Nathan Hesselink

Balkan meters are traditionally perceived in the ethnomusicological literature through a 2:3 ratio underlain by a series of isochronous subdivisions. Through beat inter-onset-interval (IOI) analysis I show how this conception obscures and neglects timing nuances, using examples of dance music from the transnational Macedonian region. Chapter 1 analyzes two songs from the Pirin-Macedonia region of Bulgaria featuring a 3-beat “long-short-short” meter. IOI analysis demonstrates that the beat proportions of these songs do not align with that governed by a 2:3 beat ratio underlain by a series of isochronous subdivisions. Chapter 2 analyzes the song “Daoulari Tsalar” of the Zurla/Tapan tradition in Greek-Macedonia. This tradition features a characteristic metric progression from a slow and loose treatment to a fast and strict treatment of a beat cycle. This analysis articulates how sections featuring slow and loose cycling, when beats are coordinated by the steps of the lead dancer, are non-isochronous, yet do not conform to any isochronous subdivision layer nor a 2:3 beat ratio. In addition to quantitative timing discussions, this thesis also addresses emic musical conceptions and the political contextualization of such dance musics, demonstrating how analysis and ethnography can act as mutually informative methodologies.

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This thesis explores current trends in the gender wayang (four-instrument metallophone ensemble) performance tradition of Bali. Themes include performance contexts and repertoire, pedagogy, accessibility, recording technology, and new music. My findings are prefaced with a detailed survey of the current literature written on gender wayang. The research reflects my experiences studying gender wayang in Bali in 2016-2017, and 2018. Traditionally, gender wayang is best known for its role accompanying shadow-plays, or wayang. In twenty-first century Bali, however, gender wayang has penetrated beyond wayang such that the shadow-plays are no longer the primary context for the ensemble’s performance. Through participant-observation, reflection, and analysis, this thesis explores the effect gender wayang’s growing popularity and presence in both ritual and non-ritual performance contexts have had on pedagogy. As well, this thesis looks at the development of new music for the ensemble, and includes analysis of three new gender wayang compositions. By looking at current practices in comparison with past research, this thesis proposes ideas about modern changes, and contemporary practices in the tradition.

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This thesis examines the use of seist chorus sections in the Scottish Gaelic song tradition. These sections consist of nonsense syllables, or vocables. Although lacking semantic meaning, such vocables often provoke the joining in of the audience or listening group. The use of these vocable sections can be seen to have evolved in both their physical (sonic) characteristics and their social use and function over time while still maintaining a marked presence in Scottish Gaelic music across many genres and generations. I briefly examine theories surrounding seist vocables’ inception, interview three practitioners of Gaelic song about seist choruses’ inception and evolving function, examine four songs dating from a period spanning 1601-2016, and relate my findings to Scotland’s constantly evolving social and political climate.

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This thesis examines the work of Indigenous DJ collective A Tribe Called Red, namely their reimagining of the contemporary pow wow. Dubbed “Electric Pow Wow,” the event showcases urban Indigenous culture, centered around music that layers elements of hip hop and electronic dance music with samples of First Nations vocals and drumming. Born out of the “Indigenous music renaissance,” A Tribe Called Red stands among a new generation of artists who are working alongside resistance movements like Idle No More in order to push back against colonial narratives of erasure and illuminate the voices of Indigenous communities the world over. Prioritizing contemporary Indigenous perspectives, this study seeks to engage with core themes of identity, community, representation, and decolonization, and discusses the essential role of musicians and culture-bearers within these spheres. Through an examination of A Tribe Called Red’s live shows, music videos, and social/political presence, I investigate Electric Pow Wow as both a physical and virtual gathering place where Indigenous identities are reclaimed, articulated, strengthened, and celebrated within broader movements of decolonization in North America and around the globe.

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This thesis examines the use of seist chorus sections in the Scottish Gaelic song tradition. These sections consist of nonsense syllables, or vocables. Although lacking semantic meaning, such vocables often provoke the joining in of the audience or listening group. The use of these vocable sections can be seen to have evolved in both their physical (sonic) characteristics and their social use and function over time while still maintaining a marked presence in Scottish Gaelic music across many genres and generations. I briefly examine theories surrounding seist vocables’ inception, interview three practitioners of Gaelic song about seist choruses’ inception and evolving function, examine four songs dating from a period spanning 1601-2016, and relate my findings to Scotland’s constantly evolving social and political climate.

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This thesis is an ethnography of Montreal’s West African music scene. Through participant observation, interviews, and research I provide a view of how African musicians have adapted their music to a new environment. Special focus is given to how African music was constructed and perceived by African performers, though attention is also paid to their Québecois counterparts. I discuss how an array of interpretations about the meaning and form of African music co-exists, forming part of a larger musical discourse that gives shape to a style of African music unique to Québec.I first provide an overview of the African music scene, describing its major venues, events, and performers. Next, I describe the style of African music that takes place there, an adaptation of Malian and Guinean popular music. I also describe the efforts of Québecois musicians to reimagine African music for their own use, offering up a very different interpretation than that given by Africans in Montreal.Through collective interpretation, African and Canadian musicians in Montreal have built an innovative and interesting music scene that is still developing. This scene relies on a productive discourse between African musicians, Québecois performers of African music, and the larger audience for African music in Montreal.

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In this ethnography of a youth choir I demonstrate the relationship between youth cultural identity construction and increased resiliency by providing stories and reflections about individual and group expression through voice. I have discovered through my research that it is not only vocal expression through song that supports identity construction and resiliency, but also the space of shared intimacy that is created through musical/vocal agency. I also revealed an underlying tone of youth resistance through voice.Working within the framework of Teacher Action Research I set out to use my findings to aid and inform my teaching practices in support and empowerment of youth in my community. The research methods employed were audio recording, class observation, personal journaling, and interviews (group and individual). I understood that as a participant and as the subject’s teacher that I entered this research with certain biases and assumptions, but at the same time I knew that my proximity to the subject would give me insight in ways that would not be accessible to an outside observer. I was also cognizant of the fact that I was conducting “fieldwork at home,” recognizing through the literature review and research that this methodology also comes with challenges in terms of objectivity and clarity of subject and roles.I drew inspiration and direction from Lila Abu-Lughod, a Palestinian-American professor of Anthropology and Women’s and Gender Studies at Columbia University in New York City, who works in the tradition and methodology of what she calls ethnographies of the particular. Abu-Lughod argues for “the effects of extralocal and long-term processes [that] are only manifested locally and specifically, produced in the actions of individuals living their particular lives, inscribed in their bodies and their words” (1991: 150).

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This thesis is an investigation of pedagogy in North Indian classical music. Historical, cultural, and philosophical elements of pedagogy in the Hindustani musical tradition are addressed in an overview of music education in traditional Indian contexts, the twentieth century, and in cross-cultural contexts. Themes include orality in Indian culture, the traditional guru-shishya parampara, the role of nationalism in twentieth century educational reforms, and the impact of technology in the latter half of the twentieth century. Trends in music education in India are then compared and contrasted with the state of education in Indian music in cross-cultural contexts in the West. From this data a model of the essential elements of Indian pedagogy is synthesized. This model accounts for pedagogical devices utilized to impart musical information as well as methods of transmitting cultural and social values. This model is applied to the experiences of five North American students of Hindustani music interviewed during the research process for this thesis.

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