Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Inclusive Music Teacher Education: Valuing Breadth And Diversity Through Authentic Immersive Experiences, Rhonda J. Fuelberth, Robert H. Woody

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

In this report of self-study research, we share the insights we have gained working together at our institution to make undergraduate music teacher education more inclusive of how people naturally do music, focusing on three program features. First, we explain how our program affirms composition as a primary form of musicianship, similar to the status commonly given to performance. Second, we describe a vernacular music making experience in which our music education students learn to play “rock band” instruments, engage in songwriting, and explore being expressive in the styles of music personally favored by themselves and their future students. Third, …

Hidden Treasures From The Classical Era: Three Idiomatic And Accessible Settings Of The Mass, Paul Von Kampen

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

How fortunate we are to live in an age where the world of choral literature seemingly continues to expand at an exponential rate. Since the advent of the Internet, it has never been easier to deliver compositions, performances, and research to a global audience. Opportunities to program new, undiscovered, or underperformed pieces are so vast that conductors could easily feel the effects of information overload. In his 2004 book The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, Barry Schwartz details the dilemma of having an abundance of choice in situations that originally had very few. Attempting to buy jeans, the …

Native American Boarding School Bands And Their Bandmasters. Project File 4: Biographical Sketches Of Important Bandmasters, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This is the fourth of five on-line text files in which I assemble my research notes about boys’ bands and their bandmasters at the US government’s Native American off-reservation inter-tribal boarding schools. It is material that covers a span of about fifty years from the 1880s to the 1930s. I principally have put into some kind of order a mass of data that draws upon online digital newspapers and genealogy databases. What follows here is not a finished, polished document. Everything on offer is still work in progress, inconsistent in formatting and with missing data and the occasional typographical error. …

Native American Boarding School Bands And Their Bandmasters. Project File 2: Bands At The Omaha Indian Congresses, 1898 & 1899, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This is the second of five on-line text files in which I assemble my research notes about boys’ bands and their bandmasters at the US government’s Native American off-reservation inter-tribal boarding schools. In general, it is material that covers a span of about fifty years from the 1880s to the 1930s, though the present document concentrates on the Omaha expositions of 1898 and 1899. I principally have put into some kind of order a mass of data that draws upon online digital newspapers and genealogy databases. What follows here is not a finished, polished document. Everything on offer is still …

Native American Boarding School Bands And Their Bandmasters. Project File 5: Native Americans On The Chautauqua Circuits: The Role Of Thurlow Lieurance And Lincoln’S University School Of Music, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This is the fifth of five on-line text files in which I assemble my research notes about boys’ bands and their bandmasters at the US government’s Native American off-reservation inter-tribal boarding schools. The present document began as an off-shoot from that project into local history concerning the School of Music associated with the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, NE around 1915-1925 and its role in preparing Native American young adults to appear on Circuit Chautauqua programs. They were often graduates of boarding school band programs, and the Haskell school band, in particular, made major Circuit Chautauqua tours with Native American …

Native American Boarding School Bands And Their Bandmasters: Project File 1: General Topics, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

To establish a context for the Native American boarding school bands, we start with an important generalization. In the great Victorian era of bands, most were amateur, adult, white, male, community- or workplace-based recreational ensembles. With few exceptions, bands in the 19th century were not ensembles of children or women or family members, and they did not have a home in public primary or secondary schools. With roots in the military band tradition, civilian bands were mostly social organizations for adult males---grown men---"discoursing sweet music" as a kind of fraternal club with voluntary civic functions. Adult amateur men’s bands peppered …

Native American Boarding School Bands And Their Bandmasters. Project File 3: The Principal Schools And Their Bands, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This document sketches the histories of the boys’ bands and their bandmasters at eight of the most prominent of the US Government’s off-reservation inter-tribal Native American boarding schools. It is material that covers a span of about fifty years from the 1880s to the 1930s. I principally have put into some kind of order a mass of data that draws upon online digital newspapers and genealogy databases. What follows here is not a finished, polished document. Everything on offer is still work in progress, complete with missing data and the occasional typographical error. The author welcomes queries, additions, and corrections, …

Alceste: Tragédia-Opéra En Trois Actes, A Revisitation, Randall Snyder

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The history of opera constantly swings from emphasis on drama to that of music. In developing opera based on their interpretation of Greek drama, the Florentine Camarata stressed the dramatic element. The idea that words must have dramatic purpose and clearly understood were impulses moving music away from the polyphony of the late Renaissance to the monodic writing of the early Baroque. During the subsequent century the theatrical and virtuosic elements were emphasized at the expense of their dramatic relevance. . With Gluck’s reform operas the focus once more shifts to the dramatic.

The opera Alceste, with music by …

Will Marion Cook: Threads And Themes, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This document is a supplement to "Chronology and Itinerary of the Career of Will Marion Cook," a 2017 document which is mounted on-line at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/66/. It draws out of that resource some material on five themes or threads that are constant elements over Cook's career, concerning the history of African American music and dance, and the promotion of schools and professional troupes for African American musicians and actors. Occasionally there is more information below than in the 2017 document, but readers are cautioned that more often, the older document will have additional detail not simply cut and pasted here. …

Family Members Of Will Marion Cook: Biographical Materials For Immediate Family Members, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This document is a supplement to "Chronology and Itinerary of the Career of Will Marion Cook," a 2017 document which is mounted on-line at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/66/. It presupposes some familiarity with the "Chronology and Itinerary," and puts into some kind of order a number of additional research notes, principally drawing upon newspaper and genealogy databases, that amplify the earlier work in certain respects regarding the public lives of his immediate family members. This is not a finished, polished effort; it represents work in progress, complete with repetitions, missing data, and the occasional typographical error. I invite queries, amplifications, and corrections, …

“It’S Just The Way I Learn!” Inclusion From The Perspective Of A Student With Visual Impairment, Danni Gilbert

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This article describes the inclusive experience of a student with visual impairment in secondary band settings. Information obtained from students with visual impairments who have experienced active participation in school music ensembles may provide much-needed insight into instructional strategies that could improve inclusion. Many music educators believe they lack adequate resources and training in including students with visual impairments. Therefore, a deeper understanding of the experience of participating in secondary performing ensembles from the viewpoints of students can help guide the efforts of those involved in their music education.

Black Us Army Bands And Their Bandmasters In World War I, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This essay sketches the story of the bands and bandmasters of the twenty seven new black army regiments which served in the U.S. Army in World War I. The new bands underwent rapid mobilization and demobilization with their regiments over 1917-1919. They were for the most part unconnected by personnel or traditions to the long-established bands of the four black regular U.S. Army regiments that preceded them and that continued to serve outside Europe during and after the Great War. Pressed to find sufficient numbers of willing and able black band leaders for these new regiments, the Army turned to …

Music Teacher Dispositions: Self-Appraisals And Values Of University Music Students, Robert H. Woody, Danni Gilbert, Lynda A. Laird

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

For music teachers to be most effective, they must possess the dispositions that best facilitate their students’ learning. In this article, we present and discuss the findings of a study in which we sought to explore music majors’ self-appraisals in and the extent to which they value the disposition areas of reflectivity, empathic caring, musical comprehensiveness, and musical learnability orientation. Evidence from a survey of 110 music majors suggested that music education students possess and value the dispositions of reflectivity, musical comprehensiveness, and musical learnability orientation more highly after they have matured through their college careers. Additionally, based on their …

Will Marion Cook And The Tab Show, With Particular Emphasis On Hotsy Totsy And La Revue Nègre (1925), Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This document is a supplement to "Chronology and Itinerary of the Career of Will Marion Cook," a 2017 document which is mounted on-line at http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/66/. It puts into some kind of order a number of research notes, principally drawing upon newspaper and genealogy databases, that amplify the earlier work in certain respects. This is not a finished, polished effort; it represents work in progress, complete with repetitions, missing data, and the occasional typographical error. I invite queries, amplifications, and corrections, which may be directed to plefferts1@unl.edu. The present document is a first draft of November 2018.

Will Marion Cook (1869-1944): Shows List And Songs And Instrumental Numbers, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The present material supplements my on-line document “Chronology and Itinerary of the Career of Will Marion Cook.” That put into some kind of order a number of biographical research notes, principally drawing upon newspaper and genealogy databases. It is one in a series ---“Chronology and Itinerary of the Career of”---devoted to a small number of African American musicians active ca. 1900-1950. In those other documents, compositions were interleaved with other kinds of references following a chronological sequence. Instead of doing the same for Cook, his shows and songs and instrumental numbers, spanning a creative career of almost a half century …

Chronology And Itinerary Of The Career Of Will Marion Cook: Materials For A Biography, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Will Marion Cook (1869-1944) devoted his creative life to the musical stage as composer, conductor, arranger, orchestrator, producer, director, violinist, pianist, librettist and lyricist, as well as making important contributions as an author and educator. One of the foremost American musicians of his generation, and regarded by many in the African American community of his day as its leading composer, he was, in contemporary eyes, an eccentric, irascible genius of great heart. This document assembles a chronology of the principal public events of his life.

A biography of Will Marion Cook by Marva Carter, Swing Along (2008) is an excellent …

Practical And Philosophical Reflections Regarding Aural Skills Assessment, Stanley V. Kleppinger

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Assessment in aural skills courses is a tricky intersection of instructors’ expectations, students’ skills in audiation, students’ perceptions and anxieties regarding assessment and performance, and the peculiarities of evaluative instruments. After several years in my teaching position at a large university, I became increasingly dissatisfied with assessment in the second-year aural skills program I coordinate. In short, I was displeased both with the nature of the student activities we evaluated and with the ways in which success on those activities was measured. Students’ and instructors’ frustrations convinced me of the need to make assessment more obviously relevant, less intimidating to …

Curious, Collaborative Creativity: Applying Student-Centered Principles To Performing Ensembles, Danni Gilbert

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This article explores a comprehensive, student-centered alternative to traditional ensemble instruction with the goal of promoting better opportunities for musical independence and lifelong musicianship. Developed by Caron Collins from the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York–Potsdam, the Curious, Collaborative Creativity (CCC) concept fosters student-centered learning and the promotion of 21st-century skills by encouraging students to select, arrange, and compose the repertoire to be studied; to work together in teams to equally contribute to the learning/understanding of music; and to share their work through informances to engage and enlighten community members. Examples from a current ensemble …

Chronology And Itinerary Of The Career Of J. Tim Brymn Materials For A Biography, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

James Timothy Brymn (1873-1945), a composer, conductor, and arranger, was one of the cohort of top African American dance band and theatre orchestra leaders active in Chicago and New York who became Army bandleaders in WWI. In the first decade of the 20th century, he was acknowledged as a pre-eminent master of ragtime and one of the premiere song writers of America. Brymn was the author of one of the first published blues (1912), the author of some of the first published tangos (in 1913 and 1914), the author of one of the first published jazz numbers (1917), and the …

Chronology And Itinerary Of The Career Of Ernest Hogan: Materials For A Biography, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Hogan, "The Unbleached American" in the moniker he adopted, was a comedian, singer, dancer, actor, composer, lyricist, and author. Hogan is right up at the top among the greatest figures in African American musical theater of his generation, including Billy Johnson (1858-1916), Billy McClain (1866-1950), Bob Cole (1868-1911), George Walker (1872-1911), and Bert Williams (1874-1922).

In his lifetime, he was called "the father of ragtime" or "the father of ragtime music," and recognized as the originator of this kind of music. He was "the 'king' of negro comedians" (Indianapolis Freeman, August 31, 1901, p. 5). He was "the greatest comedy …

A Chronology And Itinerary Of The Career Of N. Clark Smith: Materials For A Biography, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Great recent correction and clarification to the biography of N. Clark Smith has been made in four publications by Marian M. Ohman---three detailed and resourcefully-researched articles and an encyclopedia entry: Ohman (2003), Ohman (2004), Ohman (2008), and Ohman (2009). This document does not attempt to reproduce all of the information she has published. The primary contribution here is in new details that can be pulled from on-line, searchable newspapers and genealogy databases, with an emphasis on the early years and on the chronology of his compositions.

N. CLARK SMITH (1866-1935) Musician: violinist, cornettist, tenor singer, pianist; band master, choral conductor, …

A Chronology And Itinerary Of The Career Of Eugene Mikell: Materials For A Biography, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Francis Eugene ("Gene") Mikell (1880-1932) Instrumentalist and recitalist (violinist, cornettist, saxophonist), conductor, composer, educator (including instruction in voice, piano, violin, guitar, mandolin, banjo, cornet, saxophone, clarinet; school and community bands and chorusses). Compositions for band, orchestra, voice. Arrangements of popular songs and tunes for band. And a photograph exists of Mikell with a curious string instrument he invented---a kind of soap box cello.

Mikell attended Avery, Tuskegee, the New York Conservatory, and Orangeburg, so he probably came from a relatively educated and successful family background. This supposition is only reinforced by his subsequent career in education. He taught at: Tuskegee …

Black Us Army Bands And Their Bandmasters In World War I (Version Of 07/29/2016), Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This essay sketches the story of the bands and bandmasters of the twenty seven new black army regiments which served in the U.S. Army in World War I. The new bands underwent rapid mobilization and demobilization over 1917-1919. They were for the most part unconnected by personnel or traditions to the long-established bands of the four black regular U.S. Army regiments that preceded them and that continued to serve outside Europe during and after the Great War. Pressed to find sufficient numbers of willing and able black band leaders for the new regiments, the army turned to schools and the …

Revitalizing Music Teacher Preparation With Selected “Essential Conditions”, Danni Gilbert

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The widespread adoption of technology makes it necessary to extend technological resources to the classroom to best prepare students for long-term success. While technology can improve many facets of learning and teaching, music educators have generally been hesitant to incorporate technology to its full potential. Partnerships with professional organizations, such as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), can help music educators best reach students and achieve cultural relevancy in the digital age. Restructuring music education to integrate what ISTE calls “Essential Conditions” of learning with technology, such as student-centered learning, equitable access, and engaged communities, begins with undergraduate …

Chronology And Itinerary Of The Career Of Will Vodery: Materials For A Biography, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

WILL VODERY (October 8, 1884 to November 18, 1951) Arranger and orchestrator, composer, conductor; club owner. Celebrated most as a legendary orchestrator and arranger (including a credit as the first black arranger in Hollywood), then next as a bandleader and trainer of choirs, and then as a composer. (Tellingly, he was not a member of ASCAP.) Vodery mostly worked in musical theatre, but he was also a conductor, composer, and arranger of instrumental dance music. Worked with everyone. A protege of Will Marion Cook and Bert Williams. Cook and Vodery were mentors to Ellington. Vodery was mentor to Gershwin and …

The Framework For 21st Century Learning: A First-Rate Foundation For Music Education Assessment And Teacher Evaluation, Ashley Danielle Gilbert

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Federal laws and funding initiatives, such as the No Child Left Behind Act and the Race to the Top campaign, have created an increasing incentive for schools nationwide to document student progress, standardize assessment practices, and evaluate teachers according to student success. In response, the Common Core State Standards, a popular yet controversial policy, has emerged. Implemented at the state level, these standards focus heavily on the areas of English language arts and mathematics, subjects not traditionally incorporated to a great extent in music classrooms. In order for music to maintain a role as an essential subject in the school …

A Contextually Defined Approach To Appalachian Spring, Stanley V. Kleppinger

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This essay provides analysis of the first Allegro (“Eden Valley”) and the coda from Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Following Joseph Straus and Arthur Berger, this investigation traces the correspondences of the work’s pitch centers with other pitch components of the music’s surface. The varied musical approaches of the Allegro—functional progressions, polychords, quartal trichords, chains of triads related by half or whole step, and pandiatonic melodies—coalesce to create a multi-faceted movement from centricity on A to centricity on F, while also presenting unique, individual narratives of that procession to F. In Appalachian Spring’s coda, both A and F reappear in …

Review Of Helen Deeming, Ed., Songs In British Sources, C.1150–1300, Musica Britannica 95., Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

By the time of his death, John Stevens (1921–2002), emeritus professor of medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge University, had been working for over two decades on a study and edition of the trilingual repertory of song in medieval England from c.1150 to c.1350.1 The initial products of that research were themselves so lengthy and detailed that the scope of the whole endeavour appears to have been enormous, and it is understandable if immensely to be regretted that the undertaking remained unfinished in his lifetime. The edition under review is the fresh work of a younger Cambridge-educated scholar, Dr Helen …

U.S. Army Black Regimental Bands And The Appointments Of Their First Black Bandmasters, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

The black regimental bands and their bandmasters in U.S. Army service between the Civil War and World War I comprised a fluid yet tight little community of soldier-musicians. Conspicuous in their own day, these units and their leadership teams are by no means familiar to modern readers. Replacement of white by black bandmasters in this community in the first decade of the twentieth century represented in its day an important public battle in the struggle for civil rights and racial fairness in the military. The following narrative offers a fuller account of this battle than has previously been available, but—full …

Sources Of Thirteenth-Century English Polyphony: Catalogue With Descriptions, Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This document catalogues the thirteenth-century English sources of thirteenth-century English polyphony, with brief mention of non-insular sources and later sources of this repertoire. Bibliographic information on each source takes RISM B/IV/1 as a point of departure, citing earlier material directly in only a few instances, while mainly attempting a full report of later, i.e., more recent, literature. All the sources using the so-called English Mensural Notation are described here, and a fresh effort is made to coherently lay out the sources associated with Worcester Cathedral, including the incorporation of new fragments found there during the recataloguing undertaken during the 1990s.