Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Continuing Abby Whiteside's Legacy--The Research Of Pianist Sophia Rosoff's Pedagogical Approach, Carol Ann Barry

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Since 1956, Sophia Rosoff has dedicated herself to performing and teaching principles developed by piano pedagogue Abby Whiteside. Whiteside became internationally known between 1930 and 1956 for her pioneering work in the study of the use of the body in producing beautiful sound and freedom of technique. Her research was considered revolutionary and instrumental in raising physical awareness in pianists. Committed to ongoing research, Rosoff continues to teach in her apartment in the Upper East Side of New York City. The purpose of this document is to present Rosoff’s musical background, research, teaching philosophy, and the strategies she has developed …

Advanced Conducting Project, Jude Gore

Conducting Student Scholarship

Contents include:

• "Chant and Savage Dance" by Brian Balmages
• "Encanto" by Robert W. Smith
• "Suite Provençale" by Jan Van der Roost
• "Sure on this Shining Night" by Samuel Barber, arranged by Richard Saucedo
• "Urban Dances" by Erik Morales.

A Performance Perspective: Un'aura Amorosa From Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, Laney Benson

Honors Theses

There are common themes that performers investigate in evaluating a character. They include: the history surrounding the opera, especially of the composer and librettist; devices employed in the opera; the relationship between its characters and, of course, examples of past performances. Each of these will be equally applicable to a performance of the aria "Un 'aura amorosa" from Mozart's opera Cosi fan tutte. All of these elements form a cohesive template for observation of how to give a performance of the piece.

Orff-Schulwerk For Music Therapists, Brittney Butts Grant

Music Therapy Theses

When using the term "Orff Music Therapy," the assumption is made that the person conducting the lesson or session is a music therapist. Conversely, one assume that the person leading an Orff-Schulwerk lesson is an educator. A major difference between Orff-Schulwerk and Orff Music Therapy is the goal of the lesson or session. The goal of Orff-Schulwerk is music education. The goal of an Orff Music Therapy session is usually non-musical, such as working on motor control or increasing attention span. In order to fully reach the whole child, teachers and therapists should take into account a secondary focus to …

The Whimsy And Woe Of Youth: A Senior Voice Recital, Samantha Downes

Honors Theses

My Senior Voice Recital/Honors Thesis is called "The Whimsy and Woe of Youth." Each song in the repertoire can fit into this theme. The voice recital counted as both a Senior Voice Program requirement and the Honors College Thesis requirement.

The recital began with "Ei! Wie schmeckt der Coffee suBe" from Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Coffee Cantata) written by Johann Sebastian Bach, represented the Baroque era. Next, two lieder composed by Hugo Wolf were performed. They both tell cute little stories that can be enjoyed by a child's mind. The recital continued with two arias sung by Gretel in Engelbert …

Advanced Conducting Project, Raymond L. Evelan Iii

Conducting Student Scholarship

An analysis of five pieces :

• American Salute
• Down a Country Lane
• Flourish for Wind Band
• Scenes from the Louvre
• Sharakan

The Maturation Of Pulse: The Rhythmic Evolution From Swing To Bebop, Sam Weber

Masters Theses

The musical style that came to prominence in US in the 1940s, known as bebop, is a style that is remembered and discussed in terms of its harmonic characteristics and its notable soloists. This is the view that is taken in most scholarly writing on the music and also the view that is taught to most students of jazz today. However, there is arguably an equally if not more profound evolution in the rhythmic language of this music which is almost totally un-discussed. By digitally analyzing recordings, tracing musical and personal influence, and by examining related technological developments, it becomes …

Literal Imagery In Music: A Thesis To Accompany Constellation Suite, Evelyn Marie Pursley-Kopitzke

Masters Theses

The relationship between music and its sources of inspiration probably has been debated for as long as people have created instrumental music. Baroque tone painting is a documented early correlation of musical theme to subject. Subsequent musical imagery and mood creation for the later programmatic music could be an outgrowth from this Baroque practice. Composers used several approaches to create each music-to-subject connection.

One compositional device was using music that had become a cliché for its most common use to evoke a reference to that setting. Another device created music that “sounds like” its meaning—musical onomatopoeia—instrumental mimicry of extra-musical sounds. …

An Analysis Of Selected Trombone Ensemble Music By Dr. Eric Ewazen, Gregory S. Brandt

Theses and Dissertations

Dr. Eric Ewazen is a prolific, and celebrated composer, having written over fifty works for brass, thirty-one of which include trombone. His contribution to trombone repertoire is significant and wide-ranging. Research papers and doctoral dissertations have been written about Dr. Ewazen's instrumental compositions, however none of them have thoroughly explored his homogeneous chamber music for trombone or articulated his unique method of composition. Various people with numerous backgrounds listen to, perform, conduct, and teach the music of Dr. Ewazen. Due to his unique compositional style, it is imperative that one analyzes and reflects on his works to aid understanding. By …

The Mexican Identity And Music: Audioscapes And The Transnational Death Metal Band Brujeria, Michael D. Mena

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The California-based Mexican-American “activist” metal band Brujeria, uses a powerful, yet conflicting, blend of nihilism, anarchism, and racism with a dose of hyper-patriotism in its attempt to convey the voice of oppressed Mexicans on both sides of the border. While it is uncertain whether or not Brujeria is intentionally political, their live performances and song lyrics are highly critical of both the U.S. and Mexico regarding immigration policy, border-crossing, and other issues which have resonated among an international audience. In this paper I explore the conflicting notions of space, performativity, binationality and U.S. Mexico relations within the context of Brujeria …

Clarinet Performance Practices For Alberto Ginastera's "Variaciones Concertantes": Solutions For Orchestral Auditions And Performances, Thomas James Kmiecik

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The principal clarinet part of Alberto Ginastera's Variaciones concertantes (1953) requires the performer to execute a number of exposed passages that are considered impractical by many clarinetists as published. The Boosey & Hawkes edition of Variaciones concertantes was published for the B-flat clarinet. On account of this clarinet choice, the part exceeds the traditional upper range of the instrument in the third variation (Variazione in modo di Scherzo per Clarinetto ). Moreover, it requires very awkward fingering patterns in passages because they are written in the Phrygian mode of C-sharp. To avoid some of these technical obstacles, many professional …

All I Am: Defining Music As An Emotional Catalyst Through A Sociological Study Of Emotions, Gender And Culture, Adrienne M. Trier-Bieniek

Dissertations

This dissertation, "'All I Am': Defining Music as an Emotional Catalyst through a Sociological Study of Emotions, Gender and Culture", is based in the sociology of emotions, gender and culture and guided by symbolic interactionist and feminist standpoint theory. A primary focus is on understanding the emotional and empowering relationships women build with music that is written and performed by women, especially if they are using the music for emotional support or as a means to heal themselves. This study examines the cultural, emotional and gendered role music plays in day-to-day social life using data collected during forty-two semi-structured interviews …

Adolphe Nourrit, Gilbert Duprez, And The High C: The Influences Of Operatic Plots, Culture, Language, Theater Design, And Growth Of Orchestral Forces On The Development Of The Operatic Tenor Vocal Production, Micheal Lee Smith Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The operatic tenor voice has evolved from a variety of influences. This document identifies four influences involved in the development of the operatic tenor voice and describes their impact on performance practices including the chest voice high C (C5). Modern tenors’ performance practices originate in the nineteenth century ascendance of an Italian singing technique. This particular singing technique achieved popularity when Gilbert Duprez sang the role of Arnold in Rossini’s Guillaume Tell with a do di petto (i.e. from-the-chest) production of sound rather than the mix of falsetto and head voice that was traditional at the time. The role of …

The “Indie” Sound: A Band's Guide To Success In The Competitive Indie Market. An Evaluation Of Touring Trends & Helpful Tricks Of The Trade., Nicole L. Stratman

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Metrical Structure In Tonal Knowledge Acquisition, Matthew Rosenthal

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Experienced listeners possess a working knowledge of pitch structure in Western music, such as scale, key, harmony, and tonality, which develops gradually throughout childhood. It is commonly assumed that tonal representations are acquired through exposure to the statistics of music, but few studies have investigated potential learning mechanisms directly. In Western tonal music, tonally stable pitches not only have a higher overall frequency of occurrence, but they may occur more frequently at strong than weak metrical positions, providing two potential avenues for tonal learning. Two experiments employed an artificial grammar learning paradigm to examine tonal learning mechanisms. During a familiarization …

The American Homophilic School Of Composition, Rik Noyce

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A small enclave of gay composers in New York, led by Aaron Copland (1900-1990) and Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), established a distinct twentieth-century musical sound that became synonymous with America. Copland and Thomson were prominent among a group of gifted gay musicians and conductors in New York in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. While perhaps not self-identifying as gay, as the term had not yet been coined, they did however acknowledge, honor, and support one another's lives as being homosexual. Is it possible that something as seemingly unrelated as sexual preference could, in fact, impact a musical style?

In this document, …

The Other Sides Of Billy Joel: Six Case Studies Revealing The Sociologist, The Balladeer, And The Historian, A. Morgan Jones

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The failure of music critics to recognize Billy Joel’s tendency towards writing songs about issues greater than himself, issues such as the Vietnam War, the Cold War, struggling American industries and the effect of mass media on popular culture, particularly on two albums, The Nylon Curtain and Storm Front, has led to a pronounced lacuna in serious scholarship on Joel and his music. Relegated to adult contemporary radio stations due to the success of romantic pop ballads such as “Just the Way You Are,” “She’s Always a Woman” and “Uptown Girl,” and derided as a drunken egomaniac by many …

Advanced Conducting Project, Russell Tybus

Conducting Student Scholarship

Contents include:

• "Chorale and Alleluia" by Howard Hanson
• "Divertimento for Band, Op. 42" by Vincent Persichetti
• "Greek Folk Song Suite" by Franco Cesarini
• "The King of Love My Shepherd Is" by Dan Forrest, arranged by Jess Langston Turner
• "Symphony No. 3, 'J.F.K.'" by Andrew Boysen, Jr.

Advanced Conducting Project, Alison M. Williams

Conducting Student Scholarship

Contents include:

• "After 'The Thunderer' from Symphony on Themes of John Philip Sousa" by Ira Hearshen
• "Angel Band: 'Suite after Old American Hymn Tunes'" by Walter Hartley
• "Children's March: 'Over the Hills and Far Away'" by Percy Aldridge Grainger
• "March: 'Seventeen come Sunday' from English Folk Song Suite" by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• "Rest from Minnesota Portraits" by Samuel R. Hazo.

Advanced Conducting Project, Andrew S. Williams

Conducting Student Scholarship

Contents include:

• "Folk Dances" by Dmitri Shostakovich, arranged by James Curnow
• "Mysterian Landscapes" by Timothy Broege
• "Sleepers, Wake" by Johann Sebastian Bach, arranged by Philip Sparke
• "Suite Provençale" by Jan Van Roost
• "Variations on 'America' for Band", arranged by William E. Rhoads.

Everybody Talkin' 'Bout A Spoonful: The Blues, From America To England And Back, Edward Giza

MALS Final Projects, 1995-2019

Though the blues are typically considered one of the few uniquely American musical styles, a group of British performers in the 1960s championed the blues to mainstream audiences on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. This essay explores the journey of the blues from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago and then across the Atlantic to England. It examines the various changes the genre underwent throughout this journey as well as aspects of the blues that remained static. Utilizing the song "Spoonful " as a common thread between these locations, this essay details how changes in popular opinion , advancements in …

Exploring The Relationship Between Therapeutic Voice Work And Duration Of Held Tone, Tone Quality, And Volume With School-Aged Children Diagnosed With Asthma, Susanne N. Kobb

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Asthma is one of the most prevalent diseases diagnosed in young children today, and has been the focus of many research studies in the medical field. Despite recent breakthroughs in medical research, children are still suffering from asthma symptoms in their daily routines and lifestyles. Because asthma is directly connected to one’s breath and lung function, focus has shifted in recent years to include alternative medicines such as breathing techniques, yoga, and music. This thesis reviews the sparse literature on music and relaxation techniques - most specifically the use of voice and breath - as it relates to asthma, in …

An Explanation Of Anomalous Hexachords In Four Serial Works By Igor Stravinsky, Robert Sivy

Masters Theses

Igor Stravinsky's precompositional process was so methodical that his move to serialism is no surprise. After becoming acquainted with the music of Schoenberg and Webern, Stravinsky was moved to experiment with serial techniques. He rejected many of the conventional approaches developed by the serial architects, only to adopt the technique at its basic form—the use of a series of pitches—and cultivate it into his own compositional style. Stravinsky continued to refine his style throughout his serial period (1951–1966) as each composition grew increasingly more serial than the last. For each work composed after 1960, Stravinsky constructed rotation arrays, a serial …

"This Murder Done": Misogyny, Femicide, And Modernity In 19th-Century Appalachian Murder Ballads, Christina Ruth Hastie

Masters Theses

This thesis contextualizes Appalachian murder ballads of the 19^th- and early 20^th-centuries through a close reading of the lyric texts. Using a research frame that draws from the musicological and feminist concepts of Diana Russell, Susan McClary, Norm Cohen, and Christopher Small, I reveal 19^th-century Appalachia as a patriarchal, modern, and highly codified society despite its popularized image as a culturally isolated and “backward” place. I use the ballads to demonstrate how music serves the greater cultural purpose of preserving and perpetuating social ideologies. Specifically, the murder ballads reveal layers of meaning regarding hegemonic …

"You're Pretty Good For A Girl": Roles Of Women In Bluegrass Music, Jenna Michele Lawson

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the past and current roles that female bluegrass musicians achieve within the music industry in the United States. Using sociological concepts by Judith Butler, Simon Frith, Mavis Bayton, and, importantly, Thomas Turino’s ideas of participatory and communal versus performative and individual, I demonstrate women’s complex musical, social, and cultural positions in bluegrass culture.

While women continue to make strides in achieving recognition in the bluegrass genre, society still hinders them from finding complete acceptance alongside male musicians. As bluegrass music is based on patriarchal foundations set by its creator, Bill Monroe of the Blue Grass Boys, female …

Now Is The Time For Peace: A Choral Concert For Remembrance And Renewal Honoring Victims Of The Holocaust, Marie Diane Flagstad

Culminating Projects in Music

No abstract provided.

The Life And Selected Piano Works Of David Burge, Mary Chung

Dissertations

Although David Burge is recognized as one of the most important American pianists dedicated to contemporary music in the twentieth century, little is known about his contributions as a pedagogue, lecturer, writer, novelist, and, especially, as a composer. This biographical study focuses on three of his piano compositions: Second Sonata, Eclipse II, and Go-Hyang. Each work represents one of three distinct compositional periods: the first reflects the influence of Prokofiev and features characteristics of the neoclassicism; the second marks a turn to experimentalism, atonality, and serialism; and the final indicates the return to a more traditional style that makes use …

Retention Of Music Teachers Working With High Concentrations Of At-Risk Students In Metro Atlanta Schools: A Qualitative Case Study, Theron Roy Petway Iii

Dissertations

Hiring and retaining teachers in the field continues to be an educational dilemma as 50% of all teachers leave their positions in the first 5 years. The statistics are similar for those specifically in the field of music education. Although teachers at schools with high concentrations of at-risk students face more difficulties in the classroom and are at greater risk of leaving their positions, little research has been conducted in this area. The purpose of this study is to provide a base of data related to music teacher retention in schools with high concentrations of at-risk students through a case …

Music Therapy And Culture: Exploring My Culture And Its Influences, Midori Tsujimoto

Theses & Dissertations

With the rapidly growing cultural diversity in the United States, scholars have emphasized the importance of not only understanding other cultures, but also one’s own. It has become essential to evaluate the influence of one’s cultural background as he/she evolves a healthcare professional. Utilizing the method of self-inquiry, this paper explores my own cultural background and how it has shaped the way I work as a music therapist. Cultural differences between Japan and America are discussed, including disparities in social systems, music, and health. Two clinical case examples are presented to illustrate my experiences in relation to my cultural influences. …

Music For Quality Of Life: Huntington Grant Proposal, Lauren A. Klimek

Theses & Dissertations

The following grant proposal is directed towards opening a music therapy program for the Don Monti Cancer Center at Huntington Hospital. Huntington Hospital is a small community hospital with twenty-five beds on their oncology unit with one attending palliative care doctor. In meeting with the palliative doctor, Dr. Joseph Milano, I learned that there is a great need for music therapy on the oncology unit as well as on the palliative team. Dr. Milano expressed concern in being the only palliative care doctor on the unit often limiting the time he gets to spend in caring for each of his …