This study includes an analysis of the autobiographies of William A. Owens, a contemporary writer, educator, and Texas folklorist; a discussion of Owens' educational experiences and attitudes; an explanation of Readers Theatre requirements; and a fifty to fifty-five minute Readers Theatre script, "Lighting the Lamp: William A. Owens' School Days in Pin Hook." The script portrays Owens as a Texas schoolboy and country schoolteacher and it conveys some of Owens' attitudes about education. The script was adapted from Owens' two autobiographies, This Stubborn Soil and A Season of Weathering, to be performed by junior and senior high school students.

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The diploma thesis deals with the contemporary works of selected Cypriot composers for violin. Throughout the centuries, since ancient times until today, Cyprus has been under the influence of many foreign conquerors including the Arabs, Venetians, Franks, Ottomans, and the English, among many others, who passed through Cyprus and left their marks on Cypriot cultural life. Natives, occupiers, and continuously migrating populations from Europe, Asia, and Africa formed a multicultural environment, where languages, religions and dogmas, ethnic traditions, education, and living standards have been diverse, and in constant interaction and transformation. It is necessary to mention the current violent division between the Greek and Turkish people has still not been overcome. This conflict has left an indelible mark on musical traditions. Cypriot folklore is also reflected in the work of the modern generation of composers. I believe that Cypriot classical music is a not very commonly known issue in the Czech Republic, and I have written this thesis in the hopes that it will increase awareness of Cypriot music. In this Diploma thesis I introduce three modern composers from Cyprus and Greece: Solon Michaelides (1905- 1979), Alkis Baltas (*1948) and Andreas Argyrou (*1957) and their compositions for violin. I focus...

The diploma thesis deals with the violin and its usage in teaching music at the elementary school level. The theoretical part presents the history of the violin: from its invention, construction, and subsequent development. The first part also introduces well-known violinists, various techniques employed in playing the violin, and lastly, the violin's connection with folk music. The practical part presents methodological material focused on incorporating the violin into music education at the elementary school level. Methodical material is divided into individual topics. KEYWORDS origin of violin, development of violin, folk music, playing the violin, onomatopoeia, methodology of music education

The purpose of this master’s thesis is to gain knowledge and understand of contemporary lockrop(Swedish herding calls) practices from the perspectives of those who engage with it. It aims to dothis by paying close attention to the nuanced phenomenological aspects that may shape experiencewithin the moment in which practice occurs. Main research questions include: how do practitionersdescribe their experience of lockrop practice? How do they shape the practice aesthetically? Whattypes of benefits do they claim arise from engaging with lockrop, and what limitations do they face?Which factors hold the potential to alter and shape their practice experience? In order to achieve this,I have conducted multi-sited fieldwork in Sweden in the form of auto-ethnography, interview andparticipant observation with a strong focus on turning attention toward embodied perception of themoment. Eight participants were interviewed in a one-on-one setting, with a further fourinterviewed in a group setting. Participants ranged from established, performing practitioners tocomplete beginners. As a practitioner myself, I also kept a log of my own experiences of lockropunder the course of fieldwork in order to help build an empathetic understanding with participantanswers and bring the reader closer to the moment of experience. A cross analysis of qualitativefieldwork data revealed a nuanced and multi-layered range of participant experience that istransformative depending upon the individual, setting and circumstance. Despite this, severalidentifiable themes emerged. These include how lockrop practice is shaped aesthetically andexperientially when performed for an audience, how embodied perception of the practice shiftswhen it is engaged with for personal, recreational and/or enjoyment, how communicational aspectsof lockrop practice have been transformed when practice occurs outside of the pastoral andtraditional environment, the use of lockrop as a tool for individual well-being, and the impact thatperformance anxiety can have on practitioners. This study broadens current dialogues held aroundcontemporary lockrop practice in previous research. It emphasises the importance of turning to themoment of practice itself. Such discussions may prove fruitful in considering future potentialitiesand considerations connected to the teaching and usage of lockrop.

The choral music of Hyo-won Woo, the composer of Oh! KOREA, is being widely performed by universities and professional choruses in Korea, as well as throughout the world. The work exhibits Woo's remarkable compositional style, which displays traditional Korean musical influences. Hyo-Won Woo's Oh! KOREA consisting of four movements, is for chorus, two pianos, and both Eastern and Western percussion instruments. Woo's Oh! KOREA employs an excellent introduction to the Korean choral repertoire for Western audiences, rooted in traditional Korean folk tunes. As today's choral conductors, singers, and audience cannot fully appreciate the value of this traditional Korean work and will likely not understand its intended context, it is therefore necessary to provide an in-depth investigation of this work for any conductor considering a performance of this piece. This study includes influences of traditional Korean elements within Oh! KOREA and rehearsal and performance consideration for Western choir directors.

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The Kabir Project (K.P.) was born in Bangalore, India, in 2002, after the Gujarat pogrom, which occurred in the same year. In the context of increasing divisions in Indian society, defined by religion, social class, caste and gender, this research explores how this initiative, through live concerts and documentary films, spreads the folk music traditions of the 15th century mystic poet Kabir along with his messages of unity and understanding between confronted identity groups. This study presents the context of violence between Muslims and Hindus since the Indian Partition and the reasons for gendered violence in the conflict. It focuses also on the connections between globalization and minorities’ prosecution in liberal democracies; on the colonial roots and socioeconomic reasons which led to the Gujarat massacre in 2002; and the social role of the mystic as bridging cultural and religious differences. Through two complementary methods: in-depth interviews to audiences and organizers at the K. P. festivals in Bangalore and survey questionnaires distributed to the Kabir Festival Mumbai audiences, this study tries to answer the following questions: What is the potential for social change of the K. P. in the world-views of today's Indian citizens? Are the messages presented by films and folk music capable of generating positive attitudes towards dialogue between confronted identity categories? In which ways?The research reveals the success of the K. P. to challenge audiences’ minds through communication for development events, whose objectives are reached by spreading Kabir values through artistic forms, and by creating shared spaces between confronted identity sections. Festivals in rural areas help to diminish the distance between those antagonized communities. In addition, urban festivals also generate positive attitudes in elites towards dialogue and coexistence, since that is the social profile of the audience.

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)