Department of Music

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14078/18

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Anarchist erotica: transmedia and transmemory in cyborgraphy in performativity
(2024) MacDonald, Michael B.; Dinis, Frederico
The modern human is performative. If we consider modernity as ritual process, a set of performance technologies that organize the intensive energies of the homo sapien into the extensive coordinates of the modern human, then perhaps altermodern rituals biogram something else. We might see the recent propositions of posthuman, metahuman, transhuman, and ahuman (amongst others) as a confirmation that the modern human is only one set of extensive coordinates for Homo sapien, and perhaps no longer even the most influential. This study folds ethnography, performance studies, and feminist technoscience in a developing cyborgraphic practice called CineWorlding, a mode of cinematic research-creation. The contribution of this chapter is to experiment with a method of transmedia study with emerging xhumans to investigate the role of technologically mobile transmemory in its biogrammatic formation.
Devemos apelidá-los de estudos cine-culturais? O cine-mundificar da música popular e dos estudos juvenis
(2022) MacDonald, Michael B.; Lima, João
Este articulo explora la investigaci6n-creaci6n cinematografica, o lo que yo llamo cinemundificaci6n. De hecho, la cine-mundificaci6n tiene el potencial de contribuir a una practica de investigaci6n !'.mica para la musica popular y los estudios sobre la juventud, areas de la vida cultural caracterizadas por su apertura e innovaci6n con los nuevos medios. Ser consciente de estas oportunidades significa aprovechar las tecnologias disponibles en la actualidad. Pero hay un obstaculo. La producci6n cinematografica debe ir acompanada de la investigaci6n. Los metodos tradicionales de investigaci6n cinematografica, debido a sus costes, dificultades con la revision por pares y falta de apoyo institucional, no han sido aceptados por el mundo academico. Ha sido la antropologia la que mas ha hecho por desarrollar la investigaci6n cinematografica a traves del cine etnografico. Los nuevos desarrollos en el ecosistema del cine digital han sido hasta ahora poco explorados. El emergente ecosistema del cine digital desde 2009 consiste en camaras digitales y telefonos inteligentes relativamente baratos, plataformas digitales gratuitas de nivel profesional, una red mundial de festivales de cine y la transformaci6n de la mayoria de los cines de arte y ensayo en proyecciones digitales. Esto significa que el cine digital realizado en un ordenador portatil puede proyectarse en cualquier lugar. Estamos en el mejor momento posible para el cine academico, pero lPOr que entonces los academicos lo hacen tan poco? This article explores cinematic research-creation, or what I call cine-worlding. Indeed, cine-worlding has the potential to contribute to a research practice unique to popular music and youth studies, areas of cultural life characterised by their openness and innovation with new media. Being aware of these opportunities means taking advantage of the technologies currently available. But there is an obstacle. Cinematic production must come together with research. Traditional cinematic research methods, due to their costs, difficulties with peer review and lack of institutional support, have not been accepted by academia. It has been anthropology that has done the most to develop cinematic research through ethnographic film. New developments in the digital cinema ecosystem have been little explored so far. The digital cinema ecosystem, emerging since 2009, consists of relatively cheap digital cameras and smartphones, free professional-grade digital platforms, a worldwide network of film festivals and the transformation of most art-house cinemas into digital screenings. This means that digital cinema made on a laptop can be shown anywhere. We are at the best possible moment for academic filmmaking, but then why do academics do so little of it?
Pós-realismo ou qualquer que seja a sua forma: uma conversa sobre música, cine-etnomusicologia e pesquisa-criação cinematográfica
(2024) MacDonald, Michael B.; Bragagnolo, Bibiana; Sanchez, Leonardo Pellegrim
Se a cine-etnomusicologia quiser ser relevante, precisará se engajar nas conversas importantes. Em Kill the documentary, Jill Godmilow propõe o pós-realismo como um caminho para identificar filmes que estrategicamente abrem a tampa dos documentários convencionais recusando-se a explorar o pedigree, a pornografia e o imperialismo do real... o filme pós-realista é uma forma antiespetacular que recusa a transparência do documentário, os argumentos comprobatórios, a clássica estrutura narrativa, as explicações psicológicas e os sistemas de identificação simpática que postulam simetrias nós/eles (Shapiro, 1997, p. 30). If cine-ethnomusicology is to be relevant, it will need to engage in important conversations. In Kill the Documentary, Jill Godmilow proposes post-realism as a way to identify films that strategically lift the lid on conventional documentaries by refusing to explore the pedigree, pornography, and imperialism of the real... postrealist film is an anti-spectacular form that refuses documentary transparency, evidentiary arguments, classical narrative structure, psychological explanations, and systems of sympathetic identification that postulate us/them symmetries (Shapiro, 1997, p. 30).
Field studies : chamber music of Emilie Cecilia LeBel
(2023) LeBel, Emilie Cecilia; Duvall, Cheryl; Admiral, Roger; Anderson, Chenoa; Balcetis, Allison; Segger, Mark; Waniuk, Ilana
evaporation, blue (11:46) -- …and the higher leaves of the trees seemed to shimmer in the last of the sunlight’s lingering touch of them… (12:56) -- drift (11:33) -- even if nothing but shapes and light reflected in the glass (13:55) -- further migration (migration no. 1) (11:52). Cheryl Duvall (piano, harmonica) ; Roger Admiral (piano) ; Chenoa Anderson (flute, alto flute) ; Allison Balcetis (baritone saxophone) ; Mark Segger (percussion) ; Ilana Waniuk (violin). Producers, Emilie LeBel and Paul Talbott.
Landscapes of memory
(2024) LeBel, Emilie Cecilia; Shen, Wesley; Cardassi, Luciane
Ghost geography (32:43) -- Pale forms in uncommon light (30:51). Luciane Cardassi, piano (Ghost geography) ; Wesley Shen, piano (Pale forms in uncommon light). Producers, Emilie LeBel and Paul Talbott.
Introduction to music theory and rudiments
(2024) Hart, Devin; Woo, Carol; Toledo, Rubim de; Van Seters, Tom; Leschyshyn, Brooklyn; Baril, Raymond; Guan, Jianfei; Ginther, Rose; Debe, Enelson; Graham, Abigail
This book covers the basics of music theory and rudiments. The book aims to be a resource for students and teachers to aid them in either preparing for admission into post-secondary music programs or as a supplemental resource on basic music theory.
Research recast(ed): S3E5 - Big bands and music magic at MacEwan University with Padraig Buttner-Schnirer and special guests Dr. Allan Gilliland and Raymond Baril
(2023) Leschyshyn, Brooklyn; Smadis, Natalie; Padraig Buttner-Schnirer; Gilliland, Allan; Baril, Raymond
In today’s episode, we discuss Padraig Buttner-Schnirer, Raymond Baril, and Dr. Allan Gilliland’s ongoing project involving the recording and production of two full-length albums of music performed by the MacEwan Generations Big Band. The project is called Generations and features original compositions by current students, faculty, and alumni, perfect for MacEwan’s recently celebrated 50th anniversary. The three talk about how their talents in recording, performance, and composition came together to create this project. With special thanks to… Bent River Records (https://bentriverrecords.macewan.ca/) Rose Ginther, Associate Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts & Communications Paul Johnston, Associate Professor, Recording & Music Production Craig Monk, Provost and Vice-President, Academic Dr. Allan Gilliland, Dean, Faculty of Fine Arts & Communications Raymond Baril, Associate Professor, Department of Music.
Research recast(ed): S1E16 - Soundscapes with Dr. Emilie LeBel
(2022) Ekelund, Brittany; Cave, Dylan; LeBel, Emilie
Today we dive into the music world, touching on technology in composition, challenging norms, the importance of artistic spaces and, most importantly, dogs! Joining us is Canadian composer Dr. Emilie LeBel, whose work has been referred to as intelligent and audacious, beautifully coherent and impressively subtle and sensuous. Dr. LeBel is an affiliate composer with the Toronto Symphony, and she also teaches composition and music theory at MacEwan University. Bent River Records is an artist-focused record label providing unique opportunities for students to work with artists to gain experience in the music industry.
Ark: a return to Robson Valley
(2022) MacDonald, Michael B.
What follows is a fictional conversation with a reviewer about the cinematic research-creation film Ark: A Return to Robson Valley(MacDonald 2022, dir.) published in this first issue of JAVEM. The purpose is to begin to discuss the value of fiction/neorealism in knowledge creation. The title and form of the essay riffs off of Brian Massumi’s (2008) “The Thinking-Feeling of What Happens: A Semblance of a Conversation.” In this conversation I am addressing comments from both reviewers, though playfully use the name Reviewer 2 to make a point about what Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari call conceptual personae from “What is Philosophy?” that: “names are intrinsic conceptual personae who haunt a particular plane of consistency” (1994:24). Authors quite often make jokes about the critical nature of Reviewer 2, and some will possibly have an affective response to the name, which may open further the space I am trying to flow through with this essay.
Remix and life hack in hip hop : towards a critical pedagogy of music
(2016) MacDonald, Michael B.
Many hiphoppas labour to sustain Hiphop Kulture in their communities far from the big stages, world tours, and hit singles enjoyed by a shockingly few American hiphoppas. The creative labour of these few mega stars is calculated in billions of dollars. But for most hiphoppas, their creative labour may never get expressed in economic terms. Instead it is expressed in social capital, the production of collective and individual subjectivities, the bonds of love that build and hold communities together, and the healing of broken hearts, broken homes, and broken neighborhoods in broken cities. Hiphop Kulture is not a music genre, it is much more, and exploring how the sharing of aesthetic resources builds community, and how situated learning plays a necessary role in cultural sustainability draws out questions that may lead to a model of community located cultural education, and a starting point for a critical pedagogy of music
Playing for change : music festivals as community learning and development
(2016) MacDonald, Michael B.
Playing for Change – performing for money and for social justice – introduces a critical pedagogy of arts-based community learning and development (A-CLD), a new discipline wherein artists learn to become educators, social workers, and community economic development agents. Challenging the assumption that acculturation into a ruling ideology of state development is necessary, this book presents a version of CLD that locates development in the production of subjectivities. The author argues that A-CLD is as concerned with the autonomous collective and the individual as it is with establishing community infrastructure. As a result, a radical new theory is proposed to explain aesthetics within arts movements, beginning not by normalizing music cultures within global capitalism, but by identifying the creation of experimental assemblages as locations of cultural resistance. This book offers a new vocabulary of cultural production to provide a critical language for a theory of anti-capitalist subjectivity and for a new type of cultural worker involved with A-CLD. Drawing from a four-year study of thirteen music festivals, Playing for Change forwards A-CLD as a locally situated, joyful, and creative resistance to the globalizing forces of neoliberalism.
CineWorlding: scenes of cinematic research-creation
(2023) MacDonald, Michael B.
Using cine-ethnomusicology as a focus, Cineworlding introduces readers to ways of thinking eco-cinematically. Screens are omnipresent, we carry digital cinema production equipment in our pockets, but this screen-based technological revolution has barely impacted social science scholarship. Mixing existential phenomenological fiction about social science digital cinema research practice followed by theoretical reflection and discussion of methods, this book has emerged from a decade-long inquiry into cineworlding and a desire to help others produce digital media to engage creatively with the digital networks that surround us.
Collaborative projection and the twin ecstasies of DIY cineworlding
(2023) MacDonald, Michael B.
The notion that ethnographic practice needs to be normative in order to be rigorous is problematic, especially when the partners in that research are producing experimental and resistant DIY cultures. Nonnormative ethnographers are “activist” in their critical engagement with dominant regimes of truth and must contend with digital disruption and platform capitalism that has vastly expanded DIY production. It is no longer possible to identify DIY culture with self-production because digital self-production is simply demanded for the “digital citizenship” of platform capitalism. In this article, the psychoanalytic concept of projection is turned upside down and understood as a socially performed digital-bodying that worlds. The screen becomes a location of dissensus, projecting the ecstatic truth of Modern/capitalist worldings or Altermodern/anti-capitalist worldings. Cinematic research-creation, CineWorlding, is an activist cinematic posthumanographic study of the interstices that infold concepts, bodies, social, technological, and environmental ecologies into worldings.
What can music learning do? Audiovision as research-creation in undergraduate music studies
(2023) MacDonald, Michael B.
Livestreaming as research-creation for music studies introduced students to research-creation and the felt experience of extralinguistic concepts. As a way of both rethinking the divide between musicology and music performance and engaging in much needed critical reflection on how music teaching has always been done, research-creation in audiovision creates a laboratory for extralinguistic musicology. By connecting research-creation literature with practical training in the production of audiovision music studies, dominant image of thought emerges and a new machinic image of thought is introduced. If music studies is to find its way beyond the disciplinarity of inherited models, it will do so along with a wider engagement in a diversity of what it means to teach and what it means to do research. This is, at its core, a question of what image of thought will be allowed.
Unspittable: long-form ethnographic music video as cine-ethnomusicology research-creation
(2020) MacDonald, Michael B.
Cine-ethnomusicology, the cinematic study of music culture, is an emerging discipline in ethnomusicology. Benjamin Harbert, a leading figure in this movement, has called for a critical cinema of music to blend ethnomusicology and film studies. In response to this call, I forward the long-form ethnographic music video as a research-creation model that combines ethnographic filmmaking with music video production. This article introduces a three-assemblage ethnographic production model and uses the making of Unspittable (2019) as a case study.
African rhythm as the foundation of contemporary bass performance
(2018) de Toledo, Rubim
Jazz and contemporary bass playing is a varied and deeply elaborate landscape. If jazz, American popular music, Caribbean, and Latin musical genres are taken into consideration, the breadth of bass styles is too broad to encompass in one lifetime. However, when the roots and traditions of these styles are examined, many common musical devices appear. With even more examination, these musical qualities can be seen and linked to West African ancestry. In this thesis, I outline several of these qualities and demonstrate these concepts from the perspective of modern bass performance. As well, I discuss the core rhythms in contemporary bass playing that have been retained from West African music. In conclusion, I present a handful of practical practice exercise to aid the bassist in internalizing some of the concepts discussed in the thesis. With such a broad topic it is clear to me that, while I present a unique perspective on contemporary bass performance, the study of African retention in bass performance goes far beyond the scope of a master’s thesis. It is my goal to open a gateway to a new awareness on the roots of contemporary bass playing and aid the bassist to build an authentic and profound connection to the ancestry of the art form.
Pimachihowan
(2015) MacDonald, Michael B.; Lertzman, David
The product of three years of work in Northern Alberta that explores the traditional Cree philosophy of Pimachihowan that roughly translates into living with the land. The northern Cree are First Nations (Indigenous Canadians) living in the Boreal forest, second in size and ecological importance only to the Amazonian Rainforest, an indispensable resource to maintaining life. A Michael MacDonald film; written and produced by Dr. David Lertzman; director, editor, sound: Michael MacDonald; featuring Dr. David Lertzman, Conroy Sewepagaham, and Willard Tallcree; 33:03 minutes. Retrieved from: http://www.michaelbmacdonaldfilms.ca/
Megamorphesis: the hip hop quest for enlightenment
(2016) MacDonald, Michael B.
Every week Dre Pharoh and iD meet with young Edmonton hiphoppas at a local community centre. Together they make a knowledge cypher called Cipher5 where they work towards developing both skills and better selves. This is a film about one of those meetings where they talk about HipHop Kulture and build a new hip-hop track about their transformation to a higher self, Megamorephesis. A Cipher5 production; a Michael MacDonald film; 29:46 minutes. Retrieved from: http://www.michaelbmacdonaldfilms.ca/
Letters to Attawapiskat
(2016) MacDonald, Michael B.; Cipher5
The story of tragedy at the Attawapiskat First Nations brings up issues of colonization, truth and reconciliation in a very personal way for a group of hiphoppas in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A film by Michael B. MacDonald; A CIPHER5 Production; 31:11 minutes. Retrieved from: http://www.michaelbmacdonaldfilms.ca/
Who's afraid of the vagina monologues?
(2017) MacDonald, Michael B.
Behind the scene at the University of Calgary's fifth annual production of Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues. This short behind-the-scenes film follows directors Shirley R. Steinberg and Lauryn Record at the dress rehearsal as they shape their contribution to the global effort to stop violence against women and girls. A Michael B. MacDonald film; 15:47 minutes. Retrieved from http://www.michaelbmacdonaldfilms.ca/

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