Musicology Commons^™

Paper Disc Record: A Consumption-Based Account Of Musical Identity, David Prescott-Steed

Proceedings from the Document Academy

Since 1991, I have been keeping a pen and paper list of my CD's, added to with each new purchase. With the increasing availability of digital media, not everything that I now listen to comes from a disc. Nevertheless, I have never bought digital music downloads, and so every new album purchase is a physical product with the band name and release title still added to the list. I keep it rolled up in a desk draw (the first composition-pages of which are yellowing nicely). The list comprises approximately 280 entries. Each entry until March 5, 2006 is numbered ...

Empirical Aesthetics And The Philosophy Of John Cage: A Literature Review And Experimental Study, Braden J. Gillispie

Honors Projects

This paper examines the musical philosophy of composer John Cage in terms of psychological theories and experimental design. A literature review was first conducted to extract testable hypotheses from Cage’s musical works, writings, and interviews relevant to theories and research in empirical aesthetics. A study was then devised to examine the relationships between cognitive appraisals of the interestingness, enjoyableness, orderliness, and musicality of general sound events, as well as to determine the influence of openness to experience and the effect of two intentional-listening strategies, inspired by Cage’s ideas, on these relationships. Participants (n = 21) completed an openness to ...

Gustave Vogt's Musical Album Of Autographs: A Scholarly Edition, Kristin Leitterman

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Gustave Vogt (1781–1870) was the most famous oboist in Europe during the mid-nineteenth century. Throughout his career he played with the best orchestras in Paris, toured Europe widely, and also taught the next generation of oboists at the Paris Conservatoire from 1802–1853. Although many of the details of his life have been lost to history, he did leave behind a record of the esteem in which he was held. This is preserved physically in the form of an album of short musical compositions honoring Vogt, collected between 1831 and 1859. The album has never been published, and is ...

Reimagining The Collective: Black Popular Music And Recording Studio Innovation, 1970-1990, Will Fulton

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines developments in the production practices of black popular music in the recording studio from 1970 to 1990. The year 1970 marked a transition in the recording practice of popular music that had a distinct impact on styles marketed as R&B, soul, and funk. Multitracking in the 1950s and 1960s had paved the way for a transformed production process, one initiated by Les Paul’s and Sidney Bechet’s overdubbing experiments in the 1940s. The collective sound of instrumentalists and vocalists heard on records no longer resulted from live-to-tape recordings of group performances, but was increasingly the product of constructed representations, as separate layered events were cut to multitrack tape.

When mixed together, these overdubbed tracks presented the listener with the impression of collective, interactive performances. Features central to the ethos of R&B music making – vocals in call and response, instruments in apparent rhythmic dialogues, and funky syncopation usually resulting from interactive group dynamism – were increasingly the product of the technologically mediated process of overdubbing, and performed often by one musician singing all of the parts or layering several instruments. By 1990, in part due to the popularity of newly developed drum machines, MIDI sequencers, samplers, and digital synthesizers, to record collectively in R&B-based black popular music was the exception rather than the norm.

This study considers new practices of record production that developed in this era of multitrack recording and electronic experimentation through an examination of four case studies: Stevie Wonder’s recordings in the early 1970s; Prince’s recordings from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s; Michael Jackson’s composition and recording process from this same period; and the mid-to-late 1980s sampling and sequencing processes of Public Enemy’s Bomb Squad production collective. The producers of these recordings, well aware of the collective ethos of earlier black music styles, conceived imaginative ways ...

From The Concert Hall To The Cinema: The Journey Of The Classical American Sound, Rebecca Stegall

Masters Theses

American classical music has enjoyed a long-standing presence around the world as its own entity within the classical music genre. As early as the 1920s, American classical music has had its own unique sound. The early 20th Century was a time of musical experimentation and social unrest in America. Due to its relative newness and experimentation by numerous composers, identifying the defining characteristics of American music, an experimental music itself, became difficult and ambiguous. Also, the continuation of American classical music became increasingly problematic as classical music was replaced in popular culture by other genres of music. The research for ...

Beyond England's "Green And Pleasant Land": English Romantics Outside The Musical Renaissance, Christopher Little

C. Scott Little PhD

England experienced a resurgence of musical talent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries known as the "English Musical Renaissance." This rebirth spanned the years 1880 – 1945 and is credited to the work of Edward Elgar, Frederick Delius, Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Their break with Continental compositional models and the subsequent rediscovery of Tudor music and English folk song eventually created a "pastoral" musical style, heard as the authentically English musical voice.

A strain of English musical Romanticism continued parallel to the Renaissance, however, represented by Granville Bantock, Joseph Holbrooke, Rutland Boughton, Arnold Bax, and Havergal Brian ...

The Contributions Of The Melbourne Festival Of Organ And Harpsichord And Its Successors: 1971-2010, Marcus R. Wigan

Marcus R Wigan

The Partimento Tradition In The Shadow Of Enlightenment Thought, Deborah Longenecker

Channels: Where Disciplines Meet

How did Enlightenment ideals influence seventeenth-century music theory and composition pedagogy? This article investigates the relationship between partimento pedagogy and Rameau’s music theories as influenced by Enlightenment thought. Current research on partimento has revealed its importance in Neapolitan music schools of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Along with counterpoint, partimento was a core subject in the study of composition in the Neapolitan schools; however, as pedagogy and theory began to be influenced by Enlightenment ideals such as the scientific method or a preference for clear systemization, the partimento tradition began to wane. Juxtaposing the Enlightenment ideals of Rameau’s ...

Out Of The Shadows: Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, And The Will To Persist, Juella Baltonado

School of Arts & Sciences Theses

Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn are known most commonly for their associations with their male counterparts, and often have their identities and accomplishments overshadowed by these men. This thesis shines a light on these women, uncovering the struggles with gender, agency, and societal expectations.

The Romanian Church Musician: Biblical Foundations For Training Musicians To Serve The Romanian Evangelical Church, Gary Mathena

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania was founded in 1986 as an underground training school for pastors and missionaries during the brutal regime of communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu. In December of 1989, Ceaușescu’s government was overthrown. The new democratic government not only officially recognized the school (then the Baptist Biblical Institute) as a theological seminary, but also commissioned the institution to train teachers for the newly emerging, publicly funded religious schools being established across the country. The school accepted that mandate and in 1998 changed its name to Emanuel University of Oradea. The music program began in those early days ...

A Study For Training And Building Up Worship Leaders For Spiritual Maturity And Revival In South Korea, Kyuhyuk Lee

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Worship leaders have become important ministers in worship since the 1990s in South Korea. However, South Korean churches rarely train and build up worship leaders because of the lack of recognition of the importance and expertise about worship leading. They have a false belief that the only role of worship leaders is to lead worship with musical skills. The purpose of this thesis project is to help worship leaders and their congregations to worship God correctly by presenting the concept and necessity for God-centered worship and principles for spiritually mature worship leaders. This study will examine the Bible and literature ...

A Discussion Regarding Various Animals' Abilities To Make Music And Move Rhythmically To Songs, Emilie R. Bufford

Capstone Projects and Theses

This project involves exploring the presence of music and rhythmic abilities in specific animal species. The main subjects are whales, sea lions, gorillas, elephants, birds, and mice. The goal of this project was to compare their abilities to those of humans, and overall, determine whether such abilities are considered musical. Cases where animals demonstrate the ability, both learned and innate, to move to a beat are analyzed, along with animals who demonstrate musical vocal abilities naturally in the wild. The previously unknown frequencies of whales, mice, and elephants, are brought to light. These findings bring up the possibility of even ...

No Stone Unturned: Defining The Role Of A Worship Assistant, Brittany Mcgilberry

Masters Theses

This paper will encompass information and the philosophy of the role of a worship assistant in ministry regarding the vision of the church, the use of appropriate equipment, and effective rehearsal strategies.

Salar Music And Identity: A "Sad" Sound, Elizabeth Keating

Masters Theses

The Salar are a Muslim minority group in China. They are from the northwest province of Qinghai. Xunhua, the Salar autonomous county, is located about 150 kilometers away from Qinghai’s capital, Xining. I have elected to learn about this minority group because of the need for research and general value. There is a need because little prior research has been done concerning the Salar minority within the field of ethnomusicology. This hole needs to be filled within minority China research. Beyond ethnomusicology, cultural and sociological understanding will profit, expanding the knowledge base of humankind. Also, the Salar themselves are ...

Worship Renewal Through Discipleship: How Discipleship And Mission Affects Our Worship, Kevin Haglund

Masters Theses

Numerous articles, blogs, and books have been written in recent years about the lessening of congregational participation in singing and many have called for a renewal of worship and changes in worship practice within the church. Yet, most of the solutions offered are aimed at bettering what happens inside the worship event—singing songs with more theologically rich lyrics, incorporating more scripture and prayer, striving for more creative ways to engage the congregation, more resources and training for worship leaders, and many other valuable ideas. As excellent as those solutions may be, they are incomplete unless we also focus on ...

Robert Burns's Hand In 'Ay Waukin, O': The Roy Manuscript And William Tytler's Dissertation (1779), Patrick G. Scott

Studies in Scottish Literature

Discusses Robert Burns's sources and manuscripts for his expansion of the song "Ay waukin, O," first published as song 213 in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, III (1790); highlights an often neglected and misdated printed item, William Tytler’s Dissertation, as Burns's source for two of the four stanzas; considers the two full-length manuscripts, identifying one as being an Antique Smith forgery, and detailing the provenance and purpose, of the other, now at the Birthplace Museum; examines and reproduces the Roy manuscript and its pencilled additions; and so clarifies the relationship among the three genuine manuscripts to ...

The Subversion Of Wagnerian Gender Dynamics In James Joyce’S Ulysses, Sophia S. Farion

Undergraduate Honors Theses

To the uninitiated, the works of James Joyce can descend into endless and impenetrable obscurity, but one thinker provides a key to deciphering Joyce’s writing: German operatic composer Richard Wagner. Wagner dominated nineteenth-century culture and Joyce could not escape his omnipotent influence. Whereas many artists tried to adopt aspects of Wagner’s artistic philosophy as their own, Joyce’s works reveal an inherent kinship with the composer. Allusions to Wagner’s radical “music dramas” are evident across Joyce’s œuvre. Wagner’s influence is not only found in the implicit and explicit allusions in Ulysses,—as Timothy Martin and ...

Composed In The Closet: Ingolf Dahl's A Cycle Of Sonnets, Cody M. Jones

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper analyzes Ingolf Dahl’s 1968 song cycle, A Cycle of Sonnets, within the specific personal and historical context surrounding its composition. This piece—perhaps more than any of his other works—shows the strong imprint of the emotional forces caused by Dahl’s personal life—specifically, his complex conception of his identity as a gay man. Through detailed examination of the score, text, and compositional sketches for the work and of entries in the composer’s unpublished diaries, this paper establishes a connection between the work itself and Dahl’s struggles to cope with aging, relationships, and his ...

Musical Genre Identification And Differentiation Of Rock, R&B/Hip-Hop, And Christian Songs Through Harmonic Analysis, Nolan A. Foxworth

Selected Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to identify and distinguish musical genre through harmonic analysis. The genres of Rock, R&B/Hip-Hop, and Christian have been selected for this study. The top ten songs from each genre (as listed by Billboard’s Year End Charts) are analyzed and contrasted with those of other genres in an attempt to prove that harmonic analysis alone is sufficient to identify the genre of an unknown song. Heavy in analysis, this thesis will find structure in music and use that structure to more deeply appreciate not only the study of genre, but of music itself.

Restoring Sound To The Stacks: The American Library As Music Space In The Great Depression, Katheryn Christine Lawson

School of Library and Information Science Graduate Student Posters

In the cultural imagination, libraries often conjure images of pristine aisles of books managed by strict, shushing librarians. However, libraries in the United States, both large and small, have embraced the sights and sounds of music concerts for well over a century. As a crucial point in this historical trajectory, the Great Depression provides a fascinating window onto the multi-layered music histories of American libraries and their patrons. In the midst of economic struggle, libraries joined concert halls and community centers to host high-profile Library of Congress concert series, local “Evenings with the Victrola,” and WPA composer forums. In their ...