Thesis
Composing Territory: Compositional and Pedagogical Considerations Necessary When Composing Choral Works for Pre and Post Menarcheal Female Voices of Varying Linguistic Diversity in the Northern Territory
Southern Cross University
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25918/thesis.268
Appears in Recent Southern Cross PhD Theses
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Abstract
Composing Territory is a multi-modal research project consisting of 12 choral compositions, accompanying teaching resource and exegesis. The project aims to gain insight into the significance of various compositional considerations that could potentially ease problems in choral performance arising from female pubertal voice change and multifarious language backgrounds. Composing Territory also aims to provide a sequence of delivery via a teaching resource appropriate to the educational context of the region, where most teachers have no formal music training.
Adolescent voice change has been identified as a leading cause of students abandoning choral studies (Gackle, 1991; Freer, 2015; Sweet, 2015). Participation in choir has immeasurable impact on student physical and mental wellbeing (Clift, Hancox, Morrison, Hess, Kreutz & Stewart, 2010), and educational benefits including strengthened cognitive resource networks used for working memory (Patel, 2010). Composing Territory seeks to improve performance outcomes of adolescent choirs in the Northern Territory by reclassifying the female voice ranges by stage of voice change and considering subsequent limitations in the composition process.
The Northern Territory is vast and disparately populated. Its isolated capital, Darwin, has a uniquely diverse and transient populace, with limited education training and resources for choral delivery. The miscellany of languages and lack of early choral education means traditional choral works are often inaccessible to adolescent choirs of the region and tonal homogeneity is implausible. To this end, the composition process utilised in Composing Territory analyses concomitant features of common local languages and utilises these in lyrics to establish familiarity of tone and increase the likelihood of choirs establishing choral blend.
As most teachers in the Northern Territory have limited or no formal music or voice training, this project included the creation of teaching resources designed to assist teachers utilising choir as a primary vehicle for music education in their school, to improve choral attrition rates and to ensure the continuity of musicianship development. To ensure that student learning continues throughout voice change processes, despite linguistic background, pedagogical considerations are included in the composition process and appropriate teaching resources are provided. This should ensure that non-music specialists are better equipped for choral delivery.
Composing Territory is placed in an interpretivist paradigm and utilises a combination of practice-led creative research, action research and autoethnography to assess the viability of using new composition processes and practices to improve the outcomes for adolescent female choristers of varied linguistic background in the Northern Territory.
http://www.composingterritory.com
Details
- Title
- Composing Territory: Compositional and Pedagogical Considerations Necessary When Composing Choral Works for Pre and Post Menarcheal Female Voices of Varying Linguistic Diversity in the Northern Territory
- Creators
- Lyndsay Louise Sealey
- Contributors
- Annie Kathryn Mitchell (Supervisor) - Southern Cross UniversityMatt Hill (Supervisor) - Southern Cross University
- Awarding Institution
- Southern Cross University; Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Theses
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Southern Cross University
- Publisher
- Southern Cross University
- Number of pages
- 1-21, 1-395
- Identifiers
- 991013118713402368
- Copyright
- © LL Sealey 2022
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
- Resource Type
- Thesis