All I Need Is the Air I Breathe: Music, Media, and the Practice of Collegiate A Cappella

• Other Authors: Griffin, Drew Blake (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Music; Study and teaching
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_2017SP_Griffin_fsu_0071N_13894

Collegiate a cappella is a communal singing tradition historically localized to universities in the United States. It is a genre whose practitioners explore vocal harmonies and the imitation of instruments solely through use of the human voice and without instrumental accompaniment. In its contemporary manifestation, collegiate a cappella has become a powerful cultural force and is the primary way thousands of students and their diverse audiences engage with music daily. With the ever-increasing number of dramatized or semi-dramatized depictions of the genre, its presence in American popular media extends far beyond the university sphere. In this thesis I explore the contemporary practice of collegiate a cappella, the simultaneously negotiated and contested spaces of the genre's practice and performance, and its transformation through mass-mediatization. My primary collaborators in this process are the members of All-Night Yahtzee, a co-ed collegiate a cappella from Florida State University. Drawing on a combination of historical investigation, performance observation, media and textual analysis, and ethnography, I investigate style and space in collegiate a cappella practice, situating the genre within Manuel Castells's network society model. I then draw on the work of Michel Foucault to explore popular dramatized portrayals of collegiate a cappella, arguing that despite their popularity, most televised and filmic depictions create problematic representations of the genre by presenting a utopian vision of a fundamentally heterotopian practice. These distorted renderings of collegiate a cappella influence the genre's global network, shaping the experience of both participants and audiences alike. === A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the Master of Music. === Spring Semester 2017. === April 13, 2017. === Collegiate A Cappella, Digital Media, Mediatization === Includes bibliographical references. === Margaret R. Jackson, Professor Directing Thesis; Frank D. Gunderson, Committee Member; Charles E. Brewer, Committee Member.