Music Theory Commons^™

The Impact Of Vowels On Pitch Finding And Intonation In The Movable-Do Solmization System, Thomas Neuerburg

Student Research, Creative Activity, and Performance - School of Music

The modern movable-Do solmization system based on syllables devised by Guido d'Arezzo was modified and pieced together over centuries by various scholars and pedagogues, each with their own rationale. To date, considerations of the movable-Do system have not sufficiently examined the effects of the vowels contained within its solfège syllables. While vowels have been thoroughly analyzed among vocal pedagogues, that information has not been adequately transferred to the realm of aural theory. Individual vowels contain perceptual qualities and intonational tendencies, due to their physiological articulation and acoustic properties. This document relates vowel characteristics with the solfège syllables used in the …

Variations On A Russian Folk Song, Brian R. Denu

Student Publications

This piece for solo piano demonstrates a wide range of techniques utilized in twentieth century composition. The theme is taken from the Finale of Igor Stravinsky's ballet "The Firebird", which itself is based on a Russian folk song. Each subsequent variation focuses on one or more compositional technique.

I. Theme

II. March (chords by thirds, extended triads)

III. Molto grave e expressivo (chromaticism)

IV. L'istesso tempo (ten-tone row)

V. Fast and light (twelve-tone row, secundal harmony)

VI. Much less (minimalism, extended techniques)

VII. Hazy (quartal harmony, modal melody)

VIII. Finale (spectralism)

The order of the variations partly reflects a chronological …

Ironwood Clarinet Trio, Jana Starling, Leslie Moreau, Anne Watson

Leslie M. Moreau

Works by Alfred Prinz, Paquito D’Rivera, Michael Kibbe, David Snow, and Peter Schickele.

The Count's Dilemma, Or, Harmony And Dissonance In Legal Language, Ian Gallacher

Ian Gallacher

Lawyers have had a long, but ambivalent, relationship with metaphor. Viewed by some as a mere literary device, a trick of language that "adds little of substance to an argument," metaphor is seen by others as an essential component of legal language, a rhetorical device inseparable from thought. On one thing, though, all can agree: lawyers only have words to express their thoughts, so they have an obligation to use words, whether used metaphorically or not, as exactly as possible. This article offers a critique of the way lawyers meet this obligation when they use metaphors based in musical language. …

Questions Of Authorship In Josquin, Monteverdi, And Mozart: Documentary Versus Stylistic Evidence, Jillian Andersen

Summer Research

No abstract provided.

Uncharted Progress: A Musical Analysis Of The Elements And Evolution Of Rap, Mark Janzer

Summer Research

This research analyzes rap music from the earliest recordings to present day from a purely musical perspective, focusing on rhythm, rhyme, phrasing, and their interactions. Using these aspects of analysis, the paper reveals patterns, techniques, and styles rappers use, whether they are conscious of it or not. By analyzing rap of every era, the evolution of these patterns, techniques, and styles is brought to light. To achieve this, the paper also creates a system that other musicologists can use to analyze rap from a purely musical standpoint.

Electric Horizons: Advancing The Wind Band In Art Music, Joe Bozich

Summer Research

It goes without saying that the Symphony Orchestra holds a higher degree of artistic value than the Wind Ensemble in the professional musical world. Given the small body of repertory available to the band, it is clear also to see that the body of symphony-quality concert pieces is proportionately minute. A primary purpose of this research project, then, is the examination of those strong symphonies or symphony-like works for winds, deconstruct their successes and failures, and attempt to write another, symphonic-scaled work for the ensemble. The secondary purpose, given the recent popularity of large ensemble works combined with electronic augmentation, …

A Survey Of The Sacred Choral-Orchestral Works Of Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941), Martin C. Cook

Student Research, Creative Activity, and Performance - School of Music

In the closing years of the 19th Century, when Charles Villiers Stanford, Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar were at the height of their fame and influence in British musical society Henry Walford Davies emerged as one of the most promising talents of the day, receiving commissions from the provincial music festivals of Great Britain, which were a rite of passage for emerging composers.

Between 1904 and 1929 Davies produced eleven sacred choral-orchestral works for these festivals and one further work, which were received favorably in their day but are now almost forgotten. There are five large multi movement works: The …

Running Barefoot, Benjamin Marx

Senior Projects Spring 2012

I have been required by the registrar to submit an artist statement, and to be honest I do not know what I am supposed to say. If I am expected to explain a deep profound message about my music, I have none. And if I should to discuss the pieces in my concert, I would rather leave it up to the audience to figure out what the pieces mean to them. Now I am only on the cusp of my musical exploration. I have just this year glimpsed the vast world of music and begun to understand its endlessness. While …

Investigating The Structure Of Acoustic And Electronic Noise : An Analysis Of 'Volumina' By Gyorgy Ligeti And 'Canaanda' By Merzbow, Sam Gillies

Theses : Honours

The term noise as it pertains to music is a subjective one and open to interpretation. What we find is that over 20th century discourse, the term noise has been used as a broad label to encapsulate all musical sound that functions in a way that opposes what would widely be considered 'musical'. While much of the literature covers the categorisation and political theory of noise in music, there is comparatively little literature that analyses musical construction of noise music beyond that of a purely aesthetic or political reaction.

This thesis seeks to explore the world of noise music with …

The Count's Dilemma, Or, Harmony And Dissonance In Legal Language, Ian Gallacher

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Lawyers have had a long, but ambivalent, relationship with metaphor. Viewed by some as a mere literary device, a trick of language that "adds little of substance to an argument," metaphor is seen by others as an essential component of legal language, a rhetorical device inseparable from thought. On one thing, though, all can agree: lawyers only have words to express their thoughts, so they have an obligation to use words, whether used metaphorically or not, as exactly as possible.

This article offers a critique of the way lawyers meet this obligation when they use metaphors based in musical language. …

A New Geometric Model And Methodology For Understanding Parsimonious Seventh-Sonority Pitch-Class Space, Enoch S. A. Jacobus

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Parsimonious voice leading is a term, first used by Richard Cohn, to describe non-diatonic motion among triads that will preserve as many common tones as possible, while limiting the distance traveled by the voice that does move to a tone or, better yet, a semitone. Some scholars have applied these principles to seventh chords, laying the groundwork for this study, which strives toward a reasonably comprehensive, usable model for musical analysis.

Rather than emphasizing mathematical proofs, as a number of approaches have done, this study relies on two- and three-dimensional geometric visualizations and spatial analogies to describe pitch-class and harmonic …

Volume 26, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

A Sonata-Theory Analysis Of Mozart's Piano Sonata In B-Flat, K. 333, I. Allegro, David Castro

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Clara Schumann, Andante, Jennifer Snodgrass

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Faure's "Nocturne," Op. 43, No. 2, Jena Root

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This analysis assignment includes a blank score for the piece, and includes an English translation of the French text, an annotated score, with suggested analysis answers, a study guide that contains questions that may be given as a homework assignment and/or used for class discussion of the work, and answers to the study guide and points for further class discussion.

Gloria, Abigail L. Kempson

Student Publications

A four part (SATB) motet written with Renaissance counterpoint, specifically in the style of Palestrina. Set to the text of the Gloria. About 2 minutes and 15 seconds in length.

Ear Training With The Music Of Radiohead, Victoria Malawey

Victoria L. Malawey

No abstract provided.

Clarinet Performance Practices For Alberto Ginastera's "Variaciones Concertantes": Solutions For Orchestral Auditions And Performances, Thomas James Kmiecik

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The principal clarinet part of Alberto Ginastera's Variaciones concertantes (1953) requires the performer to execute a number of exposed passages that are considered impractical by many clarinetists as published. The Boosey & Hawkes edition of Variaciones concertantes was published for the B-flat clarinet. On account of this clarinet choice, the part exceeds the traditional upper range of the instrument in the third variation (Variazione in modo di Scherzo per Clarinetto ). Moreover, it requires very awkward fingering patterns in passages because they are written in the Phrygian mode of C-sharp. To avoid some of these technical obstacles, many professional …

Faculty Wind Quintet: Five High School Tour, South And Central Oregon, Nicole Molumby, Jeanne Belfy, Leslie Moreau, Janelle Oberbillig, David Saunders

David Saunders

These performances spanned 150 years of wind quintet repertoire including works by György Ligeti, Carl Nielsen, August Klughardt, Jacques Ibert, Paul Hindemith, Sir Malcolm Arnold and Paquito D’Rivera.