School of Performing Arts
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/202
2024-03-29T04:56:25ZTowards an Identity of the New Zealand Musical and the Creation of Daughters of Heaven
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/15546
Towards an Identity of the New Zealand Musical and the Creation of Daughters of Heaven
2023
van Betuw, Samuel Allan Kris
This exegesis is an examination of the New Zealand musical and serves to contextualise it in comparison to its progenitor the American musical, as well as in comparison to other New Zealand music and media. As a starting point, this study examines the arguments set out in “Sing Out, Dave! The Search For The New Zealand Musical”, a 2016 article by notable New Zealand musical theatre composer Luke Di Somma, and uses four significant New Zealand musicals as case studies for comparisons: Footrot Flats (1983), Rush! (1998), Once Were Warriors (2004), and That Bloody Woman (2017). In addition to the examination of the case studies, interviews were conducted with authors of the case studies; Philip Norman (Footrot Flats, music), David John (Rush!, libretto), Richard Marrett (Once Were Warriors, music), and Luke Di Somma (That Bloody Woman, music and co-writer for lyrics). This exegesis argues that what the New Zealand musical borrows from the American musical is structural, and the content with which it fills this structure reflects its own sense of New Zealand identity, and explores the relationship between this identity (or identities) and other New Zealand music and media. In particular, the content of the New Zealand musical is notable for its use of eclecticism, a-virtuosity, and utopian disillusionment. This knowledge is then reflected in the creative component of this DMA, the composition of the score of Daughters of Heaven, an adaptation of the play of the same name by Michelanne Forster which premiered in 1991 at the Court Theatre in Christchurch. This musical adaptation has been written in collaboration with Forster and was presented in workshop and recorded at the University of Otago in 2022.
2023-07-13T02:59:53ZThe publishers of New Zealand music: a historical survey from 1840 to 2002
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/15407
The publishers of New Zealand music: a historical survey from 1840 to 2002
2003-12-13
An, Yu Lee
2023-06-01T03:26:31ZPerforming on traditional Chinese instruments in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand: Overseas Chinese cultural identity construction
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/15221
Performing on traditional Chinese instruments in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand: Overseas Chinese cultural identity construction
2023
Li, Keran
This new research investigates overseas Chinese music in Aotearoa New Zealand, focusing on performing on traditional Chinese instruments in the 21st century. The main research question is: How does performing on traditional Chinese instruments influence overseas Chinese cultural identity construction in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand? Applying a theoretical model for ethnomusicological interpretation as offered by Timothy Rice (1987), three sub-questions are asked: (i) How has Chinese music been historically constructed in New Zealand? (ii) How has Chinese music been socially maintained in New Zealand? (iii) How has Chinese music been individually adapted and experienced in New Zealand?
Two main research methods, participant observation and interviewing, are used in the fieldwork for this ethnomusicological study. Following an interpretative approach to thematic analysis of the content of observations and interviews, the results of the study are demonstrated using Rice’s model for ethnomusicology. This research discusses overseas Chinese music that has been historically constructed in four urban settings (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin), interprets overseas Chinese music in terms of how it has been socially maintained in three social settings (private, semi-private/open, and open communities), and analyses overseas Chinese music as individually adapted and experienced across three generations (ages under eighteen, eighteen to sixty, and over sixty).
The main findings show the influence of performing on traditional Chinese instruments on overseas Chinese cultural identity construction in Aotearoa New Zealand from historical, social, and individual dimensions. Including a critical approach to this research, I reflect on my positionality as a performer engaged in music making with participants, and thereby present myself as an insider and an outsider researcher, revealing my impact on the research and offering suggestions for future research.
2023-05-03T01:49:24ZMaking pedagogy tangible: A quasi-experimental study of blending Orff Schulwerk and soundpainting approaches to teaching primary school music composition and improvisation in China
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/15156
Making pedagogy tangible: A quasi-experimental study of blending Orff Schulwerk and soundpainting approaches to teaching primary school music composition and improvisation in China
2023
Luo, Yuxin
This research project investigates the validity and reliability of the Orff and Soundpainting methods in developing musical creativity in composition and improvisation. A quasi-experimental study was applied to examine the musical development of 6-12-year-old children in a Southwest Public Primary School in Guangzhou, China. The study centered on the following research questions: 1) Can Orff and Soundpainting methods be implemented in Chinese primary music education? 2) Can mixed teaching methods support Chinese teachers in C/I activities in large classes? 3) Can the application of Orff and Soundpainting methods develop primary school students' musical creativity?
A total of 486 grade 1-grade 6 student participants were divided into two groups, with 243 in the experimental group and 243 in the control group. A quasi-experimental teaching method was applied by two school music teachers and a researcher. Orff and Soundpainting methods were used for the study group, while current Chinese pedagogy was applied in the control group. Orff and Soundpainting methods were used for the study group, while current Chinese pedagogy was applied in the control group. Five data collection methods were utilised: non-participant observation, semi-structured interviews with teachers, questionnaires with student participants, educational documentation related to Chinese educational policy, and MCTM-II test for student participants. The CIPP evaluation model (Context, Input, Process, and Product) method was employed to analyse the data, which provides guidance for setting up an evaluation of an intervention. While Csikszentmihalyi’s model of creativity, reveals the perspectives of authorities, schools, and individuals on primary music education and school-based music activities. Additionally, the programme applied Orff and Soundpainting methods within a Chinese context to make pedagogy more understandable and provide a straightforward structure for primary music educators to effectively teach composition and improvisation with creativity.
The results illustrate that (i) Orff and Soundpainting methods can be used to implement localised teaching in accordance with the Chinese educational context and conjunction with Chinese music textbooks; (ii) blending the two methods can be used to effectively and practically support teachers in implementing composition and improvisation activities during large class instruction, and (iii) the application of Orff and Soundpainting methods are more effective for the development of primary school students' musical creativity in composition and improvisation as compared to Chinese teaching methods.
2023-04-06T00:32:03ZBeethoven and the archetypal-alchemical process: Approaching the late works analytically through a quasi-Jungian and Neumannian temporality and phenomenology
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/14692
Beethoven and the archetypal-alchemical process: Approaching the late works analytically through a quasi-Jungian and Neumannian temporality and phenomenology
2022
Suggate, David Michael
This PhD develops an analytical method for determining how certain “archetypal” processes play out in the works from Beethoven’s late period, music that continues to speak powerfully to listeners and performers after two centuries. Literature, religious ideas and philosophical conceptions from ancient Greece, India and Egypt flowed, by way of traditions such as Freemasonry, into the world of Beethoven and his contemporaries. Accordingly, ancient mythic and initiation-like ideas deeply informed how Beethoven thought about music, thereby becoming a priori symbols according to which many of his compositions are constructed. By taking a detour through Carl Jung’s conception of the “collective unconscious,” I explore a certain core set of “archetypes” that were pervasive in the culture of early nineteenth century Europe, and in connection with which Beethoven makes constant reference in his own quotations of literature, his letters, and his notes to himself from his diary (his Tagebuch).
The Jungian and psychological aspect shows the degree to which these procedures can take place “unconsciously” to listeners; the goal of analysis is to raise such aspects of the music into consciousness by forming the appropriate concepts. To do this we look at a significant earlier work, the Third Symphony (the Eroica), which overtly expresses and embodies the structure of the hero myth, in order to gain methodological principles that then help us to understand the subtler, more philosophically multi-layered late works. In doing so I formulate a number of concepts relating to the temporal processes in Beethoven’s music drawing upon ideas of organicism, of Carl Dahlhaus’ “subthematicism,” and other sources. In short, Beethoven can rally any aspects of compositional method, or syntax, and make it “thematic,” insofar as it takes part in, and actuates, the transformative, “alchemical,” methods underlying a work.
Chapter 1 provides an overview of principles that will be developed over the course of the thesis, including some brief analysis of works by Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart, while chapter 2 delves into the background for the archetypal and mythic framework to be explored analytically in the remaining chapters. Chapter 3 approaches the Eroica itself before chapters 4-6 consider the last piano sonatas (Opp. 109-11, chapter 4), the Galitzin quartets (Opp. 127, 132, 130, and the latter’s initial finale, the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, chapter 5), and the Missa Solemnis plus Ninth Symphony (chapter 6).
2022-12-22T02:34:48ZThe Contextualisation of Technical Demands: A Developing Lyric Soprano's First Encouter with Verismo and Slavic Repertoire
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/13700
The Contextualisation of Technical Demands: A Developing Lyric Soprano's First Encouter with Verismo and Slavic Repertoire
2022
Pike, Olivia Louise
Singing and developing one’s voice is a long-term pursuit. The singing of Western art music is no exception. With time, vocal composition became more demanding, necessitating a high calibre of technical vocal training; the verismo and Slavic repertoire discussed in this paper are examples of this vocal demand, as they require an appropriate level of vocal training and maturity to approach. My research focuses on understanding the technical demands of this repertoire in order to better understand how to safely prepare this music. This paper includes information gathered through autoethnographic and practice-as-research methodologies, as well as historiography. These methodologies include monthly self-reflections recorded throughout the recital preparation process and relevant observations made immediately after voice lessons, coachings, and performances. Relevant experiences of professional singers recorded in biographies and auto-biographies provide further context for my own experiences. This study shows that while there may be perceived barriers to verismo and Slavic repertoire, for the burgeoning soprano in particular, these barriers do not preclude younger singers who possess the right voice type and tonal colour from beginning their studies in performing them. Every vocal genre contains particular technical demands for the style, and the verismo and Slavic repertoires are no exception. Rather, it is a matter of choosing repertoire appropriately, and approaching every vocal repertoire with vocal well-being as a top priority. In approaching the verismo and Slavic repertoires, one must strike a balance between ambition and caution. My experience through this study and preparation of repertoire is: when done in consultation with trained industry professionals, certain younger singers may have the capacity to safely approach the verismo and Slavic styles earlier than has been suggested by industry hearsay and previous literature.
2022-10-19T22:20:17ZA Singer Prepares: An Interdisciplinary Assessment of the Use of Stanislavski’s Systems in a Singer’s Preparation of Song Recitals.
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/13612
A Singer Prepares: An Interdisciplinary Assessment of the Use of Stanislavski’s Systems in a Singer’s Preparation of Song Recitals.
2022
Bezett, Scott Mitchell
Konstantin Stanislavski (1863-1938) is widely considered one of history’s most important theatre practitioners. His principal fame comes from his development of actor training principles that aimed for a more psycho-physical approach to performance. The ‘System’ Stanislavski developed is focused on the ‘art of experiencing’ - asking the performer to utilise their conscious thought and action in order to indirectly access psychological processes otherwise out of their control (i.e. emotional and subconscious behaviours). The desired outcome of Stanislavski’s System is to create a believable, emotionally expressive and authentic performance. While Stanislavski’s work has left a prominent legacy in the theatrical world, little formal research has been done in investigating how the System may be used in the context of an art song recital. This project has attempted to do a small part in remedying this scarcity of research by laying out a practical framework which the classical singer may use to apply Stanislavskian principles to the preparation of song cycles. This brief dissertation begins with a short explanation of the song cycle genre and Stanislavski’s work before going on to establish a song cycle preparation framework based on the four phases of working on a role laid out by Stanislavski himself: “getting to know it, experiencing it, embodying it, making it effective.” There is also some discussion of how these ideas for song cycle preparation may also be applied to song collections that do not specifically fall into the song cycle genre. The framework has been utilised in the performance preparation of four song cycles and has undergone adaptations based on this. While the framework presents a step-by-step guide for song cycle preparation from beginning to end, it is noted that individual elements of the framework are also effective performance preparation tools in isolation, empowering singers to apply the tools and ideas that they believe will be most successful for them in creating truthful song cycle performances.
2022-09-07T23:40:50ZAn investigation of the influence of selected factors on pitch identification among instrumental students in the Chinese university setting: Instruments, strategies, and practice
http://hdl.handle.net/10523/12962
An investigation of the influence of selected factors on pitch identification among instrumental students in the Chinese university setting: Instruments, strategies, and practice
2022
Xiong, Hankun
In the context of Chinese music education, pitch identification is regarded as an important ability in music learning. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of three factors on pitch identification achievement for university instrumental students. Quantitative and experimental research focused on the following key questions: (i) Does learning Chinese traditional instruments or western instruments have a significant effect on achievement in pitch identification? (ii) Does using absolute or relative pitch learning strategies in pitch identification affect achievement? (iii) Does sight-singing and ear-training practice time affect pitch identification achievement?
Two hundred and eight instrumental students were recruited randomly from three universities in Nanchang City, China. Their pitch identification achievement was evaluated from four perspectives, corresponding to four experiments: (i) isolated pitch identification, (ii) interval identification, (iii) chord identification, and (iv) melodic dictation. ANOVA and regression analyses were adopted to investigate the data collected during the experimental study.
The main findings show that learning Chinese traditional instruments or western instruments has little effect on pitch identification achievement. Also, using an absolute pitch or relative pitch strategy has no significant influence on pitch identification achievement. However, there is a positive and strong relationship between sight-singing and ear-training practice time and pitch identification achievement, indicating that accumulative practice time could improve pitch identification for university instrumental students. The implications of this study’s findings reveal some challenges for tertiary music education in China, and some recommendations are suggested in this thesis that could help improve pitch identification achievement.
2022-06-19T22:58:29Z