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Electronic Theses and Dissertations

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Music

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Harmonic Data: Ai Music, Edm Transcription, & Minimalist Jazz, Trevor Freed Mar 2024

Harmonic Data: Ai Music, Edm Transcription, & Minimalist Jazz, Trevor Freed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents research in the domains of music theory and music technology. The topics of the three chapters are as follows: (1) the technical and artistic limitations of artificial intelligence when generating music, (2) the transcription of electronic dance music (EDM) using a hybrid notation system, and (3) the effective convergence of jazz and minimalism in the music of Joe Hisaishi from Studio Ghibli. Each topic investigates a different aspect of harmony and the modern ways in which humans communicate in terms of harmony. The first chapter surveys the latest research projects in AI-generated music and proposes ideas for …


Escape Beneath: An Original Game Score Inspired By An Analysis Of Garry Schyman's Music, Daniel Cooper Dec 2022

Escape Beneath: An Original Game Score Inspired By An Analysis Of Garry Schyman's Music, Daniel Cooper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Video-game music has grown into a vast array of different styles, sounds, and applications. As a newer field of music, game scoring has begun to receive high acclaim. Garry Schyman has become one of the most successful composers within the video-game industry. His music has received many awards and nominations throughout the years. Despite this, research and analysis into his compositions and techniques are almost non-existent. This thesis studies his techniques within the video-game scores for BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite, Middle Earth Shadow of War, and Torn; and then applies them into an original …


The Last Straw For Mixed Ensemble And Electronis., Nicholas Hall May 2022

The Last Straw For Mixed Ensemble And Electronis., Nicholas Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Last Straw was composed for mixed ensemble and electronics. The main idea behind this piece is twofold: a) the treatment of the pitches, articulations, and dynamics shared between instruments and how they propagate out of phase closely resembles what I would have programed on various standalone synthesizer, and b) the processing itself is treated how I would manipulate various parameters on said synthesizers to achieve different sonic modulations. All instruments are amplified through a 4.1 sound system (4 loudspeakers and subwoofer) which is setup in a circle (see the performance layout page viii). Through processing via Max/MSP, the sound …


On The Subject Of Loneliness., Isaac Raymond Smith May 2022

On The Subject Of Loneliness., Isaac Raymond Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Loneliness has been experienced since ancient times, but all were made acutely aware of the need for social interaction during the long periods of lockdown during 2020 and 2021. on the subject of loneliness draws inspiration from a variety of texts which examine the complex effects of loneliness from emotional, scientific, and spiritual viewpoints. Redactions and rearrangements of these texts form a new narrative which does not always follow a linear form or work toward a clear goal. The speaker’s internal dialogue formed from the disparate texts reflects the impact of loneliness on the music itself; only in retrospect do …


Rope: An Original Piece For String Orchestra Played Concurrently With Alfred Hitchcock's Film, Douglas William-Solomon Espie May 2020

Rope: An Original Piece For String Orchestra Played Concurrently With Alfred Hitchcock's Film, Douglas William-Solomon Espie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents an original piece of music designed to be performed concurrently with Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948). The film provides a canvas upon which a musically dominant multimedia experience is built. An accompanying analysis explains the variety of compositional techniques used, explaining their significance and how each deviates from a traditional film score. The objective of this work is to challenge the existing relationship between music and film, and add to the growing body of repertoire of live works featuring synchronized video, modeling example methods of live multimedia performance. In this exploration, the goal was not to be anti-cinematic, …


The Sound Of Adventure: Two Original Compositions That Combine Music, Sound Design, And Post-Production, Inspired By Outdoor Experiences, Jason K. Gibson Dec 2019

The Sound Of Adventure: Two Original Compositions That Combine Music, Sound Design, And Post-Production, Inspired By Outdoor Experiences, Jason K. Gibson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Composers have been inspired by nature for centuries, but writing music about nature is becoming more popular in our day. Now, under titles like “Landscape Music” and “Environmental Music,” many composers seek to embody the feeling of nature in music. What has yet to be fully developed is how electronic music and landscape music can overlap in the chamber music world. This project culminates in two original compositions, Natural Opposition (ca. six min), and Giants at Night (ca. 15 min), that seek to satisfy the requirements of both realms by combining naturally inspired music with electronic influences. The compositions themselves …


“Native American Folk Song Suite”: A Study Of Traditional Native American Melodies, The Role Of Music In Native American Society, And Its Translation To The Modern Wind Ensemble, Preston Parker Aug 2019

“Native American Folk Song Suite”: A Study Of Traditional Native American Melodies, The Role Of Music In Native American Society, And Its Translation To The Modern Wind Ensemble, Preston Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Music holds a sacred place for the many Native American tribes of the United States. Over the past 150 years, ethnomusicologists Dr. Theodore Baker (1851-1934), Dr. Frances Densmore (1867-1957), and John Donald Robb (1892-1989) have preserved these songs by sitting down with indigenous Native Americans and recording their music straight from the source. Through these recordings, these ethnomusicologists created a springboard for composers, including myself, to study the past and create new music that honors the traditions and culture of Native Americans. I have applied my new knowledge of these musical techniques and traditions to create a work for wind …


Eclectic: A Recording Project Of Original Crossover Compositions, Chance Moore May 2019

Eclectic: A Recording Project Of Original Crossover Compositions, Chance Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Music makers have always borrowed one another’s influences, across philosophies, across culture, and thus, across genres. Since the 1950’s, a time when classical music was at its farthest reach from popular music, the rift between these two “worlds” has shrunk, and music crafters from each category are free to take from the other as they please. As a figure who stands between the cultivated and vernacular traditions, my aim for this thesis is to give an introduction to some of the ways genre hybridization has been achieved since 1950, present a collection of my own compositions (along with recordings) that …


An Analysis Of Musicals By Lynn Ahrens And Stephen Flaherty, And An Original Musical, Fly Like An Eagle, Donna Howard May 2019

An Analysis Of Musicals By Lynn Ahrens And Stephen Flaherty, And An Original Musical, Fly Like An Eagle, Donna Howard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have written musicals together for several decades. This thesis contains an in-depth discussion and stylistic analysis of several songs each from Once on This Island, Ragtime, and Seussical – three Ahrens & Flaherty shows chosen specifically because of their variety in style and subject matter. This analysis includes, among other things, the lyrics and lyric setting, textures, harmonic settings, accompaniment styles, rhythms, and harmonic progressions. The central portion of this document contains the music for nine songs of an original musical titled Fly Like an Eagle. This script is written by Daris Howard and is …


Mabalêl., Johannes Visser May 2019

Mabalêl., Johannes Visser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The symphonic song, Mabalel, as presented here, is an extract from a larger composition that also forms part of a greater trilogy of songs on South African texts. Throughout the three texts in the trilogy, themes of nature, pre-civilization society, and African tragedies create unification between the works. In Mabalel, a young native South African girl is sent to get water for her village from the river, when she is unexpectedly attacked by Lalele, a crocodile. The beauty of this text not only lies in its metaphorical representation of the (most often unjust) difficulties and tragedies faced daily by rural, …


The Far Green Country., Lincoln A. Sandham May 2018

The Far Green Country., Lincoln A. Sandham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work was inspired by a beautiful image from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: “And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.” ~The Return of The King, Book VI chapter 9. This imagery inspired the three movements of this work. The first, The Gray Raincurtain, depicts a violent end, the world crashing down around you. The musical material of this movement gradually …


Winds Of Courage A Mallet Concerto For Solo Mallets And Wind Ensemble., Ross Elliott Dec 2017

Winds Of Courage A Mallet Concerto For Solo Mallets And Wind Ensemble., Ross Elliott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Winds of Courage is a motivically-driven composition based on a repeating chordal pattern. Although being written out, the solo mallets parts sound somewhat improvisatory, which is a key element to the part. In a way, the concerto illustrates what it is like to have a crush on someone; where the first movement is getting up the courage to talk to them; the second movement, crying from failing to say what you need to say or not getting up the courage to talk to them, or getting rejected; and the final movement, when things work out in a positive manner, or …


Mystery Of The Wax Museum: An Original Film Score For Orchestra And An Analysis Outlining The Evolution Of Film Music Through American Horror Films Of The Early 1930s, Ian Deterling May 2017

Mystery Of The Wax Museum: An Original Film Score For Orchestra And An Analysis Outlining The Evolution Of Film Music Through American Horror Films Of The Early 1930s, Ian Deterling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis illustrates the transitional period between silent films and fully-scored sound films. Connecting the history between producers, directors, and composers reveals how and why film scoring became an accepted practice by the mid-1930s while shedding light on the commonly-overlooked composers whose innovations in these early films paved the way for future film composers. The principle objective of this project is to score selected sequences of Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933) by synthesizing contemporary film scoring practices with techniques commonly used in horror films of the 1930s. An accompanying analysis of the score will explain the purpose of each …


Genesis : For Orchestra., Zachary Dwight Lowery May 2017

Genesis : For Orchestra., Zachary Dwight Lowery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Genesis is a two-movement work for full orchestra that depicts the Creation and Flood story. These two stories are an inverse of each other, one of beginnings, and the other of endings. The idea of creation is portrayed musically through the stacking and building of various motives presented throughout the piece to create a musical "world". Those motives and ideas are then scattered, distorted, and further fragmented to show the utter destruction of creation. Ultimately this piece is about the power and grace of God, and His plan through it all.


"Given Time..." For Soprano And Orchestra., Alex Isackson May 2017

"Given Time..." For Soprano And Orchestra., Alex Isackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The title of this work, Given time… is meant to be less like a traditional title and more like the beginning of a deep thought. Time is one of those things that I think humans just don’t understand and don’t give very much thought to, especially considering how much time has already passed and how much time left there is in the universe. Where does space and time end? And where do we (or I) fit in all of it? Does everything I do have any lasting impact on the eternal scheme of things? The list of questions goes …


Relevant Versus Extraneous Music In Multimedia Instruction: A Study Of The Coherence Principle, Jonathan Gunnell Jan 2017

Relevant Versus Extraneous Music In Multimedia Instruction: A Study Of The Coherence Principle, Jonathan Gunnell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the inclusion of nonessential music in an instructional multimedia presentation affected learners’ ability to recall information in retention, cued-retention, and transfer cognitive measures. This study tested the coherence principle of multimedia learning which holds that the addition of nonessential content that is not relevant to the instruction is detrimental to learning. This study tested this principle by analyzing differences across three groups; a control group which included no additional music, a group including bland music selected at random, and a group including music that has been intentionally designed to align with …