Digital Commons Network^™

A Phenomelogical Inquiry Of The Applicability Of Neurologic Music Therapy For A Student Music Therapist, Katie Fairbourn

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT) is a standardized training offered to many different clinical disciplines including music therapy. NMT specializes in research, techniques, and principles regarding the brain’s relationship with music. Despite what the name may suggest, NMT is not affiliated with the music therapy profession, and may be often overlooked by music therapy programs across the country, as was the experience of the principal investigator (PI). There is a lot of research and studies available showing the benefits of NMT for specific clinical populations, but there is no research that examines the effect and value NMT training has when combined …

The Role Of Music Context In High School Students' Translations Among Representations In Algebra, Danielle Divis

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previous research suggests that integrating music into mathematics can benefit students’ mathematics learning but leaves questions as to exactly how students interact with music context and mathematics simultaneously. This study used a descriptive multiple-case study design to understand the way high school students utilize music while engaging in music-contextualized algebra tasks. Eight pairs of high school students participated in this study. The procedures included training four volunteer high school teacher-researchers to carry out three music-contextualized mathematics lessons in their own classes. Data sources for each pair included three student work samples, three audio-video recordings of class sessions, and one audio …

Exploring The Impact Of Musical Mnemonic Strategies On Student Achievement And Engagement In Inclusive Science Classes, Zinna Eaton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Students with disabilities often struggle with comprehending material and performing at grade level, and teachers often find new ways to help their students comprehend the curriculum. A common challenge for special education teachers is incorporating different learning styles and various instructional strategies to better assist their students. One teaching strategy and resource that many teachers incorporate is the use of music in their instruction. This research project examines how incorporating music teaching strategies into daily instruction impacts the level of engagement and the academic achievement level of sixth-grade students with and without mild/moderate disabilities within inclusive science classrooms. The study …

Harmonizing Music And Language Acquisition: Learning Language With The Arts, Samantha Ontiveros

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This portfolio consists of select work the author completed during the Master of Second Language Teaching program at Utah State University. Throughout the portfolio, the author shares her personal ideas, opinions, teaching observations, and personal teaching examples utilizing song; all these were found to support the research presented in this portfolio.

This portfolio contains three main sections: (1) teaching perspectives, (2) research perspectives, and (3) an annotated bibliography. The focus of this portfolio is to find new ways to teach language using artistic and creative outlets, such as multimodality, technology, and most importantly, music. The portfolio contains effective ways to …

Becoming An Artistic Entrepreneur: The Nuts And Bolts Of Running A Successful Artistic Venture, Collette Nicole Cook

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The music industry is shifting away from the traditional concert in traditional venues. New and innovative concert experiences are beginning to be designed to continue to find ways to speak to new audiences. As a musician, entrepreneurial skills are becoming more and more mandatory in creating a long-lasting career. Despite the thousands of people who graduate around the country with a music degree each year, the number of traditional music jobs as a major symphony orchestra member or touring soloist are becoming more and more difficult to land, causing many graduates to have to find work in a different field …

Pitch Perception In Preschool-Age Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing, Megan Lambert

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This research thesis will 1) provide an overview of the psychoacoustics of music perception, particularly as related to the properties of pitch perception in young children and 2) describe the methods and outcomes of an exploratory study to evaluate the efficacy of obtaining pitch perception data from preschool age children with hearing loss. Each child completed a series of three tasks, including coaching and practice, single note perception, and pitch contrasts. All of the children readily understood the single-note pitch perception task. Pitch contrast performance across participants ranged from 50% to 96% correct for the first data collection period and …

Urban Pioneers: A Journey Through The Blurred Lines Of Authenticity Within Utah's Folk Music Revival, Jennifer J. Haertel

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper has described the collection of oral histories as part of the Urban Pioneers research project started by folklorist Polly Stewart as a way to document the urban folk music revival in Utah during the 1950s-1960s. Additionally, this paper has detailed how the revival in Utah fit into context within the national movement, especially in terms of the search for authenticity by the majority of revivalists - including a thorough discussion of their own reexamination of experiences that led to an understanding that the authenticity they had been chasing had never existed to begin with.

Bridging Music And The Early Childhood Curriculum In Listening And Spoken Language Programs For Children Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing, Whitney Wright

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Music is an integral aspect of human life. Its impact weaves through arts, culture, communication, recreation, and education. In addition to benefits of enjoyment and entertainment, music is a vital component of early childhood educational settings. Educators routinely utilize music as an embedded component of instruction to meet both group and individual needs of young children in early childhood classrooms. In fact, specialized musical instruction can be particularly beneficial for children with disabilities, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) (Gfeller, Driscoll, Kenworthy, & Van Voorst, 2011). Children who are DHH are at significant risk for speech, …

Student Teaching Band Arrangement, Whitney Mensink

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

As a future music educator, I have learned how to teach students through various courses and instruction. During the last semester of my undergraduate, I am required to student teach. This gives me an opportunity to apply everything I’ve learned to see if it really works, and what my particular teaching style and philosophy is. At Sky View High School, I had the opportunity to teach the Sophomore Concert Band. For my thesis project, I decided to arrange a piece just for them – to rehearse with them and to score it to the strengths of the ensemble. Since I …

“Next Year In Jerusalem”: The Trials And Triumphs Of Music In The Schools Of Preston, Idaho, 1888-1995, Jill Durrant

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Throughout time, music has played a pivotal role in the lives of people. In every country, among every ethnicity, and as part of every culture, music has a presence. Music often acts as a mirror, reflecting aspects of society and history in ways that even the ordinary person can understand. No matter what the form—religious, popular, classical, folk—music has the ability to reveal something about the people who created it, performed it, and enjoyed it. Because of this overarching presence of music in the structure of almost every civilization, it is no surprise that music has always had some part …

Senior Violin Recital And Notes On The Works, Angela Carpenter

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

It all began with a string of music, a melody. It seemed fitting for strings and so it was decided to begin a work for strings. The first movement was intended to stand alone, but once the idea to complete a string quartet was born it progressed from there. It is easy to see a progression in the compositional style of Juan-Carlos Mackey from the beginning to the end, and it is somehow fitting for the piece as well.

More Than Meets The Ear: The Culture Behind The Music, Anita Sant

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

More than Meets the Ear: The Culture behind the Music is a traveling exhibit that was designed and created over more than a year's time at Utah State University's museum of anthropology. As one member of a team of interns, I helped decide on an exhibit focus, its audience, content, and design. We started from the ground up as inexperienced undergraduates under the tutelage of the museum's curator, Lara Petersen, and the museum's director, Dr. Bonnie Pitblado.

As the project gradually progressed and was honed to the subject of ethnomusicology, I took on the responsibility of the educational aspect of …

Notes On Flute Music Of Boehm, Muczynski, Telemann, And Feld, Anna Lisa Davidson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Theobald Boehm is most well known for his contribution to the structure of today's standard flute key system. He was born in 1794 to a goldsmith, who intended him to follow the trade. Boehm became skilled at gold smithing while also pursuing musical studies, using a flute to improve his weak lungs. He learned to play the flageolet and one-keyed flute in childhood. He grew unhappy with the construction of these and made himself a copy of a four-keyed flute by Grenser of Dresden. In 1812, he became principal flautist at the Isartor Theater. He was able to continue both …

Music And War Throughout The Ages, Brent Thomas Yorgason

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

War has always had a powerful influence on music. At times it has the ability to motivate composers even more than love, religious belief, or money. Throughout the ages, both war and music about war have changed dramatically. The destructive power of war has reached its ultimate capabilities -- the potential to eliminate all life. As war has become more and more horrible, and has caused unprecedented amounts of needless deaths, the world's view of war has changed completely. This change in attitude toward war is evident also in the development of war music.

Interpretive Implications Of Architecture In Musical Performance, Shane Fellows

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of the present essay is to attempt the formulation of a plausible approach to the interpretive performance of music. Such, if successful, would be of special import in the effective and thoughtful rendition of all music; but especially in those numerous cases where application of performance practice is conjectural. This does not constitute an attempt at the definition of "authentic performance". Rather it is an effort in the direction of the establishment of defensible and especially of objective interpretive guidelines. By no means do I submit that this approach is the only plausible one; but the one which …

George Crumb And Makrokosmos, Volume 1, Jennelle Anderson

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In the words of David Burge, "George Crumb provided his listeners with something of the sensation of awe, wonder, and enigmatic beauty that he himself felt concerning the 'mysteries.' He named movements after geological eras, referred to images as coming from 'the dark land,' invented visual symbols for his scores, and concocted numerological schemes. For many listeners these extra musical trappings provided an avenue into the music itself, allowing them to listen to it openly and with interest rather than with resistance and skepticism" (Burge, 1990, p. 212).

Pioneer Harmonies: Mormon Women And Music In Utah, 1847-1900, Jennifer L. Fife

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

By drawing on local newspapers and the diaries, journals, and autobiographies of nearly fifty pioneers, this thesis examined the varied musical experiences of Utah's Latter-day Saint women during the years 1847-1900, and sought to determine whether they followed national gender trends in music during this era. Women in nineteenth-century Utah participated in a wide variety of musical activities, including using music in their homes, taking lessons, and teaching. Women also composed and wrote song lyrics. Many women performed in community musical events, such as concerts and operas. Despite their accomplishments, women did face conflict over the demands of family responsibility …

Mosfet Audio Amplifier, Jeff Argast

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

My senior project is an audio amplifier utilizing MOSFETs as the output transistors to drive the speaker. Within this document I cover the details of designing an amplifier, and the methods used to build it.

The most important part of the project is the output stage. In this section I chose MOSFETs over BJTs. Several advantages ensued from this decision, resulting in a simple design.

Further, the transformer must be able to supply the necessary currents for the transistors. Because large musical peaks are possible, resulting in sizable power surges, I had to obtain a large transformer with adequate specifications. …

A Computer Assisted Program For The Selection Of Band Music Relative To The Difficulty Rating Of Individual Instruments, Kirt Saville

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of the study was to develop objective grading tools in the areas of key, range, rhythm/meter, tempo, dynamic and intonation control. Each area was considered separately for 17 different instruments of the band. The study included the development of a computer program capable of permitting a band director to objectively analyze the strengths and weaknesses of his/her band, scan all of the compositions which have been entered into its data bank, and then list appropriate matches.

A formative evaluation design was used to develop and refine the evaluation tools. The steps of the formative evaluation design included (a) …

Music And Plato In Shakespeare's Henry Iv, Part I, Kenneth R. Williams

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Surprisingly, the importance of music in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries has received little attention from modern scholars. Much has been written on the music which would have affected Shakespeare, but no one has focused his or her attention on Shakespeare's use of music as a dramatic device, i.e., as an aid to intensify and forward action, convey meaning, portray characters, and create atmosphere, such as a mood of mysticism or awe. In Henry IV, which I shall consider here, music as a dramatic device supports the Platonic concept of unity and the tripartite structure of both the …

Using Music In Teaching Social Skills To Mentally Retarded Subjects, Tamara Barron-Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Melodies to Assist Social Interaction (MASI) would affect the social skills performance of the educable mentally retarded.

The study employed a pretest-posttest control group design with an N of 27 mentally-retarded subjects. It also employed a one-group pretest-posttest design with an N of 8 non-mentally retarded subjects.

All of the subjects received a pre- and post-score for their social skills performance level. Nineteen of the mentally-retarded subjects and all eight non-mentally retarded subjects received the MASI social skills teaching program as part of their regular curriculum.

The pre- …

Graduate Recital, Donna Gatlin Davis

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Preparation for the graduate recital provides the Master's candidate an opportunity to exercise a variety of musical skills. Choosing the best possible program requires not only a working knowledge of the available repertory, but a personal assessment of the particular voice with its characteristic strengths and weaknesses. The final selection must reflect a fine balance of material difficult enough to provide a musical challenge and material with which a singer can feel comfortable in communicating.

Working toward the performance involves both intellectual preparation through research and physical preparation through vocal conditioning. It is not enough to anticipate vocal difficulties and …

Recital Report, Alan P. Beste

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The purpose of the solo recital was to further develop my abilities on an instrument to my maximum capacity; to obtain a fuller understanding of the performance-related problems of the bassoon, and to discover and practice the solutions to those problems; to have an opportunity to encounter various musical styles from all periods; to gain a greater knowledge of the existing solo literature for the bassoon; and to gain a better understanding of performance problems in general as they relate to all areas of instrumental performance.

This report will present the works performed on that recital in the light of …

Graduate Recital, Joseph Golden Ward

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The performer's presentation of the recital was concerned with finding the most logical order in which to play the instruments, demonstrating technique on the trombone, and improving playing technique on the french horn, baritone and tuba in an attempt to improve the performer's quality of teaching. The performer sincerely believes that any effort put forth to improve the technique on more than a major instrument will improve teaching procedures on all instruments. It is the performer's intention through this report to describe (1) the problems he encountered with improving his technique on the french horn, baritone and tuba; (2) how …

Graduate Recital, Earl Lynn Starks

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The primary objective of this report is to gain an increased knowledge of the various musical styles and practices of the periods which this recital report covers. Further it seems reasonable to expect that the student will develop a greater understanding of and appreciation for the composers and compositions contained herein.

Secondary objectives include the effective implementation of the tools of music research and the logical, coherent presentation of information in a formal paper.

It is with these objectives in mind that the writer undertakes the preparation of this report.

Recital Report, Dan I. Stowell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

While preparing the master's recital the writer had three major objectives: a desire to perform music from the most important periods of clarinet literature; to demonstrate characteristics interpretations of music of each period including styles of phrasing and various types of articulation; to demonstrate the ability to control various technical, dynamic, and tone production problems on the clarinet.

The objectives of this paper are to trace briefly the historical development of the clarinet; to give a short history of each composer whose works were involved in the recital; to give an analytical review of each movement, including form and major …

Introducing Contemporary Music: A Method For Young Bands, Farrell Dean Madsen Jr.

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The introduction of contemporary music to elementary and junior high school students in performance classes is hindered by a shortage of such music playable by young students. For example, in Contemporary Music for the Schools (Music Educators National Conference, 1966) which is the major source of contemporary music for school bands, 85 band pieces are listed, but only five are designated as suitable for junior high school bands, and only two are designated as suitable for elementary school bands.

In this project, five original band pieces (Bodo, Whispers and Shouts, Malcolm, Fission and Fusion, Newton's …

Recital Report, Douglas C. Brenchley

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In selecting the compositions to be presented in this graduate recital, several important factors had to be considered. First, this candidate felt that it was very important to include a variety of music in the recital; songs and arias from different eras of history, performed in their original languages, including French, German, Italian and English. Representative composers had to be selected, allowing the candidate to sing music worthy of a graduate recital. This music also had to include those qualities which would tax the candidate's ability as an educator and performer; rhythm, style, range, interpretation and technique--all of these qualities …

The Effect Of An Extended Music Curriculum On The Behavior Of Nursery School Children, Dorothy Ann Miller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The free play behavior of two of the Utah State University nursery school groups was observed and recorded according to the time sampling instrument devised to assess the musical activity of children. Twelve group music experiences, in addition to those of the regular curriculum, were presented to the experimental group while the control group received two such experiences.

Sex was found not to be a significant factor in the amount of musical activity; however, girls were slightly more active rhythmically than the boys. The children between 3 years 10 months and 4 years 4 months were the most active musically …

Elementary Music Supervision In The Logan City Schools: Its Relationship To The General Music Program In Its Historical Setting, Amelia M. Beecher

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study has been made in response to some of the problems observed in the general music program of the Logan City School District during the five-year period 1960-1965. As the number of classroom units increased during these years, the function of the elementary music supervisor was modified. Supervision as a "visiting music teacher" on a bi-monthly schedule gradually changed to supervision as a "teacher consultant" whose scheduled classroom visits were once a month or less.

During these scheduled visits, the classroom teacher planned and presented two or more music lessons for observation. Other scheduled contacts were either teacher-supervisor consultations, …