Digital Commons Network^™

Breaking The Wall Separating Western-Classical And Musical Theater Belt Vocal Techniques, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

This paper will serve as a dialogue aimed to keep breaking down the tangible wall between opera and musical theater techniques and practices. The two fields offer a plethora of ideas and possibilities for growth of the arts as a whole. Included will be examples of techniques in both fields and how they can be compared and practiced consequently. The topic of belt versus legitimate singing is prominent in the vocal arts and will be discussed further as well. There are many academics that subscribe to the “my way or the highway” ideal and refuse that which varies from classical …

Politics And Country Music: Analyzing Why Country Music Is Associated With The Political Right, Christa Noe

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

The general perception that country music aligns itself with the political right is perhaps most exemplified by the songs, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)” by Toby Keith and “Okie from Muskogee” by Merle Haggard. Both songs speak of patriotic values that are traditionally associated with that side of politics. However, At the same time, some country songs, particularly older music, align more with the political left, such as “Man in Black” by Johnny Cash and “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton. Nadine Hubbs (2014) has shown how country music is often associated with the poor …

What Is The Significance Of Specialized Voice Technique In Handel's Cantatas?, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

George Frideric Handel’s music is not performed as prominently as that of his peers of his time. This research project aims to achieve the following objectives: a. To analyze Handel's cantatas in terms of vocal range, ornamentation, and technical challenges. b. To identify the specialized vocal techniques in the Baroque era and skills needed for the interpretation of Handel's cantatas and why its subtle nature makes it inaccessible to singers and audiences.

Mozart’S Da Ponte Operas And The Bel Canto, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

One of the most prominent composers of opera since the latter half of the 18th century is the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Lauded for his catchy melodies, notoriously difficult passages, and his structural brilliance, his operas remain as popular today as they were when they first premiered. At the same time as these operas were being composed, another movement was occurring within Italianate vocal music, that of “bel canto” or beautiful song. This movement, although highly disputed over its exact definition and origin appears to refer to a style of singing popularized in Italy within the 17th and 18th centuries …

The Pros And Cons Of Beta Blockers: Doping In Music Performance, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

When performing in front of an intimidating panel of judges, an audience, or peers, many musicians faces a common problem that’s not talked about often: music performance anxiety. In this current time, every musician at least knows someone that takes a type of drug that enhances their music performance and gets rid of their anxiety. However, there’s been some controversies in using drugs in music competitions and auditions, leading in the continuous practice of drug abuse, questioning ethically what’s right and what’s wrong, and the suspicion in cheating. In this paper will examine the pros and cons of beta blockers, …

Marcel Tabuteau’S Legacy On The American School Of Oboe Pedagogy: Annotated Bibliography, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

Marcel Tabuteau was a French-American oboist who is considered the father of American style oboe playing. Every oboist invested in music should know his name, but as time passes, oboists hear less about Tabuteau and more about his students: John Mack, John de Lancie, Robert Bloom, etc. The students of Tabuteau’s students are even more well known today: Richard Killmer at the Eastman School of Music and John Ferrillo at Juilliard just to name a couple. Even though most oboists may have heard Marcel Tabuteau’s name, few know just how revolutionary he was to the pedagogy of American oboe playing, …

Kenny Clarke: The First Modern Drummer In Jazz: Annotated Bibliography, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

Kenny Clarke, born in 1914, is considered a pioneer of an improvised style of Afro-American music known today as Jazz. Clarke grew up in an era before that word. The soundtrack of his youth consisted of military bands, Dixieland, and blues music. The role of the percussionist in these settings were fixed and rigid. They were there to keep the time. Whether it be with a snare drum, bass drum, or small set of cymbals, the drummer’s role in an ensemble was not a dynamic role in any sense. Through the medium of an exciting new style of music later …

History Of Jazz, Charles "Trey" Wright

KSU Distinguished Course Repository

This course is an in-depth study of jazz styles, historical periods, and innovative artists in the jazz idiom.

Dong Qing Fang’S Musical Depiction Of Lin Chong: An Analysis Of Chinese Traditional Music Elements In His Cello Composition Of 2009, Congcong Bi

Doctoral Projects

Dong Qing Fang (b. 1981) is a prolific composer of cello music. His contribution includes twenty compositions, many of which have been performed around the world.[1] While Fang is the most famous composer in China as well as a leading figure of recent music, his compositions have not been recognized world-wide. This project focuses on his representative cello composition Lin Chong (2009). Lin Chong is a significant character in Chinese literature, known for his role in the classic novel, Water Margin (1524). Fang's musical portrayal of Lin Chong's life incorporates elements of Chinese traditional music.

The methodology for this …

(Special Section Introduction) Hymns Beyond The Congregation: Constructions Of Identity And Legacies Of Meaning, Erin G. Johnson-Williams, Philip Burnett

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

We offer here the first of two special sections on the theme of "Hymns Beyond the Congregation." Divided into the two sub-themes of “Hymns Beyond the Congregation: Constructions of Identity,” and “Hymns Beyond the Congregation: Legacies of Meaning,” our authors (based in institutions both in the USA and the UK) comprise both early career and senior scholars and come from a range of disciplinary backgrounds in American history, South African colonial history, political history, the history of mission education, and historical musicology. Together, these two special issues will pave the way for facilitating new dialogues between historians, musicologists and congregational …

Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, Gurminder Kaur Bhogal

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The harmonium is prominent in Sikh practices of devotional music known as kirtan and yet its significance has barely been addressed in Euro-American scholarship. Following on the heels of a recent ban against using the instrument at the holiest temple of the Sikhs, Harmandir Sahib (popularly known as the Golden Temple), this article explores how the ban seeks to discard this colonial instrument and return to playing traditional string instruments (tanti saz) associated with the courts (darbar) of the Sikh Gurus. This study is the first to examine primary missionary sources from the nineteenth and early …

Suite En Re Menor, Gustavo Leone

Department of Fine & Performing Arts: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Suite en Re Menor

para clavicordio

Autor Anónimo

Archivos Musicales de Chiquitos, 2013

Preludio, Allemanda, Pitipié, Quitasol, y Corrente

This music was collected at the Archivos Musicales de Chiquitos in November of 2012.

Photocopies of the original manuscripts were photografed using a tripod set on a working table. These manuscripts are in the keyboard music section of the catalogue in the archives under the title "Música para teclado." Five dances were collected, Preludio, Allemanda, Pitipié, Quitasol (Sarabanda,)and Corrente, all in D minor (re menor.)

In addition to copying the music and completing the few missing bars, some corrections to the …

Pange Lingua, Gustavo Leone

Department of Fine & Performing Arts: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in South America in 1767, leaving behind a remarkable musical legacy that was buried for over two hundred years. But the music did not disappear completely. Thanks to the Chiquitos people of Bolivia, the music was played and preserved throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1985, Swiss architect Hans Roth discovered 9,000 of these musical manuscripts and in 1990 UNESCO declared the churches of the Chiquitos a “patrimony of humanity”. Dr. Gustavo Leone of Loyola University Chicago's Department of Fine and Performing Arts has painstakingly retrieved and restored several of these …

Texas Exceptionalism And Texas Style Fiddling: Fiddle Contests, Patriarchs, And Musical Markers, Emilie Catlett

Music Theses and Dissertations

The phrase “Texas Fiddle Player” indicates a unique musical identity within the Greater North American Fiddling community. Beyond fiddle tunes, fiddling culture involves technical diversity, interpersonal relationships, various performance contexts, teaching and learning, and the stories making up a community’s collective memory. The Texas Fiddle Player identity is the result of a process of connecting these aspects of fiddling culture to symbols and narratives that evoke a specific kind of “Texan-ness.” This process is a form of musical Texas Exceptionalism, in that it asserts a belief that Texas Fiddle Players are somehow different from their American fiddling peers. This manifests …

Give The Drummer Some: A Dive Into Drum Breaks And Drum Break Production, Kyle Kaldhusdal

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper traces the history of hip-hop culture through the evolution of the drum break, the original context of drum breaks in funk and soul music, their influence on DJ culture, and the subsequent impact of drum breaks on music and music production. It follows the development of breakbeat compilations in the 1970s and 1980s, parallel to the development of turntablism and sampling techniques. It also examines in detail how copyright litigation in the 1990s shaped the development of sample-based music genres and created a niche market for originally-recorded drum breaks over the subsequent decades.

A Look Into Spiritual Sketches: A Performance To Damien Sneed’S Arrangements Of Selected Spirituals, Katrina Cox

Doctoral Projects

The African American Spiritual is a long-standing genre of music in the classical arena that drew influence from slave songs or enslaved Africans in America. The Spiritual has always required specific knowledge and understanding of the Black culture and struggle since its conception. As an art form, its genesis came around the end of the 18th century with the abolishment of slavery. The Spiritual (folk melodies) became a popular addition to the concert hall repertoire and were first brought to the forefront by the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers between 1853 and 1943. The Concert Spiritual became more popular in the …

Five Thousand Years Of Egyptian Double-Pipes And Musical Cultural Influences, Samuel T. Holtkamp

ATU Scholars Symposium

Ancient Egypt was one of the earliest of human societies to pursue the development of music, and many of the musical concepts they pioneered over five-thousand years ago are still in use. Along with the preservation of musical ideas, certain ancient Egyptian instruments have also stood the test of time, through both preservation and evolution. However, the development of these instruments from their ancient to modern forms is sparsely discussed. Along with this, virtually no research explores the evolution of these instrument forms from a chronological context. This paper seeks to investigate and chronologize forms of the ancient Egyptian double-pipe, …

Making American Opera After Einstein, Ryan Ebright Dr.

ICS Fellow Lectures

In the wake of the avant-garde opera Einstein on the Beach in 1976, opera in the United States experienced a renaissance, one which has continued to the present. My book project, Making American Opera after Einstein, centers on contemporary attempts to remake opera in an American image. In it, I detail how American opera—as a genre, a sphere of cultural institutions, an expression of national identity—has transformed significantly over the past four decades. Whereas many composers embrace operatic convention, tailoring their operas to audiences through adaptations of cherished American stories, others attempt to test the genre’s aesthetic boundaries. By exploring …

Listening To The World: A Brief Survey Of World Music, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

A short and engaging introduction to music around the world.

Listen to the world. Explore music from around the globe. Acquaint yourself with a variety of international music styles and traditions. Investigate issues in popular music from both a social perspective (such as race, religion, language, economics, gender, diaspora, and politics), as well as an intrinsically musical position (beat, pitch, meter, rhythm, form, timbre, texture). Learn about how music reinforces values and negotiates tradition with innovation; how rural and urban contexts inform musical experiences; how soundscapes shape identity. Learn how to collect sounds and ask questions: what is this instrument’s …

“All The Evil Music Has:” Musical Representations Of The Vamp In Interwar American Popular Media, Martha Schulenburg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the vamp as a symbol of sociosexual deviance in film and American popular music of the 1910s and ‘20s. Abbreviated from vampire, “vamp” came to be used as a term for sexually voracious and predatory women in the early 20^th century. Following the unprecedented success of the 1915 film A Fool There Was, vamps then became a staple in American popular media. My project examines the process of remediation and cultural dissemination at the dawn of mass media via the vamp in music. Vamps were pervasive in cinematic accompaniment, vaudeville, jazz, and Tin Pan Alley …

Exploring Jam Sessions In New York, Ricardo Pinheiro

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

This paper addresses the relationship between jazz jam sessions in Manhattan, and the concepts of Scene, Ritual and Race. These issues emerged during research that, from an ethnomusicological perspective, focused on the role of jam sessions in Manhattan as a privileged context for the following:

i) learning performative styles of jazz,

ii) developing the creative process,

iii) constructing professional networks,

iv) establishing of the status of musicians.

Studying and analysing the jam sessions at five jazz performance venues in New York, I demonstrate the vital importance of participating in jam sessions by examining their relationship with this performative occasion (Pinheiro …

Applied Groove Research, Toni Bechtold, Rafael Jerjen, Olivier Senn

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

This paper is the first step to bridge this gap by asking whether groove research can help us teach groove to students, and, if so, how it can best be taught. Simultaneously, the paper serves as an introduction to groove research for those unfamiliar with this academic discourse.

Ethics In Kakadu (1988): Finding Djilile’S “True Tracks”, Natasia T. Boyko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tasmanian-born Peter Sculthorpe (1929 – 2014) was one of Australia’s most iconic modernist classical composers of the twentieth century. Kakadu (1988) seems to have sparked the most controversy of Sculthorpe’s works and has become one of his most well-known pieces. In the program notes provided in the score’s foreword, Sculthorpe asserts that “the melodic material in Kakadu, as in much of my recent music, was suggested by the contours and rhythms of Aboriginal chant.” Sculthorpe attributed this melodic material to the Arnem Land chant, Djilile. Consequently, Sculthorpe has been criticized for extracting Djilile from its authentic context as …

Revolutionary Songs From Myanmar: Reconsidering Scholarly Perspectives On Protest Music, Heather Maclachlan

Department of Music Faculty Publications

Since the February 1, 2021 military coup in Myanmar, Burmese musicians have been creating and circulating anti- coup songs. This article describes a representative sample of these songs, explaining how the lyrics reference important tropes in Burmese life and history. Further, the article argues that these anti-coup songs, while they can be understood as protest music, do not fit precisely into categories previously delineated for protest songs. Nor do these songs provide a neat answer to the question that scholars so often pose of protest music, to wit: do these songs work to persuade listeners to take an anti-authoritarian position? …

Co-Writing Nashville Style: A Recital Of Selected Country Songwriters, Joseph H. Wandass Iv

Recital Papers

Country music and songwriting have been hallmark features of the Nashville music scene for well over a century. Due to the development of the concept of "the Nashville Dream," the idea that one can "make it" in music by moving to Nashville and writing songs, migratory patterns to Nashville from across the United States have changed the ways in which Nashville-based music is created and disseminated. In the thesis and accompanying recital, these trends are analyzed through the lens of ten selected active Nashville songwriters who have seen these trends. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree …

The Double Silence: Reflections On Music And Musicians, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

A translation of EL DOBLE SILENCI, published in Catalan in 2003. The book is a compilation of essays originally published in Diario de Mallorca (2000-2003).

Etcètera Ii: Notes Sobre Música, Art I Literatura (2020-2022), Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

A compilation of essays on music, the arts, and literature previously published in Bellver, the arts section of Diario de Mallorca (2020-2022). This is the second part of ETCETERA.

Becoming Camilla Urso: A Female Celebrity Violinist And The Transformation Of American Musical Culture, Maeve Nagel-Frazel

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Camilla Urso (1840-1902) was the first nationally famous female violinist in the United States. Between 1852-1902, Urso gave over a thousand concerts in the United States, becoming a musical celebrity on par with the Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Through her public visibility, Urso transformed nineteenth-century American violin playing from a male-dominated field into an acceptable and even fashionable field for women. Despite her nineteenth-century fame, today Urso is mostly forgotten. Over the course of six chronological chapters, this thesis presents a contextual biography of Urso’s American concert career. Utilizing archival sources, digitized newspapers, and digital mapping methodologies, I argue Urso’s …

Congregational Music As Phatic Communication: Affect, Atmosphere, And Relational Ways Of Listening And Being, Anna E. Nekola

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

Much of the scholarship of congregational music focuses on participatory music in organized corporate worship. This article draws on theories of communication and affect to examine the secondary, background music that happens alongside other events in a worship service or in places other than the space of the sanctuary. Instead of understanding affects as an individual emotion, this article argues that music is made meaningful through a socio-cultural and relational affective process. This in turn enables one to understand how musics, particularly secondary non-participatory musics, work beyond language and representation in phatic ways that can engender powerful feelings of human …

Video Gamers As Performers: Annotated Bibliography, University Of Denver

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

This study is based on the concept and idea of video game players performing music through the games that they play. This serves as a very assessable way for people who do not have the money, time commitment, and or motivation to be able to play and perform music without any background in music literacy.