Arts and Humanities Commons^™

“Compadres De Los Suburbios”: Hip-Hop Counterculture In The Andean Sprawl Of El Alto, Matthew Harrison, Brian Pierce

Journal of Undergraduate Research

For as long as we have recognized the existence of music, it has been inevitably and profoundly representative of our world’s many diverse cultures. By chance, just the other week I had the opportunity to chat with some family members about the origins of modern hip-hop music in the United States; it was fascinating to not only agree upon some wide-spread fundamental influences such as the classic rhythm and blues of Ray Charles and the boundary-pushing synth tunes of Kraftwerk, but also to recognize that while pulling from these influences, modern hip-hop has become something entirely of its own. The …

The Relationship Of Music And [Emotion]: An Experiment In Areas Of Brain Activity, Caleb Cuzner, Steve Ricks, Neal Bangerter

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In order to study the relationship between music and color in areas of brain activity, I proposed to have participants’ brains scanned by an MRI machine while seeing different colors and listening to contrasting music samples. After learning that aural and visual response use completely different areas of the brain, the study was modified to instead connect emotions to music, since emotional response to music can be mapped in the brain. Based on the resulting data, I wrote a composition to be played by DuoX, a group in Amsterdam. This composition was written in segments, and the performers chose which …

The Gamelan And The Piano: Instruments For Cultural Exchange, Zach Froelich, Jermey Grimshaw

Journal of Undergraduate Research

This project began with a simple idea; what elements are important in representing other culture’s music and do we overlook certain elements because of our cultural biases? I wanted to see what would happen if I merged the quintessentially Western instrument, the piano, with the Balinese gamelan. This had been explored by previous composers who have made transcriptions of Balinese music for piano and have taken Balinese musical forms and composed new pieces for western instruments but they had ignored aspects of Balinese music that the Balinese consider extremely important. Balinese instruments are very carefully tuned using a scale that …

Wind Among The Reeds: Analysis Of The Vietnamese Oboe Tradition, Christian Tran, Geralyn Giovannetti

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Music has always been an important part of Vietnamese culture. The many traditional music styles dotting the coastal country have remained stamps of cultural authenticity and a source of pride to the natives of each region. As the country was occupied by France, and later Russia, Japan, and the United States, Western classical music became common in Vietnam’s large cities. Each country brought its own traditions of pedagogy, interpretation, and repertoire. With this, Western classical music instruction began. My ORCA project was to analyze the state of Western classical music in Vietnam with regards to oboe instruction, performance, and repertoire. …

Essential Brass Repair, Pearce Nitta, David Brown

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In the world of performing arts, instruments often malfunction, preventing the performer from playing the instrument. This malfunction can be a simple fix that the performer may know how to fix, but more often than not, these damages to the instrument can only be fixed by a technician with sufficient training. Over the past year, I have studied the art of instrument repair, focusing most of my time on brass instruments. The techniques and skills I have learned have grown tremendously over this time and I have been able to employ these abilities to many of my pursuits outside of …

Watch Out, Dave! – A New Look At Retro, Dallas Crane, Ray Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Johnny Williams (well known in the film world as John Williams) created a masterful record, Rhythm in Motion, in 1961. Though not well received commercially, it is a powerful testament of the creativity that flowed through Hollywood and jazz. I studied two scores from this album, both arrangements of famous tunes: Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets) and Surrey with the Fringe on Top. Both of these provided a deep look into the techniques and thought processes of Hollywood orchestrators, something that prepared me to compose my own original songs for Watch Out, Dave!, a cartoon I’m directing through BYU.

String Instrument Maintenance And Repair: Fundamental Skills For The Classroom Teacher, Madison K. Moline, Dr. Samuel Tsugawa

Journal of Undergraduate Research

My ORCA project was to study, practice, and teach string instrument maintenance and repair. The repairs that I learned were: closing and opening seams;; closing cracks in various parts of the instrument;; bridge and sound post alignment and placement;; neck and fingerboard adjustment;; nut and saddle raising and replacing;; peg alteration and replacement;; cleaning and polishing instruments. Because there is such a need for inexpensive timely repair in an orchestra classroom, it was crucial that I not only learn these basic repairs myself, but assist local orchestra teachers with their repair needs, and teach fellow future teachers.

Engraving The J.D. Morsch Collection At Byu, Nicolas Maruicio Ayala Ceron, Dr. Donald Peterson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Brigham Young University Music Performance Library houses a very special collection of hand-written music unique in the world. This collection, known as the J.D. Marsch Collection, includes the music of renowned wind band composer, arranger, and transcriber J. Durward Marsch who dedicated his life to music education as well as to producing a large body of works, most of which are transcriptions for wind bands. The instrumentation for these ensembles is notable for the exclusion of string instruments found in more well-known orchestral ensembles, with the exception of a single String Bass instrument, a later addition to the wind …

Woodwind Instrument Repair, Emily Brown, Ray Smith

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Over the past year I was given the opportunity to heavily research the repair of woodwind instruments and it was funded by an Orca grant. For 6 weeks I learned from woodwind repair experts at Summerhay’s music store in Murray, Utah. We would work together for about four hours per week and I would observe and receive instruction from them. I then used what I learned during my internship with Summerhay’s at my job in the Instrument Office at BYU by helping repair BYU instruments.

How It Sounds And What It Means: Understanding Indian Music And Culture Through Study Of The Hindustani Violin, Megumi Terry, Dr. Jeremy Grimshaw

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As a classically trained violinist, having studied since the age of four, I have had an unlikely fascination with other world music cultures. In the summer of 2015 I had the opportunity to live in India and explore the culture and come to love the music of the Hindustani tradition. As a violinist, I wanted to expand my training beyond the boundaries of traditional Western classical music and examine one of the richest non- European violin traditions by taking lessons with Anabil Chaudhuri, a Hindustani classical violinist. The goal of the project was to be able to better understand music …

The Accompaniment Techniques Of British Organists, Dallin Baldwin, Don Cook

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The purpose of my research was to better understand the choral accompaniment techniques of English organists. Most of the choral music that is performed in the United States today is accompanied by the piano. Yet there are great choral masterpieces that are neglected because there are no organists that have sufficient training and experience to perform them. In Great Britain, however, choirs are often accompanied by organists. Several of the top choirs in the world are located in Great Britain and have resident organists to accompany them. In my research, I studied the techniques of English organists in accompanying choirs.

Music For Ballet West’S Upcoming Children’S Ballet, Emmaline Sanders, Aaron Merril

Journal of Undergraduate Research

While many students apply for an ORCA grant to fund scientific research or, in the case of other Commercial Music majors, technical audio application, I wanted to complete a project that was purely artistic. My emphasis has always been in classical concert composition first and foremost, and when I received the opportunity to write the music for a ballet, I wanted it to showcase my best work. My ORCA grant made that possible by allowing me to hire 6 top quality musicians and a professional recording studio to layer live players in with my software instruments. The finished product is …

Uncovering Hidden Post-War Music Of Stefan Kisielewski, Haley Gammon, Luke Howard

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Stefan Kisielewski – writer, publicist, politician, and composer – not only lost many of his works as a result of the Second World War, but was controlled under Soviet censorship many years after it. Today there is a current surge of excitement and opportunity to uncover missing information regarding Kisielewski and his contemporaries, but still huge gaps and missing links. In an almost endless supply of information waiting to be discovered in Polish archives, libraries, and personal collections lies the key to knowledge that will help complete the picture of Polish music in the Soviet era. My project contributes a …

My Son's Guitar Class, Darlene Young

BYU Studies Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Paco, Luke Howard

BYU Studies Quarterly

Nathan Thatcher. Paco.

New York: Mormon Artists Group, 2016.