Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Electrodermal Activity During Dissonant Music In Musicians And Non-Musicians, Joshua Chapin

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the subjective emotional and physiological responses to consonant and dissonant music excerpts in musicians and non-musicians. Participants were assigned to one of two groups, high experience (HE) or low experience (LE) based on their level of music experience and education. Participants from both groups listened to the same set of randomized musical excerpts half of which were consonant and half of which were dissonant. Participants self-reported ratings of perceived pleasantness, as well as Electromyography (EMG) and Electrodermal Activity (EDA) data were collected. Average Skin Conductance Responses (SCR) were averaged over all trials …

Potential Implications For Music Therapy On Nursing Assessment Of Patients With Dementia In Hospice, Kamilla Akmuradova

Masters Theses

Patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) display symptoms that cause disturbances in memory, learning, language, motor ability, and behavior. Hospice medical professionals frequently experience difficulty when performing any treatment physical in nature, such as conducting a physical assessment, changing a wound dressing and wound care, and administering medications, since patients with (AD) often exhibit symptoms of agitation, anxiety, and combative behaviors before and during procedures. In addition, complex communication and cognitive impairments cause challenges with assessment and intervention planning. Music as a complex auditory modality can enhance state of alertness, physical movement, facial expressions, physiological responses (e.g., heart rate), and communication …

The Use Of Music Therapy Towards Social Development In Children With Disabilities: A Rapid Review, Yuanyuan Bai

Masters Theses

Across the world, many music therapists serve children with disabilities in private practice and school settings. Although some clinical research for music therapy as a validated approach to facilitate social deficits is available, it is still limited. This study is focused on a rapid review of using music therapy towards social development in children with disabilities. Also explored is the researcher’s self-awareness of what was learned from the study and how these lessons may be transferred to future clinical work. The study's findings may also help music therapy professionals better understand (a) what aspects of social behavior music therapists tend …

The Boundaries Of Modern Jazz Composition: Interaction Between Tango And Jazz Music, Evgeniya Kozhevnikova

Masters Theses

The history of jazz music is not very long in comparison to the history of music in general – from the end of the 19th century until present. This period, however, is very dense in terms of musical influences and became especially denser recently because of globalization.

Several researchers explored the jazz influences in the music of Astor Piazzolla, whom renovated traditional tango. While Piazzolla is considered a tango composer, some jazz bands use Piazzolla’s music as jazz standards and create compositions with traditional elements of jazz, such as improvisation. There are also composers influenced by tango music who write …

Curtis Otto Bismarck Curtis-Smith, Hollis Claire Wittman

Masters Theses

Curtis Otto Bismarck Curtis-Smith, composer and pianist, spent the majority of his career serving the community at Western Michigan University. His development of the bowed piano technique contributed significantly to the course of music in the late twentieth century; his prolific compositions stand on their own artistic merit. This document attempts to provide a summation of the composer’s life, particularly in regard to his compositional activity. The first section, a biography, discusses Curtis-Smith’s life and the changes to his compositional style over his lifetime. Next, a catalog of works details the available information about the many pieces written by the …

Mal_Functions For String Quartet And Live Electronics, Elliott Andrew Lupp

Masters Theses

Mal_Functions is a four-movement work for string quartet and live electronic that takes as its subject the timbrally rich and expansive acoustic capabilities of a string quartet and twists, warps, and expands upon them with the addition of the live electronic processing. The addition of electronics acts as only an extension of the performer, and therefore, appears to be generated by the performers themselves - as opposed to the computer. The overall goal of this piece is to take a well-established object of the musical past (the string quartet) and add to it something from the present day (live electronic …