Other Music Commons^™

In The Groove: A Documentary About Vinyl, Jared Endsley

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis project, ‘In the Groove’ is to tell the story of why vinyl records, a music format written off as a casualty to the digital age is experiencing a cultural resurgence. In the last several years vinyl records have been the only musical format to record positive sales growth.

For many musicians today, pressing their music to vinyl records yields the greatest return on investment. However, vinyl remains a niche market, supported by a devoted fan base.

This film focuses on a group of artists and vinyl enthusiasts as they navigate this new marketplace.

Music Therapy In The Modern Era: Three Discussions, Kate Pisarczyk, Sean Harty, Victoria Kleeman

Celebration of Learning

This Senior Inquiry presentation includes the findings of three Pre-Music therapy senior’s research. The three projects delve into very different, but important aspects of music therapy in our modern era. Sean Harty's Memory and Music delves into the impact of music on different parts of the aging brain in regards to memory recall. Music therapy is one avenue in order to assist this type of clientele. Victoria Kleeman's Synergy Should Tell the Story in Music Therapy explores the idea of creating synergy within the world of music therapy. Her discussion leads with the idea that the creation ...

Letters From Olive Fremstad To Willa Cather: A View Beyond The Song Of The Lark, Jessica Tebo

Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research: Department of English

In 1913, Willa Cather met opera-diva Olive Fremstad and the two formed a friendship that would span at least a decade. Fremstad has long been recognized as an inspiration for the character Thea Kronborg of Cather’s Song of the Lark (1915) but has not been portrayed as influential in any other aspects to Cather’s career. Letters sent by Fremstad to Cather have recently been located, and they reveal an ongoing and interdisciplinary dialogue between the two women that negotiates issues surrounding art and professionalism. I locate these letters within the broader context of Cather’s public and fictional ...

Electronics And The Music Of Miles Davis, Darren E. Shekailo

School of Arts & Sciences Theses

Miles Davis produced a wealth of music relying on the use of electronic instruments and new technology. With their adoption, the famous trumpeter began his “electric” period. Examining the electric period of Davis’s career helps us trace the profound impact of electronic instruments and technological advances on his music.

Generating Audio Using Recurrent Neural Networks, Andrew Pfalz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Long Short Term Memory cells are a type of recurrent neural network that perform well when predicting sequence data. This works presents four approaches to modeling audio data. The models are trained to predict either raw audio samples or magnitude spectrum windows based on prior input audio. In a process called sampling, the models can then be employed to generate new audio using what they learned about the data they were trained on.

Four methods for sampling are presented. The first has the model predict a vector for each vector in the input. The second has the model predict one ...

Newfoundland And Irish Music: Synonymous Or Similar?, Kathryn E. Krajewski

Celebration of Learning

This paper explores how Newfoundland music was influenced by not only Irish music, but English music as well. Some background on the connections and relationship Newfoundland had with England and Ireland is provided before delving into the influence these countries had on Newfoundland music. Musical examples are included to illustrate how the songs of Newfoundland have both similarities and differences to the music of Ireland and England.

The Composer, The Musicologist, His Wife, And Her Lover: On Lacan’S Relevance To Music, Thomas Reiner

Directions of New Music

This paper asks what it is to write about music. When we ask students or colleagues to write about music are we asking them to describe music structurally, or to cope with music’s ever-shifting signifieds? The paper attempts to answer this question by clarifying the relationship between composition, musicology, and music “itself” by way of a Lacanian reading of Peter Greenaway's film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. Lacan’s existential concepts of the Imaginary, the Symbolic, and the Real are first introduced in relation to music with reference to music by Hans Werner Henze ...

The Effect Of Visual Performance On Music Performance Evaluation In High School Marching Band, Kathryn D. Brimhall

Senior Theses

At marching band contests, bands are usually judged on both their music performance (ensemble, individual, and general effect) and visual performance (ensemble, individual, and general effect). Phenomena such as the McGurk effect (McGurk & MacDonald, 1976) indicate that people often prioritize visual information over aural information; however, until now there have not been empirical investigations of how this phenomenon might affect high school marching band evaluation. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of visual performance on the music performance evaluation of high school marching bands. To study this effect, I recruited college students who were randomly assigned to two groups to evaluate a recorded marching band show. One group ...

A Graduate Recital In Conducting, Daniel W. Mcdill

Electronic Thesis Collection

The purpose of this thesis is to provide an understanding of the works conducted on the author’s graduate conducting recital at Pittsburg State University. Biographical information of the composer, historical context of the pieces, program notes, and performance considerations will be included for each piece conducted.

El Mundo Anti-Negro Y Los Hip-Hop Blues: Los Rakas Y J-Cole, Josué R. López

The Quiet Corner Interdisciplinary Journal

Tenemos que contender con el mundo anti-negro. Los Rakas, un dúo artístico panameño-estadounidense, y J-Cole, un artista afro-estadounidense, utilizan al hip-hop como una avenida para comunicar sus ansiedades, sufrimientos y fortalecerse en la lucha infinita al ser el Otro Oscuro. Los blues forman parte de como uno lidia con la permanencia del racismo y nuestra existencia en un mundo anti-negro. A través de Frantz Fanon, Derrick Bell y Lewis Gordon, argumento que el estilo musical de J-Cole y Los Rakas constituye una forma de los hip-hop blues. Examino las canciones “Sueño Americano” y “Neighbors” para analizar cómo los artistas entienden ...

Storytelling Through Hip Hop, Brandon Donohoe

Senior Honors Projects

90’s but has changed drastically over the years. Styles have evolved and new sub-genres have emerged but the opportunity for compelling storytelling has remained. Over the course of this past semester with the guidance of my sponsor, I explored this rich tradition. I listened to several albums with release dates that spanned from the 90s to 2000s to get a feel for what techniques some of the most well-known storytellers in hip-hop have used. The albums that I found to be particularly useful were ‘Ready to Die’ by Notorious B.I.G., Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Good Kid, m.A ...

Cowboy Art Song: A Contextual And Musical Analysis Of Libby Larsen's "Cowboy Songs", Ann Gabrielle Richardson

Dissertations

This dissertation sprang from a combination of two personal interests: cowboy culture and classical art song. The union of my cowgirl heritage with my career as a classical vocalist has long fueled an interest in a particular niche of repertoire: soprano art song with thematic connections to the North American cowboy. A conducted state of research reveals no scholarly literature exploring this specific topic. Libby Larsen’s collection, Cowboy Songs, fulfills the aforementioned niche, successfully capturing the spirit, musical idioms, and cultural themes of the North American cowboy.

Chapter I lays a contextual foundation for cowboy song, providing a catalogue ...

Ministry Through Musical Performance: Establishing Biblical, Historical, And Pedagogical (Educational) Precedent For The Christian Performing Artist, Lindsey Graham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As a performing artist, the author suggests in an “American Idol” culture, Christian artists have largely lost their identity as worshipers with a ministry of the Gospel through music. The Christian performing artist has the responsibility to commit to spiritual maturity and personal growth. This thesis project proposes the artist is a communicator of the Gospel through music and seeks to substantiate the Christian performing artist through biblical, historical, and educational rationale and precedent. Biblical rationale of the Christian performing artist is considered in Old Testament and New Testament principle and precedent. Historical rationale and precedent is established through the ...

Muzic Appreciation: Bridging The Gap Between Generation Z & Classical Music, Timothy Green

Masters Theses

Today’s music educators stand in a strategic position in the history of classical music in America. At a time when symphony orchestras are struggling to survive due to an aging and declining customer base, a generation of musical omnivores are ripe for a connection to the world of classical music. Generation Z has a vast, eclectic musical appetite, choosing to listen to a variety of genres and styles of music instead of adopting a generational style. However, they have limited interaction with classical music due to certain non-musical attitudes and values. It is possible the disconnect between Generation Z ...

Dancing, Mindfulness, And Our Emotions: Embracing The Mind, Body, And Sole, Alisha M. Collins

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This capstone project examines dance, as an intervention and mindfulness practice that assists with managing our emotions. There is a need for dance therapy in social institutions such as, healthcare facilities, schools, and community centers. Dance therapy has the potential to reduce negative emotions, create mindfulness, improve self-expression, and promote a healthy well-being. I am proposing that dance therapy is applied as a regular practice in social institutions to develop mindfulness and promote emotional stability.

In this study, I argue that dance therapy can contribute to our well-being long term. In addition to this written thesis, a visual component of ...

Leonard Bernstein's Piano Music: A Comparative Study Of Selected Works, Leann Osterkamp

All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Much of Leonard Bernstein’s piano music is incorporated in his orchestral and theatrical works. The comparison and understanding of how the piano works relate to the orchestral manifestations validates the independence of the piano works, provides new insights into Bernstein’s compositional process, and presents several significant issues of notation and interpretation that can influence the performance practice of both musical versions.

The chronological and historical significance of his piano music has been sometimes inaccurately recorded and/or generalized. In understanding the factual chronological, social, and political relationships behind the piano works and their orchestral manifestations, I argue that ...

Hear We Are: Investigating Sonic Inequality Within Bowling Green, Ohio, Declan Wicks

Honors Projects

Using the framework of Steven Feld’s “acoustemology,” Hear We Are examines the sonic structures of Bowling Green and their effects on, and representation of, diverse communities within Bowling Green. Through modeling the sonic landscape of Bowling Green, Ohio in relation to aggregated census data, Hear We Are explores how the city of Bowling Green has been spatially and sonically organized – whether along lines of class, race, or education. Ultimately, Hear We Are offers a narrative of sound within Bowling Green while reflecting on the consequences of living within different soundscapes, i.e., sonic inequality

Using the theoretical framework of ...

Playing Without Pain, Francesca Leo

Honors Projects

Musicians across all career stages experience performance-based pain and injury, and due to demanding rehearsal and performance schedules, collegiate musicians are uniquely vulnerable to these conditions. To provide collegiate musicians the most effective coping mechanisms for performance-based pain and injury, it is important to first understand the extent to which collegiate musicians are affected by these conditions. The purpose of this multi-tiered study was to create a customized web resource to connect collegiate musicians with local, accessible treatment and prevention options. An initial questionnaire was distributed to music students attending Bowling Green State University, and this questionnaire received 45 valid ...

Playing Baseball At The Library Of Congress: Strategies And Challenges For Curating Primary Source Collections, Katherine Walden

School of Library and Information Science Graduate Student Posters

Based on a Junior Fellowship at the Library of Congress, this project highlights the challenges embedded in the process of curating a thematic collection of primary sources. The Fellowship project involved working in the Library’s Music Division to identify baseball-related print music titles, with the Fellowship’s final project being the creation of a bibliography of baseball-related titles that exist in the Library’s collection.

Through unpacking the process of searching for (and finding, or not finding) thematic primary sources, this project addresses the significance of catalog migrations and catalog forms in determining collection findability and availability. Additionally, the ...

Implications Of Theory Of Mind, Feelings Of Connectedness, Flow State Of Mind Through Active And Passive Music Improvisation Experiences, Rebecca Lint

Honors Theses

This study is an introduction examining the relationship between a performer and the audience in a musical improvisation context. Current research exploring performer-audience interaction in improvisation experiences is scant and typically framed in a purely narrative context. This study seeks to evaluate four different components of the performer and audience relationship; amount, or level, of experience with improvisation and comfort levels, flow, theory of mind, and emotional connection. A survey was generated and given to students in an improvisation class to collect results based on these four components. This study found that improvisation experience levels were low but comfort with ...