This thesis consists of a portfolio of musical compositions and a written commentary. The submitted works creatively challenge the form of a conventional concert by exploring methods of bringing to the fore the theatrical side of musical performance: its inherited or implemented conceptual and visual aspects. The portfolio is divided into three main categories. The first comprises a series of pieces that balance between music theatre and conventional concert practices. The second category includes works that reform many aspects of the traditional concert presentation, without breaking away from it. The third category includes works that experiment within the territory determined by the previous categories. The written commentary presents theoretically the compositional approach used throughout the portfolio and provides a brief philosophical background, such as is necessary to explain the underlying concepts, ideas, preoccupations and concerns. It also contains a comprehensive analysis of the submitted works, their aims, contextual links, applied methodologies, associations with other composers’ works and interconnections between them.

No description available.

No description available.

The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a program for teaching composition skills to children in the intermediate grades. The study is based on a survey of research, reports, books, and articles in the field, and on the teaching experience of the author. The organization of the study follows the actual steps in initiating a program for composition teaching in the intermediate grades.

This dissertation examines Boulez's notion of 'centre and absence' in relation to his use of text in composition and how his ideas have acted as a springboard for my own compositions. Boulez's writings about 'centre and absence' are investigated as well as its implementation in two vocal works: Improvisation II of Pli selon Pli and Cummings ist der Dichter. This is followed by a detailed commentary on my own music, demonstrating why and how I became interested in Boulez's notion of 'centre and absence' and the effect this has had on both my vocal and my instrumental music. The culmination of this study is my work Sense of Place, for large ensemble, which uses the novel Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino as a 'centre and absence'.

Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is a material of complex chemical and phase composition. Therefore its sorption characteristics were determined by examining the properties of its individual phases, as well as bulk OPC. The principal constituents of OPC along with its hydration products were tested for their potential to sorb Cs using radiocaesium tracer studies. Results showed that OPC had no significant sorption potential for Cs. It was therefore suggested that the cement composition required to be tailored by including materials which were likely to sorb Cs and moreover, improve the physical properties of the cement matrix. Two categories of materials were chosen for study:- (i) those which are normally permitted in civil engineering practice, including amorphous silica, pulverised fuel ashes (PFA) , natural pozzolari and blast furnace slag (BFS); (ii) those which were known or suspected to be good Cs sorbers but whose stability in cement were as yet unknown. These included hydrous titanium dioxide, calcined kaolin, acid zirconium phosphate, tobermorite and xonotlite. Amorphous silica, several PFA's, natural pozzolan and BFS were all examined for their sorption potential. All the materials showed, to a greater or lesser degree, a potential for immobilising Cs. The amorphous silica showed the greatest uptake of Cs and was chosen for further study. The sorption of Cs by amorphous silica was determined over a- wide range of Cs concentrations. daData were treated by the Freundlich isotherm and indicated that different sorptive mechanisms may be operating at different concentration aranges. The effect of water: solid ratio and initial pH were examined. Results showed that pH had 2 opposite effects on the silica:- (a) the high pH (-12.5) increases its sorption efficiency for Cs, compared to neutral conditions, presumably due to an enhanced negative charge on the silica surface; (b) the presence of Ca(0H)2, which was used to adjust the pH arid would be present in hydrated OPC, decreases the available silica content due to pozzolanic reactions consuming silica to form Calcium Silicate Hydrate gels (C-S-H). Hence if a silica containing material was added to cement and was the only sorbing material present, it might have to be proportioned carefully to maintain a permanent excess of silica. Leach tests were carried out on mixes of cement with amorphous silica, PFA and BFS. All gave significant improvements in leach characteristics compared to OPC alone. The effects-of curing, conditions were studied. Results showed that increasing the curing time from 28 days to 84- days or 168 days or increasing the curing temperature from 20 G to 4-0 C or both improved the leach resistance. Mercury intrusion porosimetry gave little indication that this was totally due to physical encapsulation and studies of the pore fluids on the samples showed beyond doubt that a strong chemical mechanism was involved. It was hypothesised that C-S-H with a high silica content was responsible for the chemical retention of Cs. In OPC the C-S-H has a C/S ratio of -1.7 but when amorphous silica or PFA is added this ratio is reduced and can be as low as 0.8. BFS hydrates independently from OPC but it also produces a C-S-H with a low C/S value. This hypothesis was confirmed by studies on synthetic C-S-H with a range of C/S ratios and by analysing OPC/PFA and OPC/silica pastes in the analytical electron microscope. Sorption experiments were also carried out on the second category of materials. All showed good sorption potential for Cs in neutral solutions. Sorption remained significant in the presence of Na and K as competitive species. However, the effect of Ca (OH)2, differed. Tobermorite and Xonotlite appeared to show the most significant sorption of Cs in the presence of Ca(OH,)2 while the others either reacted with Ca(OH)z or discharged Cs - presumably by exchange for Ca. Tobermorite and Xonotlite were further studied. Desorption experiments and the effect of varying the Cs concentration as well as pH effects were investigated. Both materials gave straight line plots on a Freundlich isotherm indicating that one sorptive mechanism operated over a wide concentration range. Sorption increased with pH but unfortunately desorption studies showed that the Cs was easily removed. Leach studies were carried out on composites with OPC containing 5-10% tobermorite. Such additions decreased the leach rate of Cs compared to OPC.

The Akademi Seni Karawitan (ASKI), in Sukarta, Central Java, one of Indonesia's leading performing arts institutes, has in the last few years (1979-1985) been the centre of a radical experimental movement exploring and extending the resources of traditional gamaeln music (karawitan). The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyse this development and resulting new works. The term used for the creative process and the resulting compositions themselves "komposisi", leading some observers to conclude that Western influence is a decisive factor. Closer investigation, however, raises important questions, e. g. Is the Western concept of "composition" compatible with traditional karawitan? Why are young Javanese musicians expressing their creativity in this way? The context of the traditional music system and recent cultural change which form the background to the experimental movement are examined in 5 preliminary essays. Chapters 2 and 3 cover physical resources (gamelan) and conceptual resources (karawitan) providing the point of departure for the young composers. The very different creative role of the "composer" in traditional karawitan is then outlined in Chapter 4. Recent changes affecting the traditional arts are examined in Chapter 5; and in Chapter 6, the aesthetic and artistic goals of ASKI's director S.D. Humardani are discussed, together with the initial steps in putting these into effect. In Chapter 7, the new creative process is examined, while in Chapter 8 twenty-one compositions are subjected to systematic analysis, making extensive use of written and recorded musical examples. Questions of form and structure are raised in Chapter 9; and in Chapter 10 six representative works are given in full, recordings being provided on cassette, and translated editions of the composers' original notations in an appendix. The problems of critical evaluation are raised in Chapter 11, which goes on to consider the implications of these new compositions in a wider context.

No description available.

No description available.

Två år har passerat sedan en ung flicka fördes in i en för henne, helt okänd värld. Ännu märks inte mycket av den förändring som snart kommer att ske, när sju olika personer på olika ställen i världen kämpar för sin överlevnad, och sin rätt till frihet.  Aethera Själsdjur är ett utdrag från de femtio första sidorna i andra delen av vad som är tänkt att bli en längre serie. Det är en fantasyberättelse om individualitet och om att både kunna stå upp för sig själv och det man tror är rätt.