Arts and Humanities Commons^™

To Speak In Your Voice: An Exploration In Improvisational Technique, Ezekiel E. Meyer

Composition/Recording Projects

Many iconic musicians have their own unique musical voices, which are found and developed in a variety of ways. Many musicians have a goal of developing their own voice, but struggle to understand how this process occurs. This production paper explores several techniques through the process of recording the album To Speak in One's Voice, providing guidance on how a musician's voice can be identified and nurtured. Improvisational techniques such as pentatonic substitution and harmonic superimposition are discussed, as well as compositional and technological techniques, all within the context of developing a musician's voice. Through this paper, a musician can …

Beyond The Canon: From Classical Foundations To Contemporary Relevance In Shaping Tomorrow's Musicians, Lauren N. Tougas

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Undergraduate music programs in the United States have historically centered ensemble-based instruction on the Western classical canon in order to cultivate technical mastery, stylistic fluency, and disciplined collaborative musicianship. This pedagogical model has proven durable and remains foundational to professional orchestral and choral performance practice. Canonical repertoire continues to anchor audition requirements, institutional programming, and degree structures across institutions of higher education. Yet the contemporary professional landscape has evolved into a far more diversified artistic ecosystem characterized by stylistic hybridity, living composer integration, interdisciplinary collaboration, constrained rehearsal models, and portfolio-based career trajectories.

This Honors Capstone investigates the relationship between undergraduate …

Where Springs Not Fail, Hannah Guo

Graduate Thesis Collection

Where Springs Not Fail is a 23-minute multimovement work for mixed choir, mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists, and a chamber instrumental ensemble. Drawing texts from Gerard Manley Hopkins and Rabindranath Tagore, the composition explores themes of spiritual darkness, anxiety, and a profound yearning for hope—shared human experiences that are often under-acknowledged. The work aims to reside between sacred and secular expressions, offering a space of vulnerability, reflection, and honesty for performers and listeners alike.

The composition engages a wide range of stylistic influences, including serial and minimalist techniques, chant-like melodic writing, modal language, and motivic symbolism. Structured as an arch form, …

Playful Music Learning In Piano Lessons: Implications For Intrinsic Motivation And Sustained Engagement, Cora Lynne Hart

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Within the field of piano pedagogy, there is a great need to adapt teaching strategies to a new generation of learners. Traditional pedagogical methods are not always conducive to student-directed, process-based, and most importantly, joyful learning. The beginning elementary level is the most critical time to start a student’s musical journey with positivity and encouragement, and is a time when these teaching strategies make a profound impact. This thesis explores how play activities can facilitate engaging musical experiences that are more aligned with children’s natural way of learning. Through a literature review, the thesis synthesizes existing research on child learning …

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

The Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet: Its History And Legacy In American Saxophone Quartet Performance, James M. Lawhn

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

The saxophone quartet has emerged as a legitimate chamber ensemble in the United States through the sustained efforts of a small number of pioneering professional groups. Despite the central role these ensembles have played in shaping repertoire, performance standards, and public perception, their histories have often gone undocumented. Among the most influential of these groups is the Harvey Pittel Saxophone Quartet, an ensemble that maintained an unusually active national and international touring career for nearly four decades and helped establish the saxophone quartet as a viable professional model.

This document addresses a significant gap in the scholarly literature by presenting …

2025-2026 Performance Forum - May 1, 2026, Chase Hogan, Sheng Yuan Kuan, Peter Pao, Manuela Wanumen Jiménez, Sarah Conley, Pablo Camacho, Amanda Rearden

Performance Forum

No abstract provided.

The Voice As A Coordinated Bodily System: Embodied Learning, Anatomy, And Vocal Pedagogy, Ge Hope Tian

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This reflective article examines the limitations of control-based approaches in traditional vocal training and proposes a shift toward understanding the voice as an integrated, coordinated bodily system. Drawing on personal experience, the author highlights how common instructional language - focused on outcomes such as resonance, support, and projection - often leads singers to apply excessive effort, resulting in tension, inefficiency, and vocal strain. By distinguishing between localized control and whole-body coordination, the reflection illustrates how sustainable vocal function emerges not through muscular manipulation but through balanced, dynamic organization of breath, posture, and sound. The author traces a transformative learning process …

Amor, Art, And Advocacy: Un Conversación With Chicanx Mother, Grammy Award Artivist, Macarthur Fellow, And Scripps Professor Martha Gonzalez, Belén S. Yudess

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This Spotlight features a conversation with Professor Martha Gonzalez, a Chicana artivista (artist/activist) musician, feminist music theorist, and Associate Professor and Chair of the Intercollegiate Department of Chicana/o Latina/o Studies (CLS) at Scripps/Claremont College. The conversation draws from Prof. Gonzalez’s background as a Chicana, and the  Chicanxs, Mexicanxs, Latinxs, and Indigenous communities in Mexico and Los Angeles that have shaped her work. She shares her practice in teaching and engaging with collective songwriting, her critique of western paradigms, and explorations of boundary crossing that music facilitates as part of championing the hope and flourishing that comes from within communities and …

Lmu Concert Band Spring 2026 Performance, Benjamin Bruflat, Dma

Band Programs

No abstract provided.

Isu University Band: April 29, 2026, Lauren N. Bobarsky, Wesley Anderson, Madison Mueller-Howell, Colby Powers, Alexandra Karafotias, Michael Hammon, Sam Kapus, Gunnar Tejes, Jessica Wenc

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundred and fifth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

April 29. 2026

Wednesday Evening

8:00 p.m.

The Changed Woman: Analyzing Narrative Parallels In The Stories Of Biblical Women And Musical Theatre Heroines, Finleigh Klein

Honors Projects

Musical theatre has become popular with audiences around the world. Many musicals contain stories of hope and overcoming obstacles, especially in narratives concerning young women. Since the Bible also contains a wealth of stories that focus on strong women, it is interesting to consider what connections may be found between the women represented in this ancient text and the female characters in various musical theatre productions.

With these potential connections in mind, I ask the question: how is the Biblical trope of the uplifting of women represented in songs sung by female characters in musical theatre? Furthermore, how can the …

Jonathan Watson Graduate Piano Recital, Andrews University

Student Degree Recitals 2025-2026

Jonathan Watson presents his Graduate Piano Recital featuring works by Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, and Shostakovich.

Jonathan Watson is a student of Dr. Chi Yong Yun.

Lmu Jazz Band Spring 2026 Performance, Benjamin Bruflat, Dma

Band Programs

No abstract provided.

Aiko J. Ayala Ríos Senior Piano Recital, Andrews University

Student Degree Recitals 2025-2026

Aiko J. Ayala Ríos presents her Senior Piano Recital Ex Umbra in Lux, featuring works by J.S. Bach, F. Liszt, W. A. Mozart, and S. Prokofiev.

Aiko J. Ayala Ríos is a student of Dr. Chi Yong Yun.

Senior Recital: Machamer, Trumpet; April 26, 2026, Charlie Machamer, Lu Witzig

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and ninety-eighth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 26, 2026

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

Graduate Recital: Schaefer, Trombone; April 26, 2026, Trevor Schaefer, Lu Witzig

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundred and first program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 26, 2026

Sunday Evening

5:30 p.m.

Chamber Studio Recital, Andrews University

Concerts and Event Programs 2025-2026

The Andrews University Department of Music presents the Chamber Studio Recital featuring music by Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Strauss.

Senior Recital: Jensen, Piano; April 26, 2026, Nadia Jensen

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and ninety-seventh program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 26, 2026

Sunday Afternoon

1:30 p.m.

Sophomore Recital: Cavazos, Piano; April 26, 2026, Elie Cavazos, Lu Witzig

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundredth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 26, 2026

Sunday Afternoon

4:30 p.m.

University Glee And Belle Voix: April 26, 2026, Tim Fredstrom, Andrew Bruhn

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and ninety-nineth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

April 26, 2026

Sunday Afternoon

3:00 p.m.

Joint Junior Trumpet Recital: Buford And Schmuldt; April 26, 2026, Xavier Buford, Allison Schmuldt

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and ninety-sixth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 26, 2026

Sunday

Noon

Spring Concert: Treble And Concert Choir; April 26, 2026, Mark Grizzard, Andrew Bruhn

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundred and second program of the 2025-2026 season.

Center for the Performing Arts

April 26, 2026

Sunday Evening

6:00 p.m.

Junior Recital: Tarcak, Piano; April 26, 2026, Ezra Tarcak

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundred and third program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 26, 2026

Sunday Evening

7:30 p.m.

Graduate Recital: Pal-Casiano, Piano; April 26, 2026, Alexis Faye Pal-Casiano

School of Music Programs

This is the two hundred and fourth program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 26, 2026

Sunday Evening

9:00 p.m.

Howard Series Presents: Chi Yong Yun & Charles Reid, Andrews University

Concerts and Event Programs 2025-2026

International-renowned pianist Chi Yong Yun & acclaimed tenor Charles Reid present a voice recital under the Howard Series.

Graduate Recital: Fuqua, Percussion; April 25, 2026, Jewelianna Fuqua, Kyle Heissler, Noah Berkshier, Wyatt Mastin, Sara Eckert, Abbey Schiller, Bridget Hagan

School of Music Programs

This is the one hundred and ninety-second program of the 2025-2026 season.

Kemp Recital Hall

April 25, 2026

Saturday Afternoon

5:00 p.m.