Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Oscillith Matara, James Reilly Dickens-Hoffman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Oscillith Matara is a series of improvisational acousmatic compositions that explore themes of birth, death, trauma and transformation. Each composition is an entry from a log of my daily practice. This practice is a meditation using electronic instruments as feedback devices to explore my states of consciousness as it relates to my present situation and personal history. The sound generated through this process of reflecting and responding acts as a cathartic medium for processing depression, anxiety and chronic pain. As a thesis exhibition Oscillith Matara is presented as a group of selected works and is performed as a fixed duration …

This Is A Man’S World: The Lived Gendered Experiences Of Blues People., Anthony Christopher Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

American Blues is known for playing a role in the foundation of the country’s music. The ingredient of the musical tradition has roots going back to West Africa and was brought to the United States through the of transatlantic slave trade. During the period of slavery, it formally developed with plantation work songs which later continued after emancipation with sharecropping until the early to mid-twentieth century. During the early twentieth century, W.C. Handy in Tutwiler, Mississippi, and musicians formally popularized Blues music were being recorded. The first Blues superstars were women such as Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, and Ma Rainey …

The Game: A Contemporary Opera In One Act, Kailey Erwin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

My opera entitled “the game: a contemporary opera in one act” began as a project in my undergraduate composition lessons. My vision for this opera is to make it accessible and easily performed by singers with minimal “operatic training.” This is an opera for developing singers, and a great introduction to the style of opera without long, draining arias, or complicated ensembles. This opera was performed on April 2nd, 2022 in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall as a partial fulfillment for my degree requirements. Long-term, I envision The Game performed by singers in high school, undergraduates, or even community theaters. …

Plains Minimalism, Matthew Magerkurth

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Plains Minimalism is a set of four musical scores that seeks to reconcile classical and folk music styles in a semi-improvisatory style. In each piece, the musicians are asked to interact with each other in different ways, alternating between a specifically-notated classical score and esoteric text descriptions. Additionally, this body of work includes instruments traditionally associated with American folk music, including banjo, manolin, and acoustic guitar. Through both the textural and notational fusion, these pieces are designed to be performed by musicians with variable degrees of reading ability, thus widening access to traditional classical music spaces.

Music Inspired By The Works Of Robert Frost, Ryan Martin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

AbstractMany years ago on Easter, my mother gave me a book of Robert Frost’s poems as a gift. As a child, I enjoyed his rhyming schemes and the characteristically simple, beautiful, natural imagery he portrayed in his verses, but the deeper meaning of the words was largely lost on me. As I grew, I would revisit the poems from time to time and would enjoy discovering a subtly hidden metaphor or experiencing new feelings and emotions evoked by a poem I had already read dozens of times. When looking for inspiration as a music composition student here at the University …

Remixed, Remastered: Investigating Organizational Adaptation In Higher Music Education, Jacob Bruce Hertzog

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Higher music education presents a unique opportunity to examine change within higher education due to the digital revolution in the music industry over the past two decades. The purpose for conducting this study was to describe, map, and explain the strategies that higher music education programs are using to adapt to the digital revolution in the music industry. This study was grounded in organizational adaptation theory, drawing upon nine well-established theories: population ecology, life cycles, strategic choice, isomorphism, symbolic action, resource dependence, cybernetics, and network theory. Critical concepts of the turbulent environment, environmental perception, and organizational adaptation strategy emerged from …

Singing And Pronunciation: A Review Of The Literature, Kassidy Joyner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Observed differences exist in the pronunciation abilities of individual language learners, especially adult learners. Musical ability and experience are possible factors that have been attributed to language pronunciation abilities. Although there has been a large amount of research concerning the effects of general musical ability and training on language abilities, very few studies have investigated the musical sub-category of singing. Research on the use of songs in the language classroom has largely tested the effects of song on vocabulary acquisition, while very few studies have explored the effects of song on pronunciation. Given that singing and pronunciation both use similar …

My Mind And Me, Van Powell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“My Mind and Me” is a three-movement musical work written by Van Powell that was based off of a poem written by his grandmother Joyce Beshears. The piece contains many aspects of classical music such as instrumentation and form yet has more of a modern feel regarding aspects such as harmony and vocal style. The piece is written for a female alto vocal, guitar, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass. The poem that the piece is interpreting gives incite into the disassociation of a woman’s mind and body. While analyzing herself the author comes to terms with her strengths …

The Blue Mesa At The Painted Desert, Christopher Barnett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Blue Mesa is located at the Painted Desert in Arizona. It overlooks a beautiful vast landscape of naturally created hills of cool-toned sand art that has been shaped by the forces of nature. The multiple layers of colored sand are stunning. Some hills act as if they are melting away and still being shaped. This piece is inspired by this location and an attempt to capture the unique beauty, wonder, and danger through a snapshot of its creation by the forces of nature.

Footprints Of Resilience: Tracking The Career Development Steps Of African American Male Musicians, Patrice Tiffany Leshay Bax

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For African American (AA) male musicians, the road toward career advancement in the entertainment industry is particularly arduous. Despite many difficulties on the journey to career success, the history of gospel, R&B, jazz, and funk music is evidence that many AA male musicians find their way to develop and advance their careers. Many AA male musicians find career development and advancement opportunities through religious and sacred institutions. However, the journey to become a professional musician for AA males is fluid and not formalized causing ambiguity in the steps taken to enter this career field and sustain growth in a rapidly …

Effects Of Genre Tag Complexity On Popular Music Perception And Enjoyment, Lauren Shepherd

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The popular online streaming platform Spotify added over 1400 genre tags in the last two years. Despite that numerous artists and composition competitions claim to seek projects that “transcend the traditional notion of genre,” the industry has only added more complex and mystifying genre labels. This dichotomy between artists and industry ignores the effects these labels have on consumers. Do more complex genre tags enhance the listening experience for the average consumer by providing additional information about what they are about to hear? The current research seeks to examine the effects of the granularity of genre tags on popular music …

Abandoning Abuse: Acknowledging Adoption In The 21 Century, Deborah Elizabeth Ellis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The inspiration for this set of pieces arose from a friendship with fellow grad student Morgen Cavanah. Morgen and I were both adopted as children, and it this common background that gave rise to these pieces. The poems chosen were written by Morgen about individuals or events in her life. Though I had planned to set 9 of the original 12 poems, this set is comprised of my four favorites. Each piece uses repetitive piano motives that underlie the melodic lines of the voice, flute, and cello. This choice explores harmonic and melodic possibilities that expand minimal accompaniment. Much of …

Effect Of Consistent Singing On Maintenance Of Speech Intelligibility Following Lsvt®: A Retrospective Longitudinal Case Study, Rachel Ricca Beck

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parkinson’s Disease is a common neurodegenerative disease affecting one’s ability to hone and refine volitional movement. Many with Parkinson’s report significant effects on voice and communication. Speech-language pathologists have long targeted the achievement of increased vocal volume through intensive voice therapy, with the most common program being Lee Silverman Voice Treatment® (LSVT®) (Ramig et al., 1994). While LSVT® is the most prominent type of voice therapy for individuals with Parkinson’s, other researchers have begun investigating therapeutic singing because of the similar functions it employs (e.g., increased breath support, utilization of entire vocal range).

The current project is a retrospective, longitudinal …

In The Groove: A Documentary About Vinyl, Jared Endsley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this thesis project, ‘In the Groove’ is to tell the story of why vinyl records, a music format written off as a casualty to the digital age is experiencing a cultural resurgence. In the last several years vinyl records have been the only musical format to record positive sales growth.

For many musicians today, pressing their music to vinyl records yields the greatest return on investment. However, vinyl remains a niche market, supported by a devoted fan base.

This film focuses on a group of artists and vinyl enthusiasts as they navigate this new marketplace.

Tuba Concerto In D Minor, Eric Dreggors

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Writing the Tuba Concerto in D minor was a long and tedious process that required help and inspiration from many different people. The process began with a suggestion from a friend to write a tuba concerto for him, and soon progressed into a thesis. Since only one tuba concerto exists in the standard repertoire (the concerto by Ralphe Vaughan-Williams), the challenge to create a new concerto was very powerful.

Eleven minutes long, it is much shorter than the average concerto, but only a minute or two behind the Vaughan-Williams concerto. The first movement, the Prelude, is made to sound just …

Restoration: An Oratorio Based On Ezra And Nehemiah, Joshua Bland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In beginning a project of this scope, I first spent months considering the genre in which I wanted to work. Once I committed to an Oratorio, more months were spent reading and finding the story I needed to tell and the orchestral medium through which to tell it. Thus began Restoration, an oratorio based on the story of Ezra and Nehemiah. I came to this story for several reasons: first, though comprising a unique moment in Old Testament history, it has not been told through music. More importantly, I believed that the themes of this story were ones that needed …

Characteristics Of Lifelong Musicians, Austin Lamon Farnam

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate causes for lifelong musicianship through examining the life experiences and influences of ten lifelong musicians. The participants in this study have played music starting in their childhood and into adulthood. Ages of participants range between 35 and 60 years of age. All participants have separate careers in conjunction with being active musicians.

Data collection was attained through a three phase process of an observation, interview, and collection of artifacts. Data was coded using open, focused, and axial coding and further analyzed for the purpose of identifying emerging themes. From the analysis, the …

Six Reflections Through Music And Poetry, Nicholas Shawn Vecchio

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since beginning school at the University of Arkansas in 2008 I have learned many lessons both in and outside the classroom. To date, the most challenging lessons have been those that I have learned about myself. The manifestation of the person that I am today has been an adventure with many twists and turns. This piece aims to capture the essence of some of the lessons that I have learned. Each poem offers the product of that lesson.

The movement entitled “Memories” has a subdued joy in its message. The poem offers nostalgia to begin the piece with. However, it …

Journey, Darren Alan Rainey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Journey is not about a particular journey, it is more about images or moments from within a journey. The interpretation for what this means is left up to the performers and listeners; however, I view this as one person not particularly achieving what they set out to achieve. It all began with a rough start, moments of happiness, playfulness, contempt and contemplation, but in the end it wasn't the expected outcome of the journey. The work plays between moments of vigor, aggitation, playfulness, light-heartedness, comfort and relaxation. Expression markings are described above each area of the work. These descriptions help …

How Musical Oddballs Warp Psychological Time, Rhimmon Simchy-Gross

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Oddballs—low-probability, attention-capturing expectancy violations—are judged as longer than non-oddballs, but are temporal intervals that contain oddballs judged as longer than those that do not? In 2 experiments, we tested competing model predictions using a novel and covert measure of subjective duration—musical imagery reproduction. Participants verbally estimated and reproduced with musical imagery repeated, coherent, or incoherent familiar or unfamiliar chord sequences (3.5 s, 7 s, or 12 s) that either did or did not contain dynamic auditory oddballs. Participants verbally estimated repeated chord sequences that contained oddballs as shorter than those that did not, but reproduced with musical imagery incoherent chord …

Movements, Music, And Meaning: A Comparative Analysis Of Cultural Narratives In Vietnam Era And Post-9/11 Anti-War Music, Jonathan Nathaniel Redman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the presence of widely circulating cultural narratives in the lyrics of approximately eighty anti-war songs from the Vietnam and post-9/11 eras. Unlike prior movements and music research, this thesis privileges culture over movements and views movements as cultural antennae both picking up on trends and cultural narratives, and broadcasting their own altered cultural meanings back into the “cultural airways.” It sees music as a cultural medium which acquires cultural meanings from its surroundings, alters those meanings, synthesizes new ones, and perpetuates old ones. Drawing on comparative and narrative analysis approaches informed by grounded theory techniques, this thesis …

Korngold's Leading Ladies: A Comparative Study Of Female Characters In The Operas Of Erich Wolfgang Korngold From 1915 To 1927, Brandon Larry Dow

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Portrayals of women in art have always been a sensitive subject due to the unequal distribution of power between the sexes within the Western patriarchal society and, more recently, due to newly acquired criticism of artistic misogyny. The operas of Erich Wolfgang Korngold showcase varying interpretations of female characters that waver between misogynist objectification and disparagement and ardent endorsement of feminine prominence. This thesis discusses three of Korngold’s operas (Violanta, Die tote Stadt, and Das Wunder der Heliane) and examines them through the lens of the tumultuous and ever-changing political and Social landscape of women’s issues in Vienna in the …

Void: For Orchestra, Jared Aragon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In astronomy, a void is an area in outer space which contains no galaxies. These are vast expanses of darkness and emptiness. This orchestral piece, simply titled void, attempts to describe such an area through various musical methods: long sustained notes depicting the huge distances away from galaxies, wide distances between upper voices and lower voices creating a sense of void between musical elements, and close distances and tight harmonies to recreate the sense of confusion and uncertainty that may be experienced in an area of emptiness.

"A Song Workers Everywhere Sing:" Zilphia Horton And The Creation Of Labor's Musical Canon, Chelsea Hodge

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Zilphia Horton, a college educated, middle class white woman from the rural American south, created the canon of music that would become central to the black freedom struggle in postwar America. Horton's work in the post-New Deal labor movement established the methods of incorporating protest music in movements of social justice that prevailed for the rest of the century. The work songs and hymns that she collected, arranged, notated, and published while music director at Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, TN--including "We Shall Overcome," "This Little Light of Mine," "We Shall Not Be Moved"--motivated generations of activists as they transformed …

Brahms The Exotic: The Representation Of Non-European And Ethnic `Others' In The Hafiz/Daumer Settings Of Opus 32, "Romanzen Aus L. Tieck's Magelone," And "Zigunerlieder," Opus 103, Kristina Marie Eckelhoff

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Though scholars, performers, and classical enthusiasts alike recognized and praised the many facets of his compositional craft, Johannes Brahms's treatment of poetry in his Lieder has led to much conflicting assessments. The negative critiques exist partially because the majority of scholars do discuss an interpretation of the poems but seldom explain precisely how Brahms conveys the texts' meanings through his music, leaving the more specific details of text-to-music relationship and what it shows about Brahms's own understanding of the texts unexplored.

Brahms's Lieder have also been criticized because of the supposed lack of exotic qualities in those works that portray …

The Effect Of Music Training On Emotion Perception In Childhood, Emese Maroti

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies found evidence that music training can enhance cognitive abilities both for children and adults. However, no evidence was found yet, whether music training can enhance abilities in emotion perception. I tested 8-9 year-old children on emotion perception in visual and musical contexts. The tests did not show significant difference between the musically trained and non-trained group neither in visual nor in musical context, however, when emotion scores were analyzed separately for each piece of music, musically trained children's responses reflected stereotypical modes of approaching emotional meanings in music, moreover, musically trained children's judgments were more uniform as there …

Congruent And Incongruent Effects Of Ethnic Music On Ethnic Menu Item Selection, Ryan David Muniz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated what impact ethnic music had on ethnic menu item selection. College students were randomly divided into three groups and listened to one randomly assigned sound treatment in sensory booths. Three hundred and five participants completed the questionnaire with measures of expected price value and willingness to pay value. One of the groups listened to an Italian folk music, the second group listened to a Thai folk music, and the third group listened to a restaurant background noise in order to examine if the music will impact each participant menu items selection and perceived price values. The result …

Influences Of Music Genre And Components On Food Perception And Acceptance, Alexandra Jean Fiegel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Managers of consumer goods companies (i.e., restaurants, grocery stores, and bars) have the potential to effectively utilize environmental factors to stimulate desired consumer behaviors. Background music has been identified as one of the most readily manipulated and influential elements to which a shopper or consumer may be exposed to in a service setting. Nevertheless, little is known about the effect of background sound on food perception and acceptance. This research sought whether background music genre and musical components can alter food perception and acceptance, but also to determine how the effect can vary as a function of food type (i.e., …

The Final Cut: Music For Film And Electronic Media, Johnathon Edward Paape

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains both music scores and audio files that pertain to the scoring of music for film and video games. My thesis contains five pieces that were written for either film or video games. The scores were made using Finale 2011 and the audio tracks were created using the sequencer Reaper in combination with East West Hollywood Brass, East West Stormdrums 2 and Vienna Symphonic Orchestra virtual instruments. With these, I will demonstrate my ability to effectively compose and orchestrate music for various genres.

Fight Or Flight, Asher Griffith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fight or Flight is a one-act, science-fiction opera. Outwardly the story of an astronaut who is marooned on the Moon, this dark comedy is an allegorical tale of forced isolation and loss; and of the anxiety and sadness that inevitably result. Musically, this piece began as an experiment in the reverse-engineering of mostly improvisatory methods of musical spoken-word delivery such as rap or slam poetry; this compositional device being a means to the more important end of creating a live musical theatre lacking the flippant sparkle commonly associated with Broadway and the like, but also free of the "intellectual" or …