Category: College of Visual and Performing Arts

The Rhythm of the Mind

Author(s): T. Samuel Clark

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, College of Visual and Performing Arts

Abstract

This presentation describes my Music Technology Capstone Research Project, which is a podcast entitled “The Rhythm of the Mind”.
The point of my research is to use the mental health discussions of hip-hop artists, and research on mental health done by psychologists, as talking points to elaborate on the experiences Black men have concerning their mental health.

Audio Transcript

hello my name is t Samuel Clark I am a Music technology major and this is my research project for My Capstone it is a discussion on Mental Health in the blackmail community and as you can see by way of the subtitle it is a discussion aided by hip-hop the question here is how can hiphop artists Aid in the conversation on Mental Health my research primarily focuses on members of the black male Community the purpose of This research is to have a conversation about mental health pigging backing off of the words of these hip-hop artists lra and deino have since about where I can remember 2018 been talking about their mental health in detail and the things that they have said that I’ve been able to listen to as I was growing up impacted me and helped me to learn and so as I remember the things that they said and I go back through their albums their music forms the bulk of my research along with the things that Kendrick Lamar said concerning his to pimpa Butterfly album and now mentioning his most recent album Mr morale and the big steppers from the concepts talked about in these albums I’m able to delve into deeper conversations about mental health piggy backing off of talking points from the albums and from their interviews they talked a lot about things that they went through in their interviews the stories behind what happened in songs what was going on in their life at that period time those things also fill in gaps that maybe the song was explicit about but didn’t have all the details or that it may have been vague about and from that I take most of my research my new research coming up with the statistics and the data and what have you comes from an article called is it okay to not be okay gotten from the Journal of black studies it is a critical review of a condition the purpose and focus of the research is to draw awareness to the fact that black men do not seek mental health help it goes deep into the reasons and the history behind why we most at the time we most of the time do not seek that help but the purpose of the essay is to call attention to the fact that that is an issue that needs to be remedied especially given the information that you see here on this slide it is too much of a problem to not be focused on and as for my research project rather than deciding to write a paper rather than deciding to write an essay I was given the opportunity to do a podcast format which proved to be much easier for me and I was able to go in detail and in depth in ways that I might not have had the time to had it been an essay this podcast is called rhythm of the mind and in it I do exactly what I’m saying using the information from my research as talking points and I go in depth about how the concepts explored in the talking points showed up in my experience what I’ve seen what I’ve watched people go through and what I’ve gone through myself and how it affected me this podcast is set to come out on December 12th on Spotify and hopefully all the rest of the other platforms and it is seven episodes in length including the intro once again my name is t Samuel Clark this is my research project for My Capstone as a music technology major I hope you enjoyed watching and I hope you enjoy listening to the podcast when it comes out

The Sea Around Us

Author(s): Ashlyn King, Carlea Jo Maben, Em Herman, Iana Lee, Josh Biedrycki, Rachel Depratti, T. Samuel Clark, Selma Veli

Mentor(s): Amanda Kraus, Film and Video Studies

Abstract

Documentaries have long been an effective media to talk about prehistory, the
paleontology documentary genre being bountiful in both information and content, as well as in
creativity. Though research papers are the primary communication paths of academics,
documentaries have long been the bridge between the language of academia and the language of
the common and curious. Science communication and public education of any kind are the
cornerstones of creating a better, smarter, and kinder society. That being said, it is also extremely
hard for those outside of academia to even understand the way that academic people write and
speak, let alone the content they are discussing.

This then separates science and the average person into two distinct categories, when, in reality, we are all still just people trying to learn
things. This documentary will both educate those who are curious about the study of prehistory
and the natural world, as well as help to share the findings of a group of passionate and driven
people who may not have many opportunities to communicate these findings outside of their
own peers.

With this documentary, I want to inspire the same curiosity that paleontology
documentaries did for me when I was young; it‘s this curiosity that has led me down not only the
path of paleontology, but also down that of marine biology, geology, conservation studies, film,
and many other fields that weave together through my experience. It starts with a seed of
fascination, but the tree that grows from it has branches that reach into many other places. I want
this project to be a potential seed, to be something that inspires the same want to see, to touch, to
understand, and to love the world around us and the stories it has to tell.

Audio Transcript

How would you bring an ancient creature to life? How would you resurrect it, pulled from the soil and rock and time-hardened sediment to have it once again walk through the forests and swim through the seas? How can you tell the story of the things that died out before the earliest hominids could even tell a story that would last past their short lifetime?

Hello Everyone! My name is Em Herman, I am a Student of the Bachelor of Individualized Studies in Science Communication and Film, and a Minor in Paleontology. This semester, I have been working on a documentary miniseries titled “The Sea Before Us,” the title being a play on Rachel Carson‘s “The Sea Around Us” which was a major inspiration for my current academic path. This documentary tells the story of natural history and those who find, produce, and nurture the spirit of awe that comes with knowing our planet.

Since Paleontology‘s establishment as a scientific field (and, further, the countless years of human curiosity and creativity that unofficially contributed to it), we have been obsessed with putting together a picture of ancient life, using a posthumous patchwork of fossils and plate tectonics to tell a story we can never know the full shape of. This has been seen in sketches and paintings, reconstructions and plaster-casts, and the books upon books upon books full of recordings of traces of the past. I think that as humans, we cannot help but tell a story, even if all we are given are the pebbles and dust of a few billion years of life.

Within that vein of storytelling, it is in the people who attempt to understand this history that love lies. Is it in the uphill battle against climate change and how we have harmed the planet we live on? Is it in the conservation of those creatures that have gotten caught up in our environmental reaping that we call “human development”? Is it in the innate and so, so human curiosity of wanting to know something as you want to be known? What is the act of knowing and understanding something if not a confession of love and dedication?

Over the course of the semester, I have accumulated a crew of dedicated and equally passionate filmmakers to help me tell this story. With this crew, I was able to interview a few members of Dr. Mark Uhen‘s Lab, as well as Dr. Uhen himself, about their study and craft, and their own experiences within the field of paleontology. Within these interviews, we were able to discuss their love of the science, their own research and what they‘re doing within academia, and their own lives and how they have been shaped by the study of the past. As well, in our endeavors out into the field aboard a whale-watching vessel, we were able to talk with some incredible and kind marine life naturalists and science educators whose love of the ocean and whales was incomparable to anyone I have met before.

“The Sea Before Us” is an ode to the Earth‘s natural history through the lens of those who strive to understand it for the sake of understanding. It is a ballad to knowledge for knowledge‘s sake, to the consistent feeling of awe and fascination that the natural world continues to bear at every leaf that falls from the tree, every lap of a wave on the rocky shore, every slow stroke of a fluke through water rich with salt and diatoms.

College of Visual and Performing Arts

The contributions of progressive metal in the music industry.

Author(s): Justin Vu

Mentor(s): Carrie Ann Delaney, Dewberry School of Music

Abstract

This project shows the findings of my research on progressive metal and its contributions to the music production industry. Over the years, progressive metal has made a resurgence because of its distinctive sound, captivating many musicians around the world. The most interesting factor about this type of music is the powerful, unforgiving guitars. Because of this, this type of music is not easy to produce. Due to the aggression and heaviness of the instruments, frequencies are jumping out of every corner. Challenges like controlling balance between instruments, minimizing noise levels, and taming harsh frequencies are common problems that arise when producing this type of music. The goal of my research was to show how music engineers and artists overcome these problems by using modern technology. With this came new recording techniques, volume control, and sonic variety. With such an extreme sound, engineers were able to come up with new ways of music recording in the studio. My reason for choosing this topic was to show how other types of music can be influenced by these new recording techniques. These techniques can be applied to all genres of music and not just progressive metal. Application of these techniques are essential for young artists like me because they give you a new perspective on how to shape your mixes, overcome problems when mixing, and discovering your personal sound. I believe that anyone who is interested in recording and producing their own music would benefit from learning these techniques.

Audio Transcript

(0:00-0:34) Introduction
(0:34-1:03) Thesis
(1:05-1:51) Progressive metal and its origins
(1:51-2:49) Musical Expression
(2:49-3:22) Djent
(3:22-5:53) Sonic Experimentation
(5:53-6:27) Examples of typical gear used
(6:27-7:13) Audio example of my recording

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Music 489 Capstone Video

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Maya’s Creative Project 2023

Author(s): Maya A Champion

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, Music

Abstract

My creative project for my capstone is an EP. It will be my debut as an artist, being my first EP and any piece of music I have ever published publically and professionally. I aim to show my skills as an artist and audio engineer.

Audio Transcript

Maya Champion: The purpose of my EP is to showcase some of the most popular genres in music. It is also to showcase my versatility not only as a songwriter, but as a singer and audio engineer. My album will include singing and rapping on more than 1 song, so I think it is fun to see cross genres and which genres are influenced by which. Lastly, I think my songs are fun and catchy so at the very least I would like my audience to have fun and enjoy my music. This project was a fun culmination of my time learning here at Mason!

Maya Champion: The first song snippet I will be playing is Rainy Days, which is a bossa nova piece
My next piece is pink dolphin which is game music influenced
My last song is called Ticking Time, which is dance and pop influenced electronic house music

Maya Champion: Thanks so much, and look out for my EP that comes out on all streaming platforms December 19th!

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Delayers: Vocals on Vocals in Recording

Author(s): Caroline Whichard

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, Music

Abstract

In this video, I cover some of the more interesting portions of my creative project in which I use an infinite delay to layer my own voice on top of itself. This technique, among the others I discuss, is one that I have been working on developing for many years and wanted to use it in my final project to give a nod to it being one of the first effects I explored when getting into recording and music production as a child.

Audio Transcript

First off, these vocals that are all muted down here are actually all panned to specific sides on both the left and the right, just to give a overall feeling of more space in the resulting merged audio file which we see up here at the top. And what I did for these audio files is I actually used a special delay that will infinitely repeat one bar.
It essentially creates this overlapping, delay-layered experience–I call it “delayers”.
I essentially record one bar after another, harmonizing with myself vocally progressively throughout the song, and when it comes to its peak I go into another one of those “layers” (except I’m not using a delay to overlap on top of myself). But with these, I also used a spatial audio feature that Logic Pro has where you can have it in stereo, of course mono, but also spatial audio where you can set the audio behind you.
For two of the tracks, I have them panned left and right, and then for the other three I have one in the front, one in the back-left, and one in the back-right to really give the feeling of it being all around you.
For my lead vocals, I actually put a very crisp EQ on it as well as a compressor to give a very tight feel to the vocals, to make sure everything was extremely crisp, and sits on top of the background vocals properly.
The only percussive, non-vocal element is this snare break in the background.
These two are also percussive elements; these are small, vocal inhales that I add almost like a bit of a rise.
Back here, one more interesting feature: I recorded two more versions of the lead vocal to harmonize with each other, but then I added a vocal bass where I’m essentially just dipping down as low as I can into my register and I EQ’ed it to kind of bump up that lower end and take out a bit of the resonance. Overall, those are some of the most cool features in my opinion, and now I’m going to play the project for you.

College of Visual and Performing Arts

Deck-building TTRPG Golden Gear Mock OST

Author(s): Nathaniel Kassay

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, Founding Director of MUSIC TECHNOLOGY and COMPOSITION

Abstract

Golden Gear is a tabletop roleplaying deck-building game that my friend Xander Cook and myself, Nathaniel Kassay, have been working towards creating and publishing for several years. This project is a mock soundtrack presented to characterize the world and story of the game system, featuring the clashing styles of classical and modern instruments and sounds.

Audio Transcript

Hello everyone! I am Nathaniel Kassay and this is my submission for the 2023 GMU Oscar celebration project. today I’m going to Showcase a project that I’ve been working on for several years, and it is nearing completion this semester. this is golden gear this is a deck building roleplaying tabletop game similar to DND or call of Cthulhu but instead of using dice to make actions it uses cards. you draw from a deck and you play cards using action points to do actions in a fantasy world that is set up by yourself and by a game master with a group of friends. this project specifically is focused on the mock OST for Golden gear, meant to display and characterize the style and world of the game as if it were an indie video game. consider it a musical form of world building. this piece that I prepared uses a mixture of synthetic and authentic midi instruments to accentuate the clashing styles within the world itself. in Golden Gear, ancient technology is modern technology, like tanks, guns, computers, robots, and artificial intelligence, and the modern technology is instead fantastical: airships, steam engines, swords and Spears, metal armor, and everything like it. So, try to picture the sweeping landscapes and steam engines of the modern world of golden gear as you listen to its titular theme right here.

and that is the title theme projected for the mock OST for Golden Gear. You can find the entirety of the first disc of the golden gear mock OST on my SoundCloud page soundcloud.com/nate-kassay that is airing December 14th. Thank you very much for watching, I hope you tune in to the full course of this OST as it releases in mid-December and I hope that when it releases you have the opportunity to check out the full version of the game, Golden Gear, as it is published… however we decide to publish it. Thank you very much for watching, I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day

College of Visual and Performing Arts Honors College

Closing the Gender Gap in Music Technology at the Undergraduate Level

Author(s): Theo Cobb

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, Music Technology

Abstract

The world of music technology is constantly changing and adapting. However when it comes to gender equality, the world of music technology is far behind. Men have dominated the industry of music tech since its dawn until today. There are many obstacles that keep women and nonbinary people from being successful in music technology. A part of the problem is just how staggering the numbers are, some statistics estimate that 98% of producers are men. However, too much focus on the numbers only further cements how out of place women are in music tech. Now that there is widespread knowledge of the issue, attention must be shifted towards how to solve this problem. Martial changes can be made, and many have already been proven to dramatically help the issue. In this presentation I will be addressing how we can help solve problems women face in music tech at an undergraduate level. I have drawn my research from previous efforts to diversify various STEM fields, and from efforts already made within the field of Music Tech itself. I will be making suggestions for changes that undergraduate programs can make to help combat the problems that keep women out of tech. The three issues I will be focusing on are the pipeline problem, a lack of mentorship, and a lack of education geared towards women‘s specific needs.

Audio Transcript

Women are vastly underrepresented in the field of music and technology. In this presentation I’ll be addressing how we can help solve the problems that women face in music tech at an undergraduate level. My research will be drawn from previous efforts to diversify fields in stem and previous efforts in the field of music and Technology itself. I’ll be making suggestions for changes that undergraduate programs can make to help combat the problems that keep women out of tech. The three issues that I’ll be focusing on are the pipeline problem a lack of mentorship and a lack of Education geared towards women’s specific needs. Where we currently stand is a pretty bad spot. As of 2022 only 2% of producers aren’t men and only 12.9% of songwriters aren’t men. No woman has ever won producer of the earth Grammys and no woman was nominated this year either. The first issue that women in music technology face starts at a really young age, it’s called the pipeline problem. It stems from run-of-the-mill sexism that convinces women that their place is not in stem Fields, especially technology. Most music tech programs focus on the technological aspect when advertising their courses and programs instead of the aesthetic aspects of Music Technology. This steers women away from enrolling in these courses and programs. Here at GMU a way that we can help this is by offering Outreach programs for high schoolers and middle schoolers. The College of science here alone has four different outreach programs for underrepresented groups. These have proven to be incredibly successful. The University of Michigan was able to raise their incoming freshman class in the College of per Performing Arts Technology (PAT) from 20% female to 40% female after offering a summer outreach program called girls in music and Technology. Our next issue is lack of mentorship most college professors are CIS white men and the field of Music Tech is no different. An excuse often given for why there are no female instructors is a lack of qualified candidates and while this is true it speaks to the bigger issue at hand and should not be the end of the conversation but the beginning of one. In the meantime a way to give women role models at the educational level is by bringing in guest speakers and peer mentorship programs. Peer mentorship programs have proven very successful. There is a peer mentorship program at Berkeley called she knows Tech in which five graduate students agreed to Mentor four undergraduate students each for a total of seven mentoring sessions. A year later almost half were in Tech related Majors. My final Focus will be on how we can change the education itself that is offered to help combat issues that women specifically face. A thing that I found particularly compelling was how much the language around how we advertise courses affects women’s enrollment in them. I like to think of it as purpose versus tool language. Women are more likely to be interested in courses that emphasize the purpose of what they are learning rather than the literal tool itself. A computer science program saw a massive uptick in female enrollment when they changed the course title from intro to HTML to building socially responsible websites. This could be implemented in music and Technology by instead of naming courses things like “introduction to Protools” naming them “independently record and edit a song.” Another positive change would be doing away with weed out courses. Women are already taught that they do not belong in music and technology and they do not need to be met first thing with courses that are specifically designed to push people away. Another thing that has been proven successful in stem field is by having introductory courses split up by different experience levels. This could be particularly effective in music tech considering the wide range of experience that students come in with. While all of the statistics can be disheartening they should not be the focus. We know that women are underrepresented in music and Technology but focusing on how wildly large the gender gap is only reinforces the idea at the end of the day that women do not belong in Tech. These are real problems with real solutions, however diversity does not happen by accident but instead through real concerted efforts. If institutions are serious about making changes they should make their efforts known and public. there are many resources to find out about successful women in music technology such as Sound Girls and the Women’s Audio Mission. They provide databases of vetted and experienced female audio Engineers so no one has the excuse anymore that they just don’t know any women audio Engineers. Undergraduate programs are in a unique position to affect the industry as a whole because they are the final stop for many of us before we enter our professional careers. The values that students learn in undergrad they will take with them for the rest of their careers. If these programs show that they do not value women neither will the engineers that leave them.

College of Visual and Performing Arts OSCAR

Are High Priced Microphones the Only Option?

Author(s): William Aranibar-Vargas

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, Music Technology

Abstract

This project will conduct an experiment in which the performance of two groups of microphones is measured. These two groups will be the inexpensive and “expensive” microphone groups. The inexpensive group will be under $150 and the “expensive” group will be above $150 while under $1000. This experiment will aim to answer the question, “Are Higher Priced Microphones the only option?”. This project will take two recordings of a band performing one song and then mix (or edit) them to the best versions. These recordings will then be used in a survey that will be sent out to those in and outside of the college of music at GMU. This survey will be divided into three sections while providing some information about the survey‘s intent. The first section collects music background information regarding the participant’s musical background. The second section would be asking questions about each recording concerning certain aspects of each recording. The last section will then ask questions comparing the two recordings. Lastly, in the last section, it will be stated that the two recordings were inexpensive and expensive, the participant will be asked to pick which is the expensive group. The participants’ responses will then be used to reach an answer to the main research question. This project aims to act as a guide and reference for those starting in Music Technology or for musicians and others who are not going into this field and would want help buying their equipment.

Audio Transcript

Hello, everyone. My name is William Aranibar Vargas, and I’m a music tech senior.

Today I’ll be exploring a question that’s been on my mind for a while now. Which is, Are High-Priced Microphones the Only Option?

Now this connects to a story that starts out when I was first entering this field.

where I was allowed the opportunity to help in a recording session.

During this session I was asked, what microphone would I choose to record a specific instrument.

This at first left me a little, speechless, and I ultimately asked my upperclassmen what they would have chosen because I wasn’t confident in the microphone that I would have chosen. But

over the years this led me to wonder. A very similar question to my main research question, which is.

does the price of a microphone significantly impact the performance?

Now, my project

going along with this research question explores this through an experiment. and that experiment consists of comparing 2 microphone groups.

The first of those 2 groups consists of microphones that are below $150,

or the inexpensive group.

and the second group consists of microphones above $150, but below a thousand dollars, which is the quote, unquote.

expensive group.

Now this range is due to the available inventory that I had at the Audiolab on campus, as well as the abbreviate or quotation of expensive, because microphones can easily be way way higher than $1,000.

Now, what did I do with these 2 groups of microphones? I used these microphones to record a jazz combo performing one song simultaneously.

I would end up with 2 recordings of the same song, but using 2 different groups of microphones.

Now I, the end goal is to mix and master these recordings in order to use them in a survey that will be sent out

to those in and outside of the College of Music.

The survey is separated into 3 general sections. The first is music, background information, the second is listening to the recordings, and lastly, comparing and contrasting the recordings in order for the participants to reach a decision on which recording, they believe is the quote unquote expensive group.

Just as a note of clarity. The responses that I will receive from these surveys will ultimately answer the main research question.

I will not be the one answering the research question, the participants will. and another point of clarity. This project is incomplete, as of now, due to some setbacks that happened during the semester which I’ll get into later.

But before that I want to talk more about the place that I recorded these or the recording site.

Now I use the room in the Music Theatre Building, which is Room 2027,

which is on the second floor.

And I also used the audiolab to actually record this

into the console in the audio lab

through the use of a mobile unit. This mobile unit had some microphone preamps and

microphone inputs which were then sent through the Dante network through an Ethernet connection.

From this room downstairs to the audiolab console.

Next some more information about the survey

in general. This survey had 3 goals. The first was to collect music background information of the participants.

second, was to ask the participants to listen to the recordings and answer questions about each individual recording, and, lastly, for those participants to compare and contrast the recordings to come to a decision on which one they thought was the quote, unquote, expensive group.

Now in terms of prep work, I took inventory of micro of the microphones available in the audiolab. First.

then, I set guidelines using the modern recording techniques textbook that many music students may have encountered on their journey of learning.

and lastly, I used many reference tracks, songs, performances in jazz to get myself more accommodated to mixing and mastering jazz.

Now some setbacks and changes that occurred throughout the semester that push back

my project first was access to the room. I actually didn’t have consistent access to this room for a very long time until about 2 to 3 weeks ago.

Next were time conflicts between me and the musicians which ultimately led to some musicians not being available on the final recording date, and lastly, some microphones were not available on the date of this recording, so I had to change them to other ones.

Final thoughts are, I hope, to finish this project, strong with the survey, conducted next semester, and to collect a lot of useful information for those in the future. Thank you.

College of Visual and Performing Arts

AI and the Performances from the Dead

Author(s): Samuel Warden

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, Music Technology

Abstract

The title of my research project is called “AI and the Performances from the Dead.” For my project I wanted to talk about Artificial Intelligence rather known as AI and the problem with using AI to recreate a dead musician’s performance and if that is truly classified as a performance by that dead musician. The three points of supporting evidence I want to discuss are; who owns the intellectual property rights of the AI works, the impact on the music industry, and what is most important to me, is the AI respecting the deceased performer. I classified a performance based on; how much human involvement there was, are there any actual musicians or just AI created ones, and if it is a cover or something made from scratch. An example of honoring the dead would be The Beatles piece “Now and Then” which used AI to fix and finish vocals from John Lennon‘s song back in the late 1970s and create the last song all The Beatles will ever record together. This was done out of respect not out of money or entertainment purposes. An example of dishonoring the dead would be AI covers of songs that exist on YouTube and TikTok, usually for entertainment purposes. In conclusion, over the course of my research I draw attention to these ethical issues and allow you to make your own thoughts on whether or not it really is a performance from the dead.

Audio Transcript

The title of my presentation is AI and the Performances from the Dead.

We use AI in our everyday lives for everything such as digital assistants like Siri or Alex. Content recommendations on social media and shopping. And we use it to unlock our phones with FaceID.

So what’s the problem with AI? Because of Tiktok and YouTube AI covers and voices of performers are increasing in popularity. So what are the ethical and moral implications of using a deceased performer‘s vocals or likeness in AI to create a new performance?

There are many different problems with these covers and AI voices but the one I want to focus on is “is this truly a performance from that deceased musician.” And my three points of evidence that I‘m going to look at is, Is the AI Respecting the deceased performer, Who owns the intellectual property rights of the AI work, and what the impact on the music industry will look like because of this.

Before we talk about my points of evidence, first I should classify what I am counting as a performance in my research. First thing is how much human involvement there was. There are multiple different websites on the internet where it only takes a few minutes to create a full AI cover of a song. Are there actual musicians or is it all just digitally AI created. Meaning is it all digitally created likeness of the performer, or is there actual people playing behind the scenes. Lastly, Is it just a cover or a piece from scratch.

First point I want to talk about is, is it honoring the deceased individual? Some examples of honoring the deceased would be honoring and respecting the legacy of that performer, and completing an unfinished product. An example of this would be the 2023 song from The Beatles “Now and Then.” “Now and Then” which used AI to fix and finish vocals from John Lennon‘s song back in the late 1970s and it will be the last created song that all four of The Beatles will ever have recorded together.

Now some examples of not honoring the deceased individual. Some examples of not honoring the deceased would be random covers on Tiktok and YouTube. Most of these don‘t have ill intentions but really are just bringing back someone from the dead for another performance. Creating it for financial gain, creating something just to make money, movie studios do this every now and then with previously deceased actors. An example of this would be like somebody like Christopher Reeves coming back in the recent Flash movie. And lastly, entertainment purposes. Again, people create these usually with no ill intentions but it can feel wrong to puppeteer someone from the dead for one last performance. Now a musical example of not honoring the deceased individual would be from Frank Sinatra’s AI cover of a Dua Lipa’s song that came out in 2020 called “Levitating.”

In conclusion for now, over the course of my research I draw attention to these ethical issues and allow you to make your own thoughts on whether or not this is truly a performance from the dead. My opinion would be most of these are not but it can be a case by case basis as seen by The Beatles song like I mentioned. But I encourage you to make your own conclusion on whether or not you think these actual performances from these dead musicians.

Lastly, here is my work cited and thank you for listening to my presentation.

College of Visual and Performing Arts

A Look at the Lives of Working Musicians in the Northern Virginia/DC Area

Author(s): Emily Stedman

Mentor(s): Jesse Guessford, Music Technology

Abstract

This project takes a look at the lives of working musicians in Northern Virginia and DC. My object of study for this research project was to discover how local musicians are making the Northern Virginia and DC area work for them and to determine whether this location is a viable option for musicians hoping to earn a livable income off of their work: be that performance, recording, teaching, or a combination of things. For this research, I interviewed five local musicians to determine how they are supporting themselves and their musical endeavors financially, whether they pursue their music full-time or part-time, and their outlook and perspective about pursuing music in this area. The goal of this research was to provide insight into how musicians can capitalize on the opportunities available to them in this area. Interviewees responded to several questions asked by the interviewer. Examples of questions include, “What are the benefits and drawbacks of pursuing music in this area?” and, “What opportunities do you believe are available for musicians looking to make a living in this area?” Interviewees had a range of responses that reflected their diverse experiences and perspectives. All interviewees expressed that they were able to make a living pursuing music full-time in the area. Most of the interviewed musicians diversified their income across multiple music-related income streams, and one interviewee made income solely from performances. Teaching music lessons and gigging were the two most popular income streams identified. The general consensus of this research was that the Northern Virginia and DC area is a viable option for musicians looking to pursue music full-time.

Audio Transcript

This project takes a look at the lives of working musicians in the northern Virginia and DC area. The question I pose to my audience, Collegiate music students, is, when you think of making a living as a working musician what do you think of? Selling out a stadium as a touring artist? Studio work? Teaching? getting famous on TikTok? and what about your location? Where do you envision yourself making it in music? There’s a running narrative that you have to move to a big city in order to make it in music. What inspired this project is my own personal experience. As a senior in high school, I got into Belmont University and couldn’t wait to be making music in Nashville. Unfortunately, due to the price, it didn’t pan out for me and I studied music at George Mason University. I’ve been teaching and most recently gigging. What I’ve learned is that there’s a large and growing music community in the northern Virginia and DC area that you can take advantage of. Many of us have reasons not to make a big move; from the cost of uh cost of moving far away to the great financial opportunities in this area and uncertainty about pursuing Music full-time. Additionally, there are plenty of opportunities for musicians in the area from teaching musicians to plenty of performance opportunities at Wineries and breweries bennies and DC music retail and recording and rehearsal studios. My object of study for this research project is to discover how local musicians are making this area work for them and to determine whether the location is a viable option for musicians hoping to earn a livable income off of their work; be that performance recording, teaching, or a combination of things. For my research, I interviewed several local musicians to determine how they’re supporting themselves financially, whether they pursue music full-time, and their outlook and perspective on pursuing music in the area. The goal of this research is to provide insight into how all of us as musicians can capitalize on the opportunities we have available to us where we are right now. Several of the main questions I investigated is: are local musicians thriving in DC and Nova? Are you able to make a living as a full-time musician in the Northern Virginia and DC area? What opportunities can you take advantage of and what are the biggest benefits and drawbacks of pursuing music in the area? This is a list of the interview questions I asked. And here are several of the interviewees. All of them were full-time musicians and most of them were gigging musicians and several of them were DJs so all of them have different music-related jobs from instruction to gigging. Next, we’re going to take a look at one of the interviews: “I was asked to open for Hozier yeah in April and I did it solo and this it was it was at Lincoln Theater and it was booked by 930 Club imp and I was like reflecting on and I was like you know this would not happen in any other City it just wouldn’t but because DC is small enough that like you can like be friends with the people who book at 9:30 Club I wasn’t friends with this person but you know like I’m on their radar yeah because like I’ve done so much in the city” So Caroline is expressing that because the community here is small enough, it’s easier to get big opportunities such as playing for Hozier. A sneak peek at the findings: So outlook on music in the area was mixed. There were both positive and negative sentiments on how music is supported in the area. Many of the interviewees had no trouble getting any music-related jobs. Many of them have diversified their income across multiple income streams. For live music, there’s a trend towards cover bands in the northern Virginia area and original music in the DC area, and all our interviewees uh recommended online marketing for artists hoping to build a bigger audience benefits and drawbacks. I found um benefits include it’s easy to get gigs, there were plenty of Music rated jobs and a supportive community, um, large artists come through DC so there are a lot of big opportunities. Numerous venues for all types of gigs and opportunities to perform and market original music. Drawbacks include the high cost of living, getting people to shows negotiating prices, um Market driving prices down, and not a lot of traction for original music. The final consensus on my research um was that the northern Virginia and DC area is a great place to find work as a musician; though financing a full-time career includes diversifying your income and negotiating rates; and for those pursuing higher status and visibility in the music industry making use of online platforms or moving to a big city is recommended. Thank you very much!

College of Visual and Performing Arts Honors College OSCAR

Theatrical Trends in Contemporary Dance Allow Audiences to Reclaim the Arts

Author(s): Jessica Brown

Mentor(s): Susan Shields, Dance

Abstract

The field of contemporary dance is currently riddled with a tragic misdiagnosis: that it’s not for everyone. This misconception is violating the innate human connection between artist and performer, and it’s overriding the central goal of contemporary dance: to make people feel something.
This research seeks to identify what may be done to make contemporary dance more accessible to the greater public. More specifically, it looks at what effect theatrical trends in contemporary dance have on audience understanding, emotional reaction, and retention of meaning during a dance performance.
This study utilizes a piece of contemporary dance choreography as a demonstration in a comparative experiment. The piece is manipulated in two ways: one version is an abstract minimal performance and the other is embedded with current theatrical trends (such as elaborate costuming, props, and mixed-media elements). Students enrolled in a general education dance course, will view the performances, complete a short survey immediately after, and a week following the performance. These results will be used to assess their understanding of the narrative of the work, their personal emotional reaction, and their retention of the main ideas.
It’s expected that greater understanding will occur through viewing the theatrical piece, as it would allow the audience to engage with multiple artistic elements as opposed to independent abstract movement.
These results are vital to the sustainability of the dance world as well as the richness of our communities. Exposure to artistic expression is key in generating greater empathy, collaboration, and creativity in our communities.

Audio Transcript

Where does art fit into your life? Or more specifically, where does dance fit in? When you are stuck in your nine to five, and have everything else in the world to do, why would you go to see dance or spare time thinking about it? While we can’t exactly answer that for you, we can at least try to help!

Hi. I’m Jessica Brown a Sophomore dance major at George Mason University with a grant from OSCAR to pursue research into the accessibility of contemporary dance. Me and my mentor Susan Shields, a long time professor and previous director of the school of dance at George Mason, want to figure out what we can do to make you feel that you belong in the contemporary dance world.

When we ask people about their views on contemporary dance, they tell us that they think it is cool, but they just don’t get it! They feel intimidated and have been conditioned to thing that their interpretations are wrong.

So, we got the whole dance department together from dancers, to directors, to costume techs and more, to conduct a study assessing what elements of a contemporary dance performance are best at improving understanding.

This is Anna Lopez. A third year student who so generously allowed us to use a piece she choreographed for the sake of our research study. And these are some of her amazing dancers who will be performing for our subject group.

To start the study, we took her original piece of choreography and created two separate extreme versions to use as performance demonstrations.

The first version is incredibly theatrical â€” it uses more props, costuming, lighting and stage design to tell the original story of her work.

The other version however, is very minimal. It tells the same story, but with none of these additions, only the movement.

In terms of operating the study, we have set up a comparative experiment that uses these two altered versions of the same dance to asses which is more meaningful to a specific subject group. Our subject groups is made of the lovely students that are enrolled in school of dance general education classes for the spring semester 2023.

These students have a basic understanding of dance and a baseline interest in the form but have not started the act of choreographing or directing. This makes them the perfect target audience for our study.

The study takes place in Harris theater where half the subject group will observe the more abstract version of the piece, and the other half will watch the theatrical version.

From there we will ask them to complete a survey immediately after viewing it as well as a week following the experiment.

We are asking them about their emotional reactions, their understanding of the concept and moral meaning of the dance and asking them if they would pay to watch a show like this in the future.

Susan and I will compare these results and asses whether or not theatrical performance elements had any affect on audience understanding and retention of meaning in a contemporary dance performance.

This study is so special to us because it is the first of its kind to happen in our department. It is not often that we as dancers have the time or the funding to pursue scholarly study within such a personal artistic practice. But the entire school of dance has come together to support our efforts and we are therefore paving the way for future dancers and artists to take similar academic risks.

Furthermore, as a society and culture we depend and thrive on art. It stimulates our ability to collaborate, connect with others, and think critically about the values that we hold.

We are thoroughly excited to see what comes of this study and expect it to be nothing other than groundbreaking.

Thank you for watching and we hope to see you in the theater soon!