Music Practice Commons^™

When Unexpected Beauty Burns Like Sunlight On The Sea: Songs Of Wintter Watts, Composer And Sara Teasdale, Poet, Casey A. Huggins

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This document is an overview of Wintter Watts’ song settings of Sara Teasdale poems. Watts set 15 Teasdale poems as a part of his repertoire of approximately 200 art songs, both published and unpublished. Included are a thorough investigation of the culture of the period of American history of which Watts and Teasdale emerged as artists, biographies of each artist, with particular emphasis placed on Watts’ life and work, and theoretical and poetic analyses of each piece. Additionally, teachers of singing will find the appendix useful to explore options for student repertoire.

March Performance Practices Of Henry Fillmore With Style Guides And Historical Editions Of Selected Works, James Robert Daughters

Theses and Dissertations--Music

With a career spanning over four decades, Henry Fillmore earned wide recognition as an important and prolific composer of marches and trombone smears in the wind band medium. While he contributed significantly to chamber music, solo literature, vocal settings, and arrangements for band, his compositions for wind band have arguably provided his most universal acclaim. Fillmore’s published marches are unique in that scores rarely had performance markings and contained little more than notes and repeat signs. Fillmore conducted most of his marches and altered march strains, changed orchestration, and added stylistic markings that were not indicated in the original printed …

Rustic Roots And Fiddle Hell: An Ethnography Of Fiddle Camps In The Northeastern United States, Flannery Blanchard Brown

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

The Polyrhythms Of The Ear Canal: Investigating The Human Body As An Instrument And Listening Machine Inspired By Hearing, Attention, And Alvin Lucier, Philippa Ruthe Kelmenson

Senior Projects Spring 2017

Halfway into my college career, I was asked if my attention and hearing impairments had ever benefitted me in any way. Although I refused to see it at the time, it is this exact dichotomy between hearing as passive reception and listening as active concentration that informs my musical work. From otoacoustic emissions to tinnitus frequencies, the ear is an active amplifier of its own sounds, acting as an instrument responding to sound information. To distinguish acoustic elements generated outside of the ear from those taking shape within it, we are required to internally perceive all acoustic information. But is …

A Performer's Guide To Works For Trumpet And Synthesizer By Meg Bowles, Steven Siegel

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The trumpet and electronics genre of music has been in existence since 1965. While various dissertations have discussed other composers and their works in this field, there is still a need for a treatise exploring appropriate performance practice for the electroacoustic trumpet music of Meg Bowles. There has been no study of the compositional process nor trumpet techniques required for performance of these works and other electronic compositions.

This dissertation will study the compositions for trumpet and electronics by Bowles, develop strategies for performing these works, and explore compositional techniques used to create them. Interviews have been conducted between the …

Duende: Four Preludes For Symphonic Wind Ensemble By Luis Serrano Alarcón: Conductor’S Guide, Spanish Historical Background And Influence, Kenneth Javier Iyescas

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Luis Serrano Alarcón is one of the most important and relevant composers of our time. He is sought after as a composer, lecturer, and conductor throughout the world. His works have been performed in over 30 countries worldwide by some of the leading musical ensembles in the United States, Europe, and Asia, as well as being highly decorated by winning many prestigious composition contests including the International Band Competition Contest of Corciano, Italy.

Born in Valencia, Spain, Alarcón is relatively self-taught in composition, which is a testament to his natural-born gift for composition. His compositional output ranges from the traditional …

Redefining The Performance Degree Curriculum For The Crossover Saxophonist, Ian M. Cruz

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Many collegiate saxophone performance degree programs are overwhelmingly classical, adopting from other performance programs in the Western music tradition. However, there is a growing number of saxophone compositions that are “crossover” in nature. Crossover is a term used to describe the fusion of popular music styles in a classical setting. There is also evidence that collegiate music education as a whole is moving towards a more diverse curriculum, which emphasizes ethnomusicology. Due to this trend in composition and education, it is becoming increasingly important that saxophonists have the training of both classical and jazz disciplines.

The problem is that while …

"The Art Of Re-Enchantment: Making Early Music In The Modern Age," By Nick Wilson, Geoffrey Burgess

Performance Practice Review

Geoffrey Burgess discusses Nick Wilson's 2013 work.

Wilson, Nick. The Art of Re-enchantment: Making Early Music in the Modern Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0199939930.

Singing The Story Of Advent And Christmas: How Congregational Song Makes Diverse Theologies Incarnate, Hilary Seraph Donaldson

Consensus

No abstract provided.

The Versatile Singer: A Guide To Vibrato & Straight Tone, Danya Katok

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Straight tone is a valuable tool that can be used by singers of any style to both improve technical ideals, such as resonance and focus, and provide a starting point for transforming the voice to meet the stylistic demands of any genre. By employing a resonant, minimally vibrated, balanced sound as the core of the voice, the versatile singer can stylistically unbalance the voice by layering colors and effects in ways appropriate for many types of singing. In order to fully understand the inner workings of vibrato and how it can be healthily minimized, my discussion of vibrato and straight …

Anton Arensky’S String Quartet In A Minor, Op. 35, For Violin, Viola, And Two Celli, Miho Zaitsu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation consists of an in-depth analysis and study of Anton Arensky’s Quartet in A minor, op. 35, for violin, viola, and two celli. It also includes a short biography, a historical background of the work, and an exploration of thematic material. Perhaps the only piece written for this unique combination of instruments, the Quartet in A minor, published in 1894, was written in the months following Tchaikovsky’s death. It was first premiered on January 20, 1894, at the Imperial Music Society, Moscow, in remembrance of Arensky’s great friend and mentor. The unusual instrumentation was a curious attempt to …

War Of The Worlds: Music And Cosmological Battles In The Balinese Cremation Procession, Michael B. Bakan

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Abstract

This article explores processional action as a form of cosmological intervention in Hindu-Balinese cremation processions, focusing on the multiple and intersecting functions of a particular type of Balinese instrumental music ensemble: the gamelan beleganjur. It explores the alternately “enlivening and protective aspects” (DeVale 1990, 62) that underlie the use of beleganjur music in the ngaben, or cremation ritual, showing how beleganjur’s sonic power and rhythmic drive serve to combat malevolent spirit beings, strengthen and inspire processional participants in their efforts to meet challenging ritual obligations, and grant courage to the souls of deceased individuals embarking on their …

"Werke Für Klavier Zu Vier Händen" By Franz Schubert, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2013, Su Yin Mak

Performance Practice Review

Su Yin Mak discusses Bärenreiter's 2013 edition of Schubert's work.

Schubert, Franz. Werke für Klavier zu vier Händen, Band III, ed. Walburga Litschauer (Nos. 2-5) and Werner Aderhold (No. 1); Urtext of the New Schubert Edition, BA 9645. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2013.

ISMN: 9790006539871.

"Clavichord For Beginners" By Joan Benson, Bernard Brauchli

Performance Practice Review

Bernard Brauchli reviews and discusses Joan Benson's 2014 work.

Benson, Joan. Clavichord for Beginners. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2014.

ISBN: 978-0253011589

Rethinking L'Exception Culturelle In French Music Then And Now: Language, Memory, And Political Order, Melanie Ann Lafoy

Masters Theses

Through this thesis, entitled “Rethinking l'exception culturelle in French Music then and now: Language, Memory, and Political Order,” I explore the concept of exception culturelle as it relates to music in France. I break down this concept by situating current French music trends within a historical landscape, highlighting certain moments of tension between music, politics, and language that appear in the decades after the Dreyfus Affair (1894), which I consider to be a turning point in the way French music is and was perceived inside and outside French national borders. I also examine the years after the second World …

"Beyond The Score: Music As Performance" By Nicholas Cook, Aron Edidin

Performance Practice Review

Aron Edidin reviews and discusses Nicholas Cook's 2013 work. Cook, Nicholas. Beyond the Score: Music as Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-19-935740-6.

Mastering Up-Bow And Down-Bow Staccato, Tomás Cotik

School of Music + Theater Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dr Tomas Cotik gives an introduction to the bow stroke and demonstrates techniques and exercises.

Highlights In Jazz Concert 328- Trio Time, Jack Kleinsinger, Danny Gottlieb

Jack Kleinsinger Presents Highlights in Jazz

Jack Kleinsinger presents Highlights in Jazz. The concert was held at The Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Thursday, June 16th, 2016 at 8:00 pm. Jack served as producer and master of ceremonies for the series of concerts. Artists for the concert include Dick Hyman, Jay Leonhart, Howard Alden, Nilson Matta, Duduka Da Fonseca, and Romero Lubambo.

Searching For Sounds: Instrumental Agency And Modularity In Electroacoustic Improvisation, Stephen (Red) Wierenga

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In their radical departure from conventional instrumental technique and standardized instruments themselves, the practices of electroacoustic improvisation present a particular challenge to prevalent Western concepts of musical instruments. These concepts—which generally treat instruments as fixed objects—are ill-equipped to account for the ways in which electroacoustic improvisers foreground the agency of their instruments and abandon the quest for “mastery” typical especially of classical attitudes. Additionally, electroacoustic improvisers often approach instruments not as singular, self-contained, and static in their materiality, but rather as modular instrumentaria capable of myriad states and ever in flux, similarly problematizing conventional conceptions that view the physical constitutions …

Music And Language Development: Traits Of Nursery Rhymes And Their Impact On Children's Language Development, Ashley Lauren Gonzalez

Music

From birth--possibly even before birth--the amount and array of external stimuli profoundly affect a child’s cognitive and linguistic development. In addition to verbal communication from parent to child, singing proves to be an integral aid to a child’s development of speech and language, allegedly due to repetitions of words and rhythms. Nursery rhymes are, from infancy, among the most commonly presented forms of musical stimulus for children. The repetitive nature of the nursery rhymes undoubtedly supports language and speech development, but various characteristics of nursery rhymes, specifically pitch interval, meter, phrase length, contour, and harmony, also contribute substantially to the …