Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Native American Choral Music: Strategies For Celebrating And Incorporating Music Of Indigenous People, Mary Ruth Young

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents from University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

*Language usage is fluid and evolving, representing past and present people groups. During my discussions with my Indigenous composer colleagues, I've found that they hold varying preferences regarding how they wish to be addressed and the terminology they prefer. Because of this, I use the terms Native, Native American, First Nations, Indigenous, American Indian, and First Peoples interchangeably.*

This document will discuss the historical exclusion of Native American music in the Western art forms, specifically the choral tradition, and provide solutions to incorporate it in modern choral performances. Considering first the wars, disease, displacement, colonization, and missionization, it is no …

New Paradigms In Band Performance: An Analysis Of Three Prototypes, Scott Walker-Parker

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

This document seeks to propose new paradigms in band performance through inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinarity. Initial inspirations were drawn from performance innovations shaped by the new music theater which became popular in the 20^th century. Key concepts which were used throughout the creative, planning, logistic, rehearsal, and performance processes are analyzed in three recitals through prototypes of new paradigms in band performance. These concepts include accessibility and community, nonverbal/multimodal performance and instruction versus time, and nonverbal/multimodal communication.

The document has been organized in a manner which highlights successes and breakdowns of each process so future refinement can be made. …

Ruth Duvall Crawford’S Wonderful Career In Music And Evangelism, Dan D. Crawford

Zea E-Books Collection

This book is a study of the career and ministry of Ruth Duvall Crawford (1916–1986), the wife of prominent evangelist Percy Crawford (1902–1960). As pianist for Percy’s evangelistic team and director of music for his various evangelistic enterprises, Ruth put together an ensemble of 40–50 musicians, and produced hundreds of high-quality music programs, geared to Percy’s nationwide radio and television audiences. These programs set a new standard of performance in evangelical circles in the Northeast and Central United States in the 1930s and 40s. In the process of building this musical program, Ruth developed a format and an original style …

Perceptual And Conceptual Structures In Thea Musgrave's Green, Isabel Bohrer

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Green, by Thea Musgrave, traces the interaction between two contrasting musical ideas. The opening of the piece presents the first idea: a lyrical section that highlights the importance of the pitch class E within the idea. This is interrupted by the second, discordant, idea which initially presents as a low F tremolo. Throughout the first half of the work, these ideas interact. The second half of the work further explores the melodies developed from the more discordant ideas, completely omitting the lyrical theme.

Within this piece there is a framework based upon the use of octatonic collections and modified …

Rediscovering Argentine Repertoire Written In The 1930s: A Performative Study Of Concert Piano Works By Lita Spena And Celia Torrá, Florencia Zuloaga

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

A survey of the piano repertoire written during the decade of 1930 in Argentina reveals the rising number of several works written by women composers. For the first time, the years that followed the inauguration of the National Conservatory of Music and Theater in 1924 witnessed a professionalization of women in the field of music composition, and two figures made great strides in this regard. Celia Torrá and Lita Spena stood out among the first female composition students at the National Conservatory and some of the first to succeed as professional composers. Furthermore, they were among the first women to …

Music Basics, Rachael Huxley, Laurel Carder

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

For students to learn elements of music and how to apply them in their everyday lives.

The Bleached Bones Of A Story, Coral Douglas

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

All ideas stored in our heads are simplistic in nature, or relational to others, which allows for the production of more complex ideas. As is such, small memories supplement beautifully full, yet inherently relational concepts. Small scale ideas are useful to performers (and to audiences), as it is difficult to handle brain capacity overload; it's impossible to multi-task, let alone keep multiple ideas going at once to their fullest, especially when presented with dense new materials. In composing with mental participation for audience members and performers in mind, I propose that composers should create clear formal devices, intend their materials …

Esther's Rise, John David Cope

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Two of the most important parts of my life are my faith and my love of writing music. To conclude my time in Nebraska, I wanted to combine these two facets of my life to create something inspiring and beautiful. To that end, I composed “Esther’s Rise,” a six-movement work that programmatically retells the book of Esther from the Old Testament. To further enhance the story, I commissioned Vera Eva, an international freelance artist, to create a collection of eighteen digital illustrations that help audiences imagine the story unfold. Furthermore, I also paraphrased the biblical text to accompany the illustrations …

The Muted Woman: A Lovey-Dovey Themed Recital, From A Man's Point Of View, Raven Williams

Honors Theses

This senior thesis consists of a vocal recital, accompanying program notes, and research regarding the struggles of women composers as music evolved through its Ancient, Baroque, Classic, Romantic and Contemporary periods. The recital includes a compilation of love songs by French, Italian, English, and German composers, in particular Gabriel Fauré, the often-forgotten Stefano Donaudy, Samuel Barber, Roger Quilter, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Joseph Haydn. This paper incorporates biographical information, analysis, performance history and cultural insights into the overshadowed women composers that prospered around the same time period as the men of the former. Specifically, Nadia Boulanger, Nannerl Mozart, Alice Mary …

When Did You Stop Singing?: Elementary Boys' Attitudes And Self-Efficacy Toward The Act Of Singing, Eric D. Wyler

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The “missing males” epidemic is one which has baffled music educators and researchers for decades. Many research studies have been conducted to explore why boys choose to not be involved in choral ensembles at their middle and high schools. These studies list numerous retention/recruitment strategies; however, the problem remains. Many boys decide before they reach middle school whether they like to sing. The purposes of this study are to examine elementary age boys’ attitudes toward singing and determine at what grade level, if any, there is a significant difference in boys’ attitudes, to search for a relationship between boys’ attitudes …

Advanced Technologies In Music Production And Collaboration, David Besonen

Honors Theses

My Honors Senior Creative Project was to compose and produce a short album of original music alongside talented musicians here at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) as well as around the world.

“This Is How We Do It”: A Descriptive Analysis Of The Musical Elements And The Black Church Cultural Influences In Adolphus Hailstork’S I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes: A Cantata For Tenor, Choir, And Chamber Orchestra, Alfonzo Cooper Jr

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

This document analyzes Adolphus Hailstork’s cantata, I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes, featuring text from Psalms 121, 13, and 23. The author contends that Hailstork uses cultural musical elements of the Black Church throughout the entire composition. Beginning with a brief biography of the composer, the author then provides a movement-by-movement examination of salient musical features and Black Church cultural traditions Hailstork employs to highlight the text of his selected psalms.

Advisor: William Shomos

Scaffolding Autonomy In The Practice Room: A Mixed Methods Study Examining The Impact Of Digital Scaffolds On High School String Musicians' Self-Correction And Improvement Of Pitch And Rhythmic Accuracy During Independent Music Practicing, Brittany Rom

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the deficiencies and capabilities of high school string players in the practice room, through a mixed methods within- subjects experiment exploring the impact of digital scaffolds on pitch and rhythmic accuracy growth, self-assessment, self-correction, and other self-regulatory behavior during independent music practicing. Sixty high school string students individually completed a 30-minute practice session divided into four practice conditions with the order randomly assigned (1.Model, 2.Model+Playback, 3.Model+Playback+Feedback, and 4.Control). During each practice condition, performances at sight-read (pretest), during practicing (formative), and after practicing (posttest) were assessed for pitch and rhythmic accuracy …

Drumline Club, Jared Syed Noetzel, Paul Umshler

Honors Expanded Learning Clubs

After-school club that teaches students the basics of music and drumming as a whole as well as learning the bucket-drumming piece entitled "Yuck!"

The Singing Conductor: Interviews On The Benefits And Limitations Of Choral Conductors And Teachers Continuing To Sing, Anne Carissa Gassmann

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

It is our duty as musicians, conductors, and teachers to continue developing our teaching and musicianship. One of the ways growth can occur is by singing regularly in ensembles outside of teaching. As one balances career and personal life, continuing to sing is a choice each must make. It is through this document that one may see the relevance of pursuing opportunities to sing, as it may inform and elevate one’s teaching and conducting. Eleven interviews were conducted with elementary, high school, and collegiate teachers and conductors, only half of them still singing in an ensemble. This document is intended …

Anecdoche, Joshua Ryan Spaulding

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Utilizing various visual and aural mediums, Anecdoche tells a story that allows the audience to examine modern American/global culture from a third person perspective. Each artistic medium adds their own voice or opinion to the story and thus further colors and clutters the stage. This represents the extremes of communication that humans have risen to in the 21st Century. The term Anecdoche means a conversation in which everyone is talking, but nobody is listening. In the same way, for much of the work, the different elements of the production aim to make their voice heard, while simultaneously cluttering the visual …

Inform: A Mobile App To Teach Untrained Listeners Of Classical Music About Fugue, Sonata, And Rondo Form Through Interactive Information Graphics, Miranda Finn

Honors Theses

This thesis introduces adult non-musicians to large-scale structural components of three fundamental musical forms (fugue, sonata, and rondo) through a mobile application containing interactive information graphics and audio examples. This provides the knowledge and vocabulary necessary to discuss and listen critically to classical music, as well as enhance the overall listening experience. The written component of this project describes the content of the app and how it is presented, as well as the reasoning behind creative decisions such as color palette, page design, and development of the information graphics. Also reviewed are the programs used in the creation of the …

Studiohub: Streamlining Communication In Private Music Studios, Joseph Klinck

Honors Theses

At the start of the project, I asked the question “what technology is available to horn players today?” Through an independent study in Spring 2017, I surveyed websites, blogs, YouTube channels, computer software, and mobile apps, reviewing and rating each one, and discussing their strengths and weaknesses.

From this project, I determined that one key piece of technology missing in the music world was some way to unify and streamline the activities of private music teachers and their students. Through my own experiences, and through talking with other music students, I determined three objectives for this streamlining technology: assign and …

State Of The Art: A Sampling Of Twenty-First-Century American Baroque Flute Pedagogy, Tamara Tanner

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

During the Baroque flute revival in 1970s Europe, American modern flute instructors who were interested in studying Baroque flute traveled to Europe to work with professional instructors. They then transmitted that knowledge to their students upon returning to America, furthering the modern study of Baroque flute in America. Now, thanks to their efforts and those of academic institutions and professional organizations such as the National Flute Association, there are many opportunities in America to hear performances by dynamic Baroque flutists, to perform and compete on Baroque flute, and to learn from respected Baroque flute instructors. There are also numerous texts …

Mucp 183-983: Applied Music Composition--A Course Benchmark Portfolio, Gregory Simon

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

MUCP 183-983, Applied Music Composition, is the core of the music composition course curriculum for students at all levels, from freshman to doctoral candidate. Like all applied lesson environments, it is a one-on-one, individualized study that principally involves the instructor giving students feedback on their musical works-in-progress. This time-honored paradigm for teaching composition has produced brilliant artists, but is rife with pitfalls and traps that can tarnish a student’s growth: composition pedagogues can coerce students into writing music like their teachers, or can prescribe a curriculum that makes composition accessible only to students who have already played classical music for …

A Study Of The Performance Requirements Found In The Sonata For Solo Violin Op 40 By Miklós Rózsa, James Moat

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Miklós Rózsa’s Sonata for Violin Solo, written in 1986, is his last work for violin and completes a collection of pieces written for the violin dating back to 1929. There have been various scholarly papers written about Rózsa’s violin works, including Nancy Jane McKenney’s dissertation: ‘The Chamber Music of Miklós Rózsa’, and the book written by one of Rózsa’s close friends, Christopher Palmer: ‘Miklós Rózsa, A Sketch of his Life and Work’. Neither of these works discusses the Solo Sonata; in fact, Christopher Palmer’s book was published in 1974, 12 years before the sonata was even composed.

This document discusses …

Silence Emerging From Birds, Rebecca Macijeski

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation represents the culmination of five years of creative activity in poetry. Included within this document are three main components: 1.) a critical introduction to my book-length manuscript of original poems complete to satisfy the requirements of creative writing within the English Department; 2.) a description of my creative activity reflected in that book-length manuscript, and; 3.) a sample of previously published original poems from the manuscript. I will describe each of these components in greater detail below.

The critical introduction to the creative work seeks to explore and examine various aesthetic and theoretical influences on my poems. The …

Symphony No. 2: Sights In Sound, Robert J. Luebbert

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Symphony No. 2: Sights in Sound is an original composition for full chorus, string orchestra, woodwind quintet, eight-part percussion ensemble, and piano. Each of the work’s twelve movements utilizes a different combination of instruments, provides a distinct programmatic or cultural setting, and can be easily performed individually, outside of the full symphonic context. Despite this, the symphony as a whole is well bonded through various traditional elements and unifying themes. The titles of the movements are as follows: I. Phenomena of the Sky, II. Arirang, III. Colors of the Sea, IV. Amongst the Trees, V. Crossroads, VI. Dancing Leaves, VII. …

A Little Bit More The Same Than Yesterday: A Mixed Methods Exploration Of Choir Member Empathy And Attitudes Toward Individuals With Disabilities, Lynda A. Laird

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the effect of self- reported contact with individuals with disabilities on choir member empathy and attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Further, this study investigated effects of an inclusive choral music experience on empathy and attitudes toward individuals with disabilities. Finally, the study explored expectations, experiences, perceptions, and beliefs of six individuals who participated in an inclusive choral music experience.

Phase I (n=207) addressed the effect of level of contact with individuals with disabilities on choral members’ empathy and attitudes toward people with disabilities, and relationships between empathy and attitudes. A …

This Machine Kills Fascists: Music, Speech And War, Robert J. Crisler

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

This thesis examines the history and persuasive power of rhetoric through the mass medium of popular music from Woody Guthrie to the modern era. It focuses on the Vietnam War era as a particularly significant and prolific era of topical (“protest”) music. Through interviews with media observers, historians and veterans of the Vietnam war, it seeks to understand the relevance of rhetorical speech in music within an overall mass media context, both within that era and extending to the present day. Through contemporaneous accounts of the intent of the songwriters and artists, an understanding is gained of the intent to …

Quantification Of Time Varying Directivity Of Musical Instruments, Madeline A. Davidson

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Thesis, and Student Research

Static directivity patterns of musical instruments have been mapped somewhat extensively, but little research has been done in analyzing the directivity patterns of musical instruments over time as they play. Directivity patterns can be affected by variables such as instrument, frequency, dynamics, and style. This thesis proposes a set of quantification methods of time varying directivity, all derived from the maximum Directivity Index analyzed at consecutive short-duration time windows comprising the musical excerpt. The instrumental recordings used in this paper are taken in an anechoic chamber using either a 5, 13, or 32 multichannel setup. From the values of maximum …

Exploring Teachers’ Perspectives Of Cooperative Learning To Create Music In Orff Schulwerk Classrooms, Nicole A. Chapman

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

The Framework for 21st Century Learning identifies four learning and innovation skills to prepare students for a changing world. The 4Cs identified are critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity (Framework for 21st Century Learning, 2015). With the adoption of this new teaching framework, it is important that music educators evaluate their own teaching methods to meet the needs of their students in a changing society. The purpose of this study was to examine how cooperative group learning is currently integrated in the Orff-Schulwerk certified teachers’ elementary music classroom as part of the creative music process. In this qualitative study, I …

Guy Woolfenden: A Composer's Musical Dna, James A. Dreiling

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Guy Woolfenden is a British composer who has made a name for himself in England as the composer of over 150 scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as music for numerous ballet and opera companies. In addition, he has composed fifteen pieces for wind band and eleven pieces for various wind chamber ensembles. While his wind music is well known throughout England, his name and his music are not as well known throughout the rest of the world. Those few conductors outside of England who are aware of his work tend to know only one or two of …

Virtuoso Violinist Maud Powell: Enduring Champion For American Women In Professional Music, Sarah Joy Pizzichemi

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Maud Powell, the first great American virtuoso violinist, sparked a change in the spirit of the advancement of classical music throughout North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This document addresses gender inequality present in the classical music profession during Powell’s lifetime. It also explores the roles women occupied in the public and private spheres in Western art music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. More specifically, it investigates the life of virtuoso violinist Maud Powell through her activism and interest in American women in professional music.

The document is divided into three parts. After a …

The Evolution Of The Cello Endpin And Its Effect On Technique And Repertoire, William Braun

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

This document investigates how the concept of a lifting device has evolved into the modern endpin that is a now a standard part of the cello. The endpin has a unique history that, prior to this writing, has not yet been fully documented. The evolution of the endpin has caused significant changes to cello technique, as its use, or lack of, alters the basic posture and setup of the instrument on the cellist’s body. Written and iconographic evidence show that endpins and other lifting devices have been used throughout all eras of the cello’s history. There are many instances when …