Music Theory Commons^™

Vital Status, Thomas Ginnona

West Chester University Master’s Theses

“Vital Status” is a term used to describe the state of being alive or not and is typically used in a medical and/or biological context. The project explores duality and balance in the universe and ultimately questions the nature of what it means to be a truly living creature or entity. This occurs through four distinct pieces, each focusing on a different duality or aspect of life: “A Nameless Evil” addresses internal struggle/anxiety (individual/internal strife), “Resonances of the Earth” depicts the resonance of the planet and the natural balance therein, “V404 Cygni” portrays relationships both here and in the universe, …

The Goat: Rescoring A Buster Keaton Classic, Shannon Bradley

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This thesis examines Buster Keaton’s The Goat (1921) and provides insight into the methods used to rescore the music of this classic silent film. After a brief review of Keaton’s life and career, I will discuss each step in the process of understanding this film and determining the best methods of implementing music to enhance the film. This process includes creating detailed spotting notes for each scene, sketching most of the central musical themes using my preferred traditional composition software, Sibelius, and finally transferring this musical information into my preferred digital audio workstation, Logic, in order to sync all aspects …

Sovereign, Christian Johnson

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Sovereign is a musical retelling of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book of the Bible. This Scripture describes the end times, the temptations of Satan and his followers, the destruction of the world, the pouring out of God’s wrath on unbelievers and the presence of God’s grace within this wrath, the second coming of Jesus Christ, the battle of Armageddon, and the eternal kingdom to come. The musical work is directly inspired by the text and attempts to represent the events that are foretold.

The first movement, “Whoever Has Ears,” depicts chapters 1-4 of the book of Revelation, …

Drastic Criticism, Gnostic Criticism, And Brahms's Fourth Symphony, Sean Wood

West Chester University Master’s Theses

In her 2004 Critical Inquiry article “Music: Drastic or Gnostic?,” Carolyn Abbate argues that much writing about music avoids music’s “exceptional phenomenal presence,” its “drastic” effects (a term borrowed from philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch). Such writing, she argues is “gnostic”; that is, interested in uncovering social, cultural, or philosophical truths beneath that “exceptional phenomenal presence.” Gnostic criticism is where music can become prey to nefarious philosophies; shorn from the context of performance, it can become whatever the critic wishes it to be. This indictment trains much of its focus on the work of Theodor W. Adorno, whom she regards as one …