Digital Commons Network^™

Antonio T. De Nicolás: Poet Of Eternal Return, Christopher Key Chapple

Research Resources

This book includes essays in honor of Professor Antonio de Nicolas.

“Why Do You Sing To Me?”: A Case Study Of Form And Function Of Children's Songs In The Caribbean Diaspora Culture In South Florida, Finley Walker

Masters Theses

How does a child gain a musical identity? Music resides in the depths of personhood. Even before birth we are all touched by its power. Music is a language in that it communicates--thoughts, feelings, desires, information, and more. As children grow physically and mentally, they also grow musically. A person's musical development will be directly influenced by their culture and family. The following qualitative study looks at the form and function of children's songs, specifically children's songs from the diasporic Caribbean culture in South Florida. Twenty-one interviews, including 53 participants, were conducted to see how children's songs might play a …

Chopin Mazurkas And Its Influence On Polish Nationalism, Pablo Cintron

Masters Theses

The innovative character of Chopin Mazurkas is forever linked with Polish culture. This thesis examines how the unmistakable sound of the Mazurka captures the Polish sound more than any other work written by the composer and how it contributes to Polish cultural nationalism during the Polish diaspora of the nineteenth-century. In this study, the author presents a brief examination on Chopin's traditional interpretation of his mazurkas as well as isolating the characteristics of Polish interpretation that sets the Mazurka performance apart from the non-traditional style. A research case is made when contrasting the current concept of the classical execution of …

Al'riq: The Arab Tambourine, Nathaniel Stottlemyer

Masters Theses

The riq (plural: riqat) is a small tambourine measuring 22cm - 25cm in diameter and approximately 5cm - 7cm in depth. The instrument consists of ten pairs of brass, bronze or copper jingles inserted equidistantly around the frame in two rows, held in place by metal pins. It is traditionally fitted with a natural skin head, usually fish, however modern riqat often utilize a variety of tuning systems, making the use of synthetic skins possible. Several names for the instrument exist historically. Historical variations of the riq appear frequently in Islamic art. The riq is performed with exceptional dynamic contrast …

“That’S The Way I’Ve Always Learned”: The Transmission Of Traditional Music In Higher Education, Alexandra Frank

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the establishment of degree programs in traditional music in institutions of higher education. It defines traditional music and discusses the history of traditional and folk music programs at universities and conservatories in the United States, Finland, Scotland, and England. The institutionalization of American traditional music is compared to the institutionalization of jazz music in the United States. This thesis focuses on the Bluegrass, Old- Time, and Country Music Studies program at East Tennessee State University and features original ethnographic interviews with lecturers from the program. Two similar programs in Tennessee and Kentucky are also discussed. Some of …

Chopin Mazurkas And Its Influence On Polish Nationalsim, Pablo Cintron

Masters Theses

The innovative character of Chopin Mazurkas is forever linked with Polish culture. This thesis examines how the unmistakable sound of the Mazurka captures the Polish sound more than any other work written by the composer and how it contributes to Polish cultural nationalism during the Polish diaspora of the nineteenth-century.

In this study, the author presents a brief examination on Chopin's traditional interpretation of his mazurkas as well as isolating the characteristics of Polish interpretation that sets the Mazurka performance apart from the non-traditional style. A research case is made when contrasting the current concept of the classical execution of …

Documenting Black Sacred Music And History, Regennia N. Williams

The Journal of Traditions & Beliefs

Review of audio recordings “Spiritual Gifts: Live in Cleveland” and “Harvest Time: Featuring the New Spiritual Gifts Workshop Choir.”

“Bëggel Sa Réew :” Negotiating Contestation And Citizenship Through Hip Hop Production In Guédiawaye, Dakar, Dylan Mcdonnell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Hip hop cultural production has flourished in Senegal since the early-1980s, especially in Dakar, the administrative and economic capital, since the early 1980s as both a medium of engagement with “global” flows of musical influence and a localized platform for socio-political and contestation and organization. In the past ten years, high-profile rap and hip hop personalities based in communities centered in the banlieues (the disfavored, often impoverished neighborhoods surrounding Dakar) have begun to realize formal structures of professionalization and education in the elements of “urban culture.” This paper focuses on research done at Guédiawaye Hip Hop Center and Association, an …

School Of Music Faculty/Staff Newsletter, April 2014, School Of Music

School of Music Faculty/Staff Newsletter

Accomplishments and news from the faculty and staff of the School of Music at Illinois State University.

Saving Jazz: Applied Ethnomusicology And America's Classical Music, Christopher Long

Masters Theses

In his 2009 article, Can Jazz Be Saved?, Wall Street Journal columnist Terry Teachout asserted that the American audience for jazz music performances was both shrinking and aging. Saving Jazz: Applied Ethnomusicology and America's Classical Music explores this jazz audience problem and finds that over the last thirty years the overall American audience for live jazz performances has not shrunk as has been widely reported, but is essentially unchanged in size. During that same period, though, there is no question that the median age of the audience has changed dramatically. Data collected by the National Endowment for the Arts and …

Musical Influence On Apartheid And The Civil Rights Movement, Katherine D. Power

Student Publications

Black South Africans and African Americans not only share similar identities, but also share similar historical struggles. Apartheid and the Civil Rights Movement were two movements on two separate continents in which black South Africans and African Americans resisted against deep injustice and defied oppression. This paper sets out to demonstrate the key role that music played, through factors of globalization, in influencing mass resistance and raising global awareness. As an elemental form of creative expression, music enables many of the vital tools needed to overcome hatred and violence. Jazz and Freedom songs were two of the most influential genres, …

Vodou Value In Haitian Life, Brandi E. Lauer

Student Publications

Ever since the night of August 14, 1791 at Bwa Kayman, where Boukman Dutty declared war on the French during a Vodou ritual, Vodou has shown its dominance in the Haitian culture (Dominique 103). Along with being a religion practiced across the class boundaries of over six million Haitians, Vodou is a philosophy as well; a way of life for the majority of Haiti. Vodou “brings coherence where there might otherwise be chaos” (Michel 282-283). Used as a common ground for the intermixed Africans in the New World, Vodou has played a key role in the daily life of the …

The Sounds Of Paris In Verdi’S La Traviata (Book Review), Juliana Starr

Foreign Languages Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

My Forays Into The World Of The Tablā, Madeline Longacre

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This paper focuses on the historical and social aspects of the Indian tablā, as well as the practical aspects involved in actually playing one. In order to acquaint the reader with this topic, a description of the parts of a tablā, as well as the basic knowledge of how to play the tablā, is given. The paper then discusses the history of Varanasi and its significance to tablā playing through the Banaras Gharana. The disputed history of the tablā and its surrounding theories are then addressed, followed by the social context within which tablā players function. In this paper I …

Arts Outreach In The Middle East, Matthias Clark

Masters Theses

After centuries of debate and discussion regarding the value and appropriateness of arts in the Middle East, specifically music, many indigenous people have recently pursued active roles in championing indigenous and international arts toward social reform, identity formation, and spiritual development. This shift in use and function of the arts has been reflected in some groundbreaking attempts of using arts in contextualized forms that have impacted spiritual communities. This study is designed to compare two specific case studies that exemplify these shifts: the "School of Worship and Music" and the "Creative Center". These organizations will be analyzed and compared in …

String Voyages: Old Dominion University Symphony Orchestra, Old Dominion University Symphony Orchestra, Paul S. Kim (Director)

Ensemble Performances

No abstract provided.

Rave Culture- A Tale Of Two Scenes, Christopher Mohr

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This article compares two iterations of rave culture through the perspective on scenes as outlined by Geoff Stahl in his essay "'It's Like Canada Reduced': Setting the Scene in Montreal." By applying both communication and sociopolitical theory to the comparison of the original rave scene to that of today's, a vivid understanding of how scenes and subcultures construct themselves- both within and around the cultural environments from which they are born- will become apparent.

'Socialized Music': Historical Formations Of Community Music Through Social Rationales, Deanna Yerichuk

Music Faculty Publications

This article traces the formation of community music through professional and scholarly articles over the last century in North America, and argues that community music has been discursively formed through social rationales, although the specific rationales have shifted. The author employs an archaeological framework inspired by Michel Foucault to analyze the usage and contexts of the term ‘community music’ in four historical moments, including Progressive-Era manuals and guidebooks, mid-century articles in the Music Educators’ Journal, writings of the Community Music Activity Commission established by the International Society of Music Education from 1982, and articles in the International Journal of Community …

A Song Through Time: Tiger Rag And The Twentieth Century, Thomas Grady Hartsock

Music

Tiger Rag is one of the first recorded jazz works.This project investigates the initial creation of the work and follows it through five different artists in the twentieth century to explain how this piece of music has grown in it's hundred years of life.

The Music And Multiple Identities Of Kurdish Alevis From Turkey In Germany, Ozan Aksoy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the experiences of Kurdish Alevis, currently living in Germany, who trace their background to locations within the boundaries of the Republic of Turkey. I argue that music has been a particularly important mode through which Kurdish Alevis in Germany have articulated collective histories and have fashioned narratives of belonging and multiple and sometimes contradictory identities. The subjects of my research are immigrants and refugees who are ethnically Kurdish and whose religion is Alevi, an Anatolian religion whose relations to both Sunni and Shi'a Islam are historically controversial. They speak Turkish along with Kurdish, in most cases are …

Melodic Function And Modal Process In Gregorian Chant, Richard Porterfield

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study proposes a theory and method of analysis for voice leading in the melody of Gregorian chant. It draws on historical theories and practices, particularly those of the cantus tradition which 1) pre-dates the imposition on Western ecclesiastical chant of scale theories based in the Ancient Greek science of harmonics, 2) observes and predicts actual melodic behavior, and 3) remains basic to pedagogy through the centuries. Central to cantus-tradition doctrine is the investment of melodic tones with structural functions which articulate modes as melodic archetypes; idiomelic antiphons are analyzed according to five melodic functions derived from formulaic psalmody …

Review Of Helen Deeming, Ed., Songs In British Sources, C.1150–1300, Musica Britannica 95., Peter M. Lefferts

Glenn Korff School of Music: Faculty Publications

By the time of his death, John Stevens (1921–2002), emeritus professor of medieval and Renaissance literature at Cambridge University, had been working for over two decades on a study and edition of the trilingual repertory of song in medieval England from c.1150 to c.1350.1 The initial products of that research were themselves so lengthy and detailed that the scope of the whole endeavour appears to have been enormous, and it is understandable if immensely to be regretted that the undertaking remained unfinished in his lifetime. The edition under review is the fresh work of a younger Cambridge-educated scholar, Dr Helen …

Never Give A Sword To A Man Who Can't Dance, Colin Slade

Masters Theses

War dances have long been a powerful means of preparing warriors for combat or the intimidation of an enemy, but they are also used in the ceremonial supplication of deity or celebration of victory. They are a fundamental artifact of many cultures throughout the world. Nevertheless, the United States of America boasts the most powerful military in history, yet it lacks a war dance. This is valid until one accepts a simple truth; military drill is a dance. However, Americans would object to such a proposition even though they have adopted and adapted military drill as their own, describe it …

Hearts Of Pine: Songs In The Lives Of Three Korean Survivors Of The Japanese "Comfort Women" By Joshua D. Pilzer (Review), Donna Lee Kwon

Music Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Academic Hazing In Music Education, Cameron Whitworth Jenkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract: academic hazing in this context is defined as the academic misuse of new or prospective graduate students in music education. Academic hazing can also refer to senior faculty who haze junior faculty during the years prior to tenure. This study was designed in two parts to examine academic hazing in graduate music education programs. First, twelve (n=12) faculty academic advisors, each serving as director of music education at their respective four-year comprehensive universities, were intervievia electronic mail. Then, fourteen (n=14) current graduate students in music education were intervieto gain the perspectives of their graduate experience. Each student was intervieby …

Exploring A Visual/Sonic Representational Continuum, Lindsay Vickery

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper explores the relationships between sound and its visualisation, focussing upon the issues surrounding representation and interpretation of music through both performative and machine processes. The discussion proceeds in the context of five recent works by the author exploring the representation of sound and musical notation and their relationship to and with performance: unhörbares wird hörbar (the inaudible becomes audible) [2013], EVP [2012], Lyrebird: environment player [2014], Nature Forms I [2014] and sacrificial zones [2014]. Issues examined include: re-sonification of spectrograms, visualisation of spectral analysis data, control of spatialisation and audio processing using spectral analysis data, and reading issues …

Toward A New, Musical Paradigm Of Place: The Port River Symphonic Of Chester Schultz, Robin Ryan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

In privileging music as a focus for applied ecology, the goal of this essay is to deepen perspectives on the musical representation of land in an age of complex environmental challenge. As the metaphor driving public narration of environmental crises, the notion of Earth as our home—signified by the prefix “eco”—brings with it a critical expectation for the musical academy to retreat from bland talk about a “sense of place.” Based on the premise that damaged ecologies are a matter of concern to many people, Indigenous and Settler; and building on the late Val Plumwood’s theory of “shadow” or “denied” …

An Analysis Of "Printemps D'Amour" (Op.40) And "L'Union" (Op,48): Two Programmatic Piano Solos By Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Sam Vaden

LSU Master's Theses

Close analyses of two works by Gottschalk demonstrate, not just his consummate skill in evoking and sustaining extra-musical imagery, but also his firm control of harmony, motivic development, and form. In Printemps d'amour (1855), a mazurka inspired by Gottschalk's love for Ada McElhenney, a romance develops between two distinct theme-actors, both of whom grow ever more entwined. Comparison with Chopin's mazurka op. 50, no. 2, points out general similarities and profound differences. Analysis of L'Union (1862) follows, presenting a pasticcio rife with narrative and irony. The former manifests as a battaglia; the latter, as denial of listeners' expectations. Comparison with …

"Music Down In My Soul:" Achieving A Sound Ideal For Moses Hogan Spirituals, Loneka Wilkinson Battiste

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT In 1995, Moses Hogan ushered in a resurgence of interest in the arranged spiritual at the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Washington, D. C. The impact of his arrangements was so profound that today he is widely recognized as being responsible for the mid-1990’s revitalization of interest in the arranged spiritual. In a day when various opinions abound on how Moses Hogan’s spirituals should be performed, the purpose of this study was to describe and define the sound ideal for Moses Hogan spirituals. Qualitative methods were used for the collection and analysis of data relevant …

The Culture And History Surrounding “Szomorú Nόták” Of Béla Bartόk’S Twenty Hungarian Folksongs And Its Influence On Bartók’S Settings, Mary Katherine Rawls

Theses and Dissertations

This document is an exploration of the Hungarian culture and history as it pertains to "Somorú nótak" of Bartók's Twenty Hungarian Folksongs. The information presented will provide insight into the Magyar, Hungarian, outlook as well as relevant themes. As a performer, it is important to make these connections and apply them to the musical setting so that a genuine portrayal of the texts and their emotions is possible. Hungarian history, the folksong as it pertains to the Hungarians, and the process by which these songs were composed are discussed in order to establish their importance and background of the content. …