Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Analyzing Perceptions Of Music From A Songwriting Perspective, Jackson Stephen Reynosa

Communication Studies

This study seeks to understand listeners’ perceptions of music from a generational and songwriting approach. A total of 123 participants aged 18 and older took part in an open-ended survey design that measured their subjective music preferences. Four different sections tested participants’ music taste, music tied to generations, an original song made by the researcher, and songwriting in a holistic sense. It was found that participants exercised individualism and authenticity in their responses throughout. By using the Uses and Gratifications Theory, it is explainable that people listened and sought out music for their own unique reasons. By applying Mood Management …

Lived Experience Of Music Therapists As Musician-Therapists, Kotoe Suzuki

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

The dissertation research explored the lived experiences of music therapists who are performing musicians. A conceptual foundation of music therapists as musicians, a “musician-therapist” who is deeply versed in the unique properties of music can be identified in the literature (Ansdell & Verney, 2008; Nordoff & Robbins, 1973). The objectives of this study were to explore three topics: 1) deeper understandings of music therapists’ musical improvisation both in clinical and nonclinical settings, 2) the connection between music therapists’ personal and professional musical growth, and 3) identity formation. A qualitative method was chosen for this research including reflexive/embodied/interpretative phenomenology, and arts-based …

Exploring The Relationship Between Music And Art Through Paint And Performance, Anna Eyink

Honors Projects

This project sought to find methods for translating musical compositions into visual compositions. After thorough analysis of each piece's structure, colors, rhythms, tonality, accompaniment, purpose, and extramusical influences, the goal was to conceptualize appropriate color schemes, shapes, mark making, paint application, and arrangements to create a visual representation of the music. As a result, each painting has elements that make sense from a musician's perspective as well as that of an artist.

Preparing And Performing A Trumpet Recital, Jesse Gibens

Honors Theses

The pieces are examined based on historical context and explained based on the practice notes that I journaled and reflected upon by comparing and contrasting standard recordings of each work. This thesis is divided into nine sections that explore the pieces that are performed, as well as the instruments used to perform them. The thesis also explores my repertoire choices based on instrumentation, style, composer, and genre, as well as how to deal with the challenges of approaching a diverse program. Historical information has been taken from articles, books, and other scholarly writings produced by experts within their fields of …

Graduate Viola Recital, Chelsea Pfeifer

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to provide an understanding of, and present historical information regarding the selections performed on a graduate viola recital. Selections performed were written by the following composers: Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Schubert, Max Bruch, and Alan Hovhaness. Biographical information of the composer, program notes, and performance considerations will be included.

Our Perception Of Scary Sounds: A Comparison Of Films And Popular Music, David Puhl

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My Capstone Research Paper will be an analysis on the usage of “scary” sounds performed in popular music as well as a comparison to the practice of using similar sounds in film, making a note of any similarities or differences (ex. audience perception, use of visuals). I will also touch on the integration of scary sound effects alongside music scoring for film, specifically in the Horror and Suspense genres. With popular music being my primary focus, I want to elaborate on the cognitive psychology of audiences (in film and music) and their reactions to "scary" or "horrific" sounds to better …

Effects Of Chair Testing In Orchestra On Student Motivation: Student Perspectives And Applications From Motivational Theories, Rosanna Christine Honeycutt

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine how string students perceive achievement on chair testing through the lens of attribution and achievement goal motivational self-theories. A teacher survey was administered to identify the goals of chair testing in two high school and seven middle school orchestra classrooms. A student survey was used to collect data in those same classrooms on (a) the reasons why students do and do not do well on chair tests, (b) the perceived goals of chair testing and (c) the ratings of motivation and self-achievement. Qualitative techniques were used to analyze attributions within both …

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 …

The Amalgamation Of Popular Music And Dance: An Exploration Of The Human Impact, Caroline Kasay

Recital Papers

The undeniable relationship between song and dance begins in the early stages of life, and it persists throughout time in bringing communities of people together. As Susan E. Pashman states in her article When the Music Moves You: Revisiting the Classics in the Company of Neuroscience, “music promotes a sense of oneness, a feeling that drives social bonding from an early age... In a dance club, then, it is both the music and the dance movements of others that draw an individual onto the dance floor.” (2014, 23). This emotional correlation, or “sense of oneness” that Pashman details repeats itself …

The Language Of Expression: Solo Violin Through The Ages, Kimberly Rendahl

Recital Papers

The following paper centers around defining technical and expressive commonalities while also exploring the respective features of interpretation that distinguish the Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major, Opus 30, No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven, Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004 by Johann Sebastian Bach, and the Moderato Nobile movement from Violin Concerto in D Major, Opus 35 by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. These works exhibit the full range of the violin’s expressive capabilities in music from markedly different style periods. The following chapters include an evaluation of expressive aspects found in each work, and the ways …

Exploring Literature Through Music: A Graduate Recital Of Nineteenth-And Twentieth- Century Vocal Literature, Emily Kivi

Recital Papers

As demonstrated in the four pieces chosen for this program, Strauss’s art songs are useful learning tools for a singer’s introduction to the technical demands required to learn and perform in his operas.

Innovative Marching: A Look Into The Innovation Of Dci, Sarah Ann Kano

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper analyzes unique innovations from five Drum Corps International (DCI) shows: 2008’s show Spartacus performed by Phantom Regiment, 2011’s show Angels and Demons performed by the Cadets, 2013’s show E=MC2 performed by Carolina Crown, and lastly 2014’s shows Tilt performed by the Bluecoats and Fellinisque performed by the Blue Devils. In each judging caption I have explored how each show met the expectations of that caption, if it has a new approach to the caption, if that approach is truly innovative, and if it has been emulated. This analysis suggests that even if the judging captions can sometimes inhibit …

The World Is About To Turn: Imagining A New Ecclesiology For Emerging Adults Through Missional Music Ministry, Kevin A. Turner

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

How can ministry leaders in the twenty-first century provide guidance for those who are the leading edge of the church's next generation? How might emerging adults become contributors to congregations where they are given space to offer and plan for themselves rather than passively acquiesce to traditional church structures where a strict, top-down leadership style dominates? In conversation with author Letty Russell, this paper will describe a more democratic vision of ecclesiology for music ministry and ministries of the larger church. The methodology employed in this thesis involves a case study examining the creation of a choral ensemble focusing on …

The Ethos Of The Blues: An Ethnography Of Blues Singers And Writers, Zoë Emilie Peterschild Ford

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Dawn Tyler Watson, a blues singer based in Montreal, QC, performs a variety of genres. No matter what she performs, however, she continually expresses a blues ethos. Through improvisation and her resolute individuality Dawn writes and sings narratives always with a nod to the blues. What I call the “ethos of the blues” refers to a blues spirit that exists not only in music, but in literature, and in everyday life. Dawn’s practice reveals that blues is a music that values protective, generous, and exploratory narrative. As important as its storytelling quality is the genre’s Americanness. Blues, derived from a …

The Feminine Voice / Self Titled, Teddy Mckrell

Senior Projects Spring 2020

My senior project consisted of two concerts, one in classical voice and one in electronic composition.

Tell Me A Story; Hell Hath No Fury: A Set Of Voice Recitals On The Overlap Of Music, Literature, And Classics, And Their Treatment And Depiction Of Women, Alexandra Hobart Gilman

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Over the past four years, I have had the privilege of answering the question, “what is your major?” My reply exists in various degrees of specificity. I am a Music major. I am a Classical Voice major. I am a voice major who is concentrating in Medieval Studies. Layer upon layer is added. The more specific I am, the more niche it all seems to become. Yet, that which I love exists in these niches, the in-between spaces where different areas of academia come together to create something new. Something that I have always appreciated about art, in general, is …

Let It Fall // The Bath, Emma Nicole Houton

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Let it Fall

“Let it Fall” was a senior concert in jazz voice and electronics comprised of original work and arrangements of jazz standards and pop songs. Inspired by the films of David Lynch, it was a work embracing disintegration and the unsettling. This concert was intended to combine my two academic focuses, jazz voice and electronic music, and evolved from a project in which I attempted to produce dream-pop covers of jazz standards.

The concert took place in the Old Gym, which I designed to look like an amalgamation of venues featured in Lynch’s films, with eerie red and …

The Impact Of Live Coding Within An Educational And Performance Setting, Alexus Renee Foster

Senior Projects Spring 2020

For the past three semesters at Bard, live coding has become my newest form of creative expression and performance. This method of coding involves either creating on the spot from scratch or editing pre-existing code in a real time manner. There is no real set structure or steps that must be followed, however, one rule must always be followed: show your code. In the classroom, live coding occurs when the professor demonstrates some algorithm by displaying the program on a projector for the entire class to observe. During musical performances, the same improvisational nature of live coding is also present, …

Bottled Letter, Edgar Guzman

Senior Projects Spring 2020

This project was originally intended to be a concert that explored the harmonic and performing skills I learned in college. Naturally, like any project, all my expectations had to be thrown out the window. The ensuing chaos after the pandemic tested a lot of things; creativity, discipline, friendships, and our ability to maintain sanity without structure. Bard has a funny way of challenging your preconceived notions, and I found that the chaos of being a student here for four years left me surprisingly prepared for this pandemic.

The album you will listen to is the culmination of the things I’ve …

A Performer’S Guide To Norman Bolter’S Morning Walk For Trombone And Piano, Justin Croushore

Theses and Dissertations--Music

For the past 45 years, Norman Bolter has been one of the most prolific and important composers, performers, and educators for the trombone. Born in Minnesota in 1955, Bolter held the position of Second Trombone of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Principal Trombone of the Boston Pops from 1975 until 2009. He has taught at leading conservatories, universities, and festivals around the world and continues to teach as trombone faculty at the New England Conservatory and the Boston Conservatory today. His compositional output is large and wide-ranged, including works for solo trombone, trombone and piano, trombone ensemble, chamber ensemble, band, …

Brothers, Sing On: The Story Of Nuance, Kyle Reynolds

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For this project, I have elected to create a documentary detailing the chronological history of the University of Akron’s all-male contemporary pop a Cappella group, Nuance. The Documentary is titled: “Brothers, Sing On: the Story of Nuance” as a reference to the song “Brothers, Sing On!” by Edvard Grieg, and was named such because of the theme of brotherhood I have showcased in the documentary. I have been a member of Nuance since the Spring Semester of 2018 and have served as the president of the group since Spring Semester 2019. Nuance was founded in 2004, making it one of …