Masters Degrees (Music)

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Acoustic ambience in cinematography : an exploration of the descriptive and emotive impact of the descriptive and emotive impact of the aural environment.
(2005) Turner, Ben.; Brauninger, Jurgen.
Ambience is deftned by the American Heritage Dictionary as "the special atmosphere or mood created by a particular environment" This definition reveals the ubiquitous and ambiguous identity of acoustic ambience, as "environment" is a broad collective term. Unlike music or dialogue, ambience in film is akin to peripheral vision: once focused upon it loses a collective identity. Yet, there is a means to unravelling the aural atmosphere of a particular environment The solution in defining ambient sound lies primarily in the logical process of eliminating the tangible sound components within the soundtrack of ftlrn. Metaphorically speaking the soundtrack may be seen as a glass jar. The solid rocks placed in the jar are the major components of film: voice, sound effects and music. All other sound is like coloured liquid poured around the rocks. Not only does liquid fill the jar, but also affects the appearance of the rocks. Consequendy we encounter unique practical examples that weaken terminology and provide inevitable exceptions to the rule. The lack of theoretical development in a medium borne in the late nineteen twenties is both mystifying and understandable. Sound is the underdog to visuals, and ambience is overlooked for more recognizable components such as music. Indeed, there are multitudes of books on music and sound effects (impact effects) in film. Ambience however, appears to be advanced in practical application but primitive in theoretical exploration. Exploring sound film holistically has not deterred all theorists. Michel Chion is a pioneer who devises credible terminology with an emphasis on the equality of sound and visuals. Naturally, in a medium rife with subjective interpretation, it is all but impossible to make cut and dry theoretical statements. Chion comments: Of course we must continue to refine and fill in our typology of film sound. We must add new catego~es-not claiming thereby to exhaust all possibilities, but at least to enlarge the scope, to recogmze, define, and develop new areas." [1] This statement outlines the aim of part one. I have drawn on Chion's terminology relevant or related to ambience, as well as defined new areas. The greater part of this research article contains new terminology in cases where no established theoretical identifications relevant to ambience were found. As a reference point, I have created and proposed the following new terms: Ambience as a Cultural Reflector, Ambience as a Musical Trait, Ambience of Indefinite Status, Ambience Recall, Ambient Synchronism, Dual-Perspective Location Indicator, Epic Ambience as Abstract Narrative, Illuminated Sound, Impact Effects, Lexical Ambience, Macro-Contrast and Micro-Contrast, Music as a Hindrance, Ratio of Active or Dormant Diegetic Ambience, Rhythmic Density and Idee Fixe, Source Ambience, and Source Extension. These terms will be explained in part one and illustrated in part two. The terms are significandy applicable to theoretical exploration and are not direcdy intended for a practitioner's utilisation. Unidentified sound components must be discovered in order for analytical insight to expand. This article therefore became an investigation of ambience terminology through necessity owing to the absence of established theory. Part two will demonstrate most of the tangible terms discussed in part one through examples. It seemed more practical to select films that contain at least three constituents of ambience discussed in part one. Two of the films, Blade Runner and 2001:A Space Ocfyssry are recognized as pivotal films for innovative use of sound, and rich source of inspiration for developing new terminology, "Blade Runneris arguably the most famous and influential science fiction film ever made. It has exerted a pervasive influence over all subsequent science fiction cinema, and indeed our cultural perceptions of the future."[2] 2001:A Space Ocfyssry shares similar acclaim, "2001: A Space Ocfyssry (1968) is a landmark science fiction classic-and probably the best science-fiction film of all time."[3] Panic Room and The Fellowship qfthe Ring are contemporary films that both use unique methods in sound design. Naturally, there are hundreds if not thousands of films that would provide further material for theoretical expansion. Within the length limitations of this research article, however, the selection seems equally balanced.
Afrikaans alternative popular music, 1986-1990: an analysis of the music of Bernoldus Niemand and Johannes Kerkorrel.
(1992) Smit, Brendan.
No abstract available.
Afro-American folklore and its presence in George Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess".
(1993) Timothy, Chloe Desiree.; Brubeck, David Darius.
This is a detailed study of Afro-American folklore and its presence in George Gershwin' s Porgy And Bess. The study concerns itself with the historical, spiritual, analytical and sociological aspects of the opera. Negro traits are explored from their environments to their lifestyle, from their folklore to their underlying values and traditions. The first chapter is entitled 'TOWARDS A DEFINITION OF FOLK'. Before even discussing Afro-American folklore, the meaning of 'folk' or 'folklore' needs to be established. What is most important about 'folk music' is that it is learnt through oral tradition. Among its many functions are accompanying activities, narrations or dance music. There are certain musical styles which are characteristic of folk music; this comprises the text, melody, harmony, form or singing style. The most common folk instruments used are shared with the world's simplest tribal cultures. It is history that makes folk music. A community which behaves in a certain way today, makes history tomorrow, and this is 'folk'. Chapter Two entitled 'AFRO-AMERICAN FOLKLORE', discusses Black music that developed in the U.S.A. after the Africans were imported to America as slaves. They created their own music, which included work songs, field hollers, spirituals and the blues. Their music had certain characteristics where melody, harmony, singing styles, group singing, handclapping and percussive effects were concerned. The third chapter entitIed 'THE PRESENCE OF AFRO-AMERICAN FOLKLORE IN PORGY AND BESS', is an analysis of the music. The folk elements of the opera are exposed and then aligned to the Negro lifestyle discussed in the previous chapter. Chapter Four entitled 'A SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH', discusses white 'folk' teaching Black 'folk' how to do what they do naturally. The views of the performers, the criticism of the press and the reaction of the audience are also included. The appendices comprise two interviews; one with the original 'Porgy' and the second with the original choral director of Porgy And Bess, who claims to have translated the dialect of standard English into a negro style flavour.
An approach to music education in the final phase of high school : possibilities suggested by the learning that took place in a student band playing original, popular music.
(1998) Du Plooy, Anna C.; Parker, Beverly Lewis.
In South Africa, both the paradigm for music education and the music syllabus need to change: music teachers need to correct and compensate for the consequences of the Apartheid system of the past, and they need to meet the challenges of the outcomes based model of Curriculum 2005, which has been accepted by the National Education Department as the plan which will be followed in the future. This dissertation attempts to contribute to the implementation of Curriculum 2005 by making a case study of a successful student band, Amethyst, all of whose members were almost entirely self taught in music. After identifying what the members of Amethyst learned and how they learned it, the work finds ways of applying the findings from the case study to the teaching of music in the Further Education and Training phase of Curriculum 2005. The case study is contextualised by a consideration of the salient characteristics of outcomes-based education as embodied in Curriculum 2005 and by including discussion of similarities between the way learning took place in Amethyst and the informal learning of music that takes place in African and Indian communities within South Africa. These similarities in learning methods are ones that fit well with the perspectives propagated by outcomes-based education. Practical suggestions for the classroom take cognizance of the intercultural ideals of Curriculum 2005, and these suggestions are presented within a framework based on the critical cross-field outcomes and specific outcomes identified in this curriculum. The matters of evaluation and assessment, as well as the content of learning programs are also addressed. This dissertation is based on qualitative research methods, including interviews with the band members, their parents, some students who were well acquainted with the band, and two educationists with specialised knowledge concerning the new OBE system. The case study also includes an exploration of the reasons for the boys choosing to teach themselves even though music was available as a subject in their school , an exploration which confirmed that the current music education system has become outdated.
Areas of remote music collaboration on the Internet : exploring constraints and possibilities through four case studies.
(2012) Crundwell, David.
No abstract available.
The burning ground : a portfolio of compositions with music and sound design for "gammaKhozi" the VLS game.
(2005) Warrington, Miles.
No abstract available.
The church as a site for non-formal music education : a case study of Bethesda Temple, Durban.
(1998) Daniel, Shirelle Desiree.; Impey, Angela.
Much of the research undertaken on music education in South Africa has been concerned with formal music education and its application in the classroom. In spite of the fact that the majority of South Africans have had little or no access to formal music education, non-formal learning practices have been largely ignored as alternative, and potentially effective forms of music skills acquisition. This study focuses on the church, and the Durban Bethesda Temple in particular, and explores how, in the absence of access to formal music education, alternative learning methods based on generalised participation and musical process, may be conducive to the achievement of highly skilled musicianship. This thesis draws insight from theories proposed by intercultural music educationists, Christopher Small and Patricia Campbell, and ethnomusicologists, Blacking, Chernoff, Nketia and Merriam, whose work has focussed on conceptualisations, functions, roles and contexts of music-making in nonwestern, and Mrican societies in particular. It postulates that when music-making is nonindividualised and non-competitive, and when performance focuses on relationshipbuilding and ritual, rather than on specialisation and spectacle, music learning is achieved through participation by way of aural transmission, imitation and mentorship. In thisregard, the underlying philosophy of education, as is applied in non-formal mUSIC education, is based on the assumption that music is a human capacity; that music-making is process-orientated rather than product-related, and that music can be used to build individual and communal skills and competencies. The discussion concludes by suggesting insights that can be gleaned from the process of non-formal music learning in communal, participatory contexts, namely, the church; and how these insights can signal alternative perspectives to the practices and procedures of South Africa music education amidst current transformation.
Claiming sounds, constructing selves : the racial and social imaginaries of South African popular music.
(2005) Robertson, Mary.; Ballantine, Christopher John.
This thesis explores some of the ways in which listening to South African popular music allows individuals to enter into imaginative engagements with others in South Africa, and in so doing, negotiate their place in the social landscape. Taking as its starting point the notion of the "musical imaginary" - the web of connotational meanings arising out of the interaction between music and society, rendering it a particularly suitable medium through which to imagine social actors - it focuses specifically on the role of music in constructions of 'race' and, to a lesser extent, of 'nation'. It examines some of the ways in which dominant discourses exert pressure on what is imagined, as well as highlighting the creativity of listeners who appropriate the musical imaginary for their own ends of identification. It attempts to depict the complexity of musical identification in postapartheid South Africa, in which individuals must negotiate multiple boundaries marking difference, including categories of 'race', ethnicity, gender and class. It also investigates perceptions of the role of music in generating new identities and modes of social interaction, and offers some speculations as to how an analysis of these perceptions may contribute to current theoretical models of change in multicultural societies.
A collection of African and Indian children's songs with activities for intercultural music education in South Africa.
(1994) Pillay, Yosheen.
The aim of this study is to present a collection of indigenous African and Indian songs with accompanying activities. While both groups of songs derive from an oral tradition I have notated the songs in order to make them more accessible to teachers in schools. My intention is to provide music educators with teaching material which recognises the inherent value of musical traditions, such as those of India and Africa. In South Africa this is an important means of encouraging intercultural understanding between people. The songs are presented with a brief introduction to the cultural background in which they were created and transmitted. I hope that teachers will share some of this information with their students. This is an important collection of songs because it is the first step towards making two musical cultures of Natal, African and Indian, available to music educators. In the climate of violence and political instability, this music has remained inaccessible to most school music teachers in Natal.
A comparative analysis of the violin teaching methods of Shinichi Suzuki and Paul Rolland with reference to the theories of Jerome Bruner.
(1987) Croft, Margaret Louise.; Oehrle, Elizabeth Dittmar.; Jackson, Melveen Beth.
No abstract available.
Composition 2 [music manuscript] : portfolio.
(2004) Tozer, Fiona.
No abstract available.
Composition portfolio [music manuscripts].
(1999) Barry, Susan.; Brubeck, David Darius.; Rossi, Michael.
No abstract available.
The compositional and improvisational style of Thelonious Monk.
(1987) Duby, Marc.
No abstract available.
Considerations in the realization of an oboe concerto : an oboist's viewpoint.
(1979) Saunders, Robin Estridge.
This thesis is divided into three main sections. Part I concerns general aspects of performance, whilst Part II deals specifically with performance aspects of the Double Concerto for Oboe, Harp and Strings by Hans Werner Henze. Part III is a summary and conclusion of Parts1 and 11. It is hoped that this thesis will provide both a fresh approach to performance in general and also to the performance of Henze's double concerto. I have chosen to discuss aspects of Henze's double concerto, because of its significance as a major oboe concerto in the repertoire and the demands it makes on the oboist both as interpreter and technician.
The creation of movement and spatial dimension in stereo recording.
(1999) Wilkinson, Michael John.
No abstract available.
Darius Milhaud's published songs for voice and piano, 1913-1930.
(1982) Johnston, Anthea Marjorie.; Parker, Beverly Lewis.
No abstract available.
The development of learning activities for teaching music using indigenous Tswana children's songs in Botswana primary schools : principles and practice.
(2009) Simako, Jimmy J.; Akuno, Emily Achieng'.
This study aimed to intervene in the challenges emanating from the launch of a new primary schools Arts syllabus which is geared towards reflecting Batswana cultural values in Botswana primary schools. The launch was hurried, before all necessary provisions were made (Phuthego, 2007). Consequently, there is dire need of relevant resource materials, teaching/learning activities and qualified teachers, who can effectively translate the syllabus objectives and aims. The aim of this study was hence to devise learning activities based on Tswana children’s songs as the selected materials to realize the objectives of the existing primary school music syllabus for Botswana primary schools lower standards. This has been done through analysis of Tswana children’s songs, studying their nature and inherent values, on the basis of which culturally relevant teaching and learning activities have been designed for use in Botswana primary school music curriculum. In order to validate the need for a consideration of culturally relevant teaching and learning activities in Botswana primary schools, the study explored the music of the Batswana prior to and during colonialism and how it manifests itself in the current curriculum delivery. The study has also considered the current education policy’s aspirations of instilling cultural values in learners, as well as grooming a rounded citizen who can adjust to the challenges of the 21st century corporate world. The study employed content analysis through which twenty-four children’s songs were studied for their inherent values and musical concepts. Eclectic learning activities which take cognizance of the holistic approach prevalent in Tswana music making milieu, combined with the Rhythm Interval Approach (Akuno, 2005) which advocates the use of temporal and tonal elements of sound as the basic ingredients from which other musical elements such as form, texture, timbre harmony and dynamics are derived were employed. The activities were then tested in standards 1 to 4 to address the music syllabus. The results showed that the songs completely address the objectives stipulated in the syllabus and moreover, provide some extra-musical concepts which are embedded within them. The results also revealed that the Rhythm Interval Approach is applicable in Botswana lower primary schools, hence implicitly suggesting its further possible applicability to upper primary classes because the syllabus has been designed in a spiral fashion, where the same musical concept like ‘sound’ appears at different levels of intensity across all classes. The study recommended that The Revised National Policy on Education’s aim of grooming a locally and internationally compatible learner can be enhanced through learners’ awareness and appreciation of their culture on the basis of which they can later on spread their wings, to other world cultures. Tswana children’s songs have been observed to have a potential to act as a bridge to ease the transition of cultural pedagogy of rote learning to current paradigm of symbolic representation and abstraction of concepts. The study devised twenty learning activities to facilitate the use of these songs for curriculum delivery in standard 1-4.
An ethnography on the uses of chinyambera traditional dance as a coping mechanism by marginalised communities in Gweru Zimbabwe : the case of Tavirima Traditional Dance Group.
(2013) Mutero, Innocent Tinashe.; Opondo, Patricia Achieng.
This dissertation is an ethnographic expository of how Tavirima Traditional Dance Group uses chinyambera traditional dance as a copying mechanism for marginalised communities in Gweru, Zimbabwe. This study contextualises and analyses how Tavirima’s performances of chinyambera reflect the socio-political environment in Zimbabwe and how the music works to bring about social change. It gives further insight into and analysis of how traditional songs metaphorically speak out against the authoritarian government of Zimbabwe led by Robert Gabriel Mugabe, and how dance embodies dissent against the same. The dissertation provides transcriptions and contextual interpretations of chinyambera songs which Tavirima uses as agents for social change focusing on how the songs reflect, contest, resist and mediate in the prevailing socio-political crisis in Zimbabwe. The research also discusses how chinyambera’s roots, expressiveness and energies influence Tavirima to choose the dance over a myriad of other Zimbabwean traditional dances. The theoretical framework for this study is underlined by the African Popular Culture Theory, Alternative Cultural Theory and Positive Deviance Approach creating a vantage point through which the study is framed to analyse the ability of popular arts in bringing about social change and how subalterns take charge of their destiny by defying restrictive and oppressing systems through a metamorphosis of traditional music and dance.
Evaluating Shona liturgical music in localised practices of inculturation within the Catholic Mass in Zimbabwe.
Machingura, Crispinah.; Dlamini, Sazi Stephen.
This study evaluates practices of inculturation in the composition and performance of Shona liturgical music for the Catholic Mass in the parishes of St Theresa Seke and Glen Norah-Budiriro, which are both located in Harare, Zimbabwe. Whilst focusing on Shona liturgical songs and their performance as expressions of Shona culture, this research is premised on diversity in local interpretations of inculturation among the Shona Catholic subjects of this study. Chapter 1 introduces elements of the conceptual framework of the research topic, the research methodology and also presents the theoretical underpinnings of the study. Chapter 2 focuses on the interpretations of inculturation by the parishioners and local leadership, represented by bishops of the two local parishes under focus. In Chapter 2, only the bishops‟ and parishioners‟ interpretations are taken into consideration. Chapter 3 deals further with interpretations of inculturation by Shona composers and probes how this influences their approach to composition. Chapter 4 discussions are centred on the role of parishioners in the performance of Shona songs for the Mass, and also investigates the musical ramifications of differences between parishioners‟ and composers‟ views of the Shona culture in Shona liturgical songs. By focusing on musical instruments, dance and language both the composed and performed elements of Shona liturgical songs are investigated in terms of how they express the Shona culture, using pioneering and current examples of Shona liturgical compositions by important composers such as Stephen Magwa Ponde, Chaka Chawasarira, Nicholas Muchenu, and John Kina Dzingai. Chapter 5 presents a summary and conclusion to this thesis.
The exploration of the dynamics of the South African Indie music scene through an auto- ethnographic account of the making and marketing of my debut album, Becoming.
(2022) Mapisa, Tsholofelo Relebogile.; Olsen, Kathryn Rita.
This study of the independent music scene in South Africa is motivated by my own experiences of composing, recording, and independently marketing my debut album, Becoming. While my journey to becoming a musician required a long-term commitment to the development of musical skills, I found that once I had reached the point of recording my first album, I was poorly versed in marketing skills and knowledge of how to engage effectively with the Indie music scene in South Africa. This study is thus inspired by my own experience (hence the autoethnographic methodology) and the need to understand this particular social network, mechanism, and way of being in the world that is called the South African Indie music scene. The methodologies used for this research include: Autoethnography, Ethnography, and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis otherwise known as IPA, which I used when working with four musicians and music business practitioners who exert some influence in independent music in South Africa and who have achieved a measure of success. Their journeys provide a context for my own experiences and foreground the issues that independent artists may confront. The aim of this research is not to find fixed answers to the dilemmas that remain prevalent in the South African Indie music market, but rather, to dissect, discuss, and explore what may happen when pursuing an independent music career. Through this research, I discovered that many of the tensions between art and commerce pertain to how we think and dichotomise the two. My findings therefore propose a merging of the two – what I present as ‘entrepreneurial artists’ in Chapter Four, to alleviate some of the tensions one may face. Through a detailed analysis of my own choices, the choices of my case studies, and the consequences of these choices, I have sought to clarify the operation of this particular aspect of the South African Music industry.

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