Playing for Real: Designing Alternate Reality Games in Learning Contexts

Alternate Reality Game (ARG) represent a new genre of transmedia practice where players hunt for scattered clues, make sense of disparate information, and solve puzzles to advance an ever-evolving storyline. Players participate in ARGs using multiple communications technologies, ranging from print materials to mobile devices. However, many interaction design challenges must be addressed to weave these everyday communication tools together into an immersive, participatory experience. Transmedia design is not an everyday process. Designers must create and connect story bits across multiple media (video, audio, text) and multiple platforms (phones, computers, physical spaces). Furthermore, they must engage with players of varying skill levels. Few studies to-date have explored the design process of ARGs in learning contexts. Fewer still have focused on challenges involved in designing for youth (13-17 years old). In this study, I explore the process of designing ARGs as vehicles for promoting information literacy and participatory culture for adolescents (13-17 years old). Two ARG design scenarios, distinguished by target learning environment (formal and informal context) and target audience (adolescents), comprise the two cases that I examine. Through my analysis of these two design cases, I articulate several unique challenges faced by designers who create interactive, transmedia stories for – and with – youth. Drawing from these design challenges, I derive a repertoire of design strategies that future designers and researchers may use to create and implement ARGs for teens in learning contexts. In particular, I propose a narrative design framework that allows for the categorization of ARGs as storytelling constructs that lie along a continuum of participation and interaction. The framework can serve as an analytic tool for researchers and a guide for designers. In addition, I establish a framework of social roles that designers may employ to craft transmedia narratives before live launch and to promote and scaffold player participation after play begins. Overall, the contributions of my study include theoretical insights that may advance our understanding of narrative design and analysis as well as more practical design implications for designers and practitioners seeking to incorporate transmedia features into learning experiences that target youth.

Connecting the dots: Examining the role of parental beliefs and preschoolers’ affect and engagement in predicting parent-child number exploration during a meaningful math experience

The current study examined the frequency and quality of how 3- to 4-year-old children and their parents explore the relations between symbolic and non-symbolic quantities in the context of a playful math experience, as well as the role of both parent and child factors in this exploration. Preschool children’s numerical knowledge was assessed while parents completed a survey about the number-related experiences they share with their children at home, and their math-related beliefs. Parent-child dyads were then videotaped playing a modified version of the card game War. Results suggest that parents and children explored quantity explicitly on only half of the cards and card pairs played, and dyads of young children and those with lower number knowledge tended to be most explicit in their quantity exploration. Dyads with older children, on the other hand, often completed their turns without discussing the numbers at all, likely because they were knowledgeable enough about numbers that they could move through the game with ease. However, when dyads did explore the quantities explicitly, they focused on identifying numbers symbolically, used non-symbolic card information interchangeably with symbolic information to make the quantity comparison judgments, and in some instances, emphasized the connection between the symbolic and non-symbolic number representations on the cards. Parents reported that math experiences such as card game play and quantity comparison occurred relatively infrequently at home compared to activities geared towards more foundational practice of number, such as counting out loud and naming numbers. However, parental beliefs were important in predicting both the frequency of at-home math engagement as well as the quality of these experiences. In particular, parents’ specific beliefs about their children’s abilities and interests were associated with the frequency of home math activities, while parents’ math-related ability beliefs and values along with children’s engagement in the card game were associated with the quality of dyads’ number exploration during the card game. Taken together, these findings suggest that card games can be an engaging context for parent-preschooler exploration of numbers in multiple representations, and suggests that parents’ beliefs and children’s level of engagement are important predictors of this exploration.

THE EFFECT OF A PROGRAM OF PORTABLE ELECTRONIC PIANO KEYBOARD EXPERIENCE ON THE ACQUISITION OF SIGHT-SINGING SKILL IN THE NOVICE HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS

The problem was to determine whether a method of aural and visual vocal training that included a program of portable electronic piano keyboard experience would be more effective in teaching sight-singing skills to novice high school chorus students than a method that included only aural and visual vocal training. A sub-problem was to determine whether novice chorus students enjoyed playing electronic keyboards in chorus as a reinforcement experience in sight-singing training. Students were randomly assigned to two treatment groups, tested with the Musical Aptitude Profile, Tonal Imagery, part A, and then trained separately. The experimental group sang repetitions of melodic patterns and utilized techniques associated with the Kodály Method while simultaneously playing keyboard. The comparison group received a similar treatment without using keyboards. The students were pre- and post-tested in sight-singing using the Vocal Sight-Reading Inventory. Results of the Analysis of Covariance using MAP scores as the covariate revealed no significant difference (p<.05) between post-test scores of the two groups. Improvement was noted in 96% of students from pre-test to post-test regardless of grouping. The repeated measures ANOVA revealed a significant relationship (p<.006) between aptitude group and post-test score. High aptitude students in both groups were found to benefit more from the training than low aptitude students. High aptitude keyboard group students achieved an average gain score that was 8.67 points higher than the comparison group. Of the total experimental group, 92% enjoyed playing keyboards in chorus. It is recommended that future research be undertaken to study the use of keyboards with advanced high school choruses and with uncertain singers in the high school chorus. Research is also needed to develop graded, valid, and reliable sight-singing tests for use in high school chorus. Techniques of the Kodály Method should be further investigated for use in high school sight-singing training.

VERSATILITY IN THE MODERN PERFORMER: THREE DIVERSE OPERA ROLES

This dissertation project consisted of performances of three diverse operatic roles. The goal was to examine the challenges and benefits of performing diverse repertoire (baroque, classical, and romantic opera, in this case) and to observe how vocal and acting techniques might adjust to different styles and voice classifications. On December 3, 5, 11, and 13,2003, I performed a composite role in Fatal Song, directed by Leon Major, in the Robert & Arlene Kogod Theatre. This opera pastiche, premiered in 1996, contains spoken dialogue, and the music originates from famous eighteenth and nineteenth-century operas. I explored the challenges and benefits of playing three different, well-known opera characters within the same opera, performing four different languages within the same opera, and performing spoken dialogue in an opera. My roles in this pastiche of famous opera included Lucia from Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti, Manon from Manon by Jules Massenet, and Pamina from Die ZauberJlote by W.A. Mozart. On January 28 and 29, 2005, I performed the role of Nice in Eurilla e Alcindo, a serenata by Antonio Vivaldi, in Homer Ulrich Recital Hall; musical direction by Joseph Gascho and stage direction by Kate Vetter Cain. I explored the challenges and benefits of preparing baroque ornamentation, singing without a conductor, performing an unknown work, staging a work that is not traditionally staged, singing with minimal sets and costumes, and singing with period instruments. On April 16,20, and 24,2005, I performed the role of Musetta in Giacomo Puccini's La BohBme, directed by Pat Diamond and conducted by Jeffrey Rink, in the Ina & Jack Kay Theatre. I examined the challenges and benefits of singing with a large orchestra of modem instruments, singing Puccini rubato and coordinating this with the conductor, and singing a role in one of the most well-known operas in today's repertoire. As a result of this investigation, I concluded that singing different styles, and singing outside one's voice classification, within reason, is beneficial. The knowledge, skill, confidence and insight I acquired by becoming more versatile benefited me as a performer and as a teacher.

The Oud Across Arabic Culture

This study is a compilation and compendium of information on the oud, the most important instrument in Arabic classical music. It has grown out of my own long-time involvement in studying and playing the oud, and in particular out of my interest in the lack of sources and knowledge available to the vast majority of oud players and researchers, as well as for the readers. My own path started from an intensive study of the oud, which included exposure to several treaties; some housed in museums around the globe, and some only available in the Arabic language. The study combines archival research (including Arabic poetry and pre-Islamic Era and medieval treaties), symbolism, new archaeological discoveries, field interviews, and analysis of existing scholarship, and draws on my professional performance experience for detailed stylistic analysis of the oud's performance practice and its historical development. The study consists of participant observation, personal performance, and interviews conducted in person, via telephone, and/or via e-mail, according to the choice of the performers. The performers have been selected from networks of musicians who perform regularly at lounges, concert halls, and private events. These performers have been chosen according to their musical knowledge, technical skill, experience, and activity in Arabic music and oud performance. Chapter one deals with the purpose of this study and the methods of investigation, as well as giving a brief overview of the history of the oud. In addition, there will be an introduction to the Arabic musical system (mâqâm), which is primarily based on the mechanics and sound production of the oud. Chapter two deals with the oud in Arabic sources: the first source is Arabic poetry in the pre-Islamic Era. The second source is Arabic poetry in the medieval era, in which I found a significant number of poets who allude to the oud, providing accurate descriptions of the player, singers, and the scenes within the contexts of oud performance. The third source is the Arab scholars' intensive treatises with meticulous accounts of the instrument's apparatii, including descriptions and measurements of the parts, strings, and tuning. While chapter three deals with the classification, the development of the oud, chapter four deals with topics such as: the symbolism of the oud and its relation to cosmology, astronomy, mathematics and anatomy. In most of the pertinent Arabic writings, philosophers mention a significant correlation between the oud and the other sciences. Chapter five deals with recreating the performance practice of the oud. A case study of the oud performers focuses on their style, technique, training, and personal experiences. Topics such as improvisation and ornamentation, the oud in the Arabic musical ensemble, the social uses and functions, and gender in musical performance practices will be included in detailed analysis. Other important topics will be analyzed such as traditional vs. modern technique, and the repertoire of the oud. Specifically, in regard to technique, the study outline the style of the music, the role of the oud in Arabic ensembles, the function of the oud in music composition, and the form of the ensembles in Arabic performance and practice.

THE PERFORMER’S INFLUENCE ON FRANCO-BELGIAN COMPOSITIONS FROM 1870 TO 1930

The turn of the 20th century marked an ascendancy of the Franco-Belgian school of composers. French composers were inspired by the great German composers of the Romantic era, and they created their own defined national style that emerged toward the end of the 19th century. The Franco-Belgian composers’ special emphasis on tone, timbre and color encouraged a more individual, personally interpretative approach. These devices underscore the importance and influence a performer can have on the outcome of a piece. I researched the relationship between composers and violinists at a time when the Franco-Belgian style developed and flourished. The Franco-Belgian school of violin playing emerged from the Paris and Brussels conservatories as well as the symbiotic relationship between the performers and composers. Three recitals in collaboration with pianist David Ballena, which comprise this dissertation project, were performed at the University of Maryland. Each recital featured music for violin and piano from 1870 through 1930. The repertoire was chosen to reflect a performer’s influence on a composer. I examined specific composer/performer relationships that helped shape the birth of a newly defined “French” style of playing. My research focused on the stylistic interactions composers, such as César Franck, his disciple Guillaume Lekeu had with the leading prominent Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaye and between Maurice Ravel and the Hungarian violinist Jelly d’Aranyi. I also looked into the personal relationship between friends who inspired each other: Gabriel Fauré and Paul Viardot, Edouard Lalo and Pablo de Sarasate, Claude Debussy and Arthur Hartmann, and the young Lili Boulanger and Yvonne Astruc. Furthermore, I looked into the unfulfilled love between Maurice Ravel and Hélène Jourdan-Morhange, as well as the marriage of Olivier Messiaen with Claire Delbos, both relationships resulting in masterpieces for violin that have remained a part of the standard violin repertoire. My research led me to understand what type of violin playing each composer had in mind while composing, all of which led me to understand the importance a performer has in preserving national styles. The recitals were recorded on compact discs and archived within the Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (DRUM).

DISSIMILAR CONTEMPORARIES: SELECTED PIANO MUSIC OF SERGEI RACHMANINOFF AND SERGEI PROKOFIEV

Virtual contemporaries, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Sergei Prokofiev were pianists, steeped in the traditions of Russian pianism; recordings of both pianists-composers playing their own works are available. Although the composers can be perceived as having little in common, in fact both composed in classical forms, both had a strong lyrical sense and both had an unbreakable connection with their Russian heritage. Rachmaninoff was the last great representative of Russian late Romanticism as well as one of the finest pianists of his generation. He cultivated a sweepingly passionate and melodious idiom, with pronounced lyrical quality, expressive breath and structural ingenuity. Prokofiev, on the other hand, tried to push the Russian Romantic traditions to a point of exacerbation and caricature before experimenting with various kinds of modernism. Stressing simplicity, he helped invent Neo-Classicism. His melodies are essentially tonal with wide skips and sweeping long lines. Harmonically, he used triadic harmony full of dissonances, strange inversions, unusual spacings, and jarring juxtapositions. Writing in classical forms, he incorporated rhythmic vitality and lyrical elements into his music. I have chosen to perform five works by each composer, written in a variety of genres, including the sonata, the toccata, variations, the concerto. I also have divided the pieces into three recital programs to show the idiosyncratic characteristics of the composers. I have endeavored to select pieces based on the technical and artistic challenges that they offer, thereby allowing me to grow as a pianist and an artist. My goal is to gain a thorough understanding of not only the pieces but also the musical styles of both composers.

THEATRICAL MUSIC FOR SOLO PERCUSSION

The act of playing percussion is innately theatrical. The motions by which a percussionist plays his instruments often resemble a carefully choreographed dance. Our bodies are freed from having to hold or blow into an instrument. We are free to move to and from our instruments, to change our facial expressions, and to vocalize. This performance dissertation consists of three recitals featuring theatrical music for solo percussion. The selections are limited to works in which the composer instructs the solo percussion performer to perform in an extra-musical capacity, whether it be by singing, speaking, moving, acting, dancing, or any other action. On all three recitals, I performed established works for solo theatrical percussion. However, on the first recital, I also played the world premiere performance of The Authors, a new work by Stuart Saunders Smith. This half-hour long marimba opera requires the solo performer to speak, sing, and act while playing the marimba. For the final recital, I featured pieces commissioned from two professional composers, John Leupold II and Daniel Adams. Through this series, I hope to both pay tribute to existing great works and to encourage new composition of solo theatrical percussion music.

PIANIST-COMPOSERS WHOSE WORKS INCLUDE PIANISTIC INNOVATIONS

Throughout the piano’s history, certain composers have created innovations in the areas of virtuosity and sonority. These innovations came not only from the composers’ imagination, but also from the development of instruments and changes in musical style from one period to another. To investigate what kinds of innovations these pianist composers made, I divided them into technique and sound from Mozart to Cowell. I chose two-piano music (Sonata in D major, K.448 by Mozart and Rachmaninoff’s Second Suite) to demonstrate their experiments with varieties of textures and sonorities, using different registers of the two pianos orchestrally. En Blanc et noir by Debussy shows this composer’s deep interest and originality in piano sonorities. For solo piano music, Beethoven’s Piano Sonata Op.53 shows extensive technical invention. His use of long pedal effects shows a pianistic possibility not explored by Mozart. Hummel’s Piano Sonata in D major represents orchestral devices as well as pianistic techniques showing recent developments in the instrument. Chopin’s Ballade No.3 and Scherzo No.3 show virtuosic moments and also the expanded range of the keyboard. His Nocturne Op.27, no.2, with its sonorities resulting from the combination of pedal, and widespread accompaniments derived from Alberti bass figures, is a perfect example of Chopin’s characteristic sound-world. “Vallée d’Obermann” by Liszt uses many virtuosic techniques as well as the extreme wide ranges of keyboard in both hands to create dramatic contrasts of texture. Debussy’s etude, “Pour les Sonorités opposés” is probably the first etude designed for sonority rather than for keyboard virtuosity. Albeniz’s “Evocación” and “Triana” show Spanish atmosphere. Prokofiev’s Sonata no.3 shows frequent motoric driving elements that demand percussive virtuosity. Cowell’s piano music is some of the earliest to explore the sonorities of tone clusters and playing on the strings. This performance dissertation consists of three recitals performed in the Orchestra Room, Leah Smith Hall, and Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland, College Park. These recitals are documented on compact disc recordings that are housed within the University of Maryland Library System.

FOLK ELEMENTS IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY HUNGARIAN MUSIC

At the beginning of the twentieth century, composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály collected thousands of folksongs from the rural regions of Hungary. In an effort to preserve a part of their culture that they feared would be lost, they not only transcribed and catalogued these folksongs, but also incorporated the folk traditions they encountered into their own compositional style. This dissertation deals with violin music written by Bartók, Kodály and their Hungarian contemporaries that have in common the use of rhythms, modes, melodies, figurations and playing techniques sourced in folk traditions. The use of the Hungarian folk idiom in classical music was not exclusive to the twentieth century. From the late eighteenth century until the first decades of the twentieth century, composers utilized aspects of a popular eighteenth-century form of Hungarian folk music called verbunkos. What makes the use of folk music unique in the twentieth century is that, thanks to the work of Bartók and Kodály, composers found inspiration in the more authentic “peasant music.” Unlike the popular, urban verbunkos music, peasant music was the product of the more secluded village-music tradition, largely untouched by the influences of city life. In addition to stimulating a new focus on peasant music, Bartók and Kodály fully assimilated the folk idiom into their compositional toolkits, creating a new style of folk-inspired art music that influenced a generation of Hungarian composers. The new style included characteristic elements of both peasant music and the verbunkos tradition, such as ancient modes and scales, accompanimental and melodic rhythmic patterns, ornamentation, and phrase structures sourced in folk song. To demonstrate the implementation of the folk idiom by twentieth-century Hungarian composers, three recital programs were given at the University of Maryland that included works by Béla Bartók, Sándor Veress, Leo Weiner, Zoltán Kodály, Ernő Dohnányi, Zoltán Székely and György Kurtág. The works can be divided into two main categories: settings or transcriptions of folk material (e.g. Bartók’s Hungarian Folksongs) and compositions using classical forms that include the Hungarian folk idiom (e.g. Bartók’s Contrasts). Recital collaborators include Li-Tan Hsu, Evelyn Elsing, Elizabeth Brown, Shelby Sender and Samantha Angelo.

Polish Violin Music in the 20th and 21st Century

The purpose of this dissertation is to promote Polish violin music written in the 20th and 21st Century. My recitals included many lesser-known compositions and composers which I strongly believe deserve to be better known and more often performed. The search and preparation of those pieces, for which recordings and music scores are not easily found, was a very exciting and stimulating process. Much Polish music written in the 20th and 21st Century is interesting, expressive, beautiful, and deserves to be more often performed. Performing 20th and 21st Century music opens new perspectives in two directions: musically and technically. Performer and listener are, in many cases, unbound from tonality. Composers are looking for new sonorities and exploring such performing techniques as varieties of harmonics, quarter tones, extreme dynamics, complex rhythms, and usage of a wide range of registers. An important part of Polish music is Polish folklore. The little town of Zakopane is known for Polish traditional clothing, food, architecture, dance and music. Also, most prominent Polish luthiers including Wojciech Topa, whose instrument I am playing, have been making their instruments in Zakopane. This little town in the Tatras Mountain has been an inspiration for many Polish artists including Iwaszkiewicz, Witkacy, Karłowicz, and Szymanowski. Those composers used such folklore elements as folk scales, popular tunes, and imitations of the sound of the folk band with characteristic folk dance rhythms. Other musical genres where folk elements are strongly present are the compositions dedicated to young musicians, with a specifically educational purpose. Among composers who wrote educational music were Grażyna Bacewicz, Witold Lutosławski, and Henryk Mikołaj Górecki. This approach makes the works more easily understood by young performers and, at the same time, broadens their understanding of Polish culture and prepares them for the challenges of contemporary music. This has been an exciting project for me because, on the one hand, it allowed me the challenge of performing compositions that are lesser-known and often consist of musical language new to me while, on the other, it brought me back to my roots and the country of my mother tongue.