I’m With Muriel: Applying a Persona- Centred Songwriting Technique to the Creation of a New Australian Musical Keir Nuttall BMus Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Creative Practice Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice QUT 2021 Table of Contents Table of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 5 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Statement of Original Authorship .............................................................................................. 8 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Introduction............................................................................................................ 11 Situating the Researcher ............................................................................................................................. 16 Chapter 2: Literature and Contextual Review ........................................................................... 24 Part One: Authenticity and the Music Business ........................................................................ 24 The Artist vs Culture and Society ................................................................................................................ 25 Music vs Money .......................................................................................................................................... 29 Authenticity vs Artifice ................................................................................................................................ 34 Persona and Songwriting ............................................................................................................................ 36 Conclusion to Part One ............................................................................................................................... 41 Part Two: Theoretical Frameworks – Creativity and Persona .................................................... 42 Flow: Inspiration on Demand ...................................................................................................................... 43 The Systems Model of Creativity ................................................................................................................ 44 Persona ....................................................................................................................................................... 46 Mediatised Content as Live Performance ................................................................................................... 51 Conclusion to Part Two ............................................................................................................................... 52 Part Three: The Context of Musical Theatre ............................................................................. 53 The History of the Musical .......................................................................................................................... 53 Modern Rock/Pop Songwriters and the Musical ........................................................................................ 56 Musical Theatre in Australia ....................................................................................................................... 57 2 Musical Theatre Creation Process ............................................................................................................... 60 Conclusion to Literature and Contextual Review ........................................................................................ 62 Chapter Three: Methodology and Methods ............................................................................. 66 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 66 Practice-led Research .................................................................................................................................. 68 Action Research .......................................................................................................................................... 70 Applied Model of Persona-centred Songwriting ......................................................................................... 72 Phase One: Subjective Process .................................................................................................................... 72 Step 1: Archive ............................................................................................................................................ 74 Step 2a: Research ........................................................................................................................................ 74 Step 2b: Retrieve and generate .................................................................................................................. 74 Step 3: Craft ................................................................................................................................................ 75 Step 4: Collaboration ................................................................................................................................... 76 Phase Two: Intersubjective Process ............................................................................................................ 76 A Note on Character and Persona ............................................................................................................... 79 Flow ............................................................................................................................................................. 80 Reflective Journal and Field Notes .............................................................................................................. 81 Analysis as Narrative Writing ...................................................................................................................... 81 Audio ........................................................................................................................................................... 82 Archival Material ......................................................................................................................................... 82 Awards, Press and Media Output ............................................................................................................... 82 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 82 Chapter Four: Creative Practice and Analysis ........................................................................... 84 Part One: Situating the Creative Work ..................................................................................... 86 Person ......................................................................................................................................................... 86 Domain ........................................................................................................................................................ 87 The Field ...................................................................................................................................................... 88 3 Part Two: Analysing Three Songs ............................................................................................. 91 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 91 Song One: “The Bouquet” ........................................................................................................................... 94 First Iteration: February 2016 ..................................................................................................................... 94 Second Iteration: February 2016 .............................................................................................................. 100 Third Iteration: April 2016 ......................................................................................................................... 102 Fourth Iteration: January 2017 ................................................................................................................. 106 Fifth Iteration: November 2017 ................................................................................................................ 106 Song Two: “Progress” ................................................................................................................................ 108 First Iteration: March 2016 ....................................................................................................................... 108 Second Iteration: May 2016 ...................................................................................................................... 122 Third Iteration: April 2016-February 2017 ................................................................................................ 123 Fourth Iteration: January to November 2017 ..........................................................................................