Authors:Dalton Phillips Abstract: A popular form of lifelong musical involvement and education in the United States is choral singing. Community choirs represent one way that adults can participate in this artform. Collegiate town and gown choirs are a unique option for musical engagement that is always intergenerational. The purpose of this study was to determine the motivational factors that affect participation in collegiate-based town and gown choirs. Variables included participants’ demographics, musical backgrounds, motivational factors that affect participation, and how motivational factors for participation differ between college students and non-student community members. Motives for participation were determined using Boshier’s (1971) framework of deficiency- and growth-motivated learners in adult education. Participants were recruited from town and gown choirs at three midwestern university campuses. Data were collected using the Education Participation Scale developed by Boshier (2005) to measure motivation for participation in adult education. A typical profile for a town and gown singers was White, female, and well-educated. Most participants reported an increasing involvement in grade school music and being a member of a high school vocal ensembles. Top motivational factors for participation in town and gown ensembles were Cognitive Interest and Social Contact. Significant differences were found between college student and community choir members for three Social Contact motives and one related to Cognitive Interest. Cognitive Interest and Social Contact were interpreted to represent growth- and deficiency-motivated learning respectively. PubDate: 2020-08-28
Authors:Kelsy Morrison Abstract: The musical ensemble performing at the Netherfield ball in the 1995 BBC miniseries adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice includes a serpent. While neither the materials about the making of the series nor resources discussing the film music address how or why the decision to use a serpent was made, they do indicate that the filmmakers cared about historical accuracy and made decisions about other background aspects of the film based on careful research. It is highly unlikely that British filmmakers in the 1990s would have included an instrument that had fallen completely out of use by the end of the nineteenth century had it not been for a successful revival movement started in England by Christopher Monk two decades earlier. This paper explores the serpent’s history, revival among early music enthusiasts, the prevalence of the serpent in Regency England society, and the skillful handling of its inclusion in the miniseries by film makers. PubDate: 2020-08-28
Authors:Megan Roden Abstract: The Orpheus story has been written and rewritten numerous times over, most notably through the opera medium. More recently, Anaïs Mitchell’s musical Hadestown rewrote the famous tale once more. But Hadestown’s alterations are not unheard of, as many aspects of the popular musical can be seen in operas dating back to the 1600s. This paper analyzes previous iterations of the story via opera from the Renaissance through the Romantic era as a framework for examining the themes of Mitchell’s Hadestown. Mitchell’s interpretation opens up a dialogue on what impacts the human soul, bringing in topics such as mental health, social class, wealth, resilience, and love. PubDate: 2020-08-28