Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Reviving the Dead Zone: The Creation and Development of ambiguous gaps(2018) Graham, Jennifer Brooke; Keefe, Maura; Dance; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)After identifying a pattern of creating product-driven work and feeling deeply dissatisfied and limited as a result, dance artist Jen Graham committed herself to releasing habit, following her instincts, and trusting the process of unfolding to find a new creative process and create her Master’s thesis work, ambiguous gaps. Launching an investigation into the physical relationships between people through an exploration of the intersections of dance improvisation, jazz dance values, and the Laban/Bartenieff Movement System, Graham endeavored to illuminate the physical and metaphoric gaps which must be navigated to create, shift, and maintain connection. This text details her journey through inspiration, research, creation, performance, and reflection.Item The Birth of Jeru: Gerry Mulligan's Early Composing/Arranging Career (1945-1953)(2010) Fine, Richard Samuel; Wexler, Richard; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Gerry Mulligan (1927-1996) is undoubtedly the most celebrated baritone saxophonist of all time. For decades, both popular and critics' polls consistently recognized him as the best on his instrument. He took first place for forty-three consecutive years (1953-1995) in Downbeat's Readers' Poll for best baritone saxophonist, and his reviews by critics and fellow performers were, for the most part, laudatory. He performed with such jazz icons as Chet Baker, Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, and Ben Webster. Perhaps as a consequence of this recognition as a performer, Gerry Mulligan's contributions as a composer and arranger have been overshadowed and therefore less recognized. This is despite the importance of his writing and its influence on the history of modern jazz orchestration. It was as a composer/arranger that he first made his mark, and he would preoccupy himself with writing throughout most of his career. The purpose of this dissertation is to study the history of Gerry Mulligan's composing/arranging career starting with his earliest professional writing projects as a teenager (ca 1945) and ending with the dissolution of his first pianoless quartet with Chet Baker (1953). To date, despite the availability of a huge collection of primary sources that Franca Mulligan, Gerry's widow, has donated to the Library of Congress, no scholarly study has been undertaken to examine this material, particularly in the context of Mulligan's development as composer/arranger. A particularly invaluable source has been made available to me for this project through special permission by Mrs. Mulligan. In 1995, Gerry Mulligan recorded his oral history by way of a series of interviews. The memoirs address such topics as his childhood; his associations with Gil Evans, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Gene Krupa; his pianoless quartet with Chet Baker; his ideas about counterpoint; and his heroin addiction. The dissertation draws particular attention to Mulligan's unique creative and intellectual processes, their context in his collaboration with other musicians, their effect on the evolution of his style throughout his early career, and their influence on other modern jazz composer/arrangers.Item French Stewardship of Jazz: The Case of France Musique and France Culture(2008-03-24) Suddarth, Roscoe Seldon; King, Richard G.; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The French treat jazz as "high art," as their state radio stations France Musique and France Culture demonstrate. Jazz came to France in World War I with the US army, and became fashionable in the 1920s--treated as exotic African-American folklore. However, when France developed its own jazz players, notably Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, jazz became accepted as a universal art. Two well-born Frenchmen, Hugues Panassié and Charles Delaunay, embraced jazz and propagated it through the Hot Club de France. After World War II, several highly educated commentators insured that jazz was taken seriously. French radio jazz gradually acquired the support of the French government. This thesis describes the major jazz programs of France Musique and France Culture, particularly the daily programs of Alain Gerber and Arnaud Merlin, and demonstrates how these programs display connoisseurship, erudition, thoroughness, critical insight, and dedication. France takes its "stewardship" of jazz seriously.