Music Theory Commons^™

Scalar And Collectional Relationships In Shostakovich's Fugues, Op. 87, Sarah Mahnken

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

The Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 of Shostakovich come out of common practice tonality; however, Shostakovich’s music departs from the tonal tradition in his lack of functional harmonic progressions and his unexpected chromatic twists. Chromatic is a problematic term in Shostakovich’s music because it can be difficult to know if a chromatic note is acting inside or outside of the system. Much of the music of Op. 87 is based on diatonic scales or scales that derive from the diatonic set. Because Shostakovich’s music does not follow the patterns of common practice tonality and sometimes uses non-diatonic scales, it is …

A Multimedia Resource Of Orchestral Excerpts For Tuba, Regen Le Roy

Masters Theses

Effective preparation for orchestral auditions is essential for classical musicians intent on applying for professional positions in the field of performing arts. A standard symphony orchestra may include one or two tubas in the entire ensemble; as a result of the scarcity of available chairs and the level of competition for tubists is more intense than most other instrument sections. Musicians who demonstrate the greatest artistic detail during auditions advance through successive rounds untilthe winner is determined by judges serving on the audition committee. To help tubists prepare for auditions, a website has been created to provide immediate access to …

A Contextually Defined Approach To Appalachian Spring, Stanley V. Kleppinger

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

This essay provides analysis of the first Allegro (“Eden Valley”) and the coda from Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring. Following Joseph Straus and Arthur Berger, this investigation traces the correspondences of the work’s pitch centers with other pitch components of the music’s surface. The varied musical approaches of the Allegro—functional progressions, polychords, quartal trichords, chains of triads related by half or whole step, and pandiatonic melodies—coalesce to create a multi-faceted movement from centricity on A to centricity on F, while also presenting unique, individual narratives of that procession to F. In Appalachian Spring’s coda, both A and F reappear in …

The Budding Musician: A Method For Developing Cognitive And Physical Proficiency At The Piano, Lauren M. Hartburg

Senior Honors Theses

A comprehensive piano curriculum involves physical performance development alongside musicianship training. This thesis will discuss the decline in music literacy alongside research supporting the benefits of a creative, holistic, flexible music education program. These items will then be applied to developing an elementary piano curriculum. A four-volume piano method emphasizing theory and musicianship in the context of performance literature is outlined and level one is presented in detail.

Beethoven Ahead Of His Time: Sonata In C Major No. 21 Op. 53, Carolina E. Perez Ms.

Honors College Theses

This research looks at the work of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata in C major No. 21 Op. 53. A historical, theoretical, and technical analysis helps set a foundation for a better comprehension of the work and influence the overall performance.

The Pedagogical Applications Of Associating Color With Music In Entry Level Undergraduate Aural Skills, Chris Keelan

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

This thesis explores the possible effects, pedagogical applications, and benefits of pairing color with certain musical elements in undergraduate aural skills courses. The aural skills exercises primarily used in this paper are melodic and harmonic dictations but the overall theory could be applied to any exercise used in aural skills courses. An extensive review of the history and uses of color in music, as well as the invention of the color organ and the resulting artistic movements that placed color and music into the same medium are presented along with their potential uses in aural skills. Our perceptions of and …

“Ab-Soul’S Outro,” “Hiiipower,” And The Vernacular: Kendrick Lamar’S Rap As Literature, Tyler S. Bunzey

Senior Honors Theses

Kendrick Lamar’s “Ab-Soul’s Outro” and “HiiiPower” employ complex patterns of Signifyin(g), testifyin’, and other classical African-American literary tropes in order to construct a nuanced style. Lamar creates a double-voiced text not only within his narrative, but also within the form itself. Lamar plays on rap's unique status in African-American literature as an oral text; it is an extension of the vernacular. Through this oral text, Lamar decentralizes the Eurocentric focus of classical interpretation and qualification of literature to a new Afrocentric perspective that privileges the oral text. These raps are complex, wrapped up in their current context along with a …

Sonatas, Rondos, And Cupcakes: The Efficacy Of Collaborative Learning In Undergraduate Music Theory Courses, Kyle Gullings

Music Faculty Publications and Presentations

This paper examines the efficacy of collaborative and creative learning models in undergraduate music theory courses, using as comparative case studies group projects I assigned in three consecutive Form and Analysis classes from 2011 through 2014. I make the case that creative group projects, when executed correctly, have a net benefit for students, and that we as educators should make more effective use of them in our courses.

Editorial, Michael E. Ruhling

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

No abstract provided.

Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Bwv 248, And The Jews, Daniel R. Melamed

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

It has been recognized since the nineteenth century that most of the poetic arias and choruses in J. S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 are parodies of music composed to other texts. In the early twentieth century it was claimed that at least one gospel narrative chorus was also derived from extant music, a hypothesis subsequently expanded to include several such movements said to be parodies as well. The claims are flimsily argued and are unlikely on source-critical grounds, but they have stuck, persisting in scholarly writings, reference works, and popular literature.

The origin of this idea is a 1916 …

Empyreal Radiance: An Application Of Sonification In The Field Of Astrophysics, Ryan Loth

Undergraduate Distinction Papers

Broadly, this paper discusses the application of sonification and its potential for increasing knowledge. The paper is broken up into three sections: the theory of sonification, sonification for artistic purposes, and lastly an extensive look at one process of sonification dealing with solar winds in space. Concerning the theory of sonification, the paper will divulge into the process of sonification and ask questions about the limitations of it as well. The second section discusses how sonification is a way to build the curiosity of not just scientists, but also the general public. The final section addresses my composition Empyreal Radiance …

Ua37/36 Faculty Personal Papers Claude Rose, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Personal papers of Claude Rose, WKU Music professor from 1945-1977.

Counterpoint Applied In The Invention, Fugue, Canon And Other Polyphonic Forms: An Exhaustive Treatise On The Structural And Formal Details Of The Polyphonic Or Contrapuntal Forms Of Music, For The Use Of General And Special Students Of Music, Percy Goetschius, Jonathan Kulp

School of Music

No abstract provided.

Exercises In Elementary Counterpoint, Percy Goetschius, Jonathan Kulp

School of Music

No abstract provided.

Starships, Gallifrey, Krypton, And Earth: Searching For The Hero Archetype In The Melodies Of Science Fiction And Superhero Films, James Wesley Talbot

Wayne State University Theses

The study of science fiction and superhero melodies is relatively new in the academic world of music theory. Analysis of hero archetypes found in Doctor Who, Star Trek (and its major motion pictures), Star Wars, and Superman provide excellent conduits for all students of music to access the hidden and overt musical meaning assigned to heroes. Realization of this study’s findings will feature interval tension and Schenkerian analysis, score reductions, and topic theory to provide perspective on how heroes are identified and perceived by directors, composers and audiences alike. Deryck Cooke, Leonard Ratner, and V. Kofi Agawu’s approach to thematic …

Self-Expression Through The String Quartet: An Analysis Of Shostakovich's String Quartets No. 1, No. 8, And No. 15, Ariane C. Gushue

Scripps Senior Theses

As a little boy, Dmitriĭ Dmitrievich Shostakovich pressed his ear against the wall to hear his neighbors play chamber music. He matured into one of the most prominent Soviet era composers. While the majority of academic interest Shostakovich centers on his symphonic works, his string quartets provide a window into a more intimate facet of Shostakovich’s life. This thesis explores first, why Shostakovich turned to the string quartet after some of the most fearful years of his life: his demise and rise after the scathing Pravda letter that all but threatened his life. Second, this thesis analyzes three of Shostakovich’s …

Volume 29, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Tone Row Partitions In Schoenberg's Moses Und Aron The Volk Partition And The Zwischenspiel Partition, William E. Johnson

Graduate Thesis Collection

Arnold Schoenberg's development of twelve-tone serial ism in the early 20th Century had profound and far-reaching impact on the musical world. As Schoenberg himself grew and matured as a composer, so did the compositional technique of, and indeed his proficiency with, serialism. The opera Moses und Aron was composed in Schoenberg's third compositional period that lasted from 1923 through Schoenberg's death in 1951 and was characterized almost exclusively by this new technique of twelvetone serialism. Moses und Aron's first two Acts (as well as the libretto for the third) were written from 1930 to 1932 and based entirely on a …

The Microtonal Guitars Of Harry Partch, John Schneider

Soundboard Scholar

Known as an "American Maverick," Harry Partch (1901–1974) was surely one of the United States's most colorful composers. His dissatisfaction with the scales and instruments of Western music inspired him to design and build an orchestra of over two dozen handcrafted "microtonal" instruments that were tuned to his notorious "monophonic" scale of forty-three tones per octave. Between 1934 and 1952, Partch created four different adapted guitars, using them in fifteen compositions ranging from solo song cycles (Barstow, December 1942, U.S. Highball, Three Intrusions) to chamber music, dances, and four of his five major …

Metamorphosis And Persona In Ned Rorem's Poems Of Love And The Rain, Jacob Boca

Senior Independent Study Theses

Ned Rorem’s 1963 song cycle for mezzo-soprano, Poems of Love and the Rain, presents settings of texts by eight American authors loosely centered on the subject of unrequited love. The cycle’s formal structure is particularly unique given that each text is set twice, with contrasting settings placed directly opposite each other along the cycle’s temporal plane. That is, the sequential ordering of texts, one to nine then back to one, yields an overarching pyramidal or mirror form. The following study examines text-music relationships, both at various moments within the cycle and between contrasting settings, with the ultimate goal of …