Book Review: Inside Chinese Theater: Community And Artistry In Nineteenth-Century California And Beyond By Nancy Yunwha Rao,
2026
University of Pittsburgh
Book Review: Inside Chinese Theater: Community And Artistry In Nineteenth-Century California And Beyond By Nancy Yunwha Rao, Jiyoon Auo
Asia Pacific Perspectives
No abstract provided.
More Than A Man: An Ethnomusicological Survey Of The Folklore Of John Henry And Resource Guide For “More Than A Man” By Shanyse Strickland,
2026
West Virginia University
More Than A Man: An Ethnomusicological Survey Of The Folklore Of John Henry And Resource Guide For “More Than A Man” By Shanyse Strickland, Clayton R. Heath
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)
“John Henry” exists as an enduring folk legend in the United States of America, representing the confluence of the Reconstruction Era, the economic utility of Appalachia and the Westward expansion of industry which left it behind. Though based on historical events, Henry’s fictional representation has diverted and evolved in music and other media from its inception in the oral tradition to the modern age. Through this progression, shared symbols have circulated, gathering embedded meanings and associating the folklore with specific communities. Henry’s representational identity has been signaled with the creation and distribution of each version of his story, both complicating …
The Matusiflute: Exploring Intercultural Collaboration Through Timbral Dízi Emulation Within An Australian-Chinese Orchestral Performance Setting,
2026
Edith Cowan University
The Matusiflute: Exploring Intercultural Collaboration Through Timbral Dízi Emulation Within An Australian-Chinese Orchestral Performance Setting, Gabriel Mcmahon
Theses: Doctorates and Masters
This research investigates how the Matusiflute can potentially promote intercultural Sino Western collaboration within solo, chamber and orchestral settings by consciously applying technical and stylistic codes attributed to the dízi (traverse Chinese bamboo flute). Using an autoethnographic approach, I reflect on my engagement with the dízi, its morphology, timbre and stylistic interpretation, and how my pedagogical flute context impacted this approach. These learnings were then applied to the Matusiflute through two premiere performances of a commissioned intercultural work by Nicholas Ng, The Secret of the Golden Flower (2024) for Matusiflute and Chinese Orchestra. The latter being performed in a solo …
New Music And New Instruments: The Development Of The Electric Bass Guitar,
2025
Lipscomb University
New Music And New Instruments: The Development Of The Electric Bass Guitar, Braxton Algood
Student Scholar Symposium
The sound of the modern electric bass has become ubiquitous in music across multiple genres. With the emergence of jazz music in the 1930s, upright bassists like Jimmy Blanton sought to create a sonic space that exploited the resonance in the low register of the traditional double bass, but was more rhythmic and percussive than the instrument’s traditional role. This desire for a percussive string instrument that had the sound of the upright bass—and might also be more portable—led to the creation of Leo Fender’s first electric bass guitar in 1951. By the end of the 1950s, the electric bass …
Post-Tonal Pedagogy In The Music Of György Ligeti,
2025
Lipscomb University
Post-Tonal Pedagogy In The Music Of György Ligeti, Easton Ball
Student Scholar Symposium
Post-tonal piano literature remains unpopular with many modern performers due to a perceived lack of technical approachability. As a result, a wealth of post-tonal keyboard music passes into obscurity, never reaching modern audiences. Despite the preconception that post-tonal music lacks formal and harmonic structure, one can assign order to elements within these compositions both for purposes of improving pedagogy and engendering familiarity with the literature. My research aims to demonstrate one process of elucidating the relative accessibility of post-tonal literature for keyboard by means of an analysis of a selection of György Ligeti’s Études pour piano. Because this material often …
Objects Of Power: Female Instrumentalists In Medieval To Early Modern Europe,
2025
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Objects Of Power: Female Instrumentalists In Medieval To Early Modern Europe, Emma Scherrer
Undergraduate Research Symposium
Women are difficult to locate in traditional histories of western music, especially performers and particularly instrumentalists. The relationship between a female performer, the instrument she played, and her audience was especially fraught, constituting a complicated web of gendered relations and power dynamics. An examination of the contexts in which women played instruments in medieval to early modern Europe elucidates how women in these societies interacted with music and musical institutions. While women were generally excluded from musical institutions and discouraged from playing most musical instruments, many women nevertheless chose to take up an instrument outside of professional contexts. From the …
The Politics Of Musical Time: Expanding Songs And Shrinking Markets In Bengali Devotional Performance,
2025
University College Dublin
The Politics Of Musical Time: Expanding Songs And Shrinking Markets In Bengali Devotional Performance, Jaime Jones
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
A book review is presented for The Politics of Musical Time: Expanding Songs and Shrinking Markets in Bengali Devotional Performance, authored by Eben Graves, by Jaime Jones.
Byzantine Theories Of Scale And Arab-Byzantine Chant Practices: A Comparative Analysis Proposing A New Resolution To The Theoretical System Of Chrysanthos Of Madytos,
2025
Yale University
Byzantine Theories Of Scale And Arab-Byzantine Chant Practices: A Comparative Analysis Proposing A New Resolution To The Theoretical System Of Chrysanthos Of Madytos, Rosy Azar
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
In 2015, Amine Beyhom published a book on Byzantine chant, in which he summarised all the existing theories, paying particular attention to the problematic reform of the Byzantine chant theory in 1881, and guiding the reader through the steps that led to that reform. Driven by the first ever comparison between Byzantine and Arabic modes that he had found in Mīkhāʾīl Mashāqa’s epistle, Beyhom first studied Chrysanthos of Madytos’ insight. He documented this research in detail and followed it with a practical comparison to demonstrate if theory is indeed applied or it acts only as prescriptive guide. He recorded and …
Schemata Of Barbershop Tags,
2025
Stephen F Austin State University
Schemata Of Barbershop Tags, Brian A. Cromer
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This thesis explores the genre of barbershop tags, brief musical compositions in the barbershop style. After the introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 describes the barbershop style and outlines a modified roman numeral system that reflects barbershop norms. Chapter 3 analyzes the 125 entries of the Classic Book of Tags based on two features: the harmonic point of interest (HPI) and the penultimate chord. Patterns emerging from these two criteria include eleven primary schemata along with a few secondary schemata accounting for the harmonic design for a majority of tags. Chapter 4 analyzes two barbershop arrangements: “Come Fly With Me” …
Heroes By The Score,
2025
Bowling Green State University
Heroes By The Score, Owen J. Eastman
Honors Projects
Historians have increasingly examined how media other than yellow journalism helped manufacture consent for American imperialism during the Spanish-American War, yet commercial sheet music—despite its ubiquity at the time—remains overlooked. This study addresses that gap by analyzing fifty pieces of sheet music published around the period, employing a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative, qualitative, and comparative media analysis. The corpus reveals four dominant themes: memorializing the sinking of the Maine; Cuban “liberation” rhetoric that often referenced American ownership or influence over the island; military hero worship that personalized and justified expansion; and messages of national unity that permitted overseas territorial …
Ethnomusicologically Augmented French Diction Course,
2025
University of Northern Colorado
Ethnomusicologically Augmented French Diction Course, Jake Larcqua
Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones
Modern diction pedagogy in university vocal performance education largely depends on a combination of International Phonetic Alphabet transcription study and the application of those systems to Western-Classical vocal repertoire. However, recent research in related fields suggests we may be able to expand our diction teaching methods to better meet the needs of our students. Using a combination of second-language pedagogic principles, folksong structure, self-efficacy concepts, modeling structures, and ethnomusicological perspectives on classroom culture, I have drafted a French diction course that should improve not only students’ performance within university vocal music education, but also students’ confidence in their ability to …
Community Approaches To Digitally Documenting And Sharing Conjunto Music In The South Texas Borderlands,
2025
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Community Approaches To Digitally Documenting And Sharing Conjunto Music In The South Texas Borderlands, René Antonio Ballesteros
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis explores the rich tradition of conjunto music within the South Texas borderlands, examining how integrating community engagement and digital humanities methodologies can effectively enhance the documentation, conservation, and presentation of this place-based expressive culture. Recognizing existing archival gaps, the research employed community-engaged programming to gather and preserve valuable cultural data. A key methodology outcome involved creating digital maps utilizing place-based data related to conjunto music sites and activities, subsequently integrating these maps into an ArcGIS Online story map for public online access. The findings demonstrate the significant potential of community collaboration and digital humanities tools in amplifying cultural …
Sex And Danger, Airborne Ranger: A Historical Analysis Of G.I. Songs, Jody Calls, And Marching Cadences,
2025
University of Southern Mississippi
Sex And Danger, Airborne Ranger: A Historical Analysis Of G.I. Songs, Jody Calls, And Marching Cadences, Travis G. Salley
Dissertations
Military marching cadences have long served as a core feature of basic combat training, reinforcing cohesion, discipline, and esprit de corps. Tradition attributes their origin to a Black soldier, Private Willie Duckworth, who lifted the spirits of his unit with an improvised chant during a 1944 forced march. The chant soon gained national attention and was formally adopted into Army training through the efforts of Colonel Bernard Lentz—Duckworth’s commanding officer and the author of the Army’s close order drill manual. Their relationship, framed by military hierarchy and racial inequality, reflects broader American patterns where Black cultural forms gain institutional legitimacy …
Black On Black Sounds: Music, Migration, And The ‘Nu-K Blak’ Identity Formation In Early 21st Century Britain,
2025
Chapman University
Black On Black Sounds: Music, Migration, And The ‘Nu-K Blak’ Identity Formation In Early 21st Century Britain, Monique Charles
Sociology Faculty Articles and Research
Examining literature on the under researched areas of Afrobeats and African migration to Britain, this article identifies significant internal shifts in the ethnic diversity of Black Britain —i.e., from Caribbean (predominantly Jamaican) to West African (Nigerian, Ghanaian) (ONS 2011). Interpreting literature and applying to the British context, it highlights how Afrobeats reshapes Blackness in Britain, particularly the incorporation of desirable Africanness through Afrobeats music. It argues that demographic and musical shifts in Britain result in a renegotiation of the Caribbean and US dominant 20th century Black Britishness — ‘UK Blak’ identity (as identified by Bradley 2013, Gilroy 1993 & Palmer …
Learning How To Practice Takes Practice,
2025
Montclair State University
Learning How To Practice Takes Practice, Micah Killion, Robert Duke
John J. Cali School of Music Scholarship and Creative Works
Effective music learning depends on effective music practice. Although time spent with teachers is an important component of young musicians’ development, time spent alone practicing is perhaps even more consequential. Researchers and teachers have offered many prescriptions about effective music practice, yet observations of young musicians’ actual practice reveal that their behavior in the practice room is often quite unlike what teachers envision. The most important aspects of effective practice are the thinking, perceiving, and decision-making that serve to organize how musicians spend their time. We discuss how to help students focus their attention in ways that lead to the …
Timbre — A Transcendent Paradox?,
2025
Independent Scholar
Timbre — A Transcendent Paradox?, Eugenia Siegel Conte
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Timbre, as ethnomusicologist Cornelia Fales writes, is “paradoxical” precisely because it is one of the most exacting processes in which the human body may sense and comprehend the source of a sound even as that comprehended sound is impossible to describe outside of metaphor or comparison. As one of the more recognizable qualities of sound but the most difficult to describe, timbre allows us to consider physical/emotional (affective) experiences of sound as a key aspect of faith and meditation. In this article, I examine physical-affective intersections of faith and meditation that often are key to praxes of worship, and show …
Singing A Wide Heart: Timbre And Sung Prayer In Senegal’S Layène Community,
2025
University of Iowa
Singing A Wide Heart: Timbre And Sung Prayer In Senegal’S Layène Community, Margaret L. Rowley
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Layène sung prayer (called sikkar) is embedded within the religious practices of the Layène community, a minority Sufi order in Dakar, Senegal. This article explores the functions of Layène sung prayer, focusing especially on its loud, vibrational timbre. Both men and women vocalists in call-and-response sing loudly, using wide vibrato and electronic amplification to ensure that the sikkar reaches the inhabitants—both human and non-human—in the surrounding community. This article demonstrates that the distinctive timbre of Layène sung prayer serves the spiritual functions of binding the community together in spiritual and social cohesion, increasing individual and collective generosity, and demarcating …
Live Wires: The Angelus Temple And The Timbre Of Power,
2025
UCLA
Live Wires: The Angelus Temple And The Timbre Of Power, Catherine Provenzano
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
This article is a media history and contemporary case study of The Angelus Temple in Los Angeles, founded by Aimee Semple McPherson in 1923. My analysis of the Angelus insists upon the centrality of a hyperaudible paradigm of worship that uses media to maximize the legibility of a Christian message, and, more than this, imagines that media itself as a living soul in need of redemption. Many contemporary megachurches employ savvy applications of sound and sound transmission as instruments of belonging as well as action, and these rely on high-budget investments in church infrastructure, software and personnel. I argue that …
Performing "Manly" Worship Music: Gender And Timbre At Mars Hill Church,
2025
Hope Lutheran Church
Performing "Manly" Worship Music: Gender And Timbre At Mars Hill Church, Maren Haynes Marchesini
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
Ten years ago, Mars Hill boasted fifteen campuses and 15,000 members. Amid mounting allegations of abuse and mismanagement leveled against founding pastor Mark Driscoll, the church famously collapsed, closing its doors at the end of 2014. Driscoll had built Mars Hill’s core brand around his opposition to the perceived feminization of the Christian mainstream, and appointing himself the “leader of a heterosexual male backlash” in the church and broader culture. While Driscoll’s muscular Christianity stands in a wide historical stream, Mars Hill long led the charge in establishing a youth-oriented, hipster brand of hypermasculine Calvinism. And while rhetoric and theology …
From The Heaviest, Dirtiest Depths To The Washy Ambient Clouds: Guitar Timbre In/As Schismogenesis In North American Christianity,
2025
University of North Carolina - Pembroke
From The Heaviest, Dirtiest Depths To The Washy Ambient Clouds: Guitar Timbre In/As Schismogenesis In North American Christianity, Joshua K. Busman, Nathan Myrick
Yale Journal of Music & Religion
This essay argues that within the socio-cultural context of North American Christianity, the timbral qualities of electric guitar, with its long lineage as a site of cultural values conflict and identity negotiation, serves a theological function in the emerging and cohering sonority of digital worship. Using as comparative case studies the timbral qualities of delay and ambience as promoted and sold by Worship Tutorials as representing normative sonic values for these Christians, on the one hand, and the dialectic and schismatic deployment of distortion by the band My Epic on the other, we suggest that these timbral qualities become important …
