This mini-dissertation presents a discussion of the qualitative study exploring how South African youth, between the ages of 18 and 35, who are active listeners of Heavy Metal music experience this genre of music. The sample in the present study consists of 26 South African youths, living in various parts of the country, who listen to Heavy Metal music. Participants were recruited from attendees of the Heavy Metal music festival, Witchfest, which took place in Newtown, Johannesburg during 3-5 April 2015. An explorative qualitative research design was used. Three methods were used to gather data for the research study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with individual participants, and one focus group session was also carried out. Participants were approached at random times throughout Witchfest. Interview questions for both the semi-structured interviews and for the focus group session consisted of themes relating to the participants’ introduction to Heavy Metal music, how they experience Heavy Metal music, whether or not the music influences their relationships, and whether they experience Heavy Metal music as dangerous or violent in nature. Data was also gathered using unstructured nonparticipant observation, and therefore the behaviour and appearance of festival attendees was also observed at varying times throughout Witchfest. The results show that many participants were introduced to Heavy Metal music via their families and friends. This was mostly because these family members and friends listened to Heavy Metal music themselves. This, participants stated, was a very important factor in their experiences of Heavy Metal music because the commonality of listening to the music brings people closer together and strengthens the bonds between them. Apart from the music enhancing their relationships, participants also noted that Heavy Metal music evokes positive emotions within them and contributes to their well-being, owing to the fact that they often experience the act of listening to this genre of music as therapeutic and as an outlet for their negative feelings. These findings contradict dominant views held by non-listeners of Heavy Metal music, namely that this music causes dangerous and negative feelings and behaviours, and shed light on the influence that this genre of music has on South African youth. On the other hand, findings also showed that the social setting surrounding Heavy Metal is associated with the frequent consumption of drugs and large amounts of alcohol. Although participants claimed that drugs and alcohol tend to enhance their experiences of Heavy Metal music festivals and of the music itself, the potentially harmful consequences of this practice cannot be ignored and requires additional investigation. The mini-dissertation is concluded with a chapter that outlines the conclusions and limitations related to the study, and on this basis, several recommendations were proposed for future research and practical application of the findings. Some of these recommendations include that future studies include a broader range of data gathering, and a wider variation of participants. It is suggested that future researchers attend one or two more Heavy Metal music festivals to attain this varied sample. Also, due to the fact that most Heavy Metal music listeners are older in age, further studies on the topic could increase the age in the sample selection criteria to 35 and above. Also, in order to avoid including participants that are intoxicated in any way, prospective studies could obtain participants by means other than from Heavy Metal music festivals, in settings free from drugs and alcohol.

Whilst drum replacement, the act of replacing the sound of a particular drum with a pre-recorded sample, has been in practice since the 1970s it is only towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century that software drum machines such as Toontrack’s Superior Drummer 2.0 and Steven Slate Drums have become an popular alternative to actual drum recordings within music production. With the increasing popularity there have been voices from the music community in protest claiming that a machine could never replace an actual drummer. What I aimed to do in this project was to do a comparative study, where I analyse and compare various aspects of both alternatives – a recorded performance with an actual drummer and a MIDI programmed performance sampled drum machine – and see whether or not a human drummer could possibly be replaceable. The results indicated that, given the circumstances and project restrictions, the differences were mostly too miniscule to have any practical value and therefore a drummer was in this scenario replaceable by a MIDI programmable drum machine. / Trots att “drum replacement”, att ersätta ljudet av en specifik trumma med ett förinspelat ljudklipp, har använts sedan 70-talet så är det först mot slutet av 2000-talets första decennium som mjukvarubaserade trumbibliotek, så som Toontracks Superior Drummer 2.0 och Steven Slate Drums, har blivit ett populärt alternativ för faktiska truminspelningar inom musikproduktion. I och med den ökade populäriteten har många från musikvärlden protesterat och hävdat att en maskin aldrig kan ersätta en riktig trumslagare. Tanken med det här projektet var att göra en jämförande studie där jag analyserar och jämför olika aspekter av de båda alternativen - ett inspelat framförande med en riktig trumslagare och ett framförande programmerat i MIDI med en samplingsbaserad trummaskin - för att se huruvida en mänsklig trummis skulle kunna vara ersättningsbar. Resultaten visade, med hänsyn tagen till projektets begränsningar, att skillnaderna var för små för att ha något praktiskt värde och att en trummisen i det här scenariot därför kunde ersättas med en midiprogrammerbar trummaskin.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 345 p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references.

When heavy metal fans traverse through their everyday life, they are faced with countless opportunities to engage in social interactions with others. Such interactions question, establish, and strengthen fans’ heavy metal identities whilst providing them with a sense of community and belonging through engaging with others who also share a preference for heavy metal music. This thesis is built on a qualitative research approach, complimented by an insider and ethnographic orientation in order to explore identity expression, the feeling of belonging and community, everyday life processes, and the role of heavy metal music in the everyday life of heavy metal fans. Through social interactions based on shared musical preference, heavy metal fans are able to meaningfully engage with others through which communal affiliations are strengthened and reinforced. Despite mainstream, and largely negative attitudes towards heavy metal, the music provides a safety net for listeners and is a driving force in their experience of the reciprocal relationship between personal identity and group membership and community. Due to the deep connection listeners have with heavy metal, the music becomes something which fans are able to call theirs alone.

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The research was a qualitative study of the dress of heavy metal (HM) music groups using content analysis. The purpose was to examine dress characteristics of a representative random sample of HM music groups. The objectives were (a) to develop a classification system for HM music groups based on time and subgenre, (b) to identify music groups within each cell (i.e., time and subgenre) of the classification system, and (c) to identify dress characteristics of a representative random sample of the music groups. The subjects in the study were HM music groups as pictured on albums. The variables were the selected items of dress and the classification of the groups by time and subgenre. A classification system was developed and used for the selection of subjects. Using the HM Dress Classification Instrument developed by the researcher, specific dress characteristics of twenty-four HM music groups were identified. This data was compiled in tabular format. Among the twenty-four HM groups, the predominant clothing was a black woven shirt and black leather/suede pants. Clothing trim included studs, motifs/designs, words and fringe. No visible jewelry was predominant. The primary shoes observed were western boots. Straight, shoulder-length black or blond hair with no head covering was predominant. Beards, makeup, tattooing, and other forms of corporal adornment were observed. Although some dress categories were dominated by single items, changes were observed across time and subgenres. The data indicated rejection of the two null hypotheses. / Master of Science

In the vast majority of popular music, the tactus—the periodicity that we move to, also known as the beat or the pulse—does not change within a single song. Not so in metal, a genre in which bands will change the rate of this tactus on a dime, reset its phase, or do away with it altogether. This dissertation collects these moments of disruption under the umbrella term “tactus transformation.” Tactus transformations are multifaceted: they are theoretically complex, challenging for composers and performers, kinetic for headbangers, and meaningful for fans. As such, I take a methodologically parallactic approach to studying them, drawing in each chapter on a different perspective and a different way of knowing. In Chapter One I use a traditional music theory lens to build a taxonomy of these moments, drawing attention to the ways they challenge standard notation and lead to multiple perceptual possibilities. In Chapter Two I present a survey of the conceptual strategies, digital tools, and embodied techniques that metal musicians employ to compose and perform tactus transformations, tracing a throughline of mimetic motor learning and framing metal as an aural musical tradition. In Chapter Three I outline a novel empirical, quantitative method for analyzing headbanging motion from a video of a metal show to trace how fans navigate stasis and synchronization through tactus transformations. In Chapter Four, I analyze discourse about tactus transformations to show that they contribute to meaning for metalheads via complexity, community, and metaphor. Across the dissertation, I foreground the voices of metal musicians and fans to an unprecedented degree, drawing largely from the dozens of interviews I conducted as part of this project. Implicit in the chapters, and made explicit in the Conclusion, is the argument that music theory benefits from considering the musical knowledge of these “non-theorists.”

I've always considered myself a serious person who understood the meaning of labor. I am determined to labor over my ideas, and to labor seriously. The problem, and by "problem," I mean, "best thing" about this is that no one takes me seriously. Ever. They seem to like my work anyway. Apparently, I'm more funny than I am serious. But that's okay, because, secretly, I think I've always tried to be serious because I never thought I was smart enough to be funny. I often misunderstand things. Sometimes I mishear or wrongly attribute or think that facts are a metaphors or that metaphors are facts. Then I take this (mis)information back to my studio and playing Cosmic Matchmaker, yoking together seeming disparate elements to create a visual vocabulary. And then I labor over it. Very seriously.

This essay examines how the Baphomet symbol is understood in three different contexts. Firstly, the understanding of the Baphomet is analysed in the book Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, written by the French 19th century occultist Éliphas Lévi. Secondly, I analyse the symbol in The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor LaVey, the person responsible for having introduced Satanism to modernity. Thirdly, the Baphomet as understood in contemporary metal music culture is analysed. Ultimately, I find the Baphomet to be viewed as a symbol associated with Satan, but in very different ways. The reason to why these differences exist I find to be partially explained by the initial mystery surrounding the Baphomet. The understanding of the Baphomet depends also on the role of Satan in each context. Due to Satan representing different things in the three different contexts, so does the Baphomet. / <p>All images removed.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Université de Montréal, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references.