Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Flexi Discs: The Audio Format That Time Forgot And Remembered Again, Junior R. Tidal

Publications and Research

Flexi discs, also known as phonosheets and Soundsheets, are “flexible” plastic sheets that can be played on turntables. This audio format was used for a wide variety of purposes including promotional materials, giveaways, and inserts into magazines, stemming from their origins in playable chocolate discs in the early 1900s (Parks, 2018). At one point in time it was a $9 million dollar business, with the U.S. government as one of the top users of the technology (Penchansky, 1979). Their disposable nature, weight, ability to print directly on material, and affordable manufacturing made the flexi disc an alternative to vinyl pressings. …

Integrating The Fine Arts, Cole Alexander

Honors Projects

This project seeks to understand and apply research to a lesson plan unit regarding the integration of the fine arts (art and music) into the general education classroom.

Children’S Literature Curriculum: An Introduction To Music For Preschool Students, Dominique Grelsamer

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In this curriculum, children were introduced to a selection of books regarding the foundations of music, the various genres stemmed from early music, followed by a collection of stories about famous musicians who revolutionized the art form.

Pieces Of Us: Songwriting Our Stories In Harrisonburg, Va, Davina Miaw

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Storytelling is a way in which humans communicate their lives as narratives and understand the world around them. Storytelling through composing music allows students not only a means of personal expression, but also enhanced literacy skills, social skills, and understandings of basic musical concepts (e.g., Barrett & Stauffer, 2012; Kaschub & Smith, 2009). This thesis contains a digital storybook of fifth grade students’ original songs that documents their processes of turning ideas into final products and examines their thoughts and words about songwriting and identity development. It also shares autoethnographic reflections on ways in which my identity as a musician …

Margulis Revisited: Once More On Program Notes And Audience Enjoyment, Jocelyn Abrahamzon

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

In a 2010 study, Elizabeth Margulis finds that audience members enjoy classical music less when they read information about the piece before they hear it. Her result is surprising because conventional wisdom suggests that such pre-concert information would add to an audience members’ enjoyment of a concert. To gain further perspective, I decided to conduct a similar study on JMU’s campus that differed from Margulis’ in many ways. For example, participants attended a live concert rather than listening to excerpts of music through headphones. I created a survey that asked participants questions about their experience at a concert they attended …

Oh, Maria, Miguel Cruz

Writing Waves

Keywords: Genre, Culture, Music, Sampling, CHAT

Music And Peacebuilding: A Survey Of Two Israeli Ensembles Using Music And Dialogue To Build Understanding, Empathy, And Conflict Transformation, Benjamin Philip Bergey

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the work of two Israeli ensembles that bring diverse musicians together through music and dialogue. Dialogue is a key tool for transforming conflict and building peace that hinges on critical, empathetic listening.[1] Music ensembles, with their opportunities for participants to practice listening, are contexts in which participants and instructors can learn how to communicate and engage in dialogue to improve interpersonal relationships in pursuit of peace.

The Polyphony Foundation and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus bring Arab and Jewish youth together in Israel to make music and practice dialogue. This thesis examines …

A Song For Jennie, Claire Bickers

The Gettysburg Compiler: On the Front Lines of History

The simple tune was created by lyricist E. B. Dewing and composer J. P. Webster who hoped they would inspire patriotism in their female audience while they worked to become accomplished musicians. When the Civil War broke out, the young women who played the piece had been left behind on the home front, only to imagine what horrors their men were facing. The government and the warfront alike relied on the homefront to present a brave and loyal face in order to maintain support for the war effort through the fostering of a nationalistic, sentimental culture that bled into all …

Tone Production, Musicianship Training, Repertoire Development, Performance Practice: A Pedagogical Overview Of Selected International Children's Choirs, Janet Hostetter

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Abstract

Directors of children’s choirs benefit greatly from understanding the pedagogical processes used in internationally-recognized children’s choirs. The sharing of ideas and resources among children’s choir directors is especially critical in the United States where diverse populations are the norm. Cross-cultural collaboration produces inspiration for new repertoire and exposes developing singers to the established performance practices upheld in choral communities of other nations. The effort to incorporate musical practices across regions builds meaningful relationships as directors and singers learn to understand, respect, and perform music of other lands. Finally, when children’s choir directors understand the pedagogical practices embraced by global …

Intrusive Thoughts - Guitar, Voice, & String Quintet, Joseph M. Young

Theses and Dissertations

This four-movement song addresses mental health, specifically that of Obsession Compulsive Disorder and the symptom of intrusive thoughts that are often associated. From the point of view of an individual suffering from OCD, each movement describes the disorder and portrays different stages of dealing with and managing emotions and relationships.

Isaac Hayes’S Soul Concept: Reexamining Hot Buttered Soul As A Pioneering Concept Album, Bryan Terry

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores Isaac Hayes's 1969 album Hot Buttered Soul, an early exemplar of the concept album genre. Historical, theoretical, and musical context is analyzed in order to show the groundbreaking nature of Hot Buttered Soul in the trajectory of African American popular music.

Songs From Home: A Study Of Musical Traditions Amongst Iraqi Refugees, Moira Rose Dunn

Anthropology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Families relocating to new communities face the hardships of learning how to navigate in a new legal and cultural environment and can also experience an interruption of past forms of passing down cultural, personal, or familial traditions, such as music. My research asks the following questions: how does music exist in the memories and daily life of Iraqi refugees in the Quad Cities, and how does the community provide specific expressive outlets for them? Using a combination of interviews with resettled Iraqi refugees and community members who try to reach out to them and participant observation, this research focuses on …

Jesse Routte: Using Style To Signify Injustice, Emma Nordmeyer

Race, Ethnicity, & Religion

Jesse Routte, first African-American student to graduate Augustana, made national headlines in 1947 for wearing a turban on a visit to Alabama. In this paper, I explore how Routte's stylistic choices uprooted and questioned the racism of the Jim Crow era.

Dance: Music, Movement, And Performance, Elise Beal

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Dance is an art form that incorporates many different mediums. Music is selected to determine the quality of movement that is visualized. Movement becomes realized through repetition of listening to music and outside influences. All dances require collaboration between choreographer and dancers to construct the piece and prepare for performance. The process of development, refinement, and completion is known as the choreographic process. The methods for the process include determining the style of movement and choosing music to satisfy the inspiration. Once music is selected, movement and steps can be determined with influences from previous pieces or other choreographers. The …

Amat's "Guitarra Española" And Its Influence On Music Theory, Ruben Melendez

Music Theses - Archive

The guitar was one of the most popular instruments of the 17th century and played a large role in the way that theorists and musicians thought about music during the 16th and 17th centuries. A new style of guitar playing for the Spanish five-course guitar, called rasgueado, had just burst on to the music scene and was changing the way people thought about music. The spark that ignited the popularity of this new style originated from the first treatise on rasgueado music, written by physician and amateur guitarist Juan Carlos Amat. In his treatise “Guitarra Española,” Amat introduces new theoretical, …

An Analysis Of Musicals By Lynn Ahrens And Stephen Flaherty, And An Original Musical, Fly Like An Eagle, Donna Howard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have written musicals together for several decades. This thesis contains an in-depth discussion and stylistic analysis of several songs each from Once on This Island, Ragtime, and Seussical – three Ahrens & Flaherty shows chosen specifically because of their variety in style and subject matter. This analysis includes, among other things, the lyrics and lyric setting, textures, harmonic settings, accompaniment styles, rhythms, and harmonic progressions. The central portion of this document contains the music for nine songs of an original musical titled Fly Like an Eagle. This script is written by Daris Howard and is …

Effects Of Genre Tag Complexity On Popular Music Perception And Enjoyment, Lauren Shepherd

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The popular online streaming platform Spotify added over 1400 genre tags in the last two years. Despite that numerous artists and composition competitions claim to seek projects that “transcend the traditional notion of genre,” the industry has only added more complex and mystifying genre labels. This dichotomy between artists and industry ignores the effects these labels have on consumers. Do more complex genre tags enhance the listening experience for the average consumer by providing additional information about what they are about to hear? The current research seeks to examine the effects of the granularity of genre tags on popular music …

Stressful Music: A Look Into The Challenges Of Life As A Career Musician, Andrew Derek Heinzman

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper will discuss various aspects of life as a career musician and the challenges faced while working in this field. It will refer to different levels of fame and how certain challenges are present within those levels. Oftentimes the general public is not aware of the degree to which musicians face stress from their line of work. Conflict with bandmates, record labels, and sometimes the public often compound other issues musicians are already dealing with. The pressures of touring and low income can be emotionally draining for many. On top of all that, there is a culture of partying …

Eclectic: A Recording Project Of Original Crossover Compositions, Chance Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Music makers have always borrowed one another’s influences, across philosophies, across culture, and thus, across genres. Since the 1950’s, a time when classical music was at its farthest reach from popular music, the rift between these two “worlds” has shrunk, and music crafters from each category are free to take from the other as they please. As a figure who stands between the cultivated and vernacular traditions, my aim for this thesis is to give an introduction to some of the ways genre hybridization has been achieved since 1950, present a collection of my own compositions (along with recordings) that …

The Saturation Trilogy: The Importance Of The Vocal Mix, Nicholas Roa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper goes over the background of BROCKHAMPTON and how the group came together. It will also discuss each role that the members of the group have. This history of the group will be one of the topics in the paper. The three albums from The SATURATION Trilogy will be the main topic that this paper will examine. Within these albums, the tone and stand out elements will be discussed. The importance of the vocal mix will be highlighted throughout, and the paper will pinpoint the three important tools that help the vocal mix within these albums. The three tools …

Becoming An Artistic Entrepreneur: The Nuts And Bolts Of Running A Successful Artistic Venture, Collette Nicole Cook

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The music industry is shifting away from the traditional concert in traditional venues. New and innovative concert experiences are beginning to be designed to continue to find ways to speak to new audiences. As a musician, entrepreneurial skills are becoming more and more mandatory in creating a long-lasting career. Despite the thousands of people who graduate around the country with a music degree each year, the number of traditional music jobs as a major symphony orchestra member or touring soloist are becoming more and more difficult to land, causing many graduates to have to find work in a different field …

The Influence Of Film Music On Emotion, Alyssa D'Artenay

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper examines the use of music as a narrative device to influence an audience’s emotions and response in the context of film and visual media as well as its use as a tool to impart psychological transportation and assist the visual narrative. By identifying the contributions of music as a whole, I evaluate and describe its functions, roles and relationship with the audience through the medium of film. Using information collected from published reports, articles and books, I provide a thorough analysis of the varying methods and approaches used and the roles music plays in affecting the emotional response …

The Musical World Of Joseph Rumshinsky’S Mamele, D. A. Geller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“The Musical World of Joseph Rumshinsky’s Mamele” consists of a set of three cases studies that demonstrate the enormous need and potential for further Yiddish theater music scholarship. There exists little Yiddish theater scholarship that addresses music in any meaningful way: scholars like David Lifson, Nahma Sandrow, and Joel Berkowitz tend to view Yiddish theater’s rich musical traditions as a footnote in the larger history of Yiddish theater’s dramatic development. Yet Yiddish theater music developed independently from Yiddish drama, and therefore needs to be studied from a primarily musical perspective. I connect scholarship across the fields of Jewish studies …

Mabalêl., Johannes Visser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The symphonic song, Mabalel, as presented here, is an extract from a larger composition that also forms part of a greater trilogy of songs on South African texts. Throughout the three texts in the trilogy, themes of nature, pre-civilization society, and African tragedies create unification between the works. In Mabalel, a young native South African girl is sent to get water for her village from the river, when she is unexpectedly attacked by Lalele, a crocodile. The beauty of this text not only lies in its metaphorical representation of the (most often unjust) difficulties and tragedies faced daily by rural, …

The Impact Of Lyric Choices On Spiritual Edification, Hanna Jane Byrd

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Modern Christian worship music has gained influence within the evangelical community. The words of these songs, sung corporately, have the potential to influence the spiritual lives of church congregants, making it important for worship leaders and songwriters to identify the most beneficial lyrics. Despite numerous opinions about theological and personally relevant lyrics, little research has been conducted on the spiritual effects of lyric content within the lives of Christian believers. Diminutive scholarly inquiry has been limited to historical, theological or qualitative methodologies. Utilizing the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Spiritual Transcendence Index (STI), this quantitative quasi-experimental study …

How Arkansas Band Educators Use Technology For Music Education And Their Attitudes Towards This Technology, Laura Christine Thompson

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study was conducted in order to understand the types of music technologies band educators in the state of Arkansas were using, their attitudes towards technology, and the implications training, during undergraduate and through professional development, had on the frequency of use. Arkansas Music Educators (n=64) completed an online questionnaire containing demographic information, selection of music technologies, agreeability/disagreeability to statements about music technology, frequency of use, descriptions of technologies, and description of how they felt music technology should be used for the purpose of learning. Regarding training in undergraduate professional development for music technology use, there appeared to be no …

History Of Jazz I For Majors Mus 320/520, Jim Kinnie

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Student Conductors Concert (April 23-24, 2019), Lindenwood University

Student Music Performance Programs

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Music: Music Psychology, Music Therapy, And Worship Music, Jessica Whittemore

Senior Honors Theses

There are three specific fields related to music: the psychology of Music and how it affects human brain and functions, the methodology of Music Therapy and how it affects individuals undergoing treatment, and the psychological effects of Worship Music and how it can be used in music therapy. Music therapy is a growing field in which the therapeutic outcomes greatly benefit the patients. The overall purpose is to create a greater understanding of music and music therapy in order to a provide a system for introducing group worship services into music therapy to ultimately bring spiritual healing to individuals.

Musical And Social Trends In Twentieth-Century Colombia, Miranda Rojas

[Archive] Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

There has been only limited research into the musics of Latin America as a whole, and the amount of musicological investigation decreases when referring to any specific country. This presentation will provide a glimpse into the rich and diverse musical output of Colombian composers in the twentieth century. It begins with a brief overview of Latin American society and Colombian musical influences and social structures. Important Colombian composers such as Guillermo Uribe Holguín are discussed, as well as general trends in classical composition at the time. The musical output in Colombia is astounding and at least rivals, if not surpasses, …