as well as to determine the genesis of its bad reputation. Thus, based on the concept of humor and in musicological texts about humorous music, we developed a technical apparatus of recognition and application of humor in the musical‟s scope. With that theoretical referential in hands, it was made possible an analysis of the applicat ion and function of humor in fifteen groups of humorous pieces written by the composer: Gnossiennes; Pièces Froides; Troix Morceaux en forme de Poire; Préludes Flasques (Pour un Chien); Véritables Préludes Flasques (Pour un Chien); Descriptions Automatiques; Croquis et Agaceries d‟un Gros Bonhomme en Bois; Embryons Desséchés; Chapitres Tournés en Tous Sens; Vieux Sequins et Vieilles Curaisses; Choses Vues à droite et à gauche; Heures Séculaires et Instantanées; Trois Valses distinguées de précieux dégoûté; Avant-dernières Pensées; and Sonatine Bureaucratique. Subsequently, through humorous articles published by Satie and critics published on the composer, we made a comparative analysis of the countercriticism role played by Erik Satie‟s humor against the canon and tradition. Thus, we could demystify the superficial and innocuous character and the idea of eccentricity, amateurism and insanity which trespass his humorous practice, (Complete abstract eletronic acess below) / Mestre

This dissertation focuses on the relationship between new American music and National Public Radio (NPR) during the 1970s and 1980s. NPR directly supported American experimental music, most often billed as "new music," through programming that both consolidated a tradition and extended it by commissioning new works. I address three exemplary broadcasts, proposing that public radio utilized existing historical narratives of musical experimentalism while simultaneously revising and strengthening those narratives. I demonstrate ways in which the shows themselves, as well as their planning phases and promotional materials, served to gather individuals and musical practices together, defining and constructing musical experimentalism in the process. Chapter 1 covers the importance of sonic experimentation in NPR's original Statement of Purposes, claiming that author William Siemering's attention to sound created a climate that was especially hospitable to musical and radiophonic experimentation. In Max Neuhaus's Radio Net (1977), NPR's very infrastructure became a musical instrument, showing the radical potential of NPR in its early days. Chapter 2 chronicles the production history of RadioVisions (1981) to establish the ways in which NPR's imaginary listeners were essential during its planning phase: in the conception of the show, in the grant proposal to the NEA, and in the show's content. I conclude that experimentalism's potential for imagining an NPR audience allowed "new music" to become "American experimental music" as the RadioVisions project moved through the infrastructure of NPR. Chapter 3 explores the cultural valences and authorities of the musical voices in RadioVisions's segments "Details at Eleven," "Shoptalk," and "The Oldest Instrument," as well as Schuller's hosting voice in the context of public radio broadcasting. Chapter 4 presents a history of the composition, production, and radio broadcast of Maritime Rites (1984). I argue that the differences between Maritime Rites and RadioVisions were, in part, representative of changes in NPR from 1981-85, particularly the role of the newly established Satellite Program Development Fund in supporting adventuresome programming. Maritime Rites served not only as a sonic documentation of the Eastern seaboard, but also as a sonic documentation of the landscape of improvisational experimental music in the mid-1980s, enhancing its fit on NPR as new music/radio documentary. Chapter 5 offers an analysis of the second segment of Maritime Rites, which featured Pauline Oliveros and her improvisation "Rattlesnake Mountain," as well as the voice of Karen MacLean (the only female lighthouse keeper in the series). This dissertation contributes to a deeper understanding of NPR's history by addressing lesser-known yet significant cultural programs, as well as to a broader musicological understanding of how public radio contributed to the construction of musical experimentalism.