Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Performance Project With An Historical And Analytical Perspective On The Concerto For Alto Saxophone And Orchestra, Op. 31 By Peter Jona Korn, Brian Sanford Ransom

Dissertations

Peter Jona Korn (1922-1998) is not a name immediately recognized in American music circles, yet during the 1940s and '50s he led a successful career as an American composer. His Saxophone Concerto - composed in 1956 for the virtuoso Sigurd Rascher, and revised by Korn in 1982 - is an important contribution to the saxophone repertoire.

Many composers, including Glazounov, Ibert, and Larsson, wrote concertos for Sigurd Rascher. These works, once considered highly virtuosic, are now studied and performed by college level saxophonists. The original version of Korn's Concerto, among the most technically demanding works, has remained in obscurity for …

Comparative Analysis Of Representative Marimba Works By Nebojsa Jo Van Zivkovic, Jefferson Lavelle Grant Iii

Dissertations

Nebojsa Jovan Zivkovic has been an active performer and composer since the late 1970s. He is the closest modern percussionists have to the tradition of the virtuosocomposer from the Romantic period. He holds degrees in composition, music theory, and percussion performance. His music merits study based on the fact that he is an accomplished marimbist who composes at the instrument. This lends to his music a uniquely idiomatic quality. The two works presented in this treatise span almost twenty years of the composer's thirty-year career. The unifying element in both works is that they feature a marimba soloist as the …

Answer Me That, Catherine Davis

Dissertations

This is a collection of five works of short fiction and one creative non-fiction essay.

Neon Allegiance, Jason Paul Olsen

Dissertations

This collection of thirty-one poems is built around my personal search for place, the idea of "home," and how it is relationship more than mere geography that defines the places one encounters in a life. In these poems, that idea of "home" ties back to intimate relationships with family and friends, but also with relationships involving culture—both historical and popular—as a whole.

The collection itself is a pastiche of strategies and stylizations, united by a defined and consistent voice. The geographic locations vary—from Las Vegas (where the largest number of poems and energy are focused) to stops in points across …

Adoption And Integration Of Best Practice Methods In Secondary English Teaching, Gretchen Rumohr-Voskuil

Dissertations

Commencing with a critical examination of the history and rhetorical force of the term "best practice," this dissertation undertakes a qualitative study of three secondary English teachers, considering their adoption and integration of best practice methods. The subjects, represented by urban, suburban and rural secondary schools, were National Writing Project participants identified as "exemplary teachers" by a NWP site director. "Best practice" methods analyzed included the process model for the teaching of writing and literature, student decision-making, and a low-risk writing environment. Factors that were found to influence the adoption of best practice methods included undergraduate and preservice experiences, intern …

What Is The Optimal Structure For Organisations Representing Design And Designers On The Island Of Ireland?, Barry Sheehan

Dissertations

The research question addresses the issue of the structure of organisations that represent the interests of design and designers on the island of Ireland. The role of designers in Ireland is seen by society as marginal, rather than one central to the economic, social, and cultural well being of the island and those who live on it. This problem is exacerbated, as the organisational structures of those who play a key part are both confused and confusing. The answer to the question of what is an optimal structure lies in the literature that has been written on the subject and …

Posttraumatic Spiritual Growth: A Phenomenological Study Of Cancer Survivors, Ryan Myles Denney

Dissertations

A small but growing body of research has sought to investigate the specific role of religion and spirituality in posttraumatic growth. Recently investigations have begun to focus on spiritual growth following trauma, specifically that of cancer patients and survivors. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate how having cancer effects the spiritual growth of cancer survivors across a multidimensional conceptualization of spirituality (Hill 2005; Tsang & McCullough, 2003). The researcher investigated the lived experience of thirteen cancer survivors with posttraumatic spiritual growth using a phenomenological method of data analysis. Participants reported experiencing spiritual growth across the following domains …

Relationships Among Elementary Teachers' Self-Perceptions Of Musical Intelligence, Perceived Value Of Instruction Through Music, And Classroom Instructional Practices, Peggy Jo Hubbard Mccullough

Dissertations

This study was designed to examine educators' perceptions and practices of instruction through music. Using primarily quantitative methods for collection and analysis of data, correlations were sought among the primary variables: elementary teachers' perceptions of the value of instruction through music, their self-reported frequency of instruction through music, and their self-evaluated level of musical intelligence. The hypothesis for this study was that a positive correlation existed between any two of the three variables.

Participants included elementary teachers representing instructional grades one through five from four elementary schools in the southeastern part of the United States. To collect data, a survey …

Night Field Anecdote, William Garrett Wright

Dissertations

Night Field Anecdote is an original collection of forty-one poems accompanied by a critical introduction.

Does Change In Timbre Alter Stereotypy Movements Exhibited By Three Persons With Diagnoses Of Mental Retardation And Autism Spectrum Disorder: Three Case Studies, Kathy Wade Webb

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to observe and collect data while monitoring the responses of three individuals to recorded presentations of four folk songs. The individuals, or participants, were all residents of a state-run facility in the southern region of the United States. The participants were females diagnosed with mental retardation and autism spectrum disorder, and they all exhibited one or more stereotypy behaviors in some form or another. The primary purpose of the study was to see if change in timbre of the songs would alter the stereotypy movements exhibited by these participants as the songs were presented …

From Picture To Word To The World: A Multimodal, Cultural Studies Approach To Teaching Graphic Novels In The English Classroom, Shannon Renee Mortimore

Dissertations

Sequential narratives such as comics, graphic novels and Manga (Japanese-style comics) have long been popular in youth culture. Recent attention has shifted to the potential of utilizing these alternative texts in the secondary classroom, yet very little information for English teachers exists regarding how to engage students in close, careful, and culturally informed analysis of these works. While there is a long tradition of thoughtful analytical teaching about literary texts, when it comes to the study of various media with strong image content, language arts teachers often may not know how to proceed. Indeed, preconceptions about the legitimacy of comics …

Mapping The Global Landscape In Women's Diasporic Writing, Martha Addante

Dissertations

As a contribution to the theory of cognitive mapping, the dissertation examines the ways in which contemporary novels by women writers of diasporic literature offer new conceptual maps of the present global space. This study argues there is a need for alternative mapping strategies that locate the female diasporic subject within the new global political economy. Fredric Jameson's theory of cognitive mapping and Arjun Appadurai's model of global flows provide a useful framework for mapping global space, yet each must be filtered through a feminist critique and modified by a feminist politics. Ultimately, the dissertation argues for a feminist theory …

Creative Metacriticism: The Portrayal Of Literary Theory In Contemporary Fiction, Zaydun Ali Al-Shara

Dissertations

Some modern creative writers have shown a talent not only in writing tales, but also in philosophy and theory as they examine questions and problems in fiction-making and the very act of reading. This dissertation examines the role the metafictive novel plays in the development of literary theory and fiction. I explore how writers of this type of novel emerge as creative metacritics who overtly and/or covertly, through their fiction, respond to and critique literary theory. The inquiry examines the reciprocal relationship between the fiction of creative metacritics and important movements in literary theory in the late 20th Century. All …

“The Negro Speaks Of Rivers” An African Centered Historical Study Of The Selfethnic Liberatory Education Nature And Goals Of The Poetry Of Langston Hughes: The Impact On Adult Education, Sarah E. Howard

Dissertations

The purposes of this historical study were to 1) document the Selfethnic Liberatory adult education nature and goals of the poetry of Langston Hughes (from 1921 to 1933); and 2) to document the impact this poetry had on members of the African Diaspora. In addition, the goal of this research was to expand the historical knowledge base of the adult education field, so that it is more inclusive of the contributions of African Americans.

This study addressed the problem that the historical and philosophical literature of the field does not to any significant degree include the intellectual and adult education …

"The Mirror Turn Lamp": Natural-Supernatural In Yeats, Cleston Lee Armstrong Iii

Dissertations

The supernatural portrayed in Yeats represents a carefully constructed convergence of all major themes in his canon. Yeats's first exposure to myth, the supernatural, and magic occurs in the 1890s when he worked as an editor of William Blake and Irish fairy lore. This experience at once inspired Yeats to explore mysticism and to shroud his own collected works in mystery. With the onset of modernity and the age of criticism this period ushered in, however, he was unable to capitalize on the spiritual as first imagined. As mere aesthetic, peculiar illuminations of the immaterial world Yeats so intensely sought …

The Music Of Jerry Sieg: A Descriptive Catalogue Of His Piano Music And An Analysis Of The Five Miniatures For Piano, Nuria Mariela Royas

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to present the solo piano music of the American composer Jerry Sieg, whose output includes works for orchestra, voice, opera, chorus, and numerous compositions for solo instruments.

It opens with the biography of the composer, including information concerning bis musical training, followed by a brief survey of his solo piano works. A discussion of his compositional style in his Five Miniatures for Piano, written in 1994 for the American pianist Marian Lee, is also included in this work. The analysis of the Five Miniatures for Piano in Chapter IV presents a detailed analysis of …

Issaquah In January, Daniel Walter Morris

Dissertations

ISSAQUAH IN JANUARY is an original collection of fifty-one poems accompanied by a preface.

A Comparative Analysis Of Roman Palester's Concertino Pour Saxophone Alto Et Orchestre A Cordes, Brian Donald Kauth

Dissertations

The music of Roman Palester (1907-1989) is little known outside his native Poland. Before World War II, he experienced a great deal of musical success, with many of his compositions being performed at prestigious music festivals throughout Europe. Palester completed his one solo work for the saxophone, the Concertino pour Saxophone Alto et Orchestre a Cordes, in 1938, but its scheduled premiere in 1939 never took place due to political tensions on the eve of World War II.

In 1978, Palester revised the work for saxophonist David Pituch, who premiered and recorded this version. A comparison of the original and …

Leo Brouwer's Estudios Sencillos For Guitar: Afro-Cuban Elements And Pedagogical Devices, Carlos Isaac Castilla Penaranda

Dissertations

This document presents a detailed performance and pedagogical analysis of the Estudios Sencillos by the Cuban composer, Leo Brouwer. Such pertinent musical aspects as biographical data of the composer, Afro-Cuban traditions, Cuban composers, and philosophical and artistic trends that impacted Brouwer's aesthetic world are studied and discussed.

Virtually any of Brouwer's works can serve to convey this information, but it is particularly this group of pieces that better suits the study of Afro-Cuban elements within a pedagogical focus since no other of Brouwer's compositions is set with this particular target in mind: etudes for the development and/or implementation of a …

For The Stadium Vendor, Richard Andrew Boada

Dissertations

FOR THE STADIUM VENDOR is an original collection of fifty poems accompanied by a preface.

"Blessed Are The Dead Which Die In The Lord": The Influence Of The American Tract Society On The Historical Evolution Of American Literary Sentimentalism, Joel Bridges Henderson

Dissertations

Studies of American literary sentimentalism usually focus on either the genre's origins in the novels of the early republic or its zenith as represented by the midnineteenth- century bestsellers. Such a focus reveals two distinctly different versions of sentimentalism. While the novels of Susanna Rowson, Hannah Foster, and William Brown evidence a genre influenced by Calvinism, the bestsellers of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Maria Cummins, and Susan Warner represent a sentimentalism inextricably fused with nineteenth-century evangelicalism. The evolution of the genre is more clearly explained by the intervention of the American Tract Society (ATS). In its ongoing efforts to convert the …

Companionship Through Standard Question And Answer Routines, Ryan Saxon Davidson

Dissertations

Companionship through Standard Question and Answer Routines is a collection of short stories and short shorts dealing with the nature of human relationships and the ways in which people get to know each other.

The Projectionist, Travis Keith Kurowski

Dissertations

The Projectionist is a collection of short stories composed during my studies at The University of Southern Mississippi Center for Writers between the years 2006 and 2009. n

Room, Vallie Lynn Watson

Dissertations

Room is a short novel written at The University of Southern Mississippi. It is accompanied by a critical preface.

Metacognitive Awareness And Strategy Use In Academic English Reading Among Adult English As A Second Language (Esl) Students, Yuko Iwai

Dissertations

This mixed method research study explored the role of metacognitive awareness in reading among adult English as a Second Language (ESL) students of various academic levels enrolled in a university in the southeastern part of the United States of America while engaged in academic reading. In addition, this study examined metacognitive reading strategies employed by those students.

In the quantitative portion of the study, 98 students responded to the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) instrument and a background information questionnaire. The SORS measured metacognitive awareness and use of reading strategies. In the qualitative portion of the study, six students (two …

The Naming Of Strays, Erin Elizabeth Smith

Dissertations

The Naming of Strays is a collection of poems that deal with issues of place, gender power, sexual fidelity, and transience. While the majority of the poems are written in free verse, the dissertation also features a handful of formal poems including sonnets, sestinas, and prose poetry. n

Petticoat Government: Poems And Essays, Tiffany Ann Noonan

Dissertations

Petticoat Government is a collection of poems and essays that draw upon the varied lexicons of science, mythology, sports, literature, travel, art, fashion, and popular culture in an attempt to understand what deliminates womanhood. Using a mix of traditional and contemporary forms, these texts seek to complicate the myriad—and often conflicting—models of femaleness and the female body.

Representaciones De La Memoria De La Guerrilla Antifranquista En La Novelística Española Contemporánea, Nuño Castellanos

Dissertations

In the last few years a very controversial concept known as "the recovery of historic memory" has become of utmost importance in certain social and political spheres in Spain. This matter has been addressed by a law approved in July of 2006 during the socialist government under Rodríguez Zapatero. This law recognizes the efforts of those who in 1936 defended the Republican democracy, those who were persecuted by Franco regime and suffered internal and external exile, and those who fought against dictatorship and in defense of the fundamental liberties that Spaniards enjoy today. This complicated process of memory recuperation is …

The Art Of Trinitarian Articulation: A Case Study On Richard Of St. Victor's _De Trinitate_, Todd D. Vasquez

Dissertations

Richard of Saint Victor deliberately constructs his treatise De Trinitate with trinitarian structures to sustain the hearts and shape the minds of his readers with the contemplation of the Trinity. His work fits within a genre of writing in the Middle Ages where the formation of the theological apprentice was at the heart of crafting one’s theological work. The dissertation consists of three sections: Section I, “Introduction & Background,” establishes the context for the thesis. Chapter one fits Richard’s De Trinitate within the theological heritage of Augustine and Anselm of Canterbury. Chapter two describes aspects of the liturgical and educational …

[Black] Regional Conferences In The Seventh-Day Adventist (Sda) Church Compared With United Methodist [Black] Central Jurisdiction/Annual Conferences With White Sda Conferences, From 1940 - 2001, Alfonzo Greene, Jr.

Dissertations

This study compares the historical development of [Black] Regional Conferences in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church with [Black] Central Jurisdiction/Black Annual Conferences in Methodism (now known as the United Methodist Church) and White SDA Conferences--specifically through the prism of race, religion, and to a lesser degree gender. Secondly, emphasis is given to the salient events surrounding [Black] Regional SDA Conferences and [Black] Methodist Central Jurisdiction/Annual Conferences, and White SDA Conferences in order to discern the thread of historical development that emerged in these religious entities. What were the reasons the Methodist and Seventh-day Adventists decided it was essential to set …