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A Stylistic Analysis With Performance Suggestions Of Robert Muczynski’S Selected Late Piano Works: Maverick Pieces, Opus 37, Masks, Opus 40, And Dream Cycle, Opus 44, Ji Hyun Kim

Dissertations

Robert Muczynski (1929-2010) was a composer, pianist, and educator whose work is starting to garner more attention and interest from scholars, performers, and audiences.

Muczynski’s musical output covers a variety of genres from works for solo instruments to orchestral works and film scores. He was especially devoted to writing for piano. This is well represented in his musical output. Among his forty-eight compositions with opus numbers, seventeen works are for solo piano. He also wrote a piano concerto (No.1, Op.7), and twelve chamber works featuring the piano. Although his music has increased in popularity, it is less discussed when compared …

Authenticity And Practicality: Evaluating And Performing Multicultural Choral Music, Jesse Noote

Dissertations

Many choral music educators believe that multicultural music is a vital part of any choral curriculum. However, the research shows that these same choral directors are reluctant to select multicultural octavos because they lack training in non-Western music, which prevents them from effectively teaching and performing this music authentically. The purpose of this dissertation is to equip choral directors with the necessary tools for bridging the gap between desiring to perform and actually performing multicultural octavos.

Six authors have provided authenticity checklists that are designed to help music educators evaluate and perform multicultural music. This research synthesizes those lists to …

Johann Strauss Ii's Die Fledermaus: Historical Background And Conductor's Guide, Jennifer Bruton

Dissertations

Students pursuing graduate degrees in conducting often have aspirations of being high school or college choir or band directors. Others want to lead orchestra programs in educational or professional settings. Sadly, many colleges and universities do not have systems in place that provide avenues for those choosing this career path. The curriculum should go beyond teaching the rudiments of baton technique. Students should receive instruction and practical experience, applying what they have learned. Lab bands and choirs are a helpful tool, but I believe opera programs provide an ideal and essential venue where conductors can not only improve and hone …

An Analysis Of Western Art Music Arrangements For Steel Pan Chamber Ensemble, Ian Meiman

Dissertations

This dissertation is an analysis of western art music arrangements for steel pan chamber ensembles. Specifically, this dissertation will analyze how certain arrangers have adapted western art music for steel pan chamber ensemble while discussing the possible methods the arranger used to create this adaptation. The analysis will observe the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and other significant alterations made in the steel pan chamber arrangement, and discuss any changes made, whether due to the adaptation of the instruments or otherwise, from the original works. The dissertation will also include a brief historical discussion on western art music’s influence of early steel …

Solo Trombone With Electronic Accompaniment: An Analysis And Performance Guide For Three Recent Compositions, Joshua Mize

Dissertations

This dissertation examines three solo trombone works, each with a different electronic accompaniment–fixed media, live electronics with a computer, and live electronics with a loop station. A historical and cultural background establishes a context for each accompaniment type, followed by a brief introduction of the selected composition and its composer. Then, an analysis of the piece explores how the electronic accompaniment functions within the context of the solo. Finally, a performance guide addresses rehearsal techniques and important aspects of performing with the different electronic accompaniments. The final product is a pedagogical resource representing current literature for the trombone and electronics …

Selected Wind Band Works Of Jennifer Higdon: A Conductor's Analysis, Mark P. Johnson

Dissertations

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon rose to worldwide prominence through her orchestral compositions. She is a prolific composer who has made significant contributions to the genres of solo concerti, mixed chamber ensemble music, choral music, and opera. Higdon describes her approach to composition as intuitive, where music is internally heard and then notated.

The purpose of this study is to create a conductor’s analysis for four wind band pieces written by Dr. Jennifer Higdon. It will examine the signature characteristics of Higdon’s compositional style and use those characteristics as a fundamental for the creation of written analysis. The dissertation …

John Cage’S ‘Rock’ Music: Ecocritical And Performance Considerations In Ryoanji For Solo Oboe And Percussion Obbligato (1983), Everette Smith

Dissertations

In the years following World War II, several American composers began breaking from the confines of music notation relegated to five lines and four spaces. Of particular interest to this study, John Cage (1912–1992) began liberating his compositions from the restraint posed by traditional notation in 1951 with his work Imaginary Landscape No. 4. He continued to create and develop varying systems of graphic notation with his indeterminate works, which became increasingly influenced by his interest in the environment and in South and East Asian aesthetic and philosophical considerations, themselves environmentally influenced. One of the latest products of Cage’s coalescence …

Traditional Irish Musical Elements In The Solo-Piano Music Of Ryan Molloy, Brian Thomas Murphy

Dissertations

Music in Ireland has become increasingly popular in recent decades. There is no shortage of Irish musical groups, recordings, and live performances featuring Irish music both in Ireland and abroad. Contemporary art music in Ireland has also seen an increase in support and notoriety. Irish composers face a decision of how, if at all, to engage with traditional folk music that is so prominent in their culture. Ryan Molloy (b. 1983 in Pomeroy, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland) is a composer and performer who incorporates elements of traditional Irish music in the context and in the language of modern art music. …