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This dissertation aims to: 1) define the standard for modern slide technique, and 2) develop a new curriculum tested on novice trombonists with the goal of aiding private and classroom instruction of the instrument. Resources surveyed on the topic include dissertations, scholarly articles, websites, pedagogical devices and aids, instrument specific methods, and beginner band methods. The gaps ascertained in the literature and resource review inform the creation of the new curriculum method. The purpose of the curriculum is to teach proper playing position, slide technique, and determine how those skillsets impact tone quality and intonation. The study comprises five lesson plans tested on six trombonists who had fewer than three years of classroom band experience. Students performed an identical assessment at the beginning and conclusion of the study to determine understanding and growth in the areas of proper playing position, slide technique, tone quality, and intonation. Analysis of the assessments determined that students could effectively learn and implement proper playing position and slide technique, and it had an impact on tone quality improvement. Improvement in intonation, however, was inconclusive with half of the students showing improvement and the remaining showing regression. The results indicate that novice trombonists benefit from instrument-specific instruction, and the pedagogy is not too advanced for the novice student to understand and implement. Further research is needed to identify other ways instrument-specific instruction could impact a student’s overall intonation mastery.

Book review ispartof: Journal of European Periodical Studies vol:6 issue:1 pages:187-189 status: published

ispartof: The Modernist Review issue:31 pages:1-3 status: published

Review of Andrea Chiurato, ed., The Last Avant-Garde: Alternative and Anti-Establishment Reviews (1970–1979) (2019)

In this paper, I delve into the difficulties of transcending species borders in literature. To what degree can the affordances of literature and its call to empathy provide answers to questions of animal experientiality? As the minds of animals are essentially, weirdly, unknowable, the animal Other confronts thehuman reader with a cognitive aporia. This article will offer a brief exploration of the use of empathy in reading animal literature, then investigate post-humanism as a troubling of the borders separating the human from the nonhuman animal. After discussing the moral dilemmas and multiple perspectives intrinsic to terms such as post-speciesism, anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism,I introduce the new approach of a multispecies ethnopoetics which would be attuned to Thomas Sebeok’s zoosemiotics. The intent is to demonstrate that the elisions inherent to the lyric offer spaces for writers and readers to thoughtfully engage with animal culture and possibly foster a multispecies empathy. ispartof: Pulse: the Journal of Science and Culture vol:7 pages:1-22 status: Published online

Background A consultation for emergency contraception (EC) gives way to an opportunity to provide women with an ongoing effective method of contraception. Study Design A review of the case notes of women seeking EC from a large family planning clinic in Edinburgh, Scotland, was conducted to determine what percentage of women were provided with an effective method of ongoing contraception. Results Case notes of 460 women presenting for EC over a 2-year period were reviewed. Women were of mean age 26 years (range 15���49 years) and presented because they had used no contraception (47%), experienced condom failure (42%) or missed oral contraceptive pills (9%). Only 2% ( n =11) were given an intrauterine device for EC. All women who had missed contraceptive pills prior to taking EC opted to continue this method. Only 23% ( n =89) of women using no method or condoms at EC received supplies of an effective contraceptive method (pills, patch, injectable). Two thirds ( n =263) of the women chose condoms for ongoing contraception. Conclusion Research is required to develop strategies to improve the uptake of effective contraception after EC.