Music Performance Commons^™

La Valse And The Parisian Salon: Nostalgic Continuities And Sonorous Modernisms, Claire Weydt

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Immediately following World War I and the death of prominent French composer Claude Debussy, French composers and music critics were concerned that the war created an unbridgeable chasm between generations of composers who, through their various aesthetic allegiances, worked to define musical sounds as undeniably French. Numerous scholars have characterized this process as an aesthetic rupture brought on by the World Wars. French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), however, seems to have bridged this gap, at least for some influential critics. My project challenges notions of wartime rupture by resituating musical modernism within a framework of aesthetic continuity. Ravel’s choreographic poem …

The Effects Of Operatic Voice Type On Singer Identity, Adelaide J. Mcdonald

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Within Western art music, voices are typically classified using the Fach system, which is based upon vocal characteristics and separates singers into the categories of soprano, mezzo soprano, contralto, counter tenor, tenor, bass, and baritone. Over time, these categories have become embedded with social and cultural meaning within the operatic world, leading to the development of stereotypes and expectations surrounding singers, as well as social categories and identities, referred to in this study as “sociocultural vocal categories” and “sociocultural vocal identity,” respectively. Currently, there are limited explorations of the sociocultural vocal categories and their associated stereotypes, with research on singer …

Bridging The Gap: Fostering Emotional Expression Through Teaching Strategies In The Middle School Choral Classroom, Jacob Brown

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This study investigates the impact of teacher-elicited expression strategies (i.e. emotionally evocative metaphor, technical elements through modeling, body of the conductor, understanding the emotional content) on the emotional expressivity of my middle school choral students. Using a mixed-method approach, data was collected through surveys of students' self-evaluations of the expression strategies, and their overall value of expression before and after learning processes that emphasized emotional expressivity. I found that each teacher-elicited expression strategies impacted student expressivity positively. Concrete strategies (i.e., body of the conductor and technical elements through modeling) were highly effective, particularly in my beginner and intermediate choirs, while …

Minority In Baroque Trumpet Repertoire: Minor-Key Literature For Baroque Trumpet, Wing Heng Victor Yuen

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The repertoire for trumpet in the Baroque era is overwhelmingly in major keys for obvious reasons. As natural trumpet is limited by design to play the notes of the harmonic series, most players have little access to sonorities outside the major scale and arpeggios within the series without the help of technical innovations such as the slide, and much later, vent-holes. Baroque trumpet makers built valveless natural trumpets, which are limited by design to play the notes of the harmonic series. Since the fundamental physics limit the musical notes available to the natural trumpet, minor key is not an essentially …

Examples Of Storytelling In Tan Dun’S The Banquet Piano Sonata, Ni Zhan

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The Banquet is a 2006 Chinese martial arts film directed by Feng Xiaogang. Chinese-American composer Tan Dun was invited to create the film's original soundtrack. In 2016, Tan adapted the music from the soundtrack into a four-movement piano sonata, also titled The Banquet, using melodies from the original film score. This document examines The Banquet Piano Sonata’s connection to the film’s narrative. It explores ways in which the storytelling of the film is used in the sonata; this is accomplished through three key aspects depicted in the music: culture, atmosphere, and inner emotions.

Schubert Lieder For Solo Piano: From Liszt Transcriptions To An Original Adaptation, Changpeng Ti

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This document investigates Franz Liszt’s transcriptions of Schubert Lieder. Between 1838 and 1846, Liszt transcribed 56 songs (including standalone works and song cycles) by Franz Schubert into solo piano pieces. This document discusses compositional devices used in Liszt’s transcriptions and their relationship to Schubert’s vocal and piano writing as well as the original poetic text. Following the discussion on Liszt transcriptions, I present my own transcription of Schubert’s Im Frühling, D. 882, as an experiment in adapting vocal and poetic nuances into a solo piano piece inspired by the Liszt transcriptions.

Paul Bowles’ Blue Mountain Ballads For Wind Octet And Solo Voice: A Transcription Of A Song Cycle Using The Instrumentation Of Stravinsky’S Octet , Cleveland P. Forrester

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Blue Mountain Ballads (1946), by Paul Bowles, is a song-cycle and setting of four poems by Tennessee Williams who was the composer's friend and mentor. The work has long held a place in the vocal repertoire. Bowles’ unique harmonic language, wide accompanimental range and the use of jazz idiom provide a unique opportunity for the music to be re-cast for wind instruments. Furthermore, chamber music makes up most of Bowles’ musical output as a composer, so using small instrumental forces seemed an appropriate medium to re-orchestrate this song cycle.

The purpose of this document is 1) to provide a detailed …

A Performance Pracitce Guide To Selected Cornet/Trumpet Excerpts From Wind Band Marches, Adiel P. Najera

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation seeks to illuminate a long-overlooked area in music and education. Wind band marches are part of a genre that has perhaps received less scholarly treatment when compared to the trumpet parts of orchestral, jazz, and popular music. This guide aims to fill the gap in information available for cornet/trumpet players in wind band settings.

This treatise will provide knowledge including a brief background information, marches in teaching and performing, insights from interviews with current and retired military trumpeters & current and retired music educators. Additionally, the document features excerpts with detailed performance practice and a list of renowned …

Anatomical Literacy And Body Mapping In Flute Performance: Strategies For Addressing And Preventing Upper Extremity Injuries, Lauren E. Wiedemer

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This document investigates the benefits of incorporating the study of anatomy and Body Mapping into flute performance, specifically focusing on addressing and preventing injuries related to the upper extremities. As the physical demands on musicians continue to grow, this research advocates for recognizing flutists as "musical athletes.” It highlights the importance of anatomical literacy and somatic awareness in sustaining performance longevity. The practical applications of Body Mapping are explored in detail and presents strategies for alleviating strain and fostering ease of movement, supported by research and experiential insights. Pedagogical recommendations are offered to integrate these principles into flute instruction, helping …

Miguel Zenón's Solo On Olas Y Arenas And His Approach To Improvisation, David Alonso-Otero

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This paper is about Miguel Zenón’s approach to improvisation using one of his solos on his album Alma Adentro: The Puerto Rican Songbook. This includes the biography of Miguel Zenón along with the composer, Sylvia Rexach. Jazz Improvisation has a large spectrum of pedagogy, different ways to approach it along with various points of view. The purpose of this paper is to show one of the many ways to see jazz improvisation through the eyes of Miguel Zenón and his unique thinking process to jazz. The transcription will be in the appendices, as well as the interview done in …

Designing An Undergraduate Opera Workshop Curriculum For Universities, Christopher L. Burchett

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The world of opera is quickly evolving to keep pace with the other arts forms of film, television and Broadway theater. For many years the genre had been reluctant to change with the times and update the skills of their performers. Those days have passed. Today’s operatic performers must be better actors, better movers and more theatrically efficient with their overall skill set in addition to having the secured singing technique that has for so long been the top priority. Universities must take ownership of this training.

Today’s university opera workshop programs must be more than they have been in …

A Twenty-First Century Approach To Darius Milhaud's Saudades Do Brasil, Paige H. Crain

Theses and Dissertations--Music

French composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from February 1917 to November 1918. Milhaud’s experience in Rio was overwhelmingly positive, and several of his works were influenced by this period of his life, one being a suite for solo piano titled Saudades do Brasil, Op. 67. Inspired by Brazilian popular music, this piece is an example of exoticism, a trend of writing music based on cultures other than the composer’s own. Considering that exoticism historically has the potential to perpetuate harmful stereotypes or generate false information, this research delves into Saudades do Brasil, exploring …

Performance Guide To Select Twentieth-Century French Organ Works Based On Te Deum, Margaret Maria Lerose

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The Gregorian chant Te Deum originated over 1500 years ago and was the basis of many vocal and instrumental compositions. Segments of the chant were also used as motives and themes for improvisation. Students at the French organ school studied both improvisation and composition. This study examined three exemplary pieces that resulted from the French organ school traditions: Improvisation sur le Te Deum (1930) by Charles Tournemire, Hymne d’Actions de Grâces, Te Deum (1934) by Jean Langlais, and Paraphrase sur le Te Deum (1946) by Marcel Dupré.

After a brief chapter on the history of the Te Deum chant, biographical …

Luis Serrano Alarcón’S Second Symphony For Wind Orchestra Background, Analysis, And Conductor’S Guide, Adam P. Miller

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Luis Serrano Alarcon’s composition, Second Symphony for Wind Orchestra (2017), is a significant work for the wind ensemble. Written as a tribute to the great Romantic composers it was inspired by their symphonies. It is neo-classical in form but contains a neo-Romantic language and a compositional style unique to the Spanish composer.

The purposes of this dissertation are: 1.) to provide biographical details regarding Luis Serrano Alarcon and his musical career; 2.) to place the Second Symphony for Wind Orchestra in perspective within other modern works for wind band and within the composer’s own catalogue; 3.) to elaborate on the …

Mind The Gap: Supporting Freshmen Voice Students Transitioning To Higher Education Through Coaching Conversations, Erica L. Gabriel

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The experiences one may encounter while matriculating through the K-12 system of education are vastly different from the world of higher education. While one feeds directly into the other, the transition can be a difficult one for young singers also navigating the developmental leap from adolescence to adulthood. This is due to several systematic and instructional differences, compounded with unique challenges encountered by freshman voice students in the first year. Gaps in support systems compiled with new and increasing financial, social, and academic demands can lead to a decline in overall student well-being and an increase in stress.

This increase …

How Has Popular Types Of Musicals Throughout Time Affected Reed Book Pit Musicians?, Bailey Coon

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This research project will work to answer the question of how reed books in musicals have evolved over the years, and how those changes affect the woodwind players who take on those jobs and roles.

Additionally, this project aims to pinpoint outside factors that have helped to create the changes that reed books have experienced. This will help to create eras of musical theater. Also, if these changes can be attributed to specific changes, then a strategy can be created to help musicians who work for musicals; as most of those roles are by contract and not long-term full time …

The Seating And Standing Arrangements Of Band, Orchestra, And Choir, Sabrina Wolf

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

In this literature review, I will be looking for scholarly articles that discuss the seating and standing arrangements of band orchestra and choir ensembles. The main goal of this literature review is to find what information is available and discover what positions work to find the best sound that each ensemble can have. After finding the resources, I will annotate each source and summarize the information. I will also reach out to ensemble directors at the University of Akron and interview them to discover what seating and standing arrangements they prefer and why. I will compile this information into a …

Listening, Looking, And Learning: An Exploration Of Musical Influence On The Narratives And Characters Of Call The Midwife, Mary Claire Buchanan

Theses and Dissertations

Call the Midwife has distinguished itself among British period dramas through its commitment to telling women’s stories with emotional depth, historical and medical accuracy, and nuanced character development. Unlike many period dramas based in the United Kingdom that center on the aristocracy, Call the Midwife connects the audience with ordinary people, particularly women, navigating life post-World War II and the early days of government healthcare by portraying their struggles, triumphs, and evolving identities. One of the most compelling ways the series achieves this is through its use of music, particularly recurring motifs that signify personal growth and transformation. This thesis …

J.A.C. Redford’S Variations On The Incarnation: Looking Back And Forward With Piano Theme And Variations, Nathaniel Brown

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This senior thesis consists of a lecture recital and research regarding the development of the theme and variations form in piano literature. It will trace the way the types of pieces that use theme and variations have developed from era to era and composer to composer. The culminating lecture recital will present my research on the topic and will end with a performance of J.A.C. Redford’s Variations on the Incarnation, one of the most recently published theme and variations pieces for solo piano. Redford’s piece was commissioned by Dr. Paul Barnes.

The composers and pieces featured in this project …

Rhythm Against Poethics, Jayvyn Dacas

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis stages an auto-poetic ethnography that listens to, and moves with, the anterior spaces of Black life. Those murmurs, hums, musical hesitations, and infrastructural vibrations that refuse capture by dominant epistemic regimes. Drawing from Ramon Amaro’s reading of Sylvia Wynter, Katherine McKittrick and Alexander Weheliye’s reflections on sound, Fred Moten’s insights on displacement, and Tendayi Sithole’s attention to the phonographic, the project situates music production as method and unworlding. Through engagements with the 808, sampling, sound systems, and embodied listening across Florida. Spaces like the warehouse, the party, record stores, and community become the work of Black voices, and …