Music Theory Commons^™

Sight-Singing Pedagogy : A Survey Of High School Choral Directors., Marissa Lee Pollock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to highlight effective sight-singing techniques used by successful choral directors in the state of Kentucky. The method used for this study was a non-experimental survey sent to thirty-four high school choral directors. Directors were selected to participate based on distinguished assessment scores received over the last five years (2011-2015). They were asked questions about their techniques, background in education, and placement of sight-singing in the curriculum. With a response rate of 65% the results indicated that the majority of directors had received or earned at least a master’s degree, had taught for at least …

The Use Of Vocal Vibrato In Contemporary Performances Of Early Music, Kaylee Ann Simmons

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The aim of this project is to help collegiate vocalists reconcile opposing views of applying vibrato to contemporary performances of early music. First, written materials, both modern and historical, were evaluated and compiled in a comprehensive review. Some early authors appeared to dislike vibrato-like qualities, while others believed them to be pleasant so long as they were used in moderation. Modern authors displayed an array of views about vibrato, with arguments ranging from "vibrato use only" to "straight-tone use only." They were found to generally base their opinions on vocal health and/or personal interpretations of historical data, though there was …

A Relational Analysis Of Pedagogical Methods For Accordion, Electronic Keyboard, Organ, And Piano, Brian Berlin

Masters Theses

While it is expected that musicians specialize in a single area, like piano, a complete keyboard education should also incorporate experiences on all keyboard instruments. There is no single method that teaches multiple keyboard instruments simultaneously. Willard Palmer, Bill Hughes, Morton Manus, and Amanda Vick Lethco co-wrote independent courses of instruction for different keyboard instruments: accordion, electronic keyboard, organ, and piano. However, no guide to align the material exists. This study establishes objective criteria for aligning these courses and provides a cross-reference tool. The samples chosen for analysis include: Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Palmer-Hughes Accordion Course, Palmer-Hughes Spinet Organ Course, …

No Stone Unturned: Defining The Role Of A Worship Assistant, Brittany Mcgilberry

Masters Theses

This paper will encompass information and the philosophy of the role of a worship assistant in ministry regarding the vision of the church, the use of appropriate equipment, and effective rehearsal strategies.

The Benefits Of Music In Child Development, Dulce-Paola Ixtupe

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Music is a subject that does not limit children to simply having fun, although “fun” is an essential component when trying to engage children in learning activities. Music further enhances a series of transferable skills and can help children with their learning experience in other subjects. By being part of a fun activity such as music, children are able to acquire affective, cognitive, and evaluative skills, which will further reinforce a variety of areas of their development. When engaged in an activity where recognition and expression of feelings are required, they learn that having feelings is perfectly normal and that …

The Romanian Church Musician: Biblical Foundations For Training Musicians To Serve The Romanian Evangelical Church, Gary Mathena

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Emanuel University of Oradea, Romania, was founded in 1986 as an underground training school for pastors and missionaries during the brutal regime of communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. In December of 1989, Ceaușescu’s government was overthrown. The new democratic government not only officially recognized the school (then the Baptist Biblical Institute) as a theological seminary, but also commissioned the institution to train teachers for the newly emerging, publicly funded religious schools being established across the country. The school accepted that mandate and in 1998 changed its name to Emanuel University of Oradea. The music program began in those early days for …

Musical Genre Identification And Differentiation Of Rock, R&B/Hip-Hop, And Christian Songs Through Harmonic Analysis, Nolan A. Foxworth

Selected Honors Theses

This thesis attempts to identify and distinguish musical genre through harmonic analysis. The genres of Rock, R&B/Hip-Hop, and Christian have been selected for this study. The top ten songs from each genre (as listed by Billboard’s Year End Charts) are analyzed and contrasted with those of other genres in an attempt to prove that harmonic analysis alone is sufficient to identify the genre of an unknown song. Heavy in analysis, this thesis will find structure in music and use that structure to more deeply appreciate not only the study of genre, but of music itself.

It Can't Be! Faked Functionality And Ambiguity In Brahms's F Minor, Kyle Kostenko

Honors Projects

A performance of any piece of music is not complete if the performer has not looked at the piece from historical and analytical perspectives. Having decided to perform the first movement of Johannes Brahms’s Sonata in F Minor, Op. 120 No.1 on my senior recital, I wanted to analyze the piece so that I had an understanding of how it was composed, hoping that this knowledge would influence my performance. Knowing that Brahms is considered a formalist composer writing in the Romantic era, I hoped to discern how Brahms was able to create a piece that was both Romantic and …

The Makings Of An Ep: From Silence To Portable Sounds, Emily Ream

Senior Honors Theses

The creation of an EP is a process that requires skills in multiple areas. Once, creating an EP was only available to those who garnered resources and support from a record label. However, an increasing number of aspiring musicians are writing, recording, and making their music available for download or purchase without the assistance of a record label. Doing this successfully and excellently requires application of knowledge in areas such as literature, theology (for Christian artists), music theory, music technology, and marketing. This thesis will describe one process used to turn inspiration into a tangible product that one can purchase …

A Short Note On Pitch, Interval, And Melody Matching Assessment, Eric Hanson, Hannah Baslee, Eric Freudenthal

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

This short note describes a metric and procedure for assessing an individual's overall simple pitch and interval matching proficiency when singing.

Music Theory For Student Composers: A Course Designed For Engagement By Using Both A Flipped Classroom And Praxial Philosophy, Michelle Nagy

Masters Theses

In a world filled with innovation, technology and hands-on learning, the subject of music theory in the high school classroom has stayed relatively the same for the past fifty years for the student composer. By using the same tried-and-true methods, teachers are introducing concepts through lectures, while students reinforce concepts on their own during their homework assignments. Music examples are given on a regular basis and they are usually played on the piano by the professor or through recording. These methods, while effective, are not meeting the needs of today’s tech savvy and hands-on generation. While students are engaging with …

The Convergence Of Schenkerian Music Theory And Generative Linguistics: An Analysis And Composition, Michael A. Ciaramella

College Honors Program

This thesis engages a purported connection between Schenkerian music theory and the Minimalist Program within generative linguistics both scientifically and creatively. The first chapter expounds the link between Schenkerian theory and the Minimalist Program which has been recently substantiated in a doctoral dissertation by Somangshu Mukherji at Princeton University and details the methodological framework for investigating musical structures within this paradigm. Chapter two presents three case studies including the opening phrase of Mozart’s K. 332 Mvt. 1 piano sonata, and the tunes “Georgia on My Mind” and “Blue Bossa” in order to exemplify the aforementioned methodology and provide scientific evidence …

About This Issue, Michael E. Ruhling

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Nikolai Medtner's Compositional Technique: Form And Narrative In Tales, Oliver H. Markson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation delves into the compositional approach of Russian-born composer Nikolai Medtner. A discussion of Medtner’s own words on composition from his book The Muse and Fashion: Being a Defence of the Foundations of the Art of Music is followed by original analyses of four Tales. Focus is placed on the composer’s philosophy regarding the relationship between form and narrative, in association with his expressed warnings of the dangers behind shifting compositional dominance from pure music to extra-musical narrative. The analyses are followed by a discussion of the vital importance of Medtner’s music and writings for future generations of composers. …

The Protagonist's Experience: Temporality, Narrative, And Harmonic Process In Brahms's Solo Lieder, Loretta Terrigno

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores musical and poetic temporality—expressions of the past, present, and future—in eighteen of Johannes Brahms’s solo Lieder. The selected songs illustrate that common tonal patterns in Brahms’s instrumental music, including tonal and modal ambiguities and associative harmonies, also suggest recurring narrative archetypes in his songs. Separate poetic and musical analyses use literary theory (narratology), as well as Schenkerian analysis and Schoenbergian conceptions of motivic development.

Narratological interpretations of poetry by Daumer, Platen, Köstlin, Goethe, Groth, Schenkendorf, Hebbel, and others first demonstrate that a series of psychological transformations form a lyric poem’s “plot” or “temporal progression.” This subjective level …

Heinrich Schenker’S Early Approach To Form, 1895–1921: Implications For His Late Work And Its Reception, Jason A. Hooper

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation constructs Heinrich Schenker’s early approach to form and traces its development as his organic theory of transformational voice leading emerged in the early 1920s. Schenker’s late approach to form is then briefly reconsidered from this newfound perspective.

Chapter 1 defines the nineteenth-century Formenlehre tradition established by A. B. Marx and passed down to Anton Bruckner through his studies in model composition, leading to Schenker himself. Chapter 2 presents Schenker’s early approach to form in a generative fashion, demonstrating how a single motive can grow into a large thematic group unified by a single key area or an economy …

Mahlerian Tonality: Challenges To Classical Foreground Structures In The Music Of Gustav Mahler, Ryan Kosseff-Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents a detailed study of harmony and voice leading at local levels of structure in the music of Gustav Mahler. The results are grouped into three domains: cadences, common-tone techniques, and the Mahlerian imaginary continuo. An investigation of Mahler’s cadences reveals an underlying simplicity in the diverse tonal progressions that Mahler uses to execute the tonal close of a phrase. Cadences are shown to derive from two basic types (authentic and plagal) and three basic transformations (tonic intrusion, Phrygian 2, and contrapuntal bass). In a study of common-tone techniques, this dissertation proposes a new system for identifying common-tone …

The Analysis Of Musical Dramaturgy In Mozart's Die Entführung Aus Dem Serail, Danielle J. Bastone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It has long been recognized that the music of Mozart’s Singspiels bears more dramatic weight than that of most eighteenth-century German comic operas. Yet this view arises from a body of scholarship that heavily privileges Die Zauberflöte at the expense of Mozart’s other German-language operatic works, including Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), which constituted Mozart’s first big statement in Vienna and became easily the most popular of his operas during his lifetime. This is an analytical study of Mozart’s Entführung that examines form, phrase rhythm, and text-setting as agents of musical dramaturgy throughout the score. More specifically, it demonstrates …

William Bolcom’S "Twelve New Etudes" (1988): Theoretical And Interpretative Analysis, Ran Dank

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ever since its naissance, composer William Bolcom’s set of Twelve New Etudes has garnered great critical praise, culminating with the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 1988. Although much has been written about the background surrounding the creation of these pieces and their technical novelty, no formal analysis of this set of etudes has been published.

This dissertation thoroughly examines the various aspects which hold these pieces together. Each etude is analyzed according to a clearly defined set of criteria: dynamics, compositional language, range, texture, articulation and contour, meter and rhythm, and form. In addition, a more detailed analysis is offered, providing …

Practical And Philosophical Reflections Regarding Aural Skills Assessment, Stanley V. Kleppinger

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

Assessment in aural skills courses is a tricky intersection of instructors’ expectations, students’ skills in audiation, students’ perceptions and anxieties regarding assessment and performance, and the peculiarities of evaluative instruments. After several years in my teaching position at a large university, I became increasingly dissatisfied with assessment in the second-year aural skills program I coordinate. In short, I was displeased both with the nature of the student activities we evaluated and with the ways in which success on those activities was measured. Students’ and instructors’ frustrations convinced me of the need to make assessment more obviously relevant, less intimidating to …