School of Music

Early in the 20th century, two composers were attempting ambitious works with extreme aims of transcendence that would see music consumed in a new and powerful way.  The Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915) was attempting to compose a work that he believed could bring about the end of the world and unification of the cosmos, creating a new race of man.  Meanwhile, in America, Charles Ives (1874-1954) was working on his Universe Symphony - which was intended to portray the creation of the earth and everything around it.  Neither work was completed as both composers eventually admitted their objectives were beyond them.  It is my intention to investigate the respective influences on their thinking; to compare the similarities and differences in their music and transcendental aims; and to analyse the likelihood of either composer achieving his musical aims.

Richard Wagner (1813-1883) is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever composers, yet debate continues over the possible presence of anti-Semitism in his works.  Nothing directly links characters, or the libretti of his operas with Judaism.  However, plenty of Wagner’s own writings - from publicly published articles to letters and diary entries - prove, beyond doubt, his feelings towards Jewish people.  Furthermore, a question mark also hangs over when and why Wagner developed such views.  What follows is an attempt to trace the extent of anti-Semitism in Wagner’s operas through examining works from the beginning, middle and end of his prolific career.  Wagner was a founder of ‘ontological anti-Semitism’; ‘hostility toward the Jews that concentrates on their being rather than their religion or economic practices, or any one particular attribute.’  (Sokel, 1991, p154.)  From a musicological direction of entry, we can thus begin our analysis by dismissing the possibility any implicit anti-Semitism was unintentional due to ignorance.   Wagner’s intentions and implied meanings are based on his views, the culture in Germany at the time, and any other people or events which may have affected these operas.  A ‘cultural anti-Semitism’ was present in 19th century Germany and ‘for Wagner, Jewishness was a necessary evil’ in order ‘to define Germanness.’  (Millington, 2013, p186.)  I shall thus attempt to trace the presence of anti-Semitism throughout Wagner’s career by looking at his two most popular operas; Rienzi and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, and his final opera, Parsifal.  

I want to speak of music….as a country, our native country which determines our musicians’ nationality, our musicality, a country in relation to which all our “ideologies”, schools, individualities, are merely sides.

This was how Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951) began his book, The Muse and the Fashion.  But was this nationality - outlined by a man described by many as the ‘Russian Brahms’ - a country of Europe (such as the Classical Viennese tradition) Russia, or a combination?  The twentieth century was a booming era for Russian music with the emergence of Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Shostakovich and Prokofiev, following on from The Mighty Handful’s attempts to bring nationalism to the forefront of consciousness.  Thus Medtner went relatively unnoticed during his lifetime.  Born in Moscow, but with a family that descended from Europe, Medtner was influenced by the West and Russia in life as well as in music.  War and Revolution had major impacts on the Russian people, economy  and arts.  Against this backdrop, Medtner lived a complex but impoverished life, only finding financial security much later and after moving to Europe.  Nonetheless, he was an educated composer, influenced by great philosophers, as well as his personal passions, from nature to faith.  Thus his music was open to a variety of influences, but above all sits that of nationality.  Great composers and philosophers from both Europe and Russia had preceded Medtner, with yet more working alongside him - particularly his friend and fellow pianist, Rachmaninov.  By looking at Medtner’s life, philosophy and solo piano music - focussing on several poignant examples - this thesis will attempt to ascertain the extent to which Medtner’s music can be heard as Russian or European.

Much has been written in the last years about musical practice and performance , but there is little consensus over what practice really means, or how musicians progress by practising. Whilst academics historically focused primarily on the experiences of Western classical musicians and on individual learning in the conservatoire, more recent research has been devoted to popular, jazz and folk musicians. Informal behaviours, such as aural learning, self-teaching and jamming out in the band are central to the way in which popular musicians learn. The current research project has a major focus on the practice and performance of classical and popular musicians as described in university undergraduate students' relec-tive essays. This paper offers insights into the musical development of one cohort of popular musicians over the three years of their study, including examples of their practice behaviours, the development of technique, collaboration with band members and gigging off the university campus, as drawn from their relective essays and semi-structured interviews. Introduc on The " Art of Practice " research project at the University of Liverpool, Department of Music seeks to explore how students of classical and popular music acquire the knowledge, skills and expertise of practising. The main ield of enquiry is 1 " Classical " is used to describe musicians who have been educated in the tradition of Western classical music, for example, those who play orchestral instruments or piano or sing and largely perform works from the Western classical oeuvre. These musicians generally start their instruments at a young age and are used to the expectation of several hours of practice a day as adults. 2 " Popular " is used to describe musicians who are largely self-taught and whose preferred style of music is popular. These musicians typically learn from peers or musicians whom they admire, and – prior to entry to higher education – develop their skills more informally through experimentation and group practice sessions.

Much has been written about musical practice and performance, with little consensus over what practice means, or how musicians progress by practising. Studies have focused primarily on individual Western classical musicians in the conserv-atoire, with more recent research turning to popular, jazz and folk musicians. Informal and collaborative practices are central in popular musicians' learning. The current research project focuses on the practice and performance of undergraduate popular musicians, described in students' reflective essays. This article presents highlights in the musical development of one cohort of popular musicians over the 3 years of their study, including examples of practice behaviours, development of technique, collaboration with band members through rehearsals, creating original material, and gigging on and off campus.

Much has been written in the last 30 years about musical practice and performance, but there
is little consensus over what practice really means, or how musicians progress by practising.
Researchers exploring the behaviours of classical musicians tend to focus on specific
elements in practice, or the time spent on practice, or the development of metacognitive
strategies to make practice more efficient. Popular musicians, on the other hand, are typically
self-taught, and their musical development takes place within the socio-cultural context of the
band. In the last ten years, academics have distinguished between formal, non-formal and
informal learning, which offers a wider spectrum against which musical learning in different
genres may be assessed. The current research project at the University of Liverpool focuses
on the practice and performance of both popular and classical musicians as described in
students’ reflective essays.
This paper presents initial findings from the 2012-2015 cohort of popular and classical
undergraduate musicians (n=47) who took the performance module. Data collected from 141
reflective essays were analysed through close reading to identify the main themes expressed
by students in describing their practice behaviours. Whilst classical musicians initially seemed
to understand what practice was about, reflection helped them to approach their practice
critically, rather than just playing through repertoire. The popular musicians did not focus
much on development of technique in their first year: the need to develop their craft emerged
in the second and third years of study, motivated by requirements for their band to perform on
campus, or in the city, or to prepare for studio recording sessions. The most successful
students, whether working in classical or popular music, reported higher levels of motivation,
attention to development of technique and a sound understanding of what it took to give a
good performance. These students tended to play in multiple bands or ensembles, and their
reflective essays showed progress from year to year.
Based on our analysis of the student reflective essays, we suggest that reflection as an
integral part of assessment promotes musical learning and the development of metacognitive
practice strategies. This research is important not only for university tutors, but more
generally for music teachers in high schools, peripatetic music teachers and those involved
with curriculum development for classical and popular music performance courses.

Apps have become such a ubiquitous presence in most people’s lives, that we no longer notice how much time we are spending on them everyday. However, despite the pervasiveness of this time-consuming new media form, scholarship in this area is lacking.
This paper seeks to set the foundations for the various elements that one must consider, when studying apps with music as a primary feature. Instead of relying solely on ludomusicological texts, theories on games, interactivity, and musical instruments will help shed light on the nature of these apps. Two case studies are offered for analytical purposes: My Singing Monsters (Big Blue Bubble Inc.) and Bebot (Normalware), which each highlights certain aspects of the aforementioned theoretical areas, and which will lead to a classification of these apps as interactive interfaces, or “sound toys” (Robson, 2002; Dolphin, 2014), due to their goal-less nature and the way they put the user squarely in the role of creator. The paper will conclude by offering an interpretation of these music apps as part of a minimalist aesthetic, which, together with repetition and the concept of Zen, draws attention to how we use apps in everyday life.

The body positivity, or body acceptance, movement seeks to advocate the importance of being happy with the body you are in, and not to be constrained by society’s notion of the “ideal” female body but it seems that women and weight have always been connected (McKinley, 1999) and we now find ourselves at a point where weight has become a “normative discontent” amongst women (Tiggemann & Slater, 2004, p. 48). The discourse on women and body image can be observed in the way that women are portrayed in music videos, whether as dancers or performers.
Via a detailed analysis of the music, lyrics, and music videos of the two tracks mentioned above, I aim to show how Trainor and Lambert negotiate various embodiments of feminism and especially how discourses about (ideal) women and weight find their way into pop music. With regards to the music it is clear that the two tracks are widely different; Trainor sells a (imagined) sense of nostalgia, whereas Lambert focuses more on the spoken word as personal expression. An analysis of the lyrics will address the critique of Trainor’s “skinny bitches” in relation to sizeism and the music videos will be analysed by using Butler’s (1990) idea of gender performance, specifically with regards to gesture and style but also look at theories on female excess (McKinley, 1999; McAllister, 2009) to show how women are defined by society in relation to their bodies.
I argue that the saying “the personal is political” is very much in effect when looking at the two case studies presented in this paper and that, when taking into account the resurfacing of the feminist movement, the ways in which women are represented in the media become even more or a pressing issue.

This dissertation explores the use of game software to structure musical performance with traditional acoustic instruments. The central goal is to promote further study and creative endeavors by 1) suggesting a theoretical framework to inform and contextualize such a practice and by 2) describing a practical methodology. The development of this interdisciplinary field is related to pre-existing tendencies to more fully explore several related continua including composition-improvisation, ludus-paidia, etc.

In the first chapter, concepts from which this creative practice has emerged are identified. Chapters 2 through 4 each focus on a particular aspect through a semiotic lens. Throughout, examples by the author as well as by other musicians, artists and game designers demonstrate ways that this practice has manifested and evolved. The final chapter describes the development and realization of a new work, Frontier, that is directly informed by the concepts in this dissertation, and outlines a course for future development.