Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Developing A Systematic Approach For Teaching Beginning Improvisation Using The Concert Percussion Ensemble, Ian Mcclaflin

Dissertations

Typically, when studying percussion at a University, a student is required to be proficient at multiple aspects of percussion (snare drum, mallet keyboards, drum set, hand drumming, etc.) and work through multiple method books and solos on the different instruments. This often leaves little to no room for the study of improvisation on their instrument.

Examined in this study are the following points pertaining to the state of teaching improvisation:

• There is an apparent lack of improvisation in the classroom
• Teachers often feel unprepared in teaching improvisation
• Improvisation is most commonly associated with jazz
• Both teachers and students tend to …

Editing The Double Bass Concerto Of Antonio Scontrino, Roberto Pineda

Dissertations

Antonio Scontrino (1850-1922) was an important Italian Romantic composer, virtuoso double bassist, and respected pedagogue who is relatively unknown outside of the Italian musical community. His compositional output is prolific and includes string quartets, operas, symphonies, concerti, solo pieces, songs, and religious works. Indeed, Scontrino was a compelling composer who deserves more attention from the international musical community. In addition to his compositional expertise, he was an artful double bass performer whose works for the instrument, while distinctly idiomatic, are compositions of high quality.

This dissertation provides a description of the composer’s life and the events that transpired around Scontrino …

A Study Of Select World-Federated International Piano Competitions: Influential Factors In Performer Repertoire Choices, Yuan-Hung Lin

Dissertations

In the last ninety years, international music competitions have increased steadily. According to the 2011 Yearbook of the World Federation of International Music Competitions (WFIMC)—founded in 1957—there were only thirteen world-federated international competitions at its founding, with at least nine competitions featuring or including piano. One of the founding competitions, the Chopin competition held in Warsaw, dates back to 1927. The number of world-federated international competitions has since increased to 122 in 2019, with a total of fifty-nine piano competitions (thirty-two dedicated solely to piano). More and more, pianists strive to participate in several competitions in order to win a …

Nadia Boulanger’S Fantaisie Variée Pour Piano Et Orchestre A Study Of A Significant Unpublished Piece, Sarah Elias

Dissertations

The research consists of a brief historical and biographical overview of Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), a main focus of a thematic and motivic analysis of her work Fantaisie variée pour piano et orchestre, along with touching upon the influences of Fauré, Debussy, Widor, Reger, and Franck on its composition, and a mention of the process of obtaining the Fantaisie from the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger. Boulanger produced works in a variety of genres, including: a fugue; more than thirty songs for voice and piano; two completed works for solo piano; three works for organ; several chamber works; three works …

A Performance Guide To Keith Gates's Song Cycle, The Barren One, Analynn Sober

Dissertations

Keith Gates’s song cycle, The Barren One is based on Federico Garcia Lorca’s play Yerma. Originally, Gates had planned to write an opera based on Yerma, but after a religious awakening, he decided to abandon the project. Instead, he took the music originally written for the opera and combined it with songs using Lorca’s poetry to create a song cycle. The knowledge of Gates’s operatic intentions as well as knowledge about the play should be considered when performing this work. This is because the song cycle is a miniature version of the opera and should be performed as …

A Performance Guide To Wallace Stevens' Thirteen Ways Of Looking At A Blackbird As Set By Louise Talma, Meredith Melvin Johnson

Dissertations

This dissertation presents a two-fold discourse, first to provide a contextual source for singers interested in 20^th century composer Louise Talma, and second to provide an analytical guide to Talma’s adaption of Wallace Stevens’ poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird for voice, oboe, and piano. Though Talma’s composition never became renowned, it is both a commendable achievement and a highly sophisticated work, interweaving musical creativity with the extra-musical stimuli borne from the personal experiences of the composer.

The body of the document will feature four main chapters. The first chapter will introduce composer Louise Talma, the second …