The Beat Behind The Bark: Investigating The Effects Of Music Tempo On Canine Physiological And Psychological States,
2026
University of South Alabama
The Beat Behind The Bark: Investigating The Effects Of Music Tempo On Canine Physiological And Psychological States, Marley Lanier
Poster Presentations
Music is a universal component of human culture that has been demonstrated influencing emotional, cognitive, and physiological responses, specifically heart rate and hormonal responses (Mehr et al., 2019; Trappe, 2012). Recently, this research has expended to explore how music may affect non-human animals, particularly dogs, due to their roles as therapy animals, service animals, and human companions (Lindig et al., 2020; Gee et al., 2021). Being able to understand how music influences canine stress and relaxation hold important applications in environments such as shelters, veterinary clinics, and at home. One important feature of music is tempo, or beats per minute …
Pro Rege Chr. Brass Band: A Century Of Sound,
2026
School of Music
Pro Rege Chr. Brass Band: A Century Of Sound, Jonathan T.J. Henneveld
Dissertations
The Christian Brass Band Pro Rege of Heerenveen, The Netherlands, celebrated its one hundredth birthday in 2024. As one of the most prominent community-based brass bands in the region, Pro Rege is part of a Dutch wind ensemble tradition that goes largely undocumented. While they and other bands like them function as cultural and educational institutions, academic literature remains limited, almost ignoring them completely. This dissertation wishes to address this oversight by providing an historical study of the brass band from its establishment in 1924 to the present day.
Starting out in the Dutch ensemble tradition of the Fanfare band, …
Nhạc Vàng And Historical Consciousness: Affect, Memory, And The Vietnamese Diaspora,
2026
CUNY Hunter College
Nhạc Vàng And Historical Consciousness: Affect, Memory, And The Vietnamese Diaspora, Bryan L. Le
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis examines nhạc vàng as a cultural form shaped by war, displacement, and diaspora. It analyzes how the music carries historical experience through lyrics and performance, and how its meanings shift across contexts. The study shows how music shapes memory, identity, and historical understanding beyond fixed political or archival frameworks.
Sentential Structures In Alexander Scriabin's Op. 8 Etudes,
2026
CUNY Hunter College
Sentential Structures In Alexander Scriabin's Op. 8 Etudes, John Paul West
Theses and Dissertations
Historically, the sentence has proven to be one of the most versatile and pervasive forms in music, appearing since the mid-sixteenth century with occurrences too frequent to quantify. Sentential musical phrases emerged from music and poetry during the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries with the same short-short-long rhythmic impulse, originating from poetic and sing-song texts. Although the sentence is most often tied to the Classical period, it is not associated with any single era. Patterns of sentential phrases were already apparent and plentiful before the late eighteenth century, and composers used it as a device to expand musical form throughout the …
Controlling Death: Analyzing Formal Structures In The Music Of Chuck Schuldiner,
2026
CUNY Hunter College
Controlling Death: Analyzing Formal Structures In The Music Of Chuck Schuldiner, Cory Cogley
Theses and Dissertations
From 1987 to 1999, the metal bands Death and Control Denied released eight total albums, with music primarily composed by guitarist and vocalist Chuck Schuldiner. This corpus study analyzes the form of these records to demonstrate Schuldiner's compositional idiolect adhering to recognizable formal structures, specifically AABA and ABA.
Covert And Overt Expression: Understanding Jazz Through Individual And Communal Values,
2026
CUNY Hunter College
Covert And Overt Expression: Understanding Jazz Through Individual And Communal Values, Jalen F. Grandchamps
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis argues that jazz— particularly the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s–70s—can be understood through the lens of covert and overt expression, a framework tracing its lineage to earlier Black musical forms like Spirituals and Blues. Covert expression, defined here as coded or survivalist communication (e.g., Spirituals’ biblical allegories for liberation), emerges under conditions of violent oppression; overt expression, by contrast, reflects unfettered artistic agency and direct protest (e.g., Mingus’s "Fables of Faubus").
Sonic Rupture And Embodied Politics:
Reconfiguring The Aesthetic Regime In The Syrian Uprising,
2026
CUNY Hunter College
Sonic Rupture And Embodied Politics: Reconfiguring The Aesthetic Regime In The Syrian Uprising, Lynn Shabani
Theses and Dissertations
This thesis argues that the Syrian uprising of 2011 emerged as a sonic and embodied rupture within an authoritarian aesthetic regime that had long governed public sensibility. Through chants, song, and coordinated movement, political agency took form as collective, affective practice, transforming vernacular repertoires into infrastructures of mobilization, audibility, and resistance.
Blue Waves And Razor Blades: For Large Jazz Ensemble / Big Band,
2026
Butler University
Blue Waves And Razor Blades: For Large Jazz Ensemble / Big Band, Mikel Shane Prather
Graduate Thesis Collection
The concept and main theme of Blue Waves and Razor Blades originally began in 2014 when I was a young composer attending Butler University for my master’s degree in composition. The idea of the piece was to use flow and motion based upon my imagining of an ocean wave crashing into the bank, sometimes moving past rocks and barriers causing slight tension. The theme and the beginning structure was created and originally titled Blue Waves. Before I could really focus on this piece, opportunities arose in Los Angeles where I started my current career in the music film industry and …
The Implications Of Music Therapy On The Human Mind,
2026
Liberty University
The Implications Of Music Therapy On The Human Mind, Mckayla Martin
Senior Honors Theses
Music therapy harnesses the power of music in clinical settings. It is primarily used to support mental health. Music affects areas such as anxiety, memory, and brain plasticity. Therapeutic music practices can reduce stress and anxiety, enhance specific types of long-term memory, and encourage neuroplasticity. It is an effective, non-invasive treatment for those experiencing mental distress. Ongoing research on the effectiveness of music therapy in clinical settings has the potential to significantly improve the treatment of mental illness, disorders, and disabilities.
New Clubs: Taking Roots,
2026
University of North Alabama
New Clubs: Taking Roots, Diorama, 1981
Documents
Article with photographs describing the 1981 introduction of four new campus organizations: Delta Sigma Theta, Ascending Voices, Fashion Forum, and the University of North Alabama Film Society. The article is derived from the Diorama, the student yearbook.
The Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference: Breaking Down Constructed Borderlands,
2026
University of New Mexico
The Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference: Breaking Down Constructed Borderlands, Melissa Rios
Music ETDs
Despite its significant contribution to the educational mariachi movement in the United States, the history of the Las Cruces International Mariachi Conference (LCIMC), established in 1994, remains largely absent from existing scholarship. This study offers a historical account of mariachi music in Las Cruces and the development of the LCIMC, establishing a foundation for future research on mariachi music in the Mesilla Valley. Distinct from other mariachi conferences that emerged at the turn of the 21st century, the LCIMC was shaped by its location in a border city in New Mexico. Conceptualizing both physical borders and metaphorical border spaces as …
Piano Composition And The Role Of Women In Nineteenth Century Europe,
2026
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Piano Composition And The Role Of Women In Nineteenth Century Europe, Khang Nguyen
Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)
In the nineteenth century, women underwent a social transition, slowly obtaining more employment and educational opportunities. The lives of women piano composers were similar, with their status as women affecting their compositional careers. This thesis explores the connection between piano composition and the role of women in the nineteenth century, with a focus on Western Europe. A brief history of Europe in the nineteenth century will be given, followed by an overview on how music and the music industry were gendered at the time. Then, the lives of Clara Schumann, Fanny Hensel, and Agathe Backer Grøndahl will be analyzed as …
Scholarship As A Means For Musical Performance: An Exploration Of Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata In G Major, Op. 78,
2026
Western Michigan University
Scholarship As A Means For Musical Performance: An Exploration Of Johannes Brahms Violin Sonata In G Major, Op. 78, Josh Zallar
Masters Theses
Developing a quality musical performance is a complicated and time-consuming endeavor. Endless hours are spent learning a musical instrument, developing technique, and growing into a mature sound. Learning the notes, rhythms, dynamics, and basic musical markings of a score compound this task, not to mention the preparation for performing by managing nerves, among other areas of concern. Amidst the undoubtedly enormous amount of work, however, often focus gets lost. Musicians forget that, despite the inherent fact that our inner voice is heard when we perform, that it is ultimately the composer whose voice and musical meaning must be conveyed in …
That Song Sounds Familiar: An Analysis Of U.S. Copyright Considerations In Popular Music,
2026
University of Mississippi
That Song Sounds Familiar: An Analysis Of U.S. Copyright Considerations In Popular Music, Jessica Johnson
Honors Theses
Much of popular music has started to bear resemblance to songs of the past as artists rely on techniques, including sampling and interpolations, to ensure their song is a guaranteed hit. But what are the legal implications behind that, and is the line between inspiration and copying getting blurred? This thesis aims to consider the precedent of copyright law as applied to modern musical works and how the landscape of popular music has evolved over time to raise more copyright concerns. It also looks at two modern case studies of musical inspiration that have resulted in legal claims: the song …
Reimagining The Cadenza: Bluegrass And Mozart,
2026
University of Mississippi
Reimagining The Cadenza: Bluegrass And Mozart, Linna Zheng
Honors Theses
The bluegrass-inspired cadenza for the first movement of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 is a parallel with the “Turkish” episode of Mozart’s composition. While introducing the bluegrass idiom into a Classical concerto may not be idiosyncratic, it can be understood and seen as an extension of Mozart’s own practice and approach to stylistic disruption. This approach can be understood through the concepts of Sonata Theory, revealing the cadenza as a site of productive deformation within a normative formal framework. Along with this, Robert S. Hatten’s concept of troping further supports the idea that the interaction between Classical and bluegrass idioms …
Centering Latinx Perspectives And Cultural Identification In Music Listening: Examining Musical Consumption Behaviors And Choices Among Latinx Adults,
2026
University of Texas at El Paso
Centering Latinx Perspectives And Cultural Identification In Music Listening: Examining Musical Consumption Behaviors And Choices Among Latinx Adults, Javier Alejandro Silerio
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Music is a critical cultural activity and resource for people all over the world, often used for communication, recreation, identity formation, social bonding, and many other aspects of our daily lives. Moreover, this has been reported across many cultures and is not unique to a single group. Despite this, there is currently limited information and research around Latinx American music consumption and this population's overall relationship with music. Because of this, the purpose of this study is to examine music consumption behaviors among Latinx Americans, as well as possible relationships between their Latinx cultural identification and said music consumption behaviors. …
Lecture Recital: Josepha Auernhammer,
2026
The University of Southern Mississippi
Lecture Recital: Josepha Auernhammer, Bonnie Littlejohn
Honors Theses
This lecture recital highlights the work of the classical Viennese composer and contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Josepha Auernhammer (1758-1820). After an introduction to Auernhammer’s life and a brief overview of her compositional output, her Six Variations on “Der Vogelfänger bin ich ja” [I am the birdcatcher] and Harpsichord Sonata in A Major are discussed, diving into the work’s cultural context and intriguing compositional elements. A performance of the compositions concludes the lecture recital.
From Mono To Object: A Contextual Evolution Of R&B And Soul Vocal Production Techniques With Emphasis On Object-Based Audio In Dolby Atmos,
2026
Stephen F Austin State University
From Mono To Object: A Contextual Evolution Of R&B And Soul Vocal Production Techniques With Emphasis On Object-Based Audio In Dolby Atmos, Samuel W. Slape
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The human voice is the central element in much of recorded commercial music, and in R&B it serves as the primary vehicle of expression. Across the evolution of reproduction formats, including mono, stereo, surround, and Dolby Atmos, engineers have adapted strategies to preserve vocal clarity while exploring new spatial possibilities. This thesis examines how these shifts in technology and perception have shaped vocal production, using R&B as a lens for the relationship between format and artistic practice. Psychoacoustics provides a foundation for understanding how listeners perceive localization, masking, and vocal prominence. Analytical approaches are introduced to distinguish direct and indirect …
A Schenkerian Approach To The Marches Of Karl L. King,
2026
Stephen F Austin State University
A Schenkerian Approach To The Marches Of Karl L. King, Dylan J. Custer
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
While the American march is a staple of wind band repertoire, it has been underrepresented in the field of advanced music theory. This thesis examines marches through the lens of Schenkerian analysis, which uncovers deep levels of structural cohesion and brings a fresh perspective to the American march genre. Specifically, this study uses Schenkerian methods to study the music of Karl L. King (1891-1971) across the span of his half-century career. King’s extensive output established an enduring blueprint for the genre. By applying an analytical framework derived from the work of Harald Krebs, this research demonstrates how the march can …
Bass And Drum Grooves In R&B: Analysis And Composition,
2026
Stephen F Austin State University
Bass And Drum Grooves In R&B: Analysis And Composition, Hugh Taylor
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The term “R&B” has existed within the musical lexicon for nearly eighty years. It was first introduced in 1949 to replace the label “race music,” and was a combination of blues, jazz, gospel, and rock. Since then, the genre has transitioned from swing-based, live instrumentation toward straight-eighth backbeats and electronically produced sounds. Despite these shifts, contemporary R&B continues to borrow from its ancestral roots while maintaining a modern aesthetic. A primary feature that has persisted through this landscape is the “groove,” specifically defined here as the rhythmic layer created by the drums and bass. In R&B, the bass provides both …
