Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Historical Analysis Of Living Blues Magazine, Melanie Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Living Blues magazine and its history through its stated cultural focus on African American music.

Gyorgy Kurtag's Kafka Fragments, Op. 24 : Fragment As Form., Kaitlin Doyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses the Kafka Fragments for Soprano and Violin, a work of forty movements composed by Hungarian composer, Gyorgy Kurtag, in 1985 through 1987. The piece is based Kurtag's own compilation of fragments written by Franz Kafka, which were taken from Kafka's diaries, personal letters, and Blue Octavio Notebooks. They are some of the most personal and intimate examples that exist within Kafka's body of writing. The paper primarily addresses Kurtag's compositional process as illustrated through the Kafka Fragments and attempts to provide insight about his especially unique qualities as a composer. The main topics of the paper include …

Rhythmic And Metric Structure In Alberto Ginastera's Piano Sonatas, Rachel Hammond

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) was one of the leading South American composers of the twentieth century. Born in Argentina at a time when his country was striving to achieve a national identity and culture, Ginastera was recognized for combining the techniques of Western European art music with elements of Argentine folk music. His piano sonatas, composed during both his early and late periods, serve as excellent examples of this cultural synthesis throughout the course of his career. The Sonata No. 1 for Piano Op. 22 (1954), Sonata No. 2 for Piano Op. 53 (1981), and Sonata No. 3 for Piano Op. …

Redefining Classical Music Literacy: A Study Of Classical Orchestras, Museum Anthropology, And Game Design Theory, Kimberly M. Zahler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current state of declining audiences for the performing arts in the United States is cause for concern for those musicians and ensembles interested in the continuation of the art forms. The previous model of using audience numbers as the sole or primary measure of an orchestra's success is no longer sufficient in an era of participatory design and interactive experiences. Through observation and analysis of the culture of classical music, this study focuses on the emerging visions of participatory culture and the ways in which museum anthropology and game design theory can be used to redefine classical music literacy …

The Instructional Planning And Rehearsal Practices Of Three Selected High School Band Directors, Renardo R. Murray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the rehearsal planning and practices of three selected high school band directors as they prepare their ensembles for performance. Three subjects were observed across five consecutive rehearsals for a total of approximately 641 minutes. Data was collected from structured interviews, videotape observations, field notes, analysis of instructional goals, and frequency and duration data collected on specified teacher and student behaviors. The observed rehearsal time was divided into rehearsal frames which are episodes of rehearsal time devoted to the correction of student performance. Rehearsal frames that included two or more performance trials were identified and extracted for detail …

Chorister Formation Preferences In A Women's Choir, Janna Montgomery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While conductors and audience members are not committed to a single formation, choristers have a clear preference: sectional or mixed. Why is this? Participants in this study included forty-six members of an auditioned women's choir from a large southern university who completed a survey after singing in sectional and mixed formation. These SSAA results maintain previous research findings by James Daugherty, Debra Atkinson, and Christopher Aspaas, et al. from female choristers in SATB settings: most women prefer mixed formation. All 46 of the participants (100%) perceived that formation generally affects the choral sound, so they think formation is important. Women's …

The History And Perception Of Music Education In Kuwait, Youssif Abdullah Al Hassan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study sought to provide a detailed examination of the history and development of music education in Kuwait. The history of the four teacher-training institutions and music education in schools are discussed. That includes the history of the Music General Supervision Department and its music activities. Additionally, the study examined the perception of music education in Kuwait historically, and surveyed parents and students' perceptions of music and music education in Kuwait public schools. There were 244 students and 169 parents responses to 260 questionnaires. Parents were asked about their knowledge of the music education curriculum and students were asked …

The Swinney Conservatory Of Music At Central Methodist University: An Historical Study, David William Samson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Swinney Conservatory of Music at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri has a long history of producing a significant number of the music educators. Even before the conservatory's founding in 1925, music and music education played an important role in the town of Fayette. Since the mid-nineteenth century there were two colleges in Fayette: Central College and Howard Female College. While both schools grew alongside each other, it was at Howard College (later renamed Howard-Payne College) where music was taught. When the two schools merged in 1923, Howard-Payne's music department was transferred to Central and in 1925 was reorganized …

Behavioral Analysis Of Directors Of High-Performing Versus Low-Performing High School Bands, Mark Dwayne Waymire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the relationship between student performance levels and teacher behaviors. Ten high school band directors were classified into one of two categories, directors of high-performing bands or directors of low-performing bands, based on audio recordings of concert band performances. Directors from the two categories were matched in terms of years of experience, educational background, and current teaching environment in an effort to delimit possible causal relationships between these factors and student performance outcomes. Each director was observed and videotaped over a three-day period, within two weeks preceding a music festival performance. Field notes were taken during each rehearsal …

Composing Music In Constrained Search Environments, Jeffrey Keene

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Composing music with computers in constrained search environments adds complexities and problems not present in the traditional problem domain of generative music. The traditional and well researched mechanisms of Markov chains, genetic algorithms and data driven rule based systems do not directly map to a problem domain in which pitch choice and rhythm choice are likely to be highly limited.

We therefore explore several possible solutions to generating rhythms in extremely constrained environments with the goal of generating music that adheres to user specified constraints and is aesthetically pleasing.

Mercy Mercy Me (The Media Ecology): Technology, Agency, And "Cleavage" Of The Musical Text, Arthur J. Bamford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores changes that occurred in popular music during the 1960s and early 1970s through case studies involving three significant albums released in 1971 and 1972: Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On, and Stevie Wonder's Talking Book. These albums deserve attention particularly because, as this thesis argues, existing research on the cultural significance of popular music has focused largely on the periods before or after the 1970s and research on music-making technologies has focused largely on white artists or groups from the late 1960s. Addressing this blind …

Protest Music Of The Vietnam War: Description And Classification Of Various Protest Songs., Amanda Marie Carr-Wilcoxson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Vietnam War and subsequent protest movement remains one of the most tumultuous times in U.S. history. This thesis is an attempt to define and describe the protest movement as well as the varied popular protest songs that came from this era. Building on a previous study written by Elizabeth Kizer, this thesis creates sub-categories in which the protest music falls into.

The first two chapters of this study help by giving historical context to the songs by describing the Vietnam War and then the protest movement in the U.S. The final chapter then deals with popular protest songs that …

Steve Blackwell: A Florida Folk Musician, Brian Haymans

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the life of Steve Blackwell (1947-2006), a Florida folk singer/songwriter from Punta Gorda, FL, located where the Peace River meets the Gulf of Mexico. The study examines his biographical history, his performance career, musical output, and the impact he and his music had on the surrounding community. The first part of the study documents Blackwell's history and the major events that shaped his life while, at the same time, describing what kind of person Steve Blackwell was. The second part of the study examines Blackwell's career as a musical performer, the bands he played with, how those …

The Dresden School Of Violoncello In The Nineteenth Century, Adriana Venturini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Until the nineteenth century, the violoncello was considered a background accompaniment instrument. By 1900 however, over eighty method books had been published for cello, and Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss were composing orchestral cello parts equal in difficulty to those of the violin, traditionally the only virtuosic string part. The emancipation from the ties of bass ostinato for the cello began with Bernhard Romberg in Dresden. The group of cellists, who came to be known as the Dresden School, included Kummer, Lee, Goltermann, Cossmann, Popper, Grutzmacher, Davidov, and other cellists that were students and colleagues of this group. The Dresden …

Metric Conflict In The Brandenburg Concertos Of J. S. Bach, Ellwood P. Colahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents a comprehensive metric analysis of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, with particular emphasis on the issues of metric conflict. The analytic methodology is based on the work of Fred Lerdahl and Ray Jackendoff, while the analytic notation used is based partly on that of Lerdahl and Jackendoff and partly on that of Jonathan Kramer, with some original modifications.

The paper discusses the factors generating metric conflict, along with its distribution, correlation with other structural parameters, and functional effects. The relationship between metric conflict and fluctuations in the depth of metric hierarchy is examined in detail. Some cases of metric …

The Rise And Fall Of The Hillbilly Music Genre, A History, 1922-1939., Ryan Carlson Bernard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research will examine the rise in popularity of the hillbilly music genre as it relates to the early part of the twentieth century as well as its decline with the arrival of the western hero, the cowboy.

Chapter 1 examines the origins of traditional music and how instrumental the fiddle and banjo were in that development. Chapter 2 looks closely into the careers of recording artists who recorded what would later be called hillbilly music. Chapter 3 examines the string band and the naming of the hillbilly genre. Chapters 4 and 5 look at the aspect of radio programming …

Selected Resources For Ministers Of Music In Evangelical Christian Churches., Brian Emory Sharp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ministers of music in Evangelical Christian churches today are usually trained as choral conductors but take positions that require them to unexpectedly be an instrumental conductor, administrator, counselor, recruiter, evangelist, and even associate pastor.

There was no central resource for information to assist these musicians, thus this annotated bibliography was developed. It includes books and magazine articles on vocal and instrumental pedagogy, conducting, hymnology, theology, musical terminology, leadership skills, evangelism, and administration.

Because of time limitations, only sources available at Sherrod Library, East Tennessee State University, and on the Internet were cited. Time restraints also limited the number of resources …

Remediating The Transient Music Student Using Hypermedia And Finale Performance Assessment™ : A Recorder Based Model., Nancy K. Philbeck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop, implement and test a tool designed to help transient students gain the basic musical knowledge and skills needed to successfully complete a fourth-grade unit of recorder study. The project resulted in the development of a hypermedia-based application.

The seven-week study consisted of 49 fourth-grade students. Students were given pitch reading and rhythm pattern identification pre-tests and post-tests. Students participated in weekly tests and tutorial sessions via the hypermedia-based application. At the conclusion of the study, the students were given post-tests and a performance test.

The pre-test and post-test scores for the transient …

Freedom Now!: Four Hard Bop And Avant-Garde Jazz Musicians' Musical Commentary On The Civil Rights Movement, 1958-1964., Lucas Aaron Henry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examined musical recordings from the jazz idiom that relate to events or ideas involved in the Civil Rights Movement during the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s. The study focused on the four following musicians' recordings: Charles Mingus, Fables of Faubus; Sonny Rollins, The Freedom Suite; Ornette Coleman, Free Jazz; and John Coltrane, A Love Supreme. The study relies primarily on the aforementioned recordings, critics analysis of those recordings, and events that took place during the Civil Right Movement.

The study concludes that these recordings are not only commentary about ideas and events but …

The Church Music Program: The Effect Of Moving From Performance-Based To Education-Based Emphasis In A Church Music Program, Ronald Glynn Sherwin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research project sought to answer the primary research question: What occurs when the music program in a church changes its emphasis from performance to education? This qualitative study of a church choir included participant observation of Wednesday evening and Sunday morning rehearsals over a 12 week period, individual interviews, group interviews, written responses, and written and visual assessment of musical skills. The goal was a rich description of the participants and emerging themes resulting from the shift in emphasis. Analysis of data occurred through inductive processing. Data was initially coded and then the codes were categorized into sub-themes, and …

The Bilingual Motets Of The Old Corpus Of The Montpellier Codex., Kimberly Adelle Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The bilingual motets of the old corpus of the Montpellier Codex (Montpellier, Faculté de Médecine, H 196) are collected in the third fascicle of this thirteenth-century codex. These eleven motets provide a sample group for the study of interrelationships among the contents of a manuscript. Elements of the music, text, and tenor sources work together to unify each individual motet as well as the eleven motets in the fascicle.

While the motets of Mo have been studied in detail, this small collection has been neglected, perhaps because of its simultaneous presentation of sacred and erotic love. It is this trait, …

Congregational Singing: An Attitudinal Survey Of Two Southern Protestant Churches., Randall G. Bennett Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

When public schools began teaching music in the 19th century, the church took a secondary role in the education of the church parishioner. The purpose of this study was to examine congregational attitudes about singing before and after an experimental treatment. Two different Churches participated in "hymn of the month" programs, but different approaches were used at each church. The congregation of Erwin Presbyterian Church learned a new hymn through repetition, while the congregation of First Baptist Church learned a new hymn through congregational practice. Surveys using a Likert-type scale were administered at each church prior to and at the …

Leadership And Administrative Tasks Of Secondary Choral Music Educators, Sharon G. Rush

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem of this study was the inconsistency between perceptions of secondary choral music educators and college and university choral music professors pertaining to needed leadership and administrative training in undergraduate music teacher education programs. The main purpose of this study was to attempt to develop a list of recommendations pertaining to necessary leadership and administrative tasks of music education majors. Two subpurposes of this study were: to help university and college school officials evaluate the present curriculum and adjust it to help meet the needs of their music education graduates; and to help expand the limited literature base concerning …

Jean Thomas' American Folk Song Festival : British Balladry In Eastern Kentucky., Marshall A. Portnoy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Serious musicological research initiated in the first decades of the twentieth century in America uncovered vast riches of British folk music that had been transplanted to these shores by early pioneers. In the mountains of Appalachia, traditional British ballads remained miraculously unspoiled, and distinguished researchers from Britain and America published many volumes of such songs. Jean Thomas, a legal stenographer born in eastern Kentucky in 1881, became fascinated with this phenomenon. She came to believe that an annual festival of mountain music would help ensure the survival of this art and, in 1930, she founded the American Folk Song Festival. …