Doctoral Degrees (Music)

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Archiving the cultural legacy of mbira dzavadzimu in the context of kuriva guva and dandaro practices.
(2013) Matiure, Perminus.; Opondo, Patricia Achieng.
This thesis focuses on archiving cultural legacy of Shona mbira dzaVadzimu in the context of kurova guva and dandaro practices. The study is informed by archive theory which provides insights on how to collect and archive tangible materials. Alongside the archive theory, the study also employs Shelemay’s theory which discusses how traditions undergo change as they are transmitted from the past to the present and the role of ethnomusicologists in preserving legacies that are affected by the change. This theory assists in discussing the changes that have taken place in Shona kurova guva practices and how they have led to a decline in the sacred use of mbira dzaVadzimu. In order to collect empirical data about kurova guva and mbira dzaVadzimu, an ethnographic paradigm is employed in which participants are selected using purposive sampling technique from a population of all culture bearers, mbira maker and players, pastors and archivists in Gweru urban and Hwedza District. Face to face interviews, field notes, participant observation method and video recordings are used to solicit data about mbira dzaVadzimu and kurova guva ceremony. In this study I argue that while mbira dzaVadzimu has gained popularity within and outside Zimbabwe, the migration of mbira players from rural to urban together with the change in perceptions about mapira ceremonies like kurova guva by the Shona have subsequently led to the decline in the sacred use of the cultural legacy of mbira dzaVadzimu in the Shona cosmology. In order to preserve the legacy an applied action research is embraced to collect and archive tangible materials. The materials which include mbira dzaVadzimu, traditional drums, and hand shakers, traditional objects, still photographs, videos and transcribed mbira songs are preserved in an archive at Midlands State University. The study employs yet another type of archiving system in which intangible heritage of the cultural legacy of mbira dzaVadzimu, which include mbira pieces, skills of playing and making the instrument and indigenous knowledge about mbira dzaVadzimu are preserved in living people through mbira performances in matandaro ceremonies and workshops conducted during mbira conferences, symposium and formal teaching of mbira to students in schools as a way of transmitting the legacy to the young. The study recommends that government and non-governmental organizations should assist in funding the preservation of the cultural legacy of mbira dzaVadzimu. Annual mbira conferences, symposia and workshops should be organized to create an opportunity for the young to interact with culture bearers and scholars. Institutionalization of material culture through archiving should involve the owners of the materials by constantly allowing them to visit the archive and to explain the use of the materials to people who visit the archive.
A case for creativity in elementary music education.
(1983) Oehrle, Elizabeth Dittmar.
No abstract available.
Darwinizing the philosophy of music education.
(2011) Robinson, Jeffrey Eric.; Akuno, Emily Achieng'.
Educational philosophy generally and the Philosophy of Music Education in particular have been slow to consider in any real depth the findings of those sciences most concerned with explaining human nature, that is, the attributes (capacities, aptitudes, predilections, appetites) we have in common because we share the same genome, much of which we also share with other species. There are several such sciences which may collectively be called Darwinian Science in that they all take as axiomatic Darwin‘s explanation for how life evolves according to the law of natural selection – a simple, mindless and purposeless algorithm that has played out for over four billion years and which continues to do so, driving not only biological evolution but, as this study argues, cultural evolution as well. Evolutionary Psychology (including Biomusicology and Evolutionary Aesthetics), Cognitive Neuroscience and Gene- Culture Coevolution Theory are the overlapping fields that this study draws from in developing an understanding of the adapted mind useful for engaging with questions germane to the Philosophy of Music Education, principally those concerning the nature and value of music and how best it should feature in general education. These are questions that have not hitherto been addressed from a Darwinian perspective. This study develops such a perspective and applies it not only to questions around music‘s educational values and possibilities, but to more encompassing philosophical questions, wherein the goals of music education are made accountable in relation both to Dewey‘s ideal of society as a function of education, and to an ecozoic vision of a sustainable planetary habitat of interdependent and interconnected life forms.
Educators’ technological, pedagogical, and content Knowledge of implementing a Music Magnet School Programme in the Gauteng Province.
(2023) Msimango, Linda Nomalanga Pearl.; Khoza, Simon Bhekumuzi.; Washington, Michael Salim.
Music educators in the Gauteng Province, especially in Music Magnet Schools, face enormous challenges in effectively implementing/enacting the music curriculum. The challenges stem from educators holding different beliefs and pedagogies when implementing/enacting the music curriculum. The challenges, in turn, cause tensions where music streams and teaching practices are concerned. The study investigates the technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of implementing a Music Magnet School Programme in the Gauteng Province. Three main research questions guide the study: What are educators’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of implementing a Music Magnet School Programme in the Gauteng Province? How do educators apply technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge in implementing a Music Magnet School Programme in the Gauteng Province? Why does educators’ technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge of implementing a Music Magnet School Programme in the Gauteng Province manifest itself in particular ways? The study is driven by the standards, beliefs, and ideals of the pragmatist philosophy. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design is used to analyse and interpret data collected/generated quantitatively and qualitatively. Three instruments were used: questionnaires (close-ended quantitative and open-ended reflective activity); interviews (focus group discussions and one-on-one interviews); and classroom observations. Both probability and non-probability sampling procedures were followed, applying the cluster and purposive techniques. Technological, Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework served as a lens for investigating and exploring the phenomenon of the study. The study’s findings inferred that most Music Magnet School educators, when teaching, follow the professional, societal, and personal propositions that later influence their teaching practices. Moreover, most participants do not see a need for a pragmatic music curriculum. Furthermore, certain dynamics were revealed that directly inhibit educators’ teaching practices, such as professional development, curriculum design, resources, and infrastructure. Therefore, this study recommends four propositions for effective educators’ implementation of the music curriculum.
The effect of auditory discrimination on the learning of music concepts.
(1984) Orbach, Yael.; Parker, Beverly Lewis.
This study investigates the effect of training in auditory discrimination on the learning of music concepts. The study draws on Klausmeier's theory concerning the role of discrimination in concept learning, and on Gibson's theory concerning the process of discrimination. Six hypotheses are tested: two stating that a particular program of auditory discrimination training positively affects the performance of pitch and rhythm conceptual tasks, two stating that age positively relates to such performance, and two stating that if the effect of initial auditory discrimination ability is eliminated, there will be no significant difference between the achievements of 7 - 8 year-old and 8 - 9 year-old students performing the said tasks. These hypotheses are tested in an experiment where 232 students participated. All were given a specially constructed Auditory Recognition Test to assess initial auditory discrimination ability before instruction, and all received the ordinary music instruction at school. Students in the experimental group received additionally a short, self-administered training module on discriminating auditory attributes of pitch, register, duration and tempo. These were high-low, long-short, and fast-slow. Following instruction, the experimental and control groups were given a specially constructed Music Concepts Achievement Test to assess their performance. A 2 x 2 factorial design is used to relate discrimination training and age to the performance of conceptual tasks. Variance and covariance analyses are performed to test the hypotheses. Results demonstrate a significant positive effect of the auditory discrimination training on the performance of pitch and rhythm tasks (p < .001), and a significant positive relationship between age and the performance of these tasks (p < .001). However, upon eliminating the effect of initial discrimination ability, age is no longer significant (p = .54 in pitch, and p = .181 in rhythm). The study concludes that training in auditory discrimination facilitates the learning of music concepts and that improvement in auditory discrimination which is gained with age facilitates such learning. These conclusions indicate that auditory discrimination training could improve the learning of many music concepts, and thus become a strategy for the achievement of important objectives in music education.
The establishment of a musical tradition : meaning, value and social process in the South African history of Handel's Messiah.
(2008) Cockburn, Christopher.; Ballantine, Christopher John.
Handel's Messiah occupies a unique position in the musical life of South Africa. No item from the canon of 'classical' European choral music has been performed more often, over a longer period of time, and in a wider range of social contexts. This thesis seeks to answer two broad and interrelated questions: what were the social processes which brought this situation about; and how were perceptions of Messiah's meaning affected by its performance in social contexts markedly different from those of its origins? I concentrate on the two South African choral traditions for which Messiah has been central- those of the 'English' and 'African' communities - and on the period from the first documented performance of any item from Messiah until the emergence of a pattern of annual performances, which I take as a significant indicator of the historical moment at which the music could be regarded as firmly established in its new context. The history of Messiah's performance and reception in South Africa is traced using previous research on South African musical history and my own archival research and interviews. Following the broad outline of 'depth hermeneutics' proposed by John Thompson, I regard performances of Messiah as symbolic forms in structured contexts, and I interpret them through an analysis of relevant aspects of Jennens's libretto and Handel's music, of the discourse that surrounded the performances (where examples of this have survived), and of the social contexts and processes in which the performances were embedded. In examining the interactions of these different aspects, I draw on a variety of theoretical and methodological strands within musicology, cultural studies, and South African historical research. The cultural value accorded to Messiah emerges as a central theme. As a form of symbolic capital highly valued by dominant groups (the 'establishment') in the relevant South African contexts, it became an indicator of 'legitimate' identity and therefore of status. For both the English settlers and the emerging African elite (the primary agents in the establishment of Messiah in South Africa), it could represent the cultures in relation to which they defined themselves, towards which they aspired and within which they sought recognition: respectively, those of the metropole and of 'Western Christian civilization'. In political terms, this had the potential both to reinforce existing patterns of domination and to challenge them. Examples are given of the ways in which, at different moments in its South African history, Messiah was mobilized to support or to subvert an established political order, as a result of the specific meanings that it was understood to convey.
Frederic Chopin : gender as a factor in reception.
(2004) De Jager, Frederick.; Parker, Beverly Lewis.
Frederic Chopin's contemporaries took note of his preference for a piano with a light escapement. They commented that his method of playing was light in touch, and that his demeanor on stage contrasted strongly with that of other performers who were outwardly expressive. Although his performances enjoyed support from some members of his society, most contemporary commentators viewed his performances negatively. His performances were seen as deficient when they were contrasted with those of others, and especially those of Franz Liszt. Some of Chopin's contemporaries saw his playing as feminine and contrasted his works with those of Beethoven, whose works seemed to them to express masculinity. Negative assessments of Chopin's works also appear in later critical and musicological literature. In 1889, the music critic Henry T. Finck suggested that the desire of French, Polish, German and Viennese audiences for what he called "aesthetic jumboism" was detrimental to Chopin's popularity. It is my thesis that smallness has been, and often still is, associated with femininity and that those pianists and authors who advocated largeness - however defined (be it 'grand,' 'healthy,' 'forte,' or 'masculine') - were afraid that Chopin's refined pianism and the "small" aspects of his compositions might be used as evidence that Chopin was not strictly heterosexual. Largeness seems to have been linked in a number of ways to heroism, and it seems that smallness was seen consequently as lacking in heroism. Thus, musicians and musicologists have criticized his works for their lack of complexity and length and for the nature of their melodies, characteristics that I show to have been associated with both size and masculinity. For example, in 1986, Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger analyzed Chopin's compositions in a way that seems to me to reveal Eigeldinger's own search for complex underlying forms. This search appears to be an attempt to illustrate that Chopin was intellectually 'heroic' because he could match the organic unification that some musicologists find in the works of other great composers. While the nineteenth-century development of the piano into a powerful concert instrument undoubtedly reflected the changing nature of concert venues and audiences, since recitals moved from the salon to the concert hall, the changes in design could also been seen as reflecting an ever-increasing desire for largeness. The forcefulness and consequent loudness with which Chopin's music was played on these larger pianos might well have caused (and could still be causing) some pianists' physical problems. Jeffrey Kallberg has analyzed an array of gender-oriented metaphors in relation to Chopin's possible gender-ambiguity, wishing to remove the veil of suspicion that surrounds smallness. It is my argument that a veil of suspicion is indispensable when analyzing the language that people have used to describe their experiences with music, because they have used language to express their preferences for certain kinds of experiences. Thus I attempt to show that during the hundred and fifty years since Chopin's death, both pianists' performance practices and musicological discourse have attempted to cleanse Chopin's music from its associations with smallness and, consequently, with femininity.
From the ladder to the mountain : Arnold Schoenberg's religious odyssey.
(1998) Shapiro, Roseline.; Herwitz, Daniel.
The study traces Arnold Schoenberg's spiritual journey as he moves from his oratorio Die Jakobsleiter, through his nonmusical drama Der biblische Weg to the opera Moses und Aron. These works span the years from approximately 1915 to 1933, the period which coincides not only with Schoenberg's religious shift from Lutheranism to Judaism but also with the appearance of his early dodecaphonic works. It is argued that the works of this period, the religious shift and his conception of twelve-tone serialism are all deeply and inextricably connected. This study, with support from Schoenberg's writings, postulates that twelve tone serialism, the technique with which the name of Schoenberg is associated, was not an inevitable solution to the chromatic saturation of musical composition at the end of the nineteenth century, but that it was shaped by the composer's spiritual needs and by the fact that he lived in Europe during one of the most turbulent periods of her history. The dissertation approaches the topic from the perspective of Schoenberg, the assimilated Jewish artist in late-Romantic Vienna, who moves through various stages of eclectic religious beliefs, arriving finally at an acceptance of the monotheistic concept of the Jewish God. Various correspondences emerge between Schoenberg's religion and his music: the artist/genius as prophet whose mission it is to elevate the people; the idea of progress and the artist's obligation to create new art; the God Idea and prayer as it relates to the musical Idea (the Gedanke) and ultimately the idea of One God, the Mosaic Law and the Twelve-tone Row.
Generic style music preferences of urban South African students.
(2000) James, Jennifer Sharon.; Jansen, Jonathan David.
The purpose of this exploratory study was to measure the music preferences of South African, junior secondary students and to find out what variables had an influence on their music preference decisions. LeBlanc's (1982) Model of the Sources of Variation in Music Preference was used as the theoretical background and guide to the choice of variables for this study. After a pilot test, 10 generic styles made up of Popular and Classical music excerpts were chosen for the listening test. Through purposive sampling, a total of 548 students were chosen from schools in three urban settings in South Africa. The sample was made up of African, Coloured, Indian and White students of both genders. Only a small percentage of musically trained students were part of this sample. From LeBlanc's model, The Listener set of variables included musical ability, musical training, sex (gender), ethnic group (race and home language), socio-economic status and age were investigated through both the quantitative and qualitative methods of research. Similarly, The Music set of variables included the physical properties of stimulus, the complexity of stimulus and the referential meaning of stimulus were also used The Environment variables that were used were, the media, the family, peers, educators and authority figures. The quantitative data was obtained through the listening test where students indicated their music preference on a 5-point rating scale. The qualitative data was acquired through in-depth interviews and behavioural observation of students during the listening test. Data from this behavioural observation procedure was abandoned due to insufficient detail of results. From the answers to four of the main research questions it was found that Reggae was the most preferred generic style of music while Western Pop, Gospel, S A Pop, Jazz, Rock, Traditional African, Western Choral, Western Classical and Indian Classical were rated in descending order. An overwhelming preference for Pop music over Classical music was indicated and this was seen as typical of the music preference of adolescents in countries abroad In a test-retest design, only three styles out of ten showed a difference in students' preference ratings over a short-term period Significant relationships were found to exist between students' preference decisions and race, home language and age. Musical training and sex were Significantly related to the preference decisions of only 3 and 4 generic styles of music, respectively. Lyrics and rhythm were indicated as most influential in students' liking of music, and fast tempo, slow tempo, instruments, melody and harmony had a decreasing influence over students music liking. Media had the most influence on students' preference ratings and peers, the second most influence. Family and educators showed lower influences over student's music preference ratings. A prescriptive discussion on how to use these results within South African education was presented and a recommendation for future researchers concluded this study of generic style music preferences of urban South African students.
Ghanaian palmwine music: revitalizing a tradition and maintaining a community.
(2020) Sunu Doe, Eric.; Opondo, Patricia Achieng.
This doctoral thesis examines the tradition of Ghanaian palmwine music, exploring strategies for its revitalization and sustenance. Framed within the context of applied ethnomusicology and through the theoretical lens of adaptive management (Titon, 2015), music revitalization (Levine, 1993), and recontextualization (Mundundu, 2005), the study investigates how revitalizing palmwine music can enhance its sustenance within contemporary contexts amid societal changes. Since the 1980s, the preservation of Intangible Cultural Heritage has attracted the attention of policymakers, cultural workers, and scholars because of the rapid rate at which cultural practices and traditions are being lost, abandoned, or radically transformed. UNESCO's policies on safeguarding cultural heritage – the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001) and the Convention for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003) - are recent strategies established to protect and safeguard Intangible Cultural Heritage. In Ghana, one such tradition is palmwine music (nsadwase nnwom), which emerged along the coast of West Africa in the early 20th century as a result of a fusion of guitar traditions and indigenous musical resources. A unique and rich musical tradition, which in recent years has been facing a decline in practice, and as a result, has been less studied. The methodology embraced was action research, introducing curated performance circles and festival events as part of a local intervention to document the performance praxis of the palmwine music tradition in Accra, Ghana, and investigate how the music currently resonates with this community. The study further explored how these recent events form the basis of a contemporary local music rooted in local experiences and histories. The study brings new perspectives on ways in which applied ethnomusicology facilitates the revitalization and sustenance of hybrid tradition in an African context.
The harmonic perspective of rhythm: applications for the expansion of musical awareness and the acquisition of rhythmically complex music.
(2017) Drace, John Miles.; Olsen, Kathryn Rita.
This study describes and evaluates a new paradigm for informed rhythmic practice: the harmonic perspective of rhythm. Normal, theoretically driven or written rhythmic conceptions have tended to rely on a limited grid based on one predominate metric cycle that is expanded by binary division into twos, fours, eights and so on, or by ternary division into threes, sixes, twelves, etc. The harmonic perspective, however, posits that, for much of the world's music, a broader, multidimensional grid is in use. Such a conception allows not only for a wider palette, drawing on metric structures of one through nine and beyond, but also for the simultaneous use of several of those structures, thus rendering those musics in question rhythmically multidimensional. This multidimensionality seems to operate on the level of feel—where two subdivisional references exhibit a unique pull from which different styles and/or performers find their own subtle, non-isochronous balance; on the level of basic compositional structure—where two or more metric structures co-exist in relative balance to create the background of the piece; and on the level of melody and improvisation, where performers draw on more than the usually considered, compositionally prescribed, metric structures for their expression. The viability of this perspective is established using examples from the African Diaspora. Practical exercises as prescribed by Puerto Rican percussionist and theorist Efrain Toro are presented, discussed and evaluated, and the applicability of the perspective to the learning of Indian rhythm is considered. The research is conducted as a subject-centred ethnography, combined with a self-reflexive/auto-ethnographic approach, where the researcher applies his own experience, observations, and insight to questions raised by the study. Foundational discussions of constructed versus experiential knowledge, the author's background, and Indian rhythmic systems precede and accompany the primary discussion.
Hippies, radicals and sounds of silence : cultural dialectics at two South African universities, 1966-1976.
(2010) Lunn, Helen.; Ballantine, Christopher John.; Burns, Catherine E.; Hyslop, J.
This study explores the impact of the counter culture on students at two Anglophone universities in the 1960s and 70s. It focuses on the social and historical differences that predisposed English speaking youth to metropolitan based cultures. It explores this in the context of a lack of identity with the dominant culture of apartheid. The study examines the method of transmission, absorption, translation and incorporation of the counterculture and the New Left. The factors that highlighted the differences between South African students and their counterparts abroad are seen not only in their access to technology but also in the nature of their relationship to power both political and educational. The importance of understanding what bred different responses to similar stimuli assists in understanding the process in which the global became local. It is argued here that the attraction of the counterculture lay in the broader cultural scope it gave to expressions of difference and resistance as a response to the rigid and continuous expansion of punitive measures by the apartheid government. The persistence through the 1960s of a liberal framework is examined in the context of a response to these measures as well as a failure to move beyond the racial foregrounding of the political system. The influences of events in the USA, UK and France in 1968 are seen in the context of their importance in South Africa as a catalyst to practical and theoretical change. The significance of individuals as translators of the discourses of the New Left is paralleled in examinations of South African musicians whose lyrics and compositions carried both the ideas of the counter culture as well as expressed responses and issues shared by their audiences. The importance of the coalescing of both the New Left and the counterculture are evident in the early 1970s. Students adopted a Marxist framework within which to analyse South Africa, and the methods of the New Left in France in seeking alliances with workers. This practical approach was an example of the global becoming local and introduced those with access to privileged white education into a reexamination of the role of education in changing society. The counterculture expressed itself in the adoption of both cultural and educational methods of focusing on change as a response both to students relationship to power as well as to the emphasis of the 1960s on a broader more individually expressed ability to embrace change and new values. The study concludes that the framework of the New Left when employed in redefining South African history was central to a process of both economic and cultural change within the country. The absence of a strongly expressed identity suggests the widespread appeal of the central values of the counterculture which emphasized distance and disaffiliation from the dominant culture. The opportunity offered by this position is seen as a response to the political expressions of a racially defined student body against a less obvious but significant change in the definition and role of tertiary education and cultural institutions.
Indian South African popular music, the broadcast media, and the record industry, 1920-1983.
(1999) Jackson, Melveen Beth.
This thesis is an historiographical and sociological study of Indian South African broadcasting and the music industry between 1924 and 1983. A multilevel approach which integrates empirical and cultural materialist critical theoretical methodologies reveals the relationships between the media, industry, economy, politics, and culture. Until the sixties, Indian South Africans were denied the civic rights that were taken for granted by white South Africans. Broadcasting, for them, was to be a concession. On being declared South Africans, broadcast programmes were expanded and designed to pacify and Indianise Indian South Africans, preparing them for their role as a middle-class racially defined group, a homelands group without a homeland. South Africanised popular music, and Indian South African Western semi-classical, popular music, or jazz performance was rejected by the SABC. Ambiguous nationalisms shaped Indian South African aesthetics. Global monopoly controlled the music industry. Similarly, disruptions in the global market enabled local musicians and small business groups to challenge the majors. In the late forties and fifties, this resulted in a number of locally manufactured records featuring local and visiting musicians, and special distribution rights under royalty to an independent South Asian company. The local South African records were largely characterised by their syncretic nature, and generated a South African modernism which had the capacity both to draw and repel audiences and officials alike. A glossary of non-English terms and a discography of Indian South African music have been included.
The influences of Christianity and commerce on the culture of popular gospel music in post-apartheid South Africa.
(2017) Malembe, Sipho Sikhonzi.; Cockburn, Christopher.
Gospel music is the biggest genre of popular music in South Africa. This popularity can be attributed to various elements that are an integral part of the diverse South African democratic society. As a developing country with a relatively young democracy of just above twenty years, the socio-economic status of South Africa directly impacts upon various spheres of the lives of her citizens. The unique demographics of this country in terms of its history, population groups, languages, religions, socio-political landscape, also play a remarkable role in the evolution of various sub-cultures that represent various groups of South African people, and consequently the overall culture of this ‘rainbow nation’. This study researches into popular Gospel music within two aspects of this broader culture of the South African society, namely: the Christian religion and commerce. Christian churches and the music industry, although generally perceived as unrelated or even opposed in the nature of their operations, both have a stake in Gospel music. It is this intersection that is the subject matter and the research problem of this study which investigates the involvement and intentions of these institutions regarding popular Gospel music. By studying and analyzing various activities and programs of these institutions, the current study seeks to show how the teachings, doctrines and operations of Christianity on one side, and the pursuit of profit on the other, influence the ‘culture’ of popular Gospel music. The scope of these activities and programs goes far back to the preliminary stage of conceiving the very initial idea of getting involved with Gospel music, and culminates in the consumption of resultant music products. This study analyses these activities, and others in-between. For the music industry, these include talent scouting, management, composition, arranging, performance, production and recording, promotion and marketing of Gospel music products. For Christian churches, the involvement with popular Gospel music is both direct, in the usage of Gospel music and artists in Christian church services, and indirect in providing a support base from which music styles, songs and lyrical contents are drawn. Moreover, Christian churches harbor and indoctrinate Christians, who are seemingly primary consumers of Gospel music. This harboring and indoctrination foster a particular belief system which influences how Christians interact with, and make meaning of, popular Gospel music. All these activities and programs of Christian churches and the music industry regarding popular Gospel music are regarded in this study as constituents of the culture of popular Gospel music. This study therefore investigates how these activities and programs of Christian churches and the music industry influence the ‘culture’ of Gospel music as a genre. Although this study is located within the timeline of post-apartheid South Africa, it takes into consideration the aftermath of colonialism and apartheid, as socio-political occurrences which have had a lasting effect on popular culture.
Jazz as discourse : a contextualised account of contemporary jazz in post-apartheid Durban and Johannesburg.
(2005) Ramanna, Nishlyn.
This study offers an ethnographically contextualised close reading of the music played by three 'jazz' groups in eight concerts held in Durban and Johannesburg between June 1994 and December 2003. These performances were videotaped and then analysed with reference to 1) the compositional and improvisational techniques employed in the creation of the performances; 2) the stage behaviour of the musicians; 3) audience behaviour, and 4) the physical contexts in which the performances occurred. The performances constitute the primary texts on which this study is based. Secondary texts, in the form of discourse produced because of the concerts, are also examined. These take the form of open-ended interviews with thirteen participant musicians and twelve audience members. The primary and secondary texts are then compared with each other and situated within their broader musical and social contexts. This exploration of the ways in which social processes inhere in musical processes draws on a notion of expressive discourse as 1) a multifaceted practice in which textuality, subjectivity, place, history, and power function as interdependent parts of a complex social ecology and 2) a dialogically-constituted system of utterances. The study then argues that musical details articulate social meanings - and thus function as utterances - because of their dual existence within 1) systems of intra- and intertextual relationships and 2) processes of dialectical interaction between texts and socio-historical contexts.
Mhande dance in kurova guva and mutoro rituals : an efficacious and symbolic enactment of Karanga epistemology.
(2011) Rutsate, Jerry.; Opondo, Patricia Achieng.
This thesis is an ethnography of mhande dance as a dynamic phenomenon that enunciates Karanga belief and normative values that are enacted through performance of mhande dance in its chief indigenous contexts: the kurova guva (settling the spirit of the dead) and the mutoro (rain making) rituals. Approached from an emic perspective, the study draws data from field research conducted between 2008 and 2010 among the rural Karanga of Shurugwi District in Zimbabwe. This study is an explication of mhande dance which provides the reader with cognitive understanding of the indigenous spiritual dance that embraces music, dance and gestures. The dance features both symbolize and spiritualize Karanga culture. Karanga scheme of reality (chivanhu) embodies two worlds: the natural and the supernatural in which the natural is explained by the supernatural. The supernatural is the world of the spirits with God (Mwari) being the Supreme Spirit. According to the Karanga, the deceased become spirit beings that maintain the quality of life of their human nature. Thus the Karanga spiritual world is populated with good and bad spirits where the good are referred to as ancestors (vadzimu) and the bad are identified differently; for example, sorcerers (varoyi) , alien (mashavi) and avenging spirits (ngozi). The Karanga believe in God who they venerate through their ancestors. Ancestors are empowered to overcome bad spirits and hence their siblings appease them in order that the spirits assist the humans to deal with challenges of life for which the natural world provides no solution. Karanga reality of the existence of spiritual beings is made to be a part of everyday life through the conduct of spiritual ritual ceremonies: kurova guva and mutoro wherein the performance of mhande dance occasions spirit possession. Thus, through its efficacious and symbolic features, mhande dance is experienced reality of Karanga epistemology (chikaranga).
Moral and socio-legal dimensions of Surat al-Nur (Chapter 24 of the Qur'an)
(2002) Ebrahim, Rahim.; Nadvi, Syed Salman.
No abstract available.
Muziki wa Injili : the temporal and spatial aesthetics of popular church music in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (1980s-2005)
(2006) Sanga, Iman.; Parker, Beverly Lewis.
This study is concerned with popular church music in Dar es Salaam and with changes in this music in relation to the concepts of temporality and spatiality. In part one, I argue that temporal change is experienced by human beings in relation to events or "stamps". Using selected stamps in the history of Tanzania from the 1980s to 2005, I discuss, on the one hand, how temporal events shaped various aspects of the music and people's experiences of the music and, on the other hand, how the music influenced people's experiences of various events and temporal rhythms. Various processes in the making ofpopular church music and various people involved in the creation of this music are considered to serve as stamps that mark the metamorphosis of the music. Likewise, the structural organization of the music and various musical elements imprint musical works and give them their identities thus causing them to be associated with other works that are organized in more or less similar ways. In part two, I use the theory of spatial trialectics to examine how popular church music is related to religious, national and gendered spaces. First, I discuss how the use of this music in religious spaces and the changes that have taken place in aspects of the music have been controversial, and I argue that the changes in the music led to changes in people's inner experiences of Christian spirituality. Second, I point out that the practice of African nationalism in this music has been aiming at liberating the national mental space through the use of traditional music materials and by addressing various national issues. The dynamics in this space involve the interaction between local and global music aesthetics. Third, I discuss the prominence ofwomen musicians in popular church music in recent years and the way in which this prominence has increased the focus on women's issues in the music. A close reading of selected songs reveals that individuals' experiences of gender problems are shaped by gendered mental space, which is informed by religious and other cultural norms.
Namibian music and dance as ngoma in arts education.
(1997) Mans, Minette Elaine.; Impey, Angela.; Muller, Carol.; Oehrle, Elizabeth Dittmar.
The aim of this thesis is to explore Namibian music and dance, to gain understanding of the character of different practices and through this, to provide teachers and learners in schools with materials suitable for use in the new arts curriculum in Namibia. In order to motivate the need for indigenous cultural materials, a brief historical background to Namibian arts education is sketched, highlighting the effects of colonialism on cultural identity and the separation of music from dance in education. In gathering examples of indigenous music and dance it became clear that for these practices to retain a measure of integrity in schools, new ways of thinking about performance in schools would be required. This leads to a discussion of an approach summarised within the term ngoma, which refers to holism, communality and orality among other things. It is suggested that music/dance as ngoma has a positive contribution to make to Namibian arts education. To support this suggestion in a practical way, I explore the indigenous traditions used to educate and socialise young people. Argumentation follows regarding possibilities of preparing teaching-learning materials in a manner appropriate to Namibian circumstances. A breakdown of diverse characteristics of indigenous music and dance is done in order to help the teacher identify and comprehend the individual characters of Namibian performances. In this way teachers should be better prepared to utilise the examples of music/dance events that follow. Various events are contextualised, described, transcribed and analysed with suggestions for use in the classroom. Finally the ngoma approach, the principles of Basic Education in Namibia, and the new arts syllabi are brought together by investigating some of the possibilities of music and dance as ngoma in schools.
Orchestral music was the music of the working class : Indian popular music, performance practices and identity among Indian South Africans in Durban, 1930-1970.
(1999) Veeran, Naresh Denny.; Parker, Beverly Lewis.
During the mid-1930s, a tradition of music-making which drew its repertoire almost exclusively from the music of Indian films began among Indian South African ensembles in and around the city of Durban. This dissertation examines the ways in which the re-created music of Indian films served as a popular expressive medium for the majority of Indian South Africans in and around the city of Durban between 1930 and 1970. Unlike ethnomusicological and popular music studies that focus on musics which are generally both composed and performed by the same group of people, this study deals with a repertoire that was by and large imported directly from another geo- 'graphic, political, and social context: India. The study is based on the premise that the performance of music can serve as a valuable historical text, and it posits that the musical structures and performance practices of the ensembles under study encode vital information about shared socio-political experiences and the Indian South African identities that emerged during the period under discussion.

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