Music Theory Commons^™

Narrative Ambiguity In Brahms Op. 38: An Argument For Multi-Movement Analysis, Joseph Grunkemeyer

Symposium of Student Scholars

In this presentation, I will show how the ambiguous ending of the first movement of Brahms Op. 38 is part of a single, multi-movement narrative in which persistent tragic signifiers, metric dissonance, and formal degradation will confirm an overall tragic archetype. Using literature on musical narrative from Cone (1974), Hatten (1994), and Almén (2008), this presentation will analyze the first movement in-depth and show that the movement contains a number of tragic signifiers, including pianto motifs, metric dissonance, and tragic key areas, that suggest a tragic archetype between two characters in a contentious relationship. However, this tragic reading is subverted …

An Analysis Of Nobuo Uematsu’S Linear Structures: The Score Of Final Fantasy Vi’S Opera, Daniel Comeaux

Master's Theses

Nobuo Uematsu, the composer of the first nine entries in the Final Fantasy video game series, creates sophisticated music in the operatic section of Final Fantasy VI. This thesis will provide a linear analysis of the music, borrowing from contrapuntal techniques of important theorists such as Heinrich Schenker and Paul Hindemith. The analysis will explain how some linear progressions play guiding roles within the music while others although heard, may not be as important. Furthermore, the most important linear structures will be shown to support the tonal identity of a movement, while important end points coincide with junctures in the …

An Annotated Bibliography Of Selected Music Theory Resources For The Middle And High School Choral Classroom With Alignment To Mississippi College- And Career-Readiness Standards, Amanda M. Brandon

Master's Theses

Middle and high school choral ensembles often struggle to produce musicians who are proficient in music theory skills; however, music theory and ear training skills provide numerous benefits to the student and ensemble. Promoting and fostering theory and ear training skills develop a student’s overall musicianship – thus, strengthening sight-reading skills– further leading to more accurate sight reading, using less rehearsal time, and the option of learning more, or even more technically challenging, literature. Additionally, developing independent musicianship skills encourages higher order and critical thinking in the choral classroom.

This project will examine and review selected music theory and ear …

The Rougarou Concerto And Initial Observations Of The Flex Ensemble, Thomas Wilson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the immediate impact of the coronavirus pandemic through a composer’s lens. It will examine the impact through a variety of means, considerably: interviews of those with first-hand experiences, analyses of prominent adaptable works, and self-analysis of how my own process adapted to meet the moment.

After discovering the Composers Repertoire Initiative and being commissioned to write a concerto by Eduard Teregulov, I wrote a cello concert. The central chapter features the Rougarou Concerto, a cello concerto with accompanying flex ensemble, written for Eduard Teregulov. The work was written over ten months …

Imagining The Trans Symphony: Integrating Transgender Composer Identity In Music Analysis, Penrose M. Allphin

Masters Theses

Contemporary music analysts have generally downplayed the relevance of composer intent, a dismissal which ignores the potential for an enhanced expressive context afforded by composers' own assessments and also contributes to the silencing of already othered voices, such as in the case of queer and trans composers. Allowing the trans composer a voice in the reading of their work affirms the integral part of the trans experience that is self-determination. Over time, this project to tell trans stories evolved into a series of vignette-like analyses of trans composers’ works in which I use a methodology that incorporates the voices of …

Harmonic And Fret Features Of "Tanovar" Processing By A. F. Kozlovsky And A. Nabiev, Mashhura Anvarovna Rajabova

Eurasian music science journal

In the modern musicology of our country, the issues of the modal structure of national music in its folk and classical branches are the most relevant. And they require a detailed study of the historical and theoretical aspects of fret thinking both in traditional classical and folk Uzbek music, and in the works of composers of our country. The article deals with some theoretical and historical aspects in the use of the means of musical expression of two composers of Uzbekistan: A. F. Kozlovsky and A. Nabiev. A brief comparative analysis of the stylistic features of orchestral and piano processing, …

Developing Variation In The Late Work Of Morton Gould And Why It Matters, J. Wesley Flinn

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

American composer Morton Gould (1913-1996) was remarkably consistent stylistically over the course of his compositional career; this project examines certain motivic transformational techniques used in two of his last works, Stringmusic (1993, winner of the Pulitzer Prize) and Remembrance Day (Soliloquy for a Passing Century) (1995). These techniques, which can generally be filed under the principle of developing variation, are: 1. Mirroring and reversal; 2. Rotation; 3. Motivic expansion and contraction; 4. Additive sets; and 5. Asymmetric injection. After an overview of each technique, I give a full analysis of the fourth movement of Stringmusic using the approaches described …

Review Of Coherence In New Music: Experience, Aesthetics, Analysis, By Mark Hutchinson. (New York, Ny: Routledge, 2016)., Orit Hilewicz

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

A review of Mark Hutchinson's book from 2016, Coherence in New Music: Experience, Aesthetics, Analysis.

Intriguing Interpretation Of Dyads In Common-Practice Tonal Music, Yosef Goldenberg

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

The study offers a systematic exploration of situations in which dyads in common-practice tonal music change their meaning, when repeated or as pivots. The most common such situation is thirds that serve as either the upper or the lower pair of consonant triad members, most often with the tonic as one of the options. Sometimes, however, an implied harmony turns out to be dissonant. Occasionally, dyads other than thirds are also subject to reinterpretation. In exceptional circumstances, dyads do not imply complete harmonies.

Sacred Music In Colonial Era Hispaniola: The Evangelization Of The Taino People, Tito J. Gutierrez

Student Theses

During the 15th-18th centuries, the major European religious orders; the Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Jeronymites, journeyed to the newly colonized American territories in an attempt to convert the multitudes of natives peoples living there. Along with prayer books, crucifixes, and religious images, these missionaries brought sacred European music to American shores in an attempt to attract the native people to the Catholic faith.The use of music as a tool for conversion of native people in places such as Mexico, South America, California, and the South West United States, have been well researched and documented. However, the research of the spiritual …

Developing Variation In The Late Work Of Morton Gould And Why It Matters, J. Wesley Flinn

Music Publications

American composer Morton Gould (1913-1996) was remarkably consistent stylistically over the course of his compositional career; this project examines certain motivic transformational techniques used in two of his last works, Stringmusic (1993, winner of the Pulitzer Prize) and Remembrance Day (Soliloquy for a Passing Century) (1995). These techniques, which can generally be filed under the principle of developing variation, are: 1. Mirroring and reversal; 2. Rotation; 3. Motivic expansion and contraction; 4. Additive sets; and 5. Asymmetric injection. After an overview of each technique, I give a full analysis of the fourth movement of Stringmusic using the approaches described …

The Art Of Listening: A Conversational Approach To Lecture Recitals, Javor Bracic

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lecture recitals as the practice of pairing live music performance with verbal explication have been around since at least the end of the eighteenth century, but research on them is surprisingly scarce despite how ubiquitous they have become. What exactly are lecture recitals? Where did they originate? How are they conducted? Is there anything we could do to improve upon them?

In this dissertation I not only consider these questions but also propose a new kind of lecture recital I call a conversation concert. After a brief historical overview of lecture-recitalists from Johann Nikolaus Forkel to Rob Kapilow, I showcase …

Plainchant Accompaniment And Modal Harmony In Nineteenth-Century France, Ruka Shironishi

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

By the beginning of the nineteenth century, harmonization of plainchant melodies had become a trend among church organists. In their harmonizations, many of these organists freely applied the harmonic conventions of what may be characterized today as common-practice tonality, such as dominant-to-tonic cadences, often including the use of accidentals. French scholars and educators of the time, like Louis Niedermeyer and his collaborator Joseph d’Ortigue, viewed such practices as a corruption of plainchant and sought to reform the ways in which plainchant was harmonized on the organ.

The nineteenth-century reformation led by these harmonists ignited discourse on the nature of plainchant …

The Rise Of The Rock Star, Derik Sibit

Recital Papers

A history and analysis of hard rock and heavy metal from the 1960s through the 1980s, the musical elements that make these genres unique, and an evaluation of the sound and style of songs, vocalists, and instrumentalists of some of the most important bands of this era and the techniques and methods they used to achieve their sounds and styles. A pedagogical analysis of some of the greatest singers in hard rock and heavy metal helps the reader better understand the anatomy and physiology of the voice and of heavy belting and screaming in rock and metal music.

Villa-Lobos’S Segunda Sonata-Fantasia For Violin And Piano: An Analysis And Performance Guide, Maira Braga Cabral

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study focuses on Villa-Lobos’s Segunda Sonata-Fantasia for Violin and Piano, written between 1913 and 1914. A brief biography of Villa-Lobos until 1915 provides the context of the period during which he composed the piece. Next, Villa-Lobos’s main influences are presented, a list that includes European nineteenth-century aesthetics, Impressionism, Brazilian popular music, Wagner’s motivic treatment, and Brazilian indigenous music. Next, the main compositional devices used by the composer are discussed, providing examples from the Segunda Sonata-Fantasia and from other pieces by Villa-Lobos. A structural analysis of the piece is presented, focusing on the form, thematic approach, and harmonic processes.

The …

Signal To Noise: Harmonic Temperaments And Patterns Of Interference, Dylan A. Marcheschi

Theses and Dissertations

An audio/visual exploration of historical tuning systems. Most contemporary Western audiences will seldom if ever encounter harmony outside of post-Renaissance tuning conventions. This presentation highlights some of those pre-orthodox harmonic relationships which existed throughout most of history. The corresponding paper documents correlates in recent advances of acoustic ecology.

Analyzing Non-Strophic Forms Through The Facets Model: The Early Compositional Style And Technique Of Trey Anastasio And Phish, William Mandelbaum

Honors Scholar Theses

While a surprising amount of research has been conducted on the American “jam band” Phish, most academic scholarship that exists regarding the band is concerned of the cultures, rituals, and communities that surround the band and the jam band scene. Of the band’s music that has been analyzed, most analyze the band’s improvisation, leaving little to no scholarship concerning the band’s hyper-complex, fugue-like compositions, especially those composed by Trey Anastasio in the band’s early years from 1983-1989, most of which became Phish’s most popular and most performed songs in concert. This thesis will analyze the early compositional style and technique …

Lost In Translation? A Comparison Of The Anna Magdalena Bach Manuscript And John W. Duarte Arrangement Of Cello Suite No. 3, Bwv 1009 By Johann Sebastian Bach, Benjamin Riley

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores Anna Magdalena Bach’s manuscript of Cello Suite No. 3, BWV 1009 and John W. Duarte’s arrangement of this work. The findings of this study show that this arrangement is idiomatic for guitar, incorporates J. S. Bach’s approach to arrangement, and is part of a long musical tradition.

Musical Irony In Selected Piano Sonatas By Ludwig Van Beethoven, Andrew J. Hochler

Theses and Dissertations

In the third variation of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, Op. 111, there is an abrupt shift in rhythms that almost resembles an excerpt of early jazz. This passage is so seemingly out of place that it appears to be an ironic commentary on the music that came before. This variation thereby raises an interesting question: how can irony play a role in music?

In an attempt to answer this question, this thesis examines the aesthetic property of irony, suggesting ways in which might be understood to impact three piano sonatas by Ludwig van Beethoven: namely, his …

The Arranging Techniques Of Leon “Smooth” Edwards And Their Application To Calypso-Styled Classical Music Arrangements For Steel Orchestra, Michelle A. Rudder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The steelpan was invented in the 1930s in Trinidad and Tobago. It has evolved over the past eighty years. Although steelbands are now found across the globe and at all levels of music education, academic research regarding the music of the steelpan and its composers and arrangers is scarce. This paper examines six works for steelband by Leon “Smooth” Edwards, a prominent arranger of indigenous steelband music for the Panorama competition in Trinidad and Tobago. Music scores for four of the works have been notated for the first time. The paper documents Edwards’ variation development techniques, voicing, and orchestration. The …