Doctoral Degrees (Music)

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An intellectual history of institutionalised music studies in South Africa
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Struwig, Mieke; Venter, Carina; Muller, Stephanus; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis constructs an intellectual history of institutionalised music studies in twentieth-century South Africa that attends to the establishment and consolidation of the disciplinarity of music, the work of individuals instrumental in this larger project, as well as the ways in which the discipline has responded to political changes and paradigm shifts. As such, it considers the establishment of music departments at South African universities, the emergence of scholarly journals and societies as well as important scholarly projects and initiatives. The focus on institutionalised music studies brings to bear an emphasis on work produced by scholars and students affiliated to universities or research institutes. This material has been supplemented with extensive archival research at the National Archives of South Africa, the National Afrikaans Literary Museum and Research Centre, the International Library of African Music and Stellenbosch University’s Documentation Centre for Music. Chapter One places this study within the context of current calls for disciplinary introspection and transformation. The establishment of the first departments of music at South African universities and the individuals who played important roles in this project are documented in Chapter Two. Particular attention is paid to Percival Kirby (the first music scholar appointed to an academic position at a South African university) and Jan Bouws, whose work on South African music and subsequent appointment at Stellenbosch University represented the start of a burgeoning Afrikaans music historiographical practice. Chapter Three documents the way in which academics sought legitimacy and impetus for the field of music studies outside of these educational institutions, tracing these trajectories of disciplinary legitimisation and the networks of individuals they involved. In doing so, it foregrounds societies, periodicals and individuals who emerge from this process as important figures. Hugh Tracey, the African Music Society, the International Library of African Music and African Music are also considered here. The South African Music Encyclopedia (SAME) and its editor, Jacques Philip Malan, are extensively considered in Chapter Four. Through a consideration of SAME’s philosophical and ideological underpinnings, the effect of apartheid on scholars and academic projects is foregrounded. Chapter Five provides an overview of disciplinary consolidation (the establishment of the South African Musicological Society); contestations (by the Ethnomusicology Symposia, scholars such as Christopher Ballantine and Klaus Heimes and the introduction of Marxist critiques) and proliferations (particularly in the work of the South African Music Educator’s Society, the field of multicultural music education and the establishment of music departments at Black universities). In doing so, it addresses the agency exercised by individual academics during the 1980s and early 1990s. This account of personal and scholarly agency troubles the idea of a binary division in South African music studies, roughly equivalent to political categories of reactionary or enlightened thinking.
South African concert pianists: an overview 1900 -1989
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Gollom, Ingrid; Ludemann, Winfried ; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research focuses on the history of the piano concert as an established cultural phenomenon in South Africa since the beginning of the 20th century, with a specific emphasis on the pianists who contributed to its establishment and development. The overview ends with the death of, arguably, South Africa's most illustrious pianist, Steven De Groote, in 1989. The hypothesis underlying the project as a whole is that a distinct piano concert tradition gradually came into being in the early 1900s. Over the next several decades it developed from its initial colonial characteristics to a cultural institution that was firmly anchored in its South African environment. The term "piano concert tradition" has been coined to capture the essence of this cultural phenomenon. Of the pianists concerned, some came from abroad and had studied with leading teachers of the day, while an increasing number of exponents were raised and trained in South Africa. The cultural and social infrastructure that accompanied the tradition is given consideration and includes training institutions, professional orchestras, diverse funding, a broadcasting network, supportive audiences, and, as a late addition, music competitions. This dissertation also touches briefly on the socio-political context in which the tradition evolved and highlights the tension between colonialism and apartheid on the one hand and a cultural tradition with the loftiest aspirations on the other. The careers and achievements of some of the pianists presented here have been the topic of limited inquiry before, while the majority are presented as the subjects of research for the first time. The dissertation ends with the recommendation that comparative studies, in countries with similar or contrasting colonial and culturally diverse backgrounds, would be an interesting topic for further research.
Die koortjie undercommons
(2023-12) Engelbrecht, Inge Alvine; Froneman, Willemien; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die koortjie het nog altyd ’n peripheral space in die meer conventional kerkmusiek practices en discourses in die coloured kerk communities ge-occupy. Dit was hierdie marginality wat vir my problematic was en wat ek wou address. Die storie van die koortjie unfold gradually deur die tesis. Hierdie unfolding loop parallel met die narratives van die figure wat in die tesis feature, en hierdeur word issues soos history, cultural en spiritual identity op ’n unieke manier address. Consequently is die narrative van die koortjie interwoven into die tapestry van die lived experiences van hierdie belangrike figure, asook in my eie discoveries. Omdat ek ook ’n outsider of sorts is wanneer dit by die koortjie kom, ontdek die leser wat die koortjie is, wat dit entail en hoe dit function partly deur my oë asook deur die oë van die experts, en die meestal real-time documenting reinforce die notion van ’n gradual unfolding. Linguistically het die tesis vanaf die proposal stage deur ’n taal shift van Engels na Afrikaans gegaan wat eventually die boundary tussen die twee tale blur. Dus represent die tesis ’n bepaalde linguistic expression wat, nes die koortjie, nie net meer op die fringes van wat as standaard beskou word, exist nie. Moreover, is die Afrikaans wat in hierdie tesis gebruik word partly ’n reflection van die linguistic traits wat generally met coloured mense ge-associate word en is especially representative van die narratives van die “mense wat feature innie storie” (Arendse, 2021). Die structure van die tesis is deur die narratives van die respondente en my eie etnografiese beskrywings bepaal. Die eerste twee hoofstukke word ge-underscore deur die theme van die commons en undercommons (Harney & Moten, 2013) soos dit pertain tot die spaces wat die karakters involved in exist en daagliks in moet function en navigate, asook die rol wat die koortjie in hierdie spaces speel en in turn represent. In die derde hoofstuk word die development van die koortjie extend deur middel van die intergenerational connection tussen twee prominente figure in hierdie genre en in die Suid-Afrikaanse gospel industry. Die koortjie se evolution word deur die tension wat deur hierdie figure se onderskeie musical en spiritual timelines create word, gemap, tensions wat deur comparable tog contradicting sensibilities gehighlight word. Hoofstuk vier address en spotlight die issue van colouredness deur ’n quasi-conversation met die skrywer van ’n spesifieke bron waarin stereotypical commentary oor die supposed problematiese mindset en thinking van coloured mense bespreek word. Die issue van colouredness word verder op expand in hoofstuk vyf deur op die relationship tussen die koortjie en colouredness te fokus. Dit word gedoen deur die origin van die koortjie in terme van coloured kerkmusiek te bespreek, asook die notion van ownership en curatorship van die koortjie deur members van die coloured community. In hoofstuk ses word die koortjie as ’n code switching device geharness wat as die facilitator van hierdie switching tussen die physical en metaphysical inspect word. Hierdie idee van die koortjie as metaphysical code switching device word dan in hoofstuk sewe in meer detail ondersoek en word daar gekyk na hoe die act van trancing (Poloma, 2003; Becker, 2004) deur praktyke wat met die koortjie gepaardgaan, soos die koordans en ‘die trap’, teweeggebring word. Die tesis word conclude met ’n Epilogue wat die narrative van die koortjie proverbially full circle bring deur die koortjie terug na die space van die undercommons te bring. Hierdie deel serve ook as ’n voorbeeld van die possibilities nie net vir verdere navorsing in soortgelyke cultural musiek nie, maar ook vir die continued proliferation van knowledge oor die existence, practices en importance van die koortjie in Suid-Afrikaanse cultural en religious studies.
Hans Roosenschoon's choral music
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Kappis, Jolene Auret; Ludemann, Winfried; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences. Dept. of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Hans Roosenschoon's music is performed infrequently and has not attracted much scholarly investigation. The present study is the first research project at a doctoral level that deals with Roosenschoon’s work. Through the discussion and analysis of a selection of his choral music this study endeavours to show that his work is, indeed, of paramount importance to South African art music in the European tradition. Based on Hermann Danuser’s “contextualising” method of analysis the study presents a detailed discussion of the contextual and structural aspects of the works in question. Firebowl (1980), set to the similarly titled poem by Sydney Clouts, is the first choral composition in which Roosenschoon evokes the sounds of Africa, being predated by the brass quintet Makietie (1978). It is claimed that these works are the first by a South African composer to engage in a consistent manner with the stylistic elements of African music and it challenges the narrative that African influence was first introduced into South African art music by other composers. The discussion of the sacred choral work Prayer of St Richard (1990) highlights Roosenschoon’s use of layering and stratification as stylistic devices, while his technique of manipulating predetermined tone constellations is also illustrated. The third work under discussion, Miserere (1991), shows a further development in Roosenschoon's style: compact but effective presentation of textural contrasts and the movement between consonance and dissonance characterise this work. The trilogy Kô, lat ons sing (1993) forms the centrepiece of this study. The work has three movements, Ons het 'n hys gebou, O waar is Moses and Kô, lat ons sing, which are musical settings of poetry by the renowned Adam Small. The work incorporates African and European stylistic elements as well as the sounds of the Cape. Thematic references to the music of Ladysmith Black Mambazo and the anthem Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika are shown to be present in the first movement. Tone constellations derived from Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika also characterise the haunting second movement. The third movement presents an explosion of folklike ideas and culminates in a full rendition of Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. The following composition to form part of this study, Mbira (1994), presents yet another, highly original example of the composer’s continued engagement with African music. Here he creates a text out of the names of four African musical instruments, creating an ingenious composition that alludes to the sounds of these instruments and the music with which they are associated. Magnificat (1994), the third sacred composition in this study, presents traits similar to those of the previous two sacred works. Imitation of motivic material, layering, stratification and transformation of texture, the clever manipulation of thematic material and the continuous sway between consonance and dissonance are the work’s outstanding characteristics. Lux Aeterna (2003), shows another side of Roosenschoon's compositional style. Here he exploits the possibilities offered by progressions of tonally derived chords that are not related to each other within a tonal structure. The final work, Sky (2004), places the serene poetry of Sydney Clouts’ Slope down, Great Sky into an evocative eruption of sound, depicting Roosenschoon's predilection for playing with this element in very imaginative ways. Linking the text “in a dream of encircling, circling” from the composition Sky with the present study, the hope is expressed that this research will create a further "circling" of Hans Roosenschoon’s highly significant contribution to South African art music in the European tradition.
Breaking into sound: dis/locating Ntu cosmology and improvisation in South African jazz
(Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Makhathini, Nduduzo; Vos, Stephanie; Muller, Stephanus; Phalafala, Uhuru; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Music.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This artistic-led enquiry emerged from the premise that jazz studies exclude or, at least, do not adequately address the significance of spiritualities in South African jazz. Where spirituality is invoked, it is treated as background and not seriously engaged with. Emerging from this premise, this study argues that there is a deep connection between cosmologies and how people come to sound, including in what is known as ‘jazz’. As a scholar and an artist with a mature practice, I have come to understand jazz, in the context outlined in this study, as a process in improvisatory realms that dialogues, intimately, with cosmology. Two chapters formulate ntu cosmology as point of departure for engaging (South) African worldviews, in which concepts of wholeness and continuity form governing principles. The study shows how an understanding of ntu cosmology provides alternative lexicons for engaging South African jazz improvised musics. It suggests that improvisation could be understood as a form of ritual overlapping between physical and metaphysical planes. This process is understood as the breaking into sound, engaging with ‘elsewhere’. The contributions this study makes to jazz scholarship are located in a) theorizing the breaking into sound, b) reading the bandstand as communal and ritual space, and c) proposing divination (or the throwing of the bones) as a different way to think about improvisation. To elaborate on these perspectives the study walks in the footsteps of four seminal artists (Philip Tabane, Busi Mhlongo, Bheki Mseleku and Zim Ngqawana), with whom I have engaged in various ways: as a disciple, band member, session musician and a keen follower of the music. From a decentering point of view, the positioning of the study as an artistic-led inquiry constitutes an epistemological intervention, making it possible to argue from a musical and artistic standpoint. By advancing, through artistic practice as a primary means of knowing, the importance of the spiritual (rather than ineffable, or transcendent, or sublime), means that one approaches the issue of musical meaning (or importance) through cosmological registers. Guided by the artistic aspects of my work and that of my interlocutors, the study constructs a framework for understanding jazz improvised musics in South Africa that is cosmologically, ontologically and epistemologically conscious.

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