Music Theory Commons^™

Flexing In Popular Songs From 2024 - 2023, Jasmine Ayon, Sky Romeo, Christian Casaerez, Alexa Adame, Kesi Land

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Purpose:

Music is a major agent of socialization. As an art form, music carries with it messaging and rhetoric capable of reaching people en masse. With this in mind, it is vital that we pay a careful eye to music in order to understand what messaging is reaching the public at large. This project is intended to build off of the current literature on music, rhetoric, and socialization by understanding what artists in music brag about - flex - as a means of gaining cultural capital.

The Scream Notation System: A Notational System For Screamed Vocals, Matthew Delcambre

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Western music notation, there is no specified system of notation for screamed vocals, a style of singing that has become increasingly popular since the late 1970s with the advent of metal music and seen increased interest in screams in other genres since. Screams are a unique and diverse vehicle of delivery that can be differentiated according to timbre, technique, pitch and physiology. This research aims to first identify the anatomical and timbral differences between named screams and create a database of screams to be studied. The next task is to design a notational system appropriate for screams and then …

White Supremacy In Music Theory Academia, Tristan Gianelli

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper explores the history of music theory academia in the West, and examines the hierarchical power structures from which music theory pedagogy was constructed.

Looking Back While Moving Forward: Four Musical Works That Signify Complex Emotions Regarding The Passage Of Time Through Ambiguous Endings, Bailey Griggs

Music Undergraduate Honors Theses

Defying expectations is a useful and overlooked tool in music composition. Despite all their differences, the final movement of Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony, Joe Hisaishi’s score to the 2001 film Spirited Away, Joni Mitchell’s popular song “Both Sides Now,” and electronic artist The Caretaker’s album set Everywhere at the End of Time all share similar programmatic content. Each presents a protagonist who is coming to terms with the passage of time and is conflicted about how they should cope with change. Upon examination of these four works, they all use unexpected and ambiguous endings to signify complex ideas about time through …

Befitting Bach: Prelude And Fugue Transcribed For Horn Quartet, Caitlin Murphy

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis, titled “Befitting Bach: Prelude and Fugue Transcribed for Horn Quartet,” consists of horn quartet transcriptions of Prelude 1 and Fugue 1 from Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I. The prelude and fugue pair were originally written for harpsichord during the Baroque period, and the pieces remain commonly performed on keyboard instruments. The transcription translates the pieces into four-part horn music while preserving the original musical ideas and accounting for the different technical capabilities between the instruments. The accompanying written component provides a brief history of the original compositions. Further, the report delves into the transcription …

A Concrete Naming Convention For Small Intervals, Laurence S. Willis

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

In tuning theory, names proliferate for the bewildering array of intervals available to theorists and scholars. Of particular difficulty is the naming of small intervals: as a group these are generally referred to as commas, following the Greek practice. The various names used for small intervals derive from many different sources, some etymologically related to the ancient practice and some to the origin of the interval in more recent music theory. The problem with this situation is that while they remain fascinating from a scholarly perspective, these names are unwieldy for technical usage, sometimes barely understandable for an informed audience, …

Ilc Psalm Projects, Carolyn M. Totaro

SPARK Symposium Presentations

Each group will present an exegesis of their chosen psalm, a historical background of the musical setting of the psalm, a biography of the composer, a discussion of the musical elements in the setting, and a performance of their own arrangement.

Thomas Pereira’S 'Lülü Zuanyao' 律呂纂要 (Ca. 1685): A Jesuit Music Theory Textbook For The Chinese Emperor, Qingfan Jiang

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Thomas Pereira (1646–1708), a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, arrived in Beijing in 1672 and was appointed by the Kangxi Emperor (1654–1722) as his music tutor. For the emperor's music lessons, Pereira authored Lülü Zuanyao 律呂纂要 [Elements of Music] (ca. 1685), the first known Western music theory treatise written in Chinese. My translation includes the first half of Zuanyao that focuses on Western music notation, solmization, and the hexachordal system. As a product of the global circulation of musical knowledge in the early modern period, Zuanyao is significant in three ways. First, it illustrates the direct influence of the music education Pereira …

The Passive-Active Interaction (Pai) Model: Redefining Audio Interactions In Video Game Music, Morgan A. Weeks

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Scholarship on music in video games has focused on the player in two main ways: the psychological effect music has on the player and the physical, kinesthetic relationship between the player’s inputs and the game’s music. This dissertation builds on this work by exploring gameplay moments in which the music informs the player’s inputs through rhythms, tempo, harmonic relationships, and changes in the musical texture. Using “analytical play” (Summers 2016), rhythmic analysis, looping analysis, and harmonic observations, alongside a variety of different video games, consoles and genres, I have developed an analytical Passive-Active Interaction (PAI) Model that is applicable to …

Music In The Catholic Church: An Analysis Of Hymns And Congregational Singing In Roman Catholic Churches In The United States, Andrew T. Medrick

Senior Theses

This thesis examines the musical dilemma in the American Catholic Church, highlighting issues such as inappropriate musical selections for the Mass and a profound lack of congregational singing. Through a literature review of Vatican documents, expert opinions, and hymns, I analyze the criteria for music used in the Mass, identify common failures of musical selections presented in many Catholic churches, and offer practical guidance to improve sacred music in parishes and dioceses. I conclude that music used in the Mass must be sourced primarily from Sacred Scripture, in full conformity to the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, and easy …

Tonality Without Function In Lee Hoiby's The Shining Place: Five Poems Of Emily Dickinson, Anne Millspaugh

LSU Master's Theses

Lee Hoiby’s life and style are discussed, and his song set The Shining Place: Five Poems of Emily Dickinson is analyzed. A small biography of Emily Dickinson and of the set itself is provided. The song set is analyzed through how Hoiby set Dickinson’s dashes in the music, how diatonic collections are used within the songs, and how motives are used within the songs. Interviews conducted between myself and Lee Hoiby’s partner Mark Shulgasser are transcribed at the end in Appendix A.

"Come Tempesta In Mar": Awe And Terror In Haydn’S Sacred Music, Clive Mcclelland

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

Haydn’s so-called Sturm und Drang symphonies are renowned for exhibiting a range of disruptive features. While some commentators have attempted to link this with a personal crisis in Haydn’s life, there is no evidence to support the idea. Furthermore, it is misleading to make an association here between stormy musical writing in general and the German literary Sturm und Drang. The principal musical topos that Haydn employs is one that I have termed tempesta, and its origins lie in the storm scenes of Baroque opera. Here there was often a supernatural association involving a deity either as instigator …

An Interdisciplinary Analysis Framework For Found Object Experimental Music, Erin Demastes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Found object experimental music consists of compositions and performances created with objects not intended for musical performance. Found objects can range from appliances and household items to power tools and consumer products to souvenirs and heirlooms. Although these objects are used with the intent of creating musical compositions, new characteristics that are not found in traditional music emerge. One major characteristic that differentiates found object music from traditional music is that the objects have inherent cultural associations and meaning outside of their use in the composition. While an analysis of the sonic structures and scores of found object experimental music …

Spoken Word Percussion And Its Intersection With Communication, Gwen Leuschen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Music is a form of communication, whether expressing emotion, telling a story, or delivering information. Communication is widely used in music. This communication takes place by conveying ideas through the sound produced by performers. This form of musical communication cues the audience into the messages, information, and emotions the composers intended. However, when text or spoken word is implemented into music, how does this affect the communication, and how can this be analyzed? This paper explores the history of music and spoken word, explains applicable communication theories, and finally applies these theories to music with spoken word, emphasizing percussion.

A Case For The Original Setting Of Rachmaninoff’S Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 36, Alexias L. Ferrer

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document aims to examine both the original 1913 and revised 1931 settings of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Sonata No. 2 Op. 36, and to present a case in favor of the lesser-known 1913 rendition of the piece as the more definitive setting of the work. The study begins with historical background information on the work and shows how the piece originated from a mature composer at the most productive period in his life and contrasts this to the historical background of the work’s revision. In a deeper analysis of form and content, the positives and negative qualities of each version …

Reassessing Haydn’S Orfeo In The Theatre, Dorian Bandy, Caryl Clark

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

Haydn’s last opera, L’anima del filosofo (The Soul of the Philosopher), is a highly unusual retelling of the Orpheus myth. Written for London in 1791 to a libretto by C. F. Badini, the opera was never staged during the composer’s lifetime. Shut down in rehearsal and banned from performance, the opera never reached the stage because many of its themes—including the apocalyptic storm at the end—piqued British anxieties towards events unfolding in revolutionary France. The opera finally premiered in 1951, with Maria Callas singing the role of Euridice. Universal Edition prepared the performing material from sources photographed behind …

Echoes Of Chinese Tradition: A Guide To Mandarin Diction Through Fixed-Ipa And Traditional Phonology, With Insights Into Intertwined Intonation Contours Of Chinese-American Art Songs, Xiaoming Tian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents a comprehensive guide to Mandarin Chinese diction and articulation, rooted in traditional Chinese phonology and articulated through Fixed-International Phonetic Alphabet (Fixed-IPA). It unfolds in two primary segments, with the initial section delving into the historical underpinnings and phonetic nuances of traditional Chinese opera singing. This inquiry not only systematically introduces Chinese pronunciation rules but also illuminates the influence of traditional Chinese opera elements on contemporary Chinese art songs and operas. This part also reflects upon the significant strides made in Chinese language Romanization since the Wade-Giles system's introduction in the 19th century, discussing how it facilitated literacy …

Jazz And Politics: Was Ornette Coleman Inspired By The Civil Rights Movement?, Jason Dreher, Josiah Boornazian

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Due in part to increasing intellectual and political polarization in the United States in recent decades, there has been a resultant decrease in viewpoint diversity and an increase in instances of groupthink and widespread conceptual bias in the construction of many jazz history narratives. One example of these phenomena is the historiographical narratives linking free jazz and avant-garde jazz with the Civil Rights Movement in twentieth-century America. In the past several decades, the narrative that free jazz and/or avant-garde jazz was predominantly artistically inspired by the Civil Rights Movement has become broadly espoused by a wide variety of both scholarly …

Sentimental Aesthetics In D-Flat Major: Adagio Of Haydn’S Hob. Xvi:46, Keri Hui

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

Although the concept of key characteristics was widely affirmed in the eighteenth century, the key of D-flat major was rarely adopted by composers. The so-called Romantic period, however, saw a remarkable increase in the use of this key, as demonstrated in the many well-known pieces written by composers such as Chopin. The article first reviews the different receptions of D-flat major in the eighteenth century and explores how the clavichord might have allowed Haydn to hear D-flat major as a key of sentimentality, one that echoes Christian Daniel Friedrich Schubart’s interpretation. It then examines ways in which Haydn presents the …

Lee Konitz’S Use Of Standards’ Melody In Improvisation, Gonçalo Pazeres, Ricardo Pinheiro

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

The main goal of this article is to examine the mechanisms through which Lee Konitz uses the melody of jazz standards in his improvisation process. Beginning with the transcription and comprehensive analysis of five improvised solos, and using the thematic analysis method, we identified melodic ideas coming from the songs on which the saxophonist builds some of his solos. Our conclusion is that Lee Konitz, besides clearly quoting the melody of jazz standards on which he improvises, also frequently uses some of its notes as target-notes, and develops melodic motifs inspired by that same melody.