18054 research outputs found
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Roping Water Color in a Country Club Kitchen, A Runaway Slave Runs in Rain, and A Sedated Dog Tips HIs Hat
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Yayoi Kusama’s Depictions of Mental Health
Full text linkThis paper examines Yayoi Kusama’s usage of art as a coping mechanism for her mental illness, particularly through her pumpkins and “nets” motifs. It involves a close analysis of three artworks to emphasize this motif: her first depiction of pumpkins; “nets”; and, finally, her combination of both pumpkins and “nets” into one artwork. Her theme of repetitions as meditative force is evident in each of these works. As such, this paper posits that the goal of her art is not to heal from her mental illness but to better cope and adapt. This research draws on various primary sources, including Yayoi Kusama’s autobiography, Infinity Net, and intertwines three artworks that have not yet been discussed together. It also has broader implications for other artists because Kusama paved the way for a more open discussion about mental health in contrast to the trope of the suffering artist
A Zipfian Distribution of Sets in Honor of the James Webb Space Telescope
Full text linkA Zipfian Distribution of Sets in Honor of the James Webb Space Telescope is a trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano. The piece aims to celebrate the accomplishments of several international teams responsible for the completion of the JWST, as well as honor the spirit of human space exploration as it works to reveal the universe to us. Each movement is titled after one of the images that NASA released in July 2022. The first is The First Deepfield which captures the broad expanse of space full of speckled galaxies twisting under the effects of gravitational lensing. The second is The Pillars of Creation, whose hand-shaped gas cloud nebula is home to a nursery of new stars and solar systems forming under intense heat and pressure. The piece is structured around the usage of eight pitch-class sets and their relative transpositions and inversions. A specific linguistics law called Zipf’s Law is utilized to determine how many times each set appears in the piece overall. The metaphorical significance of this comes from aligning the usage of sets to the fundamental laws of the universe, and Zipf’s law to humanity as a whole, thus capturing the essence of human space exploration within the very structure of the work
Actualizing Unwritten Operatic Conventions: Oral Transmission and the Work-Concept
Full text linkControversy around the actualization of unwritten conventions in operatic performance has become an inescapable reality over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The “work-concept”, the term coined by Lydia Goehr, is the strongly held conception in Western music that pieces of music are concrete and immutable, and therefore should not be changed. It is because of this concept that performance controversy exists; a performance that is not viewed to have represented an opera “correctly” is responsible for infringing on the central governing tenet of Western art music performance. I seek to prove that the diametrically opposed ideas of what is correct performance and what isn’t which lay at the heart of these disagreements arose due to the influences of oral transmission. In the course of the paper, I use examples from Mozart’s Don Giovanni to show that the continued preservation of operatic conventions and traditions is highly reliant on oral transmission, and demonstrate the processes of transformation which pieces of information experience due to this. Throughout this examination, it becomes clear that oral transmission and the work-concept are locked in a paradoxical relationship: while the two are practically incompatible, they are ideologically inseparable. The work-concept itself cannot function without oral transmission, yet the work-concept is the reason why the informational processes caused by oral transmission are practically problematic
Is Caffeine the Key to Success?
No full textThe consumption of caffeine to stay awake and alert is a common practice. It is so common that caffeine has become the most widely used psychoactive drug. There are several different methods by which people consume caffeine, some of which include coffee, energy drinks, pre-workout, and tea. Coffee is the second most popular drink around the world, with 1.6 billion cups of coffee consumed every day. College students consume high amounts of caffeine to fuel late-night study sessions, but does it help? Studies have shown that academic performance has an inverse relationship to the amount of caffeine consumed. Drinking high amounts of caffeine can not only negatively affect a college student’s academic success but can cause adverse health effects as well
Percussive Practices: Scholastic Programming of Pageantry Indoor Percussion and Concert Percussion Ensembles
Full text linkThis thesis focuses on an evaluation of the spring practices of percussion programs in the greater Indianapolis area. This qualitative research study was designed to study and analyze the differences in programming of pageantry indoor percussion and concert percussion ensembles at the high school level. Specifically, this thesis focuses on the rationale and educational practices behind school percussion programming of either of these two ensemble types. This thesis attempts to answer the primary research question: what musical or educational philosophies guide the reasoning behind determining if a particular school participates in either concert percussion ensemble or pageantry indoor percussion during the spring semester? Key themes that were identified through the research include structural considerations, philosophical groundings, matching student ability with experiences, external stakeholders, and extrinsic justification. These themes are analyzed, and their implications in the scholastic curriculum are discussed
