Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Power Of Protest Music: A Concept Album, Matthew Patterson

Honors Program Contracts

No abstract provided.

From Michigan With Love, Emma Krug 20

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Red Note New Music Festival Composition Competition Announcement, 2020, School Of Music, Carl Schimmel, Roy Magnuson

Red Note New Music Festival

The RED NOTE New Music Festival at Illinois State University is a week-long event which features outstanding performances of contemporary concert music.

School Of Music Faculty/Staff Newsletter, April 2020, 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.

Chamber Symphony In E-Flat-Major: “In The Old Style”, Zachary Paul Buechner

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

Chamber Symphony in E♭-Major – “In the Old Style” is a work that explores eighteenth century form and sixteenth century counterpoint through a twenty-first century lens. Cast in the traditional four movements, this piece works to create a single dramatic arc from beginning to end while also allowing each movement to work as a whole on its own. Everything accumulates to the final movement, a fugue and postlude built on Christus ist Erstanden, an Easter hymn by Friedrich Spee, a German Jesuit theologian instrumental in the success of the Catholic Counter-reformation.

Advisor: Tyler Goodrich White

Thematic Development In John Powell’S Score For How To Train Your Dragon (2010), Denise E. Finnegan

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

In this thesis, I examine the dramatic and thematic associations within the score for How to Train Your Dragon in relation to John Williams’s score for E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Both of these films contain main plot points associated with friendship and flying and each composer develops musical themes in accordance with these dramatic ideas. I analyze Powell’s evolution of his “Friendship Theme” as it relates to the friendship between the main characters Hiccup and Toothless and compare it with Williams’s handling of the “E.T. Motive” in correspondence with the friendship between E.T. and Elliott. I furthermore examine how each …

We Met At The Edge, Eric M. Howell

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

‘We Met at the Edge’ is a collaboration between composer Eric Howell and visual artist Marcela Rodriguez based on a reimagining of the Major Arcana of the Tarot cards. Each card is presented with all new modern interpretations of the original art as well as approximately one minute of music that reflects its unique meanings. Additionally, each card is capable of being looped on itself to create the illusion of being a seamless moment in time, while simultaneously being able to elide into the next card in the sequence. ‘We Met at the Edge’ is meant to be listened to …

Learning To Play A Musical Instrument Affects Student Behavioral Health, Christopher Lafser

Masters Theses

This thesis proposal, entitled “Learning to Play a Musical Instrument Affects Student Behavioral Health”, consists of a research paper detailing how learning to play a musical instrument has made a significant impact on the behavioral health of students, and the need for this study in today’s society. This study will provide readers with solid research and evidence for the results obtained from this musical education study in the hopes it can show that music therapy needs strengthening in these areas. Through research, clinical studies, assessments, test results, and surveys, this project will show if there are physiological benefits and psychological …

Sample-Based Hip-Hop Music And Fair Use Laws In The Age Of Streaming Services, Michael Vanbuhler

Senior Theses

This thesis takes an in depth look at the history and processes behind creating sample-based music. Sampling was popularized during the beginnings of hip-hop music and now a wide variety of genres use samples or techniques created by sample-based music. Early hip-hop beats took samples of drum breaks or a portion of a track from another artist or band. As hip-hop grew in the late 80s and early 90s, the use of samples became a question of intellectual property rights and if it was acceptable to sample someone’s copyrighted work. Lawsuits in the early 90’s helped to create new caselaw …

Bodies In The Margins: Refiguring The Rebetika As Literature, Sophia Schlesinger

English Honors Projects

This thesis engages a literary analysis of a corpus of songs and recordings known as the rebetika (sing. rebetiko), which prospered in the port districts of major cities throughout the Aegean in the early 20th century. Engaging the rebetika as literary texts, I argue, helps us understand how they have functioned as a kind of pressure point on the borders between nation and Other. Without making unproveable biographical claims about the motives of the music progenitors, I examine why so many have reached for the rebetika as texts with which to articulate various political and cultural desires. Using a …

The Early Piano Music Of Richard Wagner, Annie Rose Tindall-Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to educate a wider audience about Richard Wagner’s early piano music, specifically the Sonata in B-flat Major, the Fantasia in F-Sharp Minor, and the Grand Sonata in A Major. The study seeks to make these three, largescale piano works more accessible for study, and to draw attention and spark interest in the piano compositions of Richard Wagner.

The study consists of six chapters, a bibliography, and two appendices. The first chapter includes an explanation of why this study is needed, a brief biography of Richard Wagner, related literature, methodology, and limitations …

Afro-Brazilian Music And Culture, Regina Castro Mcgowan

Open Educational Resources

In this course students will learn about the musical heritage Africans brought to Brazil and how through forced conversion and cultural adaptation, their traditions quickly syncretized into distinct Afro-Brazilian artistic expressions. This course will explore many musical traditions, including; Samba, Pagode, Baile Funk, Candomblé and Axé music for their social, religious and/or political significance, from the early twentieth century through today. In doing so, students will get to practice and learn the vocabulary and grammatical structures found in the music of these rich and varied genres, and acquire a familiarity with conversational Portuguese.

History Of Popular Music 2 (1960-Today), Chadwick O. Jenkins

Open Educational Resources

A syllabus designed for a course covering the history of popular music (country, rock, hip hop, R&B, etc.) from 1960 to today.

V.1 Spring Pandemic 2020-2021, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Spring 2020-Spring 2021 issue contains articles on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on RISD, students engaging with nature, racial and gender identity, art exhibitions and contemporary artists, D+M student work, and other topics of interest to students.

A Spotlight On Women In Brass Performance And Composition, Hollyn Slykhuis

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Anacalypsis, Kristopher David Bendrick

Masters Theses

The title of this piece, Anacalypsis, takes its name from the text Anacalypsis: An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis or an Inquiry into the Origin of Languages, Nations and Religions, written by Godfrey Higgins in 1836. The word anacalypsis is an antonym to the word apocalypse and comes from the Greek word ανακάλυψης which translates to find or discovery. In his two-volume treatise, Higgins attempts to unveil "a most ancient and universal religion from which all later creeds and doctrines sprang.”

Reading through Higgins’ text brought me to the intriguing idea of a time before …

Protest Music And Public Discourse: How P!Nk Uses “Dear Mr. President” To Create Conversation, Olivia R. Knippling

Schultz-Werth Award Papers

In this paper, I explore the rhetorical devices of the popular artist P!NK during a live performance of her song “Dear Mr. President,” from 2007. Using the method of rhetorical descriptive analysis I answer the research question: How does P!NK combine rhetorical and musical strategies in “Dear Mr. President” to encourage public discourse? The findings indicate that P!NK crafted a unique protest song which effectively uses both rhetorical and musical devices to appeal to her audiences’ emotions and encourages participation in public discourse. The research has applied implications in the present-day intersection of pop culture and politics, as well as …

A Mad Magical Poet: Essays On The Life And Art Of Warren Zevon, Zachary E. Tenney

Honors Projects

"A Mad Magical Poet: Essays on the Life and Art of Warren Zevon" is a series of three essays on the titular subject. Warren Zevon was an American songwriter whose career spanned from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. Though known for his hit single "Werewolves of London," Zevon is a far more interesting figure than the "one hit wonder" label can possibly capture. Here, I explore his appeal as a literary and philosophical figure, examine his prophetic song of environmental crisis, "Run Straight Down," and consider the theme of violence as it appears throughout his music. The text …

Music Preferences Among College Students Through The Decades, Janelle Potter

Honors Projects

Music plays a part in every person's life, whether they realize it or not. From the radio to background music to ringtones, music influences most aspects of our lives. Radio took music from local clubs and concert halls to places that were thousands of miles away. Radio evolved to vinyl discs and then into cassettes and compact discs. These went further in MP3 recordings and on into streaming services that control the music of today’s industry. The 1960s brought soul, R&B, Motown, and rock to the world. The 1970s brought hard rock and pop and pushed the industry into less …

Analyzing Ligeti’S Étude No. 11: En Suspens, William R. Durham

Student Publications

Using the tools of post-tonal music theory, we analyze Gyorgy Ligeti's Etude No. 11, one of a series of etudes written to present piano students with technical and compositional challenges. As listeners, we clearly experience a feeling of suspense and constant uneasiness. To find out why, we must dig deep into the structure of the piece. Considering pitch class content, the role of meter, rhythm, and phrase-shaping, and development, this analysis reveals a complicated mathematical arrangement behind the auditory experience.

“Strike Up” And Mobilize The Band: Musical Activities In The United States Military During World War Ii, Max R. Bouchard

Student Publications

After the United States’ entry into the Second World War, music was one of the most prominent forms of art and popular entertainment to be repurposed by the federal government as part of the mobilization for war. The military implemented numerous music programs produced and consumed by a wide range of service personnel. These activities functioned as a means of building morale among military and civilian audiences, both on the domestic home front and in foreign nations, and disseminating an image of American culture that reinforced a set of values integral to the war effort. In order to present this …

Felice Bryant And Country Music Songwriting In The 1950s, Paula Bishop

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Psalmody, Shape Notes, And Sankey: The Evolution Of Protestant American Hymnody In The 19th Century, Paul T. Anderson

Tenor of Our Times

With improvements in the lyrics, rhythms, emotional appeal, and overall quality of hymns, nineteenth century Protestant American hymnody evolved from crude psalmody to gospel songs with influences from the American frontier, new denominations, and the African-American spiritual. By examining the general trends in Christian singing in the 1800's, a better understanding can be had of the origins of popular church music today.

Metal Mayhem To Music Theory: The Use Of Heavy Metal Music In Collegiate Music Theory Instruction, Weston Michael-Andrew Bernath

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The White Album As Neo-Victorian Fiction Of Loss, Lucas Kwong

Publications and Research

Although much has been written about the Beatles' celebration of Victorian culture on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, little scholarship, if any, has focused on the White Album’s relationship to the late Victorian period. This paper examines the White Album through the lens of what Victorian studies scholar Stephen Arata has called “fictions of loss,” a body of late Victorian texts depicting intertwined processes of “national, biological, [and] aesthetic” decline. Through examining songs like "Helter Skelter" and "Revolution Number 9," I argue that the White Album deserves consideration alongside Dracula and She as a “fiction of loss,” …

Time’S Up: How Opera Is Facing Its Own Me Too Reckoning, Craig Price

Theses and Dissertations

Opera as an artform has a very misogynistic history. Many of the most beloved works in the standard repertory involve female characters as victims of violence, or an abuse of power by male characters. These works have recently been cast in a different light, in part due to a greater cultural awareness inspired by the “Me Too” movement. This study was executed to explore productions of standard repertory operas around the world, and how they have been handled in light of current culture. The study examines popularly performed operas Carmen, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, and …

Cultivating Socially Just Concert Programming Perspectives Through Preservice Music Teachers' Band Experiences: A Multiple Case Study, Christian Matthew Noon

Theses and Dissertations

As the music education profession continues to adapt to the needs of an increasingly pluralistic society, scholars and practitioners have begun to concern themselves with issues of social justice (e.g., equity, diversity, inclusion, or access). For band directors, one way to address such topics is through the purposeful programming of music by underrepresented composers or music that otherwise conveys messages about societal issues. As such, undergraduate music education majors who participate in concert bands might encounter a variety of compositions. Further, given that those ensemble experiences may be a primary factor in preservice music teachers’ commitment to their degree programs—and …

Gender-Specific Mentorship For Collegiate Female Band Directors, Laura M. Johnson

Music Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to provide insight on the impact of gender-specific role models and mentorship for aspiring female collegiate wind band conductors. The areas of focus included methods of impactful mentorship, identifying role models, and potential improvements for the wind band field. This research project was approved for an IRB exemption by the Old Dominion University College of Arts and Letters Human Subjects Review Committee.

The subjects in this study were separated into two groups. Those that completed Survey A were either female collegiate/university band conductors, current music education or conducting graduate students, or former music education …

Romanticism In Nineteenth-Century Russian Nationalistic Music: Case Studies Of Glinka’S Ruslan And Lyudmila And Cui’S Mystic Chorus, Jeffrey Crayton Yelverton Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is comprised of two case studies of the works Ruslan and Lyudmila and the Mystic Chorus, which were composed by two nineteenth century Russian composers Mikhail Glinka (1804–1857) and César Cui (1835–1918). The Chapter on Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila trances the influence of German romantic thought on the opera as a reinterpretation. The theories of Novalis” (1772–1801); Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829); and E.T.A. Hoffman (1776–1822) contribute to the reinterpretation of the opera as a dream that privileges German romantic ideas over Russia nationalistic ones. The Chapter on Cui’s Mystic Chorus, on the other hand, focuses on mysticism …

Focal Dystonia Causes And Treatments: A Guide For Pianists, Juan Nicolás Morales Espitia

Theses and Dissertations

Focal dystonia is a movement disorder that precludes the execution of fine motor skills. Although research on focal dystonia has been intensified during the last few decades, particularly because it has affected eminent musicians such as pianists Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman, violinist Peter Oundjian, and oboist Alex Klein, there are still several answered questions, as well as numerous misconceptions, commonly associated with this disorder. This document comprehensively explores dystonia’s mechanism of action, causes, potential risks, and treatments. The publicly available statements of three prominent concert pianists who successfully recovered from focal dystonia are also included in this document. Additionally, …