Woodruff, Jeremy
(2014)
A MUSICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PEOPLE'S MICROPHONE: VOICES AND ECHOES IN PROTEST AND SOUND ART AND
OCCUPATION 1 FOR STRING QUARTET.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
This is the latest version of this item.
Abstract
The People's Microphone technique, first employed by Occupy Wall Street in the 2011
occupation of Zuccotti Park, is a mode of political speech drawing on the fundamental
linguistic/musical principle of imitation. By analyzing musical parameters of the tones of
voice in instances of the People's Microphone in protest, and secondly by adapting the
method to analyze how the People's Microphone is used in an artwork by Brandon
LaBelle, I lay the speculative groundwork for a transversal theory dealing with the
political influence of musical sound. This theory is extended to Angela Davis, a piece in
Peter Ablinger's Voices and Piano series of compositions for piano and audio recording
in which the piano exactly imitates the intonations of the voice in different ways. The
arousal of cognitive dissonance through vocal inflection in interaction with contexts of
perception is the common thread through several examples that allows a holistic
theoretical approach across the domains of sound, art and politics. The argument
demonstrates how the intrinsic parameters of all vocal sound are both an ever-present
aesthetic and political force. The second part of the dissertation is an experimental
composition for string quartet wherein unison transformation with smooth as opposed to
striated movement through the continuum of pitch and rhythmic space (characteristics
abstracted from unison speech) provide further detailed research into effects of
consonance and dissonance, both tonal and cognitive.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
30 May 2014 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
25 March 2014 |
| Approval Date: |
30 May 2014 |
| Submission Date: |
17 April 2014 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
218 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > Music |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
music theory; sound art; politics |
| Date Deposited: |
30 May 2014 15:50 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 14:19 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21303 |
Available Versions of this Item
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A MUSICAL ANALYSIS OF THE PEOPLE'S MICROPHONE: VOICES AND ECHOES IN PROTEST AND SOUND ART AND
OCCUPATION 1 FOR STRING QUARTET. (deposited 30 May 2014 15:50)
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