Scholarship concerning the importance of understanding audiences and venues for music has developed a great deal over the last two decades. This thesis examines one element of this research: the importance of the venue as a space for culture. The Royal Albert Hall, a world-famous but little- understood venue, acts as case study for this text. Through a mixed-methods approach, this thesis seeks to answer four questions concerning the relationship between a public space and the events it hosts in the case of the RAH explicitly: What factors have affected the identity of the RAH as a public venue? How have these changed during the Hall's existence? How do these factors affect the events which the Hall hosts? Does a space affect what happens inside it? These questions will allow us to gain a deeper understanding of how a fixed cultural space can be repeatedly reshaped by multiple, often overlooked, factors as well as the extent to which these factors can affect the identity of a venue.

In recent decades, historical concert programmes have emerged as a fascinating resource for cultural study. As yet, however, little detailed work has been done on the programme notes that these booklets contained. This thesis concentrates on the notes written for the Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts between 1865 and 1879. The series held an important place in London concert life during this period, and featured a number of influential authors in the programmes, such as George Grove, August Manns, James William Davison, Edward Dannreuther, and Ebenezer Prout. Grove in particular made use of his notes as part of entries in the first edition of the Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Close critical readings of the Saturday Concert booklets illustrate the complex combination of context, content, and function that the programme notes represented. These readings are supported by short histories of the series, the programme note, and the various authors, along with a study of the audience through booklet construction and advertising. A database covering the repertoire performed and programme note provision during the case-study period is included on the attached CD. Programme notes that outlined pre-existing or newly-invented plots make it clear that one of their functions was to give music a narrative. Even notes that did not contain stories per se were filled with material that served a very similar purpose. The most obvious examples were explanations of how the work was created, and it's place in history. However, all of the language used to describe a piece could signal wider meanings, which then became part of the story being told. References to gender, families, education, morality, religion, politics, or race imbued the works with a wide variety of pre-existing 'texts' (in the broadest sense of the word), and formed social and cultural narratives for music.

Throughout the eighteenth century Italian violinists were praised and admired by London audiences. Though never as feted as the Italian castrati and sopranos, the Italian violinists in eighteenth-century London played a prominent role, featuring as leaders and soloists in every context where music was required. This dissertation focuses on the role the 'Solo' played in the careers of these Italian violinists, and how these artists and this genre fitted in socially, culturally and aesthetically. The 'Solo' was an important tool for them in promoting their careers: it was the repertoire they performed and subsequently published in order to enhance their fame. As a genre, the 'Solo' was uniquely suited to exploring a violinist's artistic invention. Exploring the repertoire provides a new understanding of these artists and the important role they played in eighteenth-century London. First, the Italian violinist is considered through a discussion of the historical and cultural context of eighteenth-century London into which these artists arrived. The cultural scene (including the Italian Opera, the theatres and the emerging public concert scene) is studied, as are various forms of patronage and the tradition of private pupils. The prominence and longevity of the 'Solo' is examined through a consideration of surviving catalogues from the publishers active in London during the century. Concert and publication advertisements support the argument. To understand further why the 'Solo' and the Italian violinist were appreciated, eighteenth-century treatises on aesthetics and musical performance are discussed, exploring the concept of 'Good Taste' and in the process revealing the 'aesthetic of moderation'. Finally, the Solo repertoire itself will be explored, focusing both on contemporary aesthetics and performance practice issues. This will be done both through a general survey of the Solo genre as well as a couple of case studies.

This thesis explores how voice, the body, and gender interact to characterise the eponymous leading roles in Richard Strauss's Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909). Approaching the vocality of the two title characters from the perspective of a performer, I use vocal line as notated in the score as a basis for exploring constructions of women at the time these two operas were composed. Because these operas were created during the fin-de-siècle, they occupy a crucial transitional point between Romantic and Modern vocal writing, when, in contrast to the practices of the bel canto era, the singer was expected to demonstrate ever-greater fidelity to the notated score. Therefore, the voice is largely manipulated by another (the composer) to perform sounds that construct her identity, and hence, her gender. I expand upon this absolute to show how in these operas, gender performativity is manifested in the musical notation. The operatic soprano voice, when manipulated for certain effects, performs 'conventional' aspects of a female character's gender (for example, its pitch range), but I argue it also has the ability to communicate something more visceral, something that transcends gender norms, and also language itself. Building on a wide range of analytical and critical discourses ranging from gender theory to vocal technique, my thesis explores how a soprano singer navigates the extreme vocality present in these two operas, and in the process articulates a range of constructions of identity of women in the fin-de-siècle. In analysing the vocal writing of these two works, it becomes apparent that gender dichotomies are effectively voided in passages within these seminal operas, which nevertheless comment directly on fin-de-siècle 'femininity' or 'masculinity'. My research analyses vocal gestures from a technical standpoint and, in so doing, suggests that gender norms become obsolete at those crucial moments in which voice and body are pushed to physical and expressive limits.

The possibility of making music a more secure source of income for the professional musician does not seem to offer much hold for the future of music. However, the possibility of making music more a part of the life of the people through amateur participation offers a possibility for further growth of music which may help to make music a truly worthwhile part of our culture. It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the field of post school instrumental music. Post school instrumental music, for the purposes of this thesis, shall be defined as music, for the purposes of this thesis, shall be defined as music played by groups of people who have left school through graduation or other means nad have continued to play their instruments as amateurs or as semi-professionals. While the study was limited to Central California much of the data obtained is probably not confined to Central California but applies to a certain degree all over the United States. Instrumental and vocal music have many things in common. Much which can be said for vocal music holds true in the field of instrumental music. This thesis will also establish the value of post school music to the individual, the community, and music itself; the opportunities in post school music which exist at the present time; the attitudes of the individuals who could lead and participate in post school music; end the possibilities for the development of a worthwhile program of post school instrumental music in Central California.

Hollywood film composers work within a complex process of film production, with limited control over the final outcome. Certain contextual agents have shaped the developing craft and caused recent Hollywood film music (since 1980) to depart from the symphonic neo-Romantic style that has traditionally and commonly been associated with Hollywood film scores. Developments in storytelling, changing demographics among filmmakers and composers, evolving business models, and the influence of television have altered the content and style of Hollywood films and film music. Furthermore, technological advances in film, soundtrack, and music production have contributed to changes in prevalent composer practice. Film music is always mediated by the films it accompanies and contemporary Hollywood films that speak a progressive language tend not to use conventional music of the classical Hollywood tradition. Film music must bow to commercial pressures that are often at odds with originality. An analysis of the workload distribution among composers in the 50 top-grossing Hollywood films each year between 1980-2009 reveals an uneven distribution skewed towards a select few individuals. These composers exert considerable influence on their field. Further findings summarized in this thesis also show a statistically significant increase in non-melodic minimalist writing as well as strong correlations between non-orchestral instrumentation and non-traditional musical styles over the past three decades. This thesis assesses recent Hollywood film music practice and the opportunities and challenges screen composers face. Acknowledging the role and influence of so-called contextual agents in film music composition means to consider film scores in the spheres of conceptualisation and compositional practice. The key research question addressed in this thesis is: 'What is the context in which Hollywood film composers actually work and how does this affect their creative practice and the musical outcome?'

The initial aim of this research was to assess whether it was possible to introduce Western Classical Music (WCM) into the Omani school music curriculum. Oman is a model for establishing, firstly, whether it is possible to introduce WCM to a school regime in which it has never previously existed and, secondly, how such an introduction can be most effectively implemented. There was no published research in this area and, as this research developed, the initial stance evolved and modified, leading to broader conclusions. This has implications not only for music education in Oman but also for wider discussions about the role of WCM in non-Western music education and its potential expansion in non-traditional spheres. The thesis reports on both the cultural and historical context of music and music education in Oman, as well as the attitude of Omani Islam to the permissibility of music within an Islamic state. Previous global attempts to introduce alien musical traditions into their curricula are reviewed to establish what lessons might be learned alongside the educational models and approaches adopted within English schools. The English observations are used to design investigative pilot schemes (including alternative pedagogies), which were conducted within four Omani state schools. Throughout the thesis, qualitative research makes use of ethnographically informed case studies and five research methods: semi-structured interviews, surveys, participant observation, field notes and documentation. Data are analysed thematically and via descriptive synthesis in order to identify key concepts and themes and, thus, to arrive at holistic strategies for a potential introduction of WCM into the National Curriculum (NC). Findings suggest that it is possible to introduce WCM into an outward-looking country with links to external governments and an established music scene. Religious reservations were largely overcome by public debate while cultural resistance was soothed by an emphasis on the equal status of national music alongside non-native music education. Observations in English schools found that learning outcomes are dependent on a number of factors including the individual ability of each teacher, teaching resources and a receptive environment. The Omani pilots, in turn, suggest that the incorporation of WCM into the NC requires additional elements such as cultural sensitivity, detailed planning and comprehensive, open debate. Additionally, it was not the musical genre that created the successful outcomes but, rather, the pedagogy. The desired outcome, therefore, was not to effect the introduction of WCM into the Omani national music curriculum per se but to open up the school music curriculum to a more progressive model of pedagogy. This research has implications for the introduction and expansion of new musical genres into National Curricula.

The purpose of this study was to discover whether or not the accompaniment of a lyric sheet while listening to rock music would aid a student's correct identification of the message conveyed by that song. Participants included one 7th and one 8th grade class of "gifted" students (N = 62). Other elements examined involved students' judgment of the messages as negative or positive, as well as the tonality of each song as pleasant or unpleasant and how these judgments related to correct or incorrect identification of the messages. Results indicated that there was no statistically significant difference regarding correct or incorrect identification of the message depending on whether or not students did or did not have a lyric sheet to read while listening to the U2 song, while there was a statistically significant difference concerning the Black Sabbath song. Additional results of this study are discussed, and implications for future research are suggested.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:52:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 parte1.pdf: 2662020 bytes, checksum: 42ee63e71a2ea025437fdc564fc325e6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work aims to understand the band of the Military Police of Rio Grande do Norte with their socio and cultural characteristics as well as defining aspects of his musical practice and its relationship with the city of Natal. The ethnographic method was the basis o four investigations, to allow the contextualization of the activities of this group and view their relationship with the surrounding environment, especially the city of Natal. The results show that the formation of the Band presents significant peculiarities that are related directly to its military context and its social practice. The findings indicate that the band has interacted with the surrounding cultural environment throughout its 124 years of existence and even the repertoire performed been influenced, so that while one realizes that maintaining traditional features pertaining to the military, we found the national and international repertoire popular contemporary. Within the institutional implementation structure were observed ritualized actions in everyday musicians and found that there is interaction between music-making and military hierarchy. / Este trabalho tem como objetivo compreender a Banda de música da Polícia Militar do estado do Rio Grande do Norte através das suas características socioculturais, bem como os aspectos definidores de sua prática musical e sua relação com a cidade do Natal. O método etnográfico serviu como base de nossas investigações, de forma a permitir a contextualização das atividades deste grupo e visualização de sua relação com ambiente circundante, notadamente o da cidade do Natal. Os resultados revelam que a constituição da Banda apresenta particularidades significativas que estão relacionadas diretamente ao seu contexto militar e à sua prática social. As conclusões apontam que a Banda tem interagido com o meio cultural natalense ao longo dos seus 124 anos de existência e isso faz com que mesmo o repertório executado seja influenciado, de forma que ao mesmo tempo em que se percebe a manutenção de traços tradicionais atinentes ao meio militar, encontramos a execução do repertório popular nacional e internacional contemporâneo. Dentro da estrutura institucional, foram observadas as ações ritualizadas no cotidiano dos músicos e constatou-se que existe interação entre o fazer musical e a hierarquia militar.

Comparatively little literature has been written about the wind-band as a musical institution.1 still less has been recorded regarding the integrative social potenti- alities of the wind-band in American musical life--especi- ally for the horden of "Mr. and Mrs. Average Citizen" who constitute the back-bone of our Nation's communities. Specialized and localized efforts are being made throughout the country toward making musical life a definite part of community life. General observation tends to leave us believing that strides in this direction are just beginning and that the impetus will increase.