Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Defining The Late Style Of Johannes Brahms: A Study Of The Late Songs, Natilan Casey-Ann Crutcher

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Johannes Brahms has long been viewed as a central figure in the Classical tradition during a period when the standards of this tradition were being altered and abandoned. His resistance to innovation creates some difficulty when trying to pinpoint his "late style", and how he fits into the late style concept. While existing scholarship on Brahms's late style tends to focus on his chamber works, this document focuses on his late Lieder. This document proves a study of Brahms's literary considerations, a comparison of his early and late songs, and a comparison between Brahms and some of his contemporaries. In …

Musical And Cultural Perspectives Of Héctor Campos Parsi: An Examination Of His Influences And Analysis Of Selected Vocal Works, Cynthia Ortiz-Bartley

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This paper examines the historical and cultural atmosphere in Puerto Rico and how it affected one of Puerto Rico’s most celebrated composers, Héctor Campos Parsi, and two selected works in two different times of his life. The discussion includes events that affected the island with respect to art music from 1898, the birth of Héctor Campos Parsi in 1922, and up to 1986, which marks the date of the second selected work. This document considers three questions about cultural and structural influences about the life and experiences of Héctor Campos Parsi: Does a composer’s life experience and environment and culture …

Hyperscales: Analysis, Historical Uses, And Possible Applications In Contemporary Music Composition, Douglas Wayne Brown

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This paper introduces the hyperscale, defines terminology that is new or potentially ambiguous, examines historical scales which may be a hyperscale or not (with examples when available), introduces two synthetic hyperscales created by the author, tells the story behind their creation through an analysis of an original piece by the author that uses both scales, compares the scale characteristics and composition techniques used in the piece with those of another piece written by a contemporary composer, and finally offers some concluding thoughts on the future of the hyperscale in art music. Because relatively little scholarship exists for this topic, this …

Building An Image: Japanese Influence On The Perception Of Western Countries, A Study Of The 1904 St. Louis World’S Fair, Andrea M. Fowler

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In this thesis, I argue that the Japanese government has utilized art and artistic expression to influence the perception that Western countries had of its nation and culture. This phenomenon is examined through a case study of Japanese participation at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and the exhibits that they presented. These exhibits are examined utilizing both reception and post-colonial theory, and then applying these theories to primary source material from the 1904 World’s Fair. These materials include guidebooks and photographs from both the United States and Japanese authors, to showcase differences between how the East and West interpreted …

Artifacts Of Imagination, Rachel Emily Simpson

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My MFA thesis and supporting exhibition focus on works ranging from video and sculpture to installation. The work has evolved from an intimate spiritual dialogue and interaction with the terrestrial world. This personal narrative is a jumping off point to pursue more universal themes and ideas of layering of information, shared versus collective perceptions and creating systems of understanding. Many of the processes involved in this exhibition contain some form of collage. The use of these various collage techniques furthers the idea of complexity in perception and expression and the many layers of experience. I will explain how the creation …

Latin American Influences On Selected Piano Pieces By Louis Moreau Gottschalk And Darius Milhaud, Hyejeong Seong

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This research document examines selected piano works by Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869) and Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) that are influenced by Latin American cultures.The paper traces the influence of Latin American music and the incorporation of characteristic melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic elements in the following compositions: Souvenir de Porto Rico, op. 31 (1857) and Souvenir de la Havane, op. 39 (1859) by Gottschalk; Saudades do Brasil, op. 67 (1920-1921) and Brasileira: Third movement of Scaramouche Suite, op. 165b (1937), for Two Pianos, by Milhaud. After a brief introduction, the study reviews the existing related literature about this topic. Then, Chapters Three …

The Life And Work Of Alex Klein, Ramon Thiago Mendes De Oliveira

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Alex Klein is one of the best-known figures of the American oboe school. He is the winner of multiple international competitions, including the first prize at the Geneva’s Concours International d’Execution Musicale. Appointed principal oboe at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1995, Klein is one of the most highly regarded musicians hired during the Barenboim era. His recording of Richard Strauss’ oboe concerto with the CSO was awarded Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (with Orchestra) at the 44th Grammy Awards. In 2004, his tenure at CSO was interrupted due to the onset of Focal Dystonia; which affected multiple fingers in …

Cloud 9: Bringing The Abstract To Light, Thomas N. Gillette

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This document chronicles my journey designing the lighting for Carol Churchill’s Cloud 9 in the Creative Arts Center at West Virginia University. Starting with the initial read, this paper will continue through the early meetings and initial concepts discussed by the design team. Proceeding through the evolution of the design up to and throughout the tech process and will conclude with an evaluation of the overall experience. I have also provided a combination of paperwork items which were essential in the mounting of the production including: light plot, the channel hookup, cue list, and the EOS magic sheet. In addition, …

Predictors Of Perceived Multicultural Competence Among Neuropsychological Trainees, Hannah K. Greenbaum

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Multicultural competence is necessary to provide psychological services to an increasingly diverse population (Sue, 2001). It is established that multicultural competence is important for training in psychology (Bodin et al., 2014; Diaz-Santos & Hill, 2016). Despite increased interest in recent years, multicultural competence in neuropsychology has not progressed in parallel with the focus of multiculturalism in psychology broadly (Rivera Mindt, Byrd, Saez, & Manly, 2010). Little is known about multicultural assessment, and it is not yet known what factors in training contribute to perceived multicultural competence in neuropsychological trainees (Elbulok-Charape, Rabin, Spadaccini, & Barr, 2014). The primary purpose of this …

The Hard Bop Trombone: An Exploration Of The Improvisational Styles Of The Four Trombonist Who Defined The Genre (1955-1964), Emmett Curtis Goods

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This dissertation examines the improvisational stylings of Curtis Fuller, Locksley “Slide” Hampton, Julian Priester and Grachan Moncur III from 1955 through 1964. In part one of this study, each musician is presented through their improvisational connections to J.J. Johnson, the leading trombonist of the Bebop era. His improvisational signatures are then traced through to the musical innovations of the Hard-Bop Trombone Era. Source material for this part of the study includes published books, dissertations, articles, online sources, discographies and personal interviews. Part two of this paper analyzes selected solos from each of the four subjects to identify the defining characteristics …

Dp Internal Codeswitching By Spanish And English Bilinguals In The Us, Yurena Castaño-Nuñez

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Codeswitching studies the boundaries that exist at all linguistic levels when a speaker switches between two or more languages in a single moment of speech.

(i) En el restaurante he pedido la big hamburguesa.

‘At the restaurant I have ordered the big hamburger.’

(ii) Juan conoce la highway para llegar a Washington D.C.

‘Juan knows the highway to get to Washington D.C.’

(iii) A Carmen no le gustan los pantalones cortos. A ella le gustan los long ones.

‘Carmen doesn’t like short pants. She likes the long ones.’

This thesis concentrates on the study of switches between adjectives and Noun …

Prizes, Winning, And Identity: Narrative Vocal Music Of The Pulitzer Prize, 2008–2018, Julia K. Kuhlman

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This thesis considers the ways in which the Pulitzer Prize for Music shapes and is shaped by music of the moment. Since 1943, the Pulitzer Prize has marked 83 pieces as “distinguished” examples of American music. The financial rewarding of winning composers and the initiation of a reciprocal transfer of prestige and political capital, the Pulitzer’s expert juries and governing body has contributed to the preservation of a perpetually-shifting status quo. By chronicling the year-to-year shifts of administrative power dynamics in prize selections, the Pulitzer Prize has mirrored the changing American musical landscape.

Drawing on methods of reception history, archival …

A Timeless Ritual, Luke Thomas Doyle

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This written thesis is the supporting documentation for A Timeless Ritual, my Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition. The exhibition seeks to define my expression of aesthetics through utilitarian vessels to create a sense of nostalgia with the user my mimicking industrial objects.

The research pertaining to my thesis explores the interactions between object and user. A patina layered over time evokes a sense of age, weathered memories of a time once lived. I look for these subtle nuances in form. Borrowing an aesthetic from manufactured products and reviving it in a domestic space is where my pots takes life. …

The Effect Of Phonetic Training On The Perception And The Production Of L1-Related Difficult Sounds In Esl, Moonjung Jang

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A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the influence of first languages’ phonological features in pronunciation of a second language. While it has been accepted that pronunciation is one of the most significant aspects in the acquisition of a second language, many studies have not considered whether explicit phonetic training in pronunciation would help English as Second language Learners to improve their pronunciation on particular English sounds that can be confused due to L1 influence. The present study will explore whether Korean ESL learners are able to perceive the particular pairs of the different phonetic sounds (i.e., /p/-/f/, …

Listening For The Cosmic Other: Postcolonial Approaches To Music In The Space Age, Paige Zalman

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As government programs such as NASA and SETI seek signs of intelligent life in space and privately-funded programs such as SpaceX finalize plans to colonize Mars in the coming decades, representations of space and extraterrestrial life in American culture have become increasingly relevant. Focusing on Jóhann Jóhannsson’s musical score for Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction film Arrival (2016), Terry Riley’s Sun Rings (2002) for string quartet, chorus, and recorded space sounds, and former International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield’s “Songs about Space” Spotify playlist, my research problematizes the ways in which composers, musicians, and even astronauts depict alterity through music and reinforce …

Living Tangent, Cornelius Alexander Hugo

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A living tangent is how I am known by many and how I have lived my life for some time. I think in tangents and my life and art seem to evolve through them. Everything I make is connected by multiple thoughts or tangent lines that run from something as simple as the color red, to the idea that I believe communism has invaded my family’s homeland. This then leads to the recollection of childhood games, taught to me by my family in Venezuela and the importance these games played in my psychological development and in my presence as an …

2.8: Designing Visitor Experience For A Narrative-Oriented Exhibition, Kseniia Leshchenko

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This thesis proposes interactive visitor experience with social media and fake news references at 2.8 thesis exhibition at West Virginia University. 2.8 refers to the distance between the United States and Russia borders in the Bering Strait and suggests that switching a point of view helps conflicting groups find common ground. By designing a space in such a way that a visitor constantly faces an alternative point of view, which in this case represents my own, I investigate whether this experience contributes to the viewers’ outlook change. Another aim is to see whether adding interactive elements to a show improves …

Chercheur De Lumière: The Art Of Jean-Louis Rouméguère (1863-1925), Elizabeth Ann Wheeler

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This thesis examines the landscape paintings of Jean-Louis Rouméguère (1863-1925), who was active in southwestern France in the early twentieth century. Rouméguère, who also had a brief Parisian career, was a fervently independent artist whose work nonetheless shows the varied influences of the Barbizon school, the Impressionist movement, and even classical landscape techniques. Working exclusively in the regions stretching from Auvergne to the Pyrenees, Rouméguère created atmospheric, somatically-appealing paintings that experimented with pushing small scale to an extreme. The artist’s work demonstrates his quest to capture the intense, ever-shifting light of his region while maintaining a sense of harmony and …

Core Curriculum For Orchestra, Andrew Thomas Aycoth

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Core Curriculum draws inspiration from the idea of a sound collage that incorporates many specific pieces and techniques that I have encountered or studied during my time in music academia. Nearly everything is derived from something else, often being transformed or altered in some way. From my own private teaching of guitar lessons to analyses of 20th century art music, I tried to represent as much music as possible from these formative years. There are two main features that continue throughout the piece. The first is the repetitive rhythmic figure based on eighth notes that are out of phase, which …

An Assessment Of Emotional-Force And Cultural Sensitivity The Usage Of English Swearwords By L1 German Speakers, Sarah Dawn Cooper

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This study examines the usage of English swearwords by L1 German speakers and poses the following three questions: (1) Which English swearwords do native-speakers of German use? (2) In which situations do German speakers use English swearwords? Why do they use English swearwords instead of their German counterparts? (3) What emotional weight do they apply to swearwords in English (i.e. How taboo are they)? In an effort to understand Germans’ use of swearwords today, potential attributing factors were assessed and evaluated in a 15-question survey comprised of both qualitative and quantitative components that was taken by 403 participants from Germany …

Queen Louise Of Prussia: Gender, Power, And Queenship During The Sattelzeit Era, Samantha Sproviero

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Louise of Meckelburg-Strelitz was born on March 10, 1776 and died just thirty-four years later. In her short time as the queen consort of Prussia, she would give birth to nine children, command her own dragoons, negotiate with Napoleon, and eventually become a complex and celebrated German historical figure. Immensely popular in life, her early death was considered a national tragedy, and commemorations of her life only solidified her role as a new type of Prussian queen. Using Louise as a case study, this work will examine how the role of queen changed, not only in Prussia, but also between …

Contemporary Music Notation For The Flute: A Unified Guide To Notational Symbols For Composers And Performers, Ms. Eftihia Victoria Arkoudis

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David Cope stated: “There are two basic approaches to the study of New Music Notation: codification and comprehension […] what really needs to be done is not to keep listing the diverse ways each composer symbolizes his music or create substantially new and negating systems of notation, but to concentrate on codifying one way for future composers to symbolize their music.”^[1]

In an attempt to limit the inconsistency and complexity characterizing contemporary notation idiomatic to the flute, this paper is the first to adopt Cope’s statement and ultimately apply it in relation to the notation of non-standard extended flute …

Breaking And Remaking The Mason-Dixon Line: Loyalty In Civil War America, 1850-1900, Charles R. Welsko

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Between 1850 and 1900, Americans redefined their interpretation of national identity and loyalty. In the Mid-Atlantic borderland of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia this change is most evident. With the presence of a free state and slave states in close proximity, white and black Americans of the region experienced the tumult of the Civil War Era first hand. While the boundary between freedom and slavery served as an antebellum battleground over slavery, during the war, the whole region bore witness to divisions between the Union and Confederacy as well as to define what loyalty and nation meant. By exploring …

The Magic Flute: Modern Light On A Classic Opera, Justin E H Burns

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Mozart’s The Magic Flute is a classic opera, showcasing powerful visual moments and well-known songs. This particular production’s lighting design approach consisted of modern design ideas and aesthetics, while remaining true to the classic idea of 2 forces working against one another. Focusing on the major themes in The Magic Flute, the lighting design reinforces the feelings of fear, despair, hope and ultimately enlightenment. This paper describes the process and execution of how the lighting design achieved these goals.

Los Ritmos Latinoamericanos Como Estrategia De Resistencia En La Ópera La Ruta De Su Evasión (2017) De Abya Yala Y Carlos Castro, Pamela Zamora Quesada

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In this Master’s thesis I examine the most recent Costa Rican opera The Path of Avoidance (2017), produced by the Cultural Association for Performing Arts Abya Yala, directed by Roxana Ávila and composed by Carlos Castro, based on the homonymous novel of Yolanda Oreamuno (1948).Through a semiotic analysis, I will discuss how the innovative manner of incorporating Latin American rhythms such as salsa, bolero, vals criollo, bossa nova and tango is a musical strategy which promotes a problematization of the gender dominant discourse and patriarchal context. Simultaneously, these rhythms offer a way of resistance on the direct or psychological violence …

A Compendium Of Opera In Spain And Latin America, Michelle S. Smith

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Spain and Latin America have a rich operatic tradition, however this opulent body of operatic work is mostly overlooked or ignored in mainstream histories of opera. This document focuses on opera in Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. Opera was both composed and performed in Spain and Latin America, and both regions demonstrate the development of national opera traditions. Spanish drama was closely linked to the beginnings of national opera, and Italian influence is evident in opera compositions from both regions. The output of national operas varies by country, with Spain, Mexico, and Argentina claiming the majority of …

The "Organ-Accompanied Solo Motet" In In La Maîtrise, 1857–1861, John David O'Donnell

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In his work, Motets for One Voice by Franck, Gounod, and Saint-Saëns, Richard Benefield began the scholarly study of a unique body of repertoire, the organ-accompanied solo motet repertoire of nineteenth century France. While Benefield chose to restrict his project to the work of only three major composers, he indicated other collections of Latin texted solo motets, one of which was the solo motets published in the Parisian church music journal La Maîtrise,between 1857–1861. These songs are examined in terms of historical context, musical features, and possible contemporary uses.

As France recovered from the ravages of the Revolution, …

Bargaining For Security: The Rise Of The Pension And Social Insurance Program Of The United Steelworkers Of America, 1941-1960, Henry Edward Himes Iii

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This dissertation charts the United Steelworkers of America’s (USWA) quest to win long term welfare security for its members from 1941 to 1960. The study focuses on external and internal events and issues that led the union to seek pensions and social insurance at the bargaining table in 1949, and ultimately, to enhance their private security at the bargaining table throughout the 1950s. Although labor’s ability to influence the passage of national health care was greatly curtailed by a rise in conservative politics during World War II and the immediate postwar era, issues beyond politics also played a role in …

Liberation By Emigration: Italian Communists, The Cold War, And West-East Migration From Venezia Giulia, 1945-1949, Luke Gramith

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In the years after World War II, several thousand Italians from the Italo-Yugoslav borderlands emigrated eastward across the emerging Iron Curtain, hoping to start new and better lives in Communist Yugoslavia. This dissertation explores what these migrants hoped Communism would be and how the experiences of everyday life under the preceding Fascist dictatorship shaped these hopes. It suggests that these Italians envisioned Communist society as one purged of certain social categories—shopkeepers, foremen, and piecework clerks—who had become known as quintessential Fascists due to the way Fascism interwove itself with local power. Marxist doctrine played a relatively minor role in shaping …

Material Disease: Agency And Illness In Early American Literature, Mariah Crilley

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Material Disease: Agency and Illness in Early American Literature argues that diseases shaped bodies of literature. Drawing on new materialism, disability studies, and the medical humanities, this dissertation argues that diseases were material and literary agents that transformed not only individual bodies and lives but also cultures, history, and even literature. In each chapter, I explore how one disease impacted a particular genre or paradigm: syphilis and the natural history, smallpox and the body politic, yellow fever and the novel, dysentery and sensibility, and malaria and narratives of Western expansion. By emphasizing disease’s material and literary agency, by conjoining the …