Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Producing Music Using Negative Harmony, Jeremy Ahn

Honors Theses

This project uses Negative Harmony as a basis and reference point for producing original songs in the style of instrumental jazz and funk. Negative harmony is a loose term that describes a technique of reharmonization made popular by musician Jacob Collier. While negative harmony is best understood as a reharmonization technique, writing new songs and chord progressions that strive to replace common chord progressions with their negative harmony counterparts can also be an effective way to demonstrate negative harmony. Music can be made with unconventional sounding but harmonically viable chords that challenge both the musician and the listener to grow …

Hymeno : The Music In Ministry, Jamila Patricie Sylvester

Master of Music Projects

INTRODUCTION

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” — John 3:16 KJV Arguably one of the best-known verses in the Bible is John 3:16. A quick glimpse of those seven little letters and numbers spelling out John 3:16 and, like the first four measures of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, immediately people know what you are talking about. It matters not if they are faithful church-going believers or unbelievers, people know – or do they? In the 2009 live-streamed college championship football game between …

A Phenomological Study: The Adventist Musician Experience, Tiffany Steinweg

Honors Theses

What is the experience of a Seventh-day Adventist professional classical musician? Both Seventh-day Adventists and classical musicians have been the subjects of numerous studies in past decades; however, few to none of those studies have focused on individuals who identify as both. The current study seeks to better understand the experiences of Adventist musicians within their church and within the wider classical music community. Interviews were conducted with five musicians using an initial and a follow-up set of questions. Themes were identified from interview transcripts by a content analysis. Several predicted themes were confirmed such as the experience of one’s …

El Sistema For, Or Against, Benton Harbor, Dana Wilson

Honors Theses

Members of the Southwest Michigan Symphony Orchestra’s Administration envision the adaption of El Sistema, a famed music program from Venezuela, into the community of Benton Harbor, Michigan. My research investigates the pre-adaption of the program through a comparative analysis of both ethnic cultures, definition and description of El Sistema, examination of the program’s application to other urban centers, and assessment of interviews with individuals instrumental to the provision of a free music program in Benton Harbor. As a result, the program demonstrates compatibility, but this study also uncovers the sensitivity of providing opportunities for an underprivileged city to avoid blind-sighted …

Music Notation-To-Color Synesthesia And Early Stages Of Music Education: A Grounded Theory Study, Eduardo Sola Chagas Lima

Dissertations

Problem

Synesthesia is a neurological condition characterized by over-abundant neural connectivity between commonly highly specialized areas of the brain. The developmental form of the condition often results in automatic and consistent cross-sensory associations between perceived stimuli and commonly unrelated brain regions. This research contemplates the specific form of music notation-to-color synesthesia and its impact on early stages of music education. Synesthetes with this mode of the condition tend to involuntarily yet consistently associate music-notational concepts with colors, thus rendering their assimilation of these concepts unique and individualized. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of these individualized …

Worship Music As Spiritual Identity: An Examination Of Music In The Liturgy Among Black And White Adventists In The United States From 1840 To 1944, David A. Williams

Dissertations

The Topic

This study examined Black and White Seventh-day Adventist music in the liturgy in the United States from 1840 to 1944. Little scholarly attention has been given to the development of Adventist liturgical practice, the function of music in the liturgy, and the effect of music upon the spiritual identity. This study utilized liturgical history, ritual studies, musicology, and liturgical theology to derive and compare the spiritual identity fostered through music in the liturgy by these ethnic groups. This study considered both the shared and distinct spiritual identities of Black and White Adventists, as cultivated by the music in …

The Art Of French Melodie: A Manual For Recital Preparation, Kristen Abraham

Honors Theses

This is a documentation of my journey through the research, development and execution of a voice recital, with a focus on the creation of guidelines for how one may achieve success in a future recital. Moving through three phases: Thinking, Doing, and Reflecting, I highlight the important processes required to transition seamlessly through the phases. During the entirety of this project, I kept a journal of each step, documenting everything to maintain the integrity of the process, and organizing the information into sections to make the findings easier to understand, learn, and replicate. My end goal is to produce a …

The Art Of French Melodie: A Manual For Recital Preparation, Kristen Abraham

Posters, Presentations, and Papers

I document my journey through the research, development and execution of a recital, resulting in guidelines for how one would achieve a future recital. This recital is focused on French mélodie, a genre of art song classified by its intense lyricism and precision. Moving through three phases: thinking, doing and reflecting, I highlight the important processes required to transition seamlessly through each. While going through the project, each step is documented in a journal to maintain the integrity of the process. My end goal is to present a “How To” manual with information on planning, preparing and ultimately presenting a …

My Plea: A Musical Portrait Of A Japanese Internment Poem By Mary T. Matsuzawa, Michael M. Momohara

Posters, Presentations, and Papers

The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II caused the suffering and fragmentation of many families. One internee, Mary T. Matsuzawa, authored a prayerful poem entitled “My Plea” that I see as expressing her thoughts on freedom, equality, and servitude as a “cross-bearer” for the Japanese-American people. Musical imagery, text painting, and historical context are used to craft a choral setting of Matsuzawa’s poem, scored for SATB mixed choir and cello. The purpose of this work is both to draw attention to the Japanese-American internment and to portray Matsuzawa’s suffering and longing while displaying the hope and comfort she had …

Musical Borrowing In Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas: Piazzolla, Desyatnikov, Vivaldi, Wayanne Watson

Honors Theses

Leonid Desyatnikov arranged Astor Piazzolla's Las Cuatro Estaciones Portenas for violin and string orchestra, interspersing quotations from Vivaldi's Four Seasons throughout the new work. My score-based analysis of the arrangement investigates Desyatnikov's borrowing practice and connects his compositional techniques to musicological meanings. In addition to identifying levels of contrast value between the quotation and the surrounding arrangement, I examine alterations to the original content and context of the quotations and determine whether Desyatnikov maintains or transforms the quotations' identities. I combine identity and contrast value into an interpretive model of musical interaction, providing a more nuanced exploration of musical dominance.

A Composition Project: An Original 12-Tone Fugue Modeled After J. S. Bach's Bwv 847, Ilana Joyce Cady

Honors Theses

A prominent feature among great composers is they often attempt to expand the boundaries of expectation and strive to discover fresh, new, and innovative styles. Throughout the musical periods, composers have established standard compositional forms; among these processes is the fugue. The specific goal of this project is to explore the compositional techniques of the 12-tone system developed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1921, and apply these techniques to fugal writing. In this process I am taking Bach’s fugue, BWV 847, and using it as a blueprint for my original 12-tone fugue. I follow the same overarching structural pattern of BWV …

The Effect Of Pull-Out Programs On The Academic Achievement Of Sixth Grade Students In South Bend, Indiana, Pherbia Mathis Engdahl

Dissertations

Problem. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of pull-out programs in band and orchestra on the academic achievement of sixth-grade students in South Bend, Indiana.

Method. Two groups of 299 students each, an experimental pull-out group and a control non-pull-out group, were matched by third-grade total battery NCE scores, and were analyzed by pull-out and non-pull-out status, by race, and by gender.

A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. When there was a significant interaction effect, a test of simple effects was performed. Pairwise Comparison was tested using the Student-Neuman-Keuls Multiple …

An Organizational Model For A Coordinated Program Of Music Ministry For The Seventh-Day Adventist Church In North American And Europe, Raimo J. Lehtinen

Dissertations

Problem. Initiating work in the coordination of church music activities has been undertaken in the North American and European portions of the world-wide organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There was a need to develop a comprehensive model of music ministry which the Church could utilize when further steps in the advancement of organized music programs will be taken.

Method. In the process of creating the philosophical rationale for the model a descriptive method was used. Adventist literature on music ministry was reviewed, analyzed, and compared with the basic themes of Johansson's contrapuntal design (1984). In thedevelopment of the rest …

The Melodic Structure And Form Of Norwegian Lullabies (Bansuller) From The Valleys Of Valdres, Gudbrandsdalen, And Osterdalen, Elbjorg Keyn Lundstrom

Master's Theses

Problem

This study analyzes a significant group of lullabies collected from three of the principal valleys in Norway. A detailed analysis may show the extent of centonization within the lullabies and may reveal aspects of the tonal inflection of these melodies.

Method

This study gives a general description of the lullaby. It also presents an annotated listing of collections and a summary of previous studies done in this area. With the help of traditional techniques and computer technology, the motives from 154 melodies were analyzed.

Results

The analysis resulted in the discovery that the lullabies consist to a large degree …