Music Practice Commons^™

An Examination Of Maria Schneider’S Big Band Artistry Through The Lens Of Wind Band Arranging, Amy Birdsong

Dissertations, 2020-current

Within the world of instrumental music there tends to be strict adherence to styles and genres that have historically been connected to a standard collection of instruments. Wind ensembles are expected to perform contemporary art music, orchestral transcriptions, or military marches, with little expectation of individual creative interpretation. Jazz ensembles, or “big bands,” are expected to perform styles of music such as “swing,” which cannot be properly notated using western notation, while also being rigidly glued to reduced instrument choices, repetitive chord cycles and standard song forms. While wind ensemble performers are confined to read and perform all aspects of …

Reevaluating Student Engagement: Exploring And Applying Alternative Assignments In Higher Education Undergraduate Applied Saxophone, Anthony S. Cincotta Ii

Dissertations, 2020-current

Undergraduate applied saxophone study revolves around the conservatory model. This inflexible model, often referred to as a master-apprentice relationship, can create an instructor-centric power dynamic which does not address the needs of the modern student. A classroom where the power lies so heavily with the instructor can stifle student engagement and can create a sense of disenfranchisement. In this setting, students have limited input on their assignment selections. While curricula have evolved with regards to being more culturally diverse, relevant, and inclusive, the approach that educators use to deliver the material has remained largely unchanged. There is limited research on …

A Poet's Voice: Music In Service To Poetry: Elements Of Text Painting In Juliana Hall's Song Cycle "How Do I Love Thee?", Hayley Z. Coughin

Dissertations, 2020-current

American composer Juliana Hall has established a reputation as one of the leading composers of contemporary American art songs, having composed over 60 song cycles, totaling over 300 works for the voice. Hall’s song cycle How Do I Love Thee? expresses a narrative arc told through five selections from Victorian-era poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese. The poems selected include Sonnet 3: “Unlike,” Sonnet 43: “How Do I Love Thee?,” Sonnet 37: “Pardon,” Sonnet 21: “Say Over,” and Sonnet 41: “Thank You.” Hall’s cycle describes the relationship between the lover and the object of their love, including …

Words, Music, Memory: An Exploration Of Four Soprano Song Cycles By Lori Laitman Based On Poetry By Victims Of The Holocaust, Sheena Ramirez

Dissertations, 2020-current

This Doctor of Musical Arts document is an exploration of the four soprano song cycles by Lori Laitman based on text settings from victims of the Holocaust, with a specific focus on the compositional and performance devices that both underpin the power of words to bear witness to lived experience and ensure the process of musical commemoration as an act of historical preservation. Lori Laitman (b. 1955) has composed ten distinct song cycles commemorating victims of the Holocaust, of which four are included in this study – I Never Saw Another Butterfly, In Sleep the World is Yours, The Ocean …

Influence And Innovation: Beethoven's Impact On The Sonatas For Piano And Cello By Mendelssohn And Chopin, Patrick T. Bellah

Dissertations, 2020-current

The bulk of the scholarship in this paper centers around Beethoven’s five sonatas written for piano and cello and how he established a new normal within the genre. This is evidenced by what are arguably the two most noteworthy sonatas for the same instrumental medium, written by Mendelssohn and Chopin, following Beethoven’s death. I posit that the five sonatas written by Beethoven establish a series of models upon which the latter two works by his successors are based.

Chapters two and three of this document are separated into subsections that detail the plausibility of Beethoven’s influence through circumstantial evidence, musical …

Singing In The Beginning Band Classroom, Sarah J. Moyer

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The purpose of this action research study is to explore the impact vocal activities have on fourth and fifth grade beginning band students and how their perspective might change throughout instruction. The participants' experience with vocal activities in the beginning instrumental classroom will shape their perspective. The following research questions guide this study:

1. In what ways do vocal activities in the beginning instrumental classroom influence student knowledge of repertoire?
2. In what way do vocal activities boost student confidence in the beginning instrumental classroom?
3. What aspects of vocal activities encourage or discourage students from participating in the beginning instrumental classroom?

Data …

Survey And Analysis Of Undergraduate Music Education Percussion Methods Courses In Relation To The Practical Needs Of Secondary Music Educators In American Public Schools, Bryan C. Pickering

Dissertations, 2020-current

The majority of Bachelor’s degrees in Music Education require students to enroll in a series of instrumental methods or techniques courses. These courses cover fundamental techniques and pedagogical approaches that prepare students for their future careers as music educators. Due to the percussion instrument family having a large scope of material that needs to be covered, it is commonly perceived by those who teach the classes, that Percussion Methods classes within an undergraduate Music Education degree operate on time frames that make equal coverage of all instruments and topics a pedagogical challenge within a standard academic semester.

The purpose of …

Shared Dramatic Pacing In Jake Heggie's Three Decembers, Cynthia Wohlschlager

Dissertations, 2020-current

Jake Heggie collaborated with Terrence McNally and Gene Sheer to infuse 21st-century topics into the chamber opera Three Decembers. This document traces the development of the Madeline Mitchell motif, followed by illuminating the concept of shared dramatic pacing through the use of score identifiers. Fueled by research into Heggie's compositional process, via personal interviews with the composer, it defines an effective method for character development, as well as provides suggestions for the successful preparation of a Jake Heggie opera. For this document, the concept of shared dramatic pacing refers to the time on stage during a performance that is …

Recording A Solo Instrumental Album: A Methodology And Representative Album, John Nye

Dissertations, 2020-current

Contests and Collaborations is a trumpet album consisting of solo and collaborative works for trumpet. The album is aimed towards demonstrating diverse performance abilities in a variety of musical styles. The methodology for recording a solo instrumental album is discussed in detail and includes topics such as selecting repertoire, recruiting collaborative artists, hiring a recording engineer, selecting a producer, choosing a recording venue, allocating rehearsal and recording time, and royalties and licensing. Contests and Collaborations, along with the accompanying methodology, serves as a resource for other musicians by detailing various considerations and procedures involved in recording an album.

Nikolai Medtner: A New Source For Sonata In F Minor, Op. 5, Clement Barrera Acevedo

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This Doctor of Musical Arts document introduces a new source for the Piano Sonata in F Minor, Op. 5, by Nikolai Medtner (1880-1951), deposited in the Special Collections Library of the University of Virginia. This new source is a printed copy of the 1904 publication of the Op. 5 Sonata, which is the first edition. It contains handwritten annotations and corrections which appear to be revision notes by the composer. However, many of these markings do not appear in the 1955 “revised edition” by Belaieff, nor in the 1959 Muzgiz edition. Inscribed on the cover page is a statement that …

A Performer’S Guide To The Role Of Aspasia, Melissa Mccann

Dissertations, 2014-2019

More than fifteen operas based on Jean Racine’s play, Mithridate (1673), were composed in the eighteenth-century. However, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s version, Mitridate, ré di Ponto (1770), is the only one which is remembered and performed today. Mitridate has earned a special place in Mozart’s operatic output because it can be considered the precursor to Idomeneo (1781), and a “prototype” for the Neo-Neapolitan School. Mozart composed Mitridate at the age of fourteen, which has led scholars to question his maturity level and mental capacity to comprehend grand operatic concepts. Through careful consideration of the sources of Mozart’s musical inspiration, some scholars …

Eighteenth And Nineteenth Century Bassoon Tutors And Their Published Contributions To Bassoon Pedagogy, Gina Michelle Moore

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This research project is a survey of eighteenth and nineteenth century bassoon tutors and their contributions to bassoon pedagogy. Tutors for this project were chosen from the two main schools of bassoon playing and pedagogy during the time centered in France and Germany. Bassoon teachers surveyed will include: Joseph Frölich, Karl Almenräder, Christian Julius Weissenborn, Ludwig Milde, Etienne Ozi, Eugène Jancourt, and Eugène Bourdeau.

The Art Songs Of Zachary Wadsworth: A Guide To Style Performance, And Literature, Jordan R. Davidson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This Doctor of Musical Arts Document explores the role Zachary Wadsworth plays in the development of American Art Song. Born in 1983, composer Zachary Wadsworth has written over forty songs. His music is complex and challenging, with influences from all musical eras, with much of his work focusing on the techniques and sounds of twentieth-century modernism. Wadsworth’s choice of poetry focuses on English literature from many different musical eras, embracing a broad range of themes subjects, and emotions.

Following a brief biography of Wadsworth’s early life and career, the document surveys Wadsworth’s contributions to contemporary American art song regarding his …

A Musical Crusade: Reviving The Music Of Berlioz’S Benvenuto Cellini Through A Comparative Statistical, Pedagogical, And Theoretical Analysis, Jessica R. Spafford

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Abstract

Much of the operatic music of the eccentric French composer Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) is overlooked, especially from his first full opera Benvenuto Cellini. This is due in part to many misconceptions surrounding Berlioz’s vocal compositional style, which stem from the political atmosphere at the time of the opera’s premiere in 1838 Paris when ill-willed critics renamed it Malvenuto Cellini. A general ignorance of this work and its music pervades the world of vocal pedagogy, having been excluded from the standard repertoire anthologies, where it can ironically be the most useful. The research presented in this project comprises …

The Development Of A Fach System For The Tenor Oratorio Repertoire, Randall C. Ball

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Classical singers learn about the European Fach System early in their career. By determining which Fach a voice type fits, one can then understand which operatic repertoire is suited to study and perform. It is a reliable guide, protecting singers as they grow and function in their workplace. Since oratorio roles are predominantly not included in this system, it can sometimes be challenging for singers and pedagogues to place these roles unambiguously into a Fach. Without the security of a pedagogical system or guide, singers may be miscast in oratorio productions, which can result in a less effective performance, …

The Origins And Development Of The Euphonium Concerto With Brass Band, Joel M. Collier

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Since shortly after its invention, the euphonium has been utilized as a solo instrument, both in chamber music settings with piano, and with large ensembles such as brass bands and wind bands. However, it was not until the composition of Joseph Horovitz’s Euphonium Concerto in 1972 that the euphonium was genuinely regarded as a serious solo instrument in the brass band, capable of performing large-scale, substantial works.

In the following two decades, several composers wrote concerti for euphonium and brass band, each building on the technical demands of their predecessors. Their contributions established the basis of the genre, and also …

Use Your Words: A Lyrical Guide To The Opera-Inspired Paraphrases Of Antonino Pasculli (1842-1924), Aaron S. Hill

Dissertations, 2014-2019

There are currently ten available works by Antonino Pasculli (1842-1924) for solo oboe or English horn and accompaniment inspired by themes from nineteenth-century operas by Bellini, Donizetti, Meyerbeer, and Verdi. These pieces are so virtuosic that Pasculli has been dubbed the “Paganini of the Oboe.” The technical demands can be so high that performers can neglect to approach artistic and scholarly interpretation of his lyrical passages. Some editions of his music list the referenced act and scene number from the original source. No existing editions include complete text from the original vocal excerpts or the context from the plots of …

The Variety Show: Why Classical String Musicians Are Exploring A Multistyle Approach To Teaching, Kelly C. Wiedemann

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The Variety Show: Why Classical String Musicians are

Exploring a Multistyle Approach to Music

Kelly C. Wiedemann

This case study examines the experiences of five classically trained string teachers who now include alternative styles in their teaching. The research questions are: (1) What factors inspire a classically trained string educator to begin teaching alternative styles to their students? (2) Why is it important to keep classical music in string pedagogy? (3) How have these teachers, their peers, students, and community reacted to multistylism? The interviews revealed four major points of motivation: Opportunities for developing creativity and finding a personal voice …