Master of Music / Department of Music / Julie Yu-Oppenheim / Teaching a large performing ensemble class, such as choir, can make it difficult to keep a record of each student’s individual progress. This report will discuss my philosophy of music education along with ways to incorporate technology into student assessment. Technology can most benefit the educational process when it is easy and efficient. Through personal experience, incorporating technology into student assessment can be done in the four different methods explored in this report. These four methods are: integrating practice file submissions through a virtual interface; using Google Docs Surveys for self-reflection; incorporating audio or video recording students for sight-reading tests; and using YouTube for students to post videos for final projects. Each has the potential to both strengthen and organize the way student assessment is completed.

Published Article / Discourse on translation studies is situated in this article outside linguistics, in musical studies. Contextualising and problematising issues when music from African choir culture is translated for non-Africans (Westerners) to perform, the main problem - translation as negotiation - is explored together with notions of hybridity, the 'Third Space', boundaries, identity, authenticity and cultural compatibility within performance contexts. Cultural studies bring to linguistics a wider perspective of translation; how translation studies relate to other disciplines and expressive forms, like music. The researchers argue that translation of African choir music for performance by non-Africans can only be achieved in cultural dialogue.

This thesis documents and examines the history of Cornish male voice choirs from their origins in the late nineteenth century through to the present day. The evolution of the choirs has hitherto been charted largely through scattered oral testimonies, whereas this work traces the rise, decline and resurgence of the male choral tradition by drawing from a range of primary sources, including newspapers and repertoire in addition to oral history. The thesis is organised chronologically and the main chapters chart the development of Cornish male voice choirs from the Methodist point of origin, to the subsequent expansion of the male choral movement between the wars and thereafter its seeming atrophy. The opening two chapters focus on the background and emergence of the choirs from c.1820 to 1918. The interwar period is covered in three diverse but linked chapters, assessing the socio-economic context, musicological influences and the importance of geographic locality or ‘place’. The impact of the Second World War on the choirs is examined in Chapter Six. The following chapter traces how the choirs remained vibrant in the face of encroaching secularisation during the 1950s and 1960s, and the final chapter assesses the detrimental effects for the choirs of changed musical behaviours and generational issues in the late twentieth century choir. Four key themes which run throughout the chapters are the influence of Methodism, its teachings and choral hymnody; the significance of repertoire and musical directorship; the importance of the male demographic within the local economy; and secularisation and mass popular culture. The connecting thread of the argument for the thesis as a whole is that male voice choirs both reflect and help shape Cornish identity. As will be seen, identity is a fluid, multi-layered concept, but analysis of the changing role and influence of male voice choirs contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between music, place and culture.

The article gives a historical outline of the amateur and professional choral movement in Wielkopolska in the years 1870-1918, i.e. in the last period of the partition of Poland.

Following the article on church choires in Greater Poland the author publishes another work on secular choral ensembles in the Great Duchy of Poznan (at that time occupied by Prussia). The article brings comprehensive information on the development of secular choirs, the changing number of their members, the character of their activities, the repertoire.

Rezension zu: Rajmund Hanke, Silesia Cantat. Dzieje polskiego śpiewactwa kościelnego na Śla̧sku [Silesia Cantat. The History of Polish Sacred Choral Societies in Silesia], Katowice 1996,333 S.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of (a) singing with incarcerated choir members and (b) listening to a live prison choir performance, on non-incarcerated people, focusing particularly on the effects of such experiences on participants’ attitudes toward prisoners. Participants included: 1) non-incarcerated volunteer singers from four Midwestern prison choirs (n = 41); 2) a control group of Midwestern community choir members who, at the time of data collection, had had no experiences in a prison context or with a prison choir (n = 19); and 3) non-incarcerated, adult audience members at a Midwestern prison choir concert (n = 78). In part 1 of the study, the volunteer singers and control group completed the Attitude toward Prisoners scale (ATPS; Melvin et al., 1985) and responded to two open-ended items following the completion of their respective spring concerts. In part 2 of the study, adult audience members completed the ATPS (Melvin et al., 1985) before and after attending a Midwestern prison choir concert. After the concert, the audience members also responded in writing to an open-ended item regarding their experience at the performance. Research questions included: 1. How do the ATPS scores of the volunteer prison choir singers compare to the ATPS scores of the control group? What is the relationship between participation in a prison choir and ATPS scores? 2. What relationship, if any, is there between the number of concerts the volunteer singers have sung with a prison choir and their ATPS scores? 3. What changes, if any, are there between audience members’ pre-test and post-test responses to the ATPS (Melvin et al., 1985)? 4. What effects, if any, do volunteer singers and audience members report regarding their experiences with a prison choir? Using mixed methods in a concurrent triangulation design (Harwell, 2011), the researcher found that it is possible for non-incarcerated people to change their attitudes toward prisoners through experiences with a prison choir. Although there was not a significant difference between the ATPS scores of non-incarcerated volunteer prison choir singers and those of the non-prison-based community choristers, 69.2% of the volunteer prison choir singers reported that their attitudes toward prisoners had grown more positive since joining a prison choir. Alternatively, in part 2 of the study, audience members’ ATPS scores were significantly more positive after attending the prison choir concert. Using an open, axial, and selective coding process (Charmaz, 2006) to analyze open-ended responses in both parts of the study, the researcher developed an informed grounded theory (Thornberg, 2012) that musical activities with a prison choir (including both singing and listening) afford people the opportunity to explore their sense of ideal relationships; through that exploration, their sense of ideal relationships can either be affirmed or challenged (Small, 1998), which, in the latter case, can potentially lead to a change in their attitudes toward prisoners. The results of this study could be particularly important to music educators seeking to meet the NAfME (2017) goal of “music for all,” as well as to researchers interested in criminal justice reform. After all, negative attitudes toward prisoners influence criminal justice policy (Melvin et al., 1985) and are also an impediment to tertiary desistance (Nugent & McNeill, 2017) and newly released prisoners’ successful reintegration into society (Hirschfield & Piquero, 2010; Park, 2009).

Orientador: Marisa T. de Oliveira Fonterrada / Resumo: Nesta pesquisa pretendeu-se introduzir repertório vocal, que envolva parâmetros musicais não vivenciados pelos grupos corais infantis ou infanto-juvenis. Hoje na cidade de São Paulo, a maior parte desses coros dedica-se a um repertório mais ou menos restrito. A comprovação dessa hipótese foi feita pela análise de programas de concerto e por informações fornecidas por alguns regentes a respeito do trabalho coral realizado em seus coros. Mediante a comprovação da restrição, acredita-se que as produção musical vivenciada por esses grupos fornece uma visão unilateral da música. O objetivo desse estudo é aproximar a prática coral do sujeito da pesquisa, a um tipo de repertório musical que utiliza organições harmônico-melódicas até então desconhecidas pelo grupo. Esperou-se com isso que a forma e escuta fossem modificadas e a lacuna existente entre compositor e prática educativa, minimizada. Como fundamentação, partiu-se da idéia de música como linguagem, seguindo os pressupostos teóricos de Gadamer e Merleau-Ponty em que a linguagem é vista pelo prisma de seu uso pelo falante. O suporte pedagógico foi encontrado no compositor Guy Reibel que aponta para a lacuna existente entre a prática musical estudantil e profissional e a produção de música contemporânea. Na área vocal, a pesquisa foi amparada pelos trabalhos de Sharon Mabry e Brigitte Rose. A pesquisa é qualitativa participativa de caráter intervencionista e previlegiou a descrição, a análise e a interpretação de dados. Dessa reflexão e de sua aplicação no trabalho prático, percebeu-se que há envolvimento e comprometimento do coro com o repertório selecionado e que já se notam mudanças na atitude de escuta do grupo, necessárias à sua execução / Abstract: In this research it was intended to introduce vocal repertoire that contain musical parameters not familiar to the children and youthful choir. Today, most of the São Paulo city choirs dedicate themselves to a restricted repertoire. The evidence of this hypotheses was made by analyzing concert programs and information given by some conductors, regarding to their choral work. With the evidence of the repertoire restriction, it is believed that this kind of practice gives a unilateral vision of music to the choirs'singers. The goal of this study was to bring the choir near to musical repertoire that uses a harmonic-melodic organization until them unknown for the group. It was expected by this approach, that the way of listerning would be modified and the existing gap between composers and pedagogical practice would be minimized. The basis of this research is the concept of music as a language, pursuing the thoughts of the theoreticians Gadamer and Merleau-Ponty, that see the language by the prism of its use by the speaker. The pedagical support was found in the composer Guy Reibel that points to the existing gap between the students and professional musical practice and the contemporary music production. In the vocal area, the research was supported by Sharon Marby and Brititte Rose's works. The investigation is qualitative participative of interventionist aspect and privileged the description, the analysis and the interpretation of the facts. From this reflection and its practical application, it was perceived that the choir was involved to the selected repertoire and already changes in choir's listening attitude, necessary to the repertoire perfomance are noticed / Mestre

Psychologists have documented contact experiences as avenues for changing attitudes toward outgroups (Stephan, Diaz-Loving, &Duran, 2000), and music educators have attempted to create authentic musical experiences of outgroup cultures (e.g., Abril, 2013; Campbell, 1992; Gay, 2002), but few studies have measured the assumed relationship between singing songs from an outgroup culture and change in attitudes toward that outgroup (Edwards, 1994; Peacock, 1992). Participants (N=38) took part in a researcher-designed protocol specifically tailored to the community choir setting and responsive to the singers' cultures of reference as informed by the literature. Participants completed pretest self-report measures, a series of six weekly rehearsals where they were introduced to songs traditional to Mexican populations, and completed the same self-report measures following a public performance for approximately 120 guests. The current study examined the relationships between pretest and posttest attitude measures toward Mexican populations reported by singers in a community choir with the aforementioned pedagogy. The participants provided responses to Social Dominance Orientation (Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, &Malle, 1994), Attitudes Towards Mexicans, and Allophilia scales (Pittinsky, Rosenthal, &Montoya, 2010). These scales aim to measure group-based discrimination, prejudice, and positive feelings toward outgroups respectively. Results of the pre-post attitude measures indicated statistically significant positive shifts in three of five categories in the Allophilia Scale (Affection, Comfort, and Enthusiasm). Participants who did not sing at the concert and therefore did not complete a posttest had significantly higher Social Dominance Orientation scores than those who completed the entire experience.

Concerto for Viola Section and Orchestra is a two-movement work lasting nineteen minutes. Its first movement in entitled Frenetic, and the second, Song and Finale, is made up of a slow and fast section. The concerto is scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, bass clarinet, two bassoons, two horns in F, two trumpets in C, tenor trombone, bass trombone, four percussion, a section of seven violists, violins 1, violins 2, violoncellos, and double basses. Balance can be one of the main problems with writing a work for solo viola and orchestra. While the viola’s timbre makes it an enticing instrument, there is a restriction that keeps it from easily projecting over an orchestra. Composers have devised several methods for solving the problem. For example, Paul Hindemith was careful not to over orchestrate in his concerto entitled Der Schwanendreher. By limiting the number of cellos and basses to four and three respectively, and by omitting violins and other violas altogether, Hindemith thinned out and removed timbres that might obstruct the viola. In my concerto for a section of violas, I also consider orchestration as a solution to the problems of balance and projection. However, I focus on the soloists in contrast to the orchestra. By composing for seven violas, I utilize the thickness of sound achieved through chorusing. Using any combination of the violas, it becomes easier for the listener to perceive the viola timbre. Furthermore, this use of multiple violas allows for more complex counterpoint in solo passages, something a single instrument is not able to manage on its own. This piece is not a concerto grosso in any sense. The soloists do not perform as a smaller chamber ensemble extending from the larger orchestra. Instead, the soloists are treated as a single entity. They act as one unit, using seven performers to do the work of one soloist.