The following Master's Thesis represents the culmination of two years' work in the UCSD department of music. The Four Chapters reflect four of the major projects undertaken during the course of study.

The first Chapter is an essay that deals with the idea of the vocalist as a subject, in the context of performance and installation art. The following three chapters contain the documentation of two performance projects and one major solo recital undertaken during the period of my degree. The documentation includes audio and visual documentation of the performances as well as extensive program notes and in the case of the first project, an accompanying explanatory essay.

This essay is a study of the art of play as it is defined and used in my musical performance practice. In three sections, I will discuss the nature of play, including examples of what I am defining as the “performance of play.” Next, I will look at a case study of how these ideas are incorporated in the popular 1980’s television show Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Lastly, I will discuss how this performance practice is applied to my own work through recent collaborative project, Pocket Music.

The following thesis explores the faculties of the human voice in advocating for social justice through three performance projects, and is divided into three parts: 1) TAN-ÁW: A paper on the intersectionality of tradition and innovation in Filipino contemporary vocal music, culminating in a full-length voice recital featuring works of Filipino composers; 2) TAO PO: A creative audio-visual project produced in collaboration with composer Vahid Jahandari, focusing on the Philippine Drug War’s impact on Filipino society; 3) interpretation and performance of Georges Aperghis’ Recitation 1, centering on the performer’s re-imagination of the composer’s oeuvre through the creation of a new narrative.

All performance projects provide analyses of the opus of contemporary composers who dare to interrogate the degradation and regression of human life, and seek to advance society through humanistic pursuits of creativity.

The purpose of this work is to provide an understanding of the performance techniques used in the practice of the classical guitar today, especially those relevant to the contemporary repertoire of the instrument. The techniques are broken down in accordance with their origins: some come directly from the classical performance tradition of the instrument in Europe, whereas others have been acquired from other performance traditions, including flamenco, American and Latin-American, and even Asian. The work demonstrates how the evolution of guitar technique has been continuous and is still ongoing. It shows how it is possible to acquire a certain technique, take it out of its original context, and turn it into a new way of expression on the instrument. The correlation of every technique with its original tradition or source allows the reader to connect or even identify with the material at many different levels: musical, social, and historical. At the same time, it shows how these techniques can be used in different and hitherto unimaginable ways. Every technique is shown in its original and pure state, but is also presented in the context of contemporary works by important composers. Even in the case of new and different ways of playing the instrument, therefore, everything has been tested and used. There is no speculation, but rather a catalog of possibilities. The guitar is an instrument with a wealth of possibilities for the articulation of its sound. This is the view privileged by the present work. It is intended for musicians interested in the guitar, for guitarists who want to perform the modern repertoire, and for composers interested in writing for the instrument.

This Master Thesis is conformed by three different sections. Parts I and II are two research papers surrounding the concept of Intimate Musical Interactions. In part I, I support and present the theo-retical proposition of Intimate Musical Interactions to associate specific frameworks from the dis-ciplines of Psychology, Sociology and Philosophy in order to link Musical Experience and Well-being through the concept of Intimacy. Part I concludes with a multiple case study analysis of four video recorded musical performances. Part II consists in a phenomenological study of this same four cases but through the experiences of eleven undergraduate students in order to test the con-cept of Intimate Musical Interactions from a different perspective. Part III involves a report on a creative project which consisted in the elaboration of a short operatic scene. I composed, wrote and performed this scene called “The Fake Trial of Juan Ley” based on the life of Julián Leyzaola.

The purpose of this dissertation is to document the results of my research into twentieth and twenty-first century vocal works as related to my lecture on April 27, 2011 and my final doctoral recital on April 29, 2011, of which the program and notes are also included. I have examined four pieces: "Lied der Lulu," Lulu by Alban Berg; Poèmes pour Mi by Olivier Messiaen; Sequenza III by Luciano Berio; and 5 McCallum Songs by Nicholas Deyoe. These works contain contemporary compositional methods such as atonal writing, rhythmic complexity, graphic notation, and extended vocal techniques. With each piece I have explored issues of learning and interpretation, and have included exercises and procedures that can be used in the learning process. My goal is to create a set of skills that can be used by singers when approaching contemporary vocal works.

The following Master's Thesis consists of two descriptive papers of two Creative Projects and a Performative Analysis. The first creative project describes an experimental approach to the famous Mexican son, La Llorona, as my first step towards a new sub-genre: Experimental Mexican Traditional Music. The second creative project is a composition, with a political subject, of an Opera Aria that integrates elements from Mexican folk music. The third paper is a Performative Analysis of how I built an emotionally expressive performance of the piece "A su retrato" by Georgina Derbéz, a piece that I performed in my Master Recital in my second year in the Music Department at UC San Diego.

As a singer of contemporary classical music, working with composers on the creation of new repertoire is a large part of my artistic output. While working to create new pieces for the classical voice is an exciting adventure, it also requires a great deal of intellectual and artistic exploration, creativity, and problem solving. For my dissertation project, I spearheaded a commissioning project of new repertoire written for my unique individual voice, culminating in a live performance and resultant audio and video documentation. This paper serves to discuss the ideas behind the commissioning project, the strengths and challenges of the individual pieces, and to shed light onto the process of working in the creation and premiering of new classical vocal repertoire.

The guiding question of this dissertation is if a non-binary voice is possible, and if so, how? I address this question by analyzing various facets of my creative practice and how I have navigated the ways in which my non-binary gender identity is in conflict with my instrument (which is, arguably, inherently gendered). As part of my analysis, I offer various theoretical frameworks to clarify and illuminate this conflict as it appears in my work. In the introduction, I contextualize my work by reflecting on Sarah Hennies’ Contralto alongside my own relationship with my speaking voice and voice feminization therapy. Chapter 1 and 2 consider technological intervention as a means of liberation as well as oppression; Chapter 1 explores the patterns of silencing the female voice by withholding linguistic meaning from operatic madwomen to 21st century electroacoustic music, whereas Chapter 2 explores the possibilities of vocal effects pedals and a post-gender future. Lastly, Chapter 3 analyzes my band’s multimedia piece, Dawson’sCreamo, and reflects on the early Internet as a queer space.

This dissertation positions the professional performer of contemporary music in her contemporary socio-economic landscape, the intangible economy of immaterial production, in order to investigate the intellectual, social and conceptual responsibilities that come with her deep corporeal privilege. The production of affective labor is inextricably connected to the body; knowledge and skill is acquired through the body, assimilated inside the individual and shared between bodies. A brief history of the rise and pervasiveness of neoliberalism and its implicit ability to transform all human relations into capital allows for an outline of the forms of immaterial value that stem directly from the human—her physical capabilities, her knowledge, her morals and taste, her social being. Turning the discussion of value and quality into an ethical one, the second part of the dissertation revolves around the performer's experimental practice as a ritual of progressive self-transformation; analyses of deep corporeal experiences through newness are first analyzed in terms of their impact on the performer's body, then on the subject's outlook on her social situation. A theory of value through the transformation of understood "private property" in contemporary music is proposed with two specific examples of open-source, community-based, collaborative projects. The discussions in this dissertation position the performance of contemporary music as the site of optimistic potential social, ecological and economical transformation, inciting performers to engage deeply, thoughtfully and ritualistically with their individual practice to discover new and

innovative ideas for leveraging equality, justice and a positive outlook on the world.