Digital Commons Network^™

Bonding Theatre And Chemistry: An Educational Exploration, Matthew Gurniak

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper analyzes the educational aspects of theatre and music and the impact that they have on an audience. The goal was to begin a new conversation about science and theatre and how the two can learn and gain unique insight from each other. To examine how these two antithetical fields can interact, I composed a new, innovative musical that tells the love story between two professors through the use of concepts from general chemistry. The results and responses from the performance of the play were overwhelmingly positive from members of both disciplines. They have inspired continued interest in this …

Rhetoric And Wit In Nicolas Bernier's Le Caffé, Anne C. Wick

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The aim of this document is to create a better comprehension of the French Baroque cantata’s design through an examination of Nicolas Bernier’s Le Caffé, with particular attention paid to rhetorical influences, which will enhance the understanding of its value and performance style of the French Baroque cantata for both performers and audiences. To help modern teachers, performers and audiences to appreciate this genre and provide a practical means of approach to performance, this document will: 1) explain the purpose of the Late French Baroque Cantata as a vehicle to display the wit of both poet and composer; 2) reveal …

A Historical Study Of The Vboda Marching Festival And Its Comparison To The National Band Contests Of The 1920s And 1930s, Benjamin J. Frenchak

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The 1920s National School Band Contests and the 1980s Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association’s state marching competition followed parallel paths as music educators involved in each event wrestled with the value of competition and its implications in education. Various tensions over the competitive aspects of the events led to revisions that ultimately changed their purpose to assessment-oriented festivals. The purpose of this historical study was to investigate the events surrounding the National School Band Contest of the 1920s and 1930s; document the creation, administration, and evolution of the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors’ Association (VBODA) statewide marching assessment from …

Afro-Caribbean Stylistic Elements As Topics In The Music Of Silvestre Revueltas: Conveying A Political Discourse In Caminando, No Sé Por Qué Piensas Tú, And Sensemayá, Elsy M. Gallardo-Diaz

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Although the music of Silvestre Revueltas has often been categorized as merely Mexicanist, this paper aims to demonstrate that not all of his music falls squarely within that classification. Among his brief but significant artistic output, three pieces for voice and small instrumental ensemble incorporate Afro-Caribbean stylistic elements drawn from popular and religious Afro-Cuban music. Composed in early 1937, Caminando, No sé que piensas tú soldado, and Sensemayá were based on poems by the Cuban Nicolás Guillén, the foremost representative of Afrocubanismo and, like Revueltas, an ardent believer in art as a tool for political protest and for …

Overwhelmed, Overworked, And Under-Appreciated: A Mixed Methods Study Of Undergraduate Music Education Students, John P. Riley

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The primary purpose of this study was to compare burnout levels of college music education students by National Association for Music Education division, year in school, primary instrument, and certification track (i.e., instrumental, vocal, general). The secondary purpose of the study was to examine relationships among perceived burnout, academic, and personal variables. Moreover, in this study I explored participants’ experiences with burnout, why participants think burnout occurs, and how participants try to combat burnout. Respondents were 320 undergraduate students studying music education across the United States. Results revealed percussion students exhibited the highest levels of emotional exhaustion. Juniors reported the …

The Origins And Development Of The Euphonium Concerto With Brass Band, Joel M. Collier

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Since shortly after its invention, the euphonium has been utilized as a solo instrument, both in chamber music settings with piano, and with large ensembles such as brass bands and wind bands. However, it was not until the composition of Joseph Horovitz’s Euphonium Concerto in 1972 that the euphonium was genuinely regarded as a serious solo instrument in the brass band, capable of performing large-scale, substantial works.

In the following two decades, several composers wrote concerti for euphonium and brass band, each building on the technical demands of their predecessors. Their contributions established the basis of the genre, and also …

Notes For A Writer: The Role Of The Flute As Narrator In Jon Lord's To Notice Such Things, Brianne Little

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Jon Lord’s To Notice Such Things is a twenty-seven minute suite for flute, piano, and string orchestra composed in memory of the writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer, Q.C. In this orchestral work Lord used the flute as a narrator for Mortimer’s life as a programmatic or figurative device. Lord used his knowledge of Mortimer, through their close friendship, in order to create a narrative of the author’s life experience through music. Each movement of this suite points to a specific idea, time, or experience in Mortimer’s personal history, and provides the listener with a glimpse into the author’s life …

The Creation Of A Skills-Based Grading System For Solo Trumpet Repertoire, Charles R. Ahlhorn

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This research organizes a sample of solo trumpet literature, selected from state music educators associations’ repertoire lists, into a bi-level, skills-based grading system. At the first level of classification, each work is assigned an overall difficulty rating of 1, 2, or 3, with the latter being the most demanding category. The second level of classification evaluates the requirements of each work in six particular skill areas: range, rhythm and meter, articulation, flexibility, endurance, and phrasing. The rating scale for these parameters ascends from 1 to 5, where 1 represents beginner-level skills and 5 connotes virtuoso-caliber challenges.

The goal of this …

A Tank Full Of Wishful Thinking: Crystallizing The Rhythms Of The Road, Leanna K. Smithberger

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This thesis is a personal exploration of American car culture — the roads the enable it, the everyday actions that sustain it, and the values that justify it. I use a constellation of mobilities, autoethnography, and rhythmanalysis in order to generate a glimpse into the rhythm of our road-centered culture — how it shapes and constrains our lives in mundane and extraordinary ways, why it is largely taken for granted, and why it is so stubbornly persistent. I use a variety of artistic, evocative methods, including narrative, poetry, and music, because I argue that knowing is not enough — we …

Meditation And Awakening: An Exploration Of The Wind Music Of Eric Guinivan, Henry C. Hess Jr.

Dissertations, 2014-2019

American composer and percussionist Eric Guinivan is a rising star in the world of composition. He is the recipient of several major awards including the Morton Gould Young Composer Award, the BMI Student Composer’s Award, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance for his work with the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet. His work Meditation and Awakening was hailed by the New York Times as “engaging,” and commented on the work’s “shimmering colors” and “frenetic energy.” His pieces for wind band have been performed around the country, including at national and regional conferences of the College …

Establishing Human Identity Through Randomly-Generated Lyrics: A Comprehensive Performer's Analysis Of Robert Paterson's Captcha And Its Performance, Kyle Yampiro

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Robert Paterson’s CAPTCHA is a five-song cycle for baritone and piano that comes with some unique challenges from an interpretive standpoint. The text is comprised of CAPTCHAs: two-word phrases originally designed to test human identity versus that of a computer. Nearly every phrase contains a gibberish word and a real word and there is no proper syntax. The composer leaves interpretation open to the performer, which prompts the primary question explored in this document: how can a singer create an effective performance of this piece, given its unique challenges?

This document takes a multidisciplinary approach to discover the range of …

Finding Jean-Blaise Martin: An Italianate Approach For A Modernized Baryton-Martin Fach, Aaron D. Agulay

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The voice type or ‘fach’ baryton-Martin was named for Nicolas Jean-Blaise Martin (1768–1837), a French baritone celebrated for his agile voice, brilliant timbre, and extensive range. Historical accounts described his voice as having the depth of a bass-baritone with a tenorial upper range. Unfortunately, with the departure of Martin and the evolution of voice types during the bel canto era, this particular voice category fell out of favor. However, there is a voice type that successfully evolved and survived the bel canto era: the modern lyric tenor. The manner in which we have grown accustomed to hearing singers of this …

A Tank Full Of Wishful Thinking: Crystallizing The Rhythms Of The Road, Leanna K. Smithberger

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

This presentation is a personal exploration of American car culture — the roads that enable it, the everyday actions that sustain it, and the values that justify it. I use a constellation of mobilities, autoethnography, and rhythmanalysis in order to tap into the political, personal, and aesthetic ways our road-centered culture shapes and constrains our lives in mundane and extraordinary ways. I argue that our road system of mobility is largely taken for granted, and is stubbornly persistent due to deeply held cultural values. I use a variety of artistic, evocative methods, including narrative, poetry, and music, because I argue …

Vibrato Rate In Female Opera Singers And Female Sertanejo Singers, Melissa Mccann

Showcase of Graduate Student Scholarship and Creative Activities

The aim of this study was to compare female vibrato rates in two styles of singing, western classical and sertanejo. This study was conducted in order to determine if different technical approaches yield a different mean vibrato rate in female singers. Examples were taken from well-known, operatic sopranos and popular female sertanejo singers. The program Vocevista was used to gain quantitative data on the singers’ vibrato rates and vibrato extent. A purpose of this study is to determine if the findings of similar mean vibrato rate for tenors singing in operatic and sertanejo genres, also hold true for female vocalists …