Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Brief History Of Akron's Tuesday Musical, Thomas Bacher

Akron History

The Tuesday Musical Club was founded in 1887 by thirteen young Akron women who had an overwhelming desire to share their love of music. With further support of Gertrude Penfield Seiberling, the wife of industrialist Frank Seiberling, the organization grew like many other musical organizations across the country. Unlike similar clubs, the Akron-based entity continued to expand and is one of a very few that have survived.

Among the artists who have appeared as a part of the rich history of Akron's Tuesday Musical Organization are Vladimir Horowitz, Artur Rubinstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Jascha Heifetz, Glenn Gould, Van Cliburn, Isaac Stern, …

Sound Exploration: Text To Music, Raisa Park, Annalisa Swank

The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal

This sound exploration repurposes the familiar – written text – and literally translates it into music giving text a new form.

Flow, Tommy Bravos

Compositions

Flow was composed in the Spring of 2014 and premiered in it’s entirety during the April Student Composition Concert here at Illinois Wesleyan University. I composed the piece during an emotionally tumultuous time, and it represents many events that were occurring cyclically in my life at the time. The emotional events that directly inspired Flow were like opposite sides of a coin: one being relationships attempting to grow and the other being relationships gradually turning sour, needing to be left behind. These ideas are represented by the piece revolving around the recurring motive, showing how these events constantly wove in …

Rodeo, Music Department

Concerts

Rodeo by Aaron Copland & Concerto in D minor by CPE Bach. Performed by the Eastern Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Richard Robert Rossi. Featuring special guest artist Rebecca Johnson, Flute.

Judas And Peter, Jonathan Rayback

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The project for which I received a grant from ORCA consisted of composing a cantata for amplified voices and electronic accompaniment relating the story of the fall of Judas Iscariot. Initially my intention was to produce this piece with the aid of the MAX interactive programming environment as well as a Macintosh Quadra 800 computer, a variety of synthesizer modules, and Performer sequencing software. The text for this work was to be drawn from the following passages of the Bible: Matthew 26:14-16; 27:3-5; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6, 47-48; John 6:70-71; 12:4-6; 13:1-2, 18-30; Acts 1:15-20. The expressive goal of this …

Songs Of Love, Music Department

Concerts

Performed by the EIU Choral Ensembles & EIU Symphonic Honor Choir. Conducted by Richard Robert Rossi and April Lee.

The Music And Multiple Identities Of Kurdish Alevis From Turkey In Germany, Ozan Aksoy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the experiences of Kurdish Alevis, currently living in Germany, who trace their background to locations within the boundaries of the Republic of Turkey. I argue that music has been a particularly important mode through which Kurdish Alevis in Germany have articulated collective histories and have fashioned narratives of belonging and multiple and sometimes contradictory identities. The subjects of my research are immigrants and refugees who are ethnically Kurdish and whose religion is Alevi, an Anatolian religion whose relations to both Sunni and Shi'a Islam are historically controversial. They speak Turkish along with Kurdish, in most cases are …

An Introduction To Fourier Analysis With Applications To Music, Nathan Lenssen, Deanna Needell

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

In our modern world, we are often faced with problems in which a traditionally analog signal is discretized to enable computer analysis. A fundamental tool used by mathematicians, engineers, and scientists in this context is the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), which allows us to analyze individual frequency components of digital signals. In this paper we develop the discrete Fourier transform from basic calculus, providing the reader with the setup to understand how the DFT can be used to analyze a musical signal for chord structure. By investigating the DFT alongside an application in music processing, we gain an appreciation for …

Fresh And New, Tried And True: A Session On Hymn-Based Piano Collections For Worship, Norma De Waal Malefyt

Symposium on Worship Archive

This session will explore the best in both newly published music and the golden publications of the recent past for use in preludes, offertories and postludes. Particular attention will be given to music based on songs and hymns in Lift Up Your Hearts.

Encouraging Every Voice: Effective Song Leadership In Worship, Alison Adam

Symposium on Worship Archive

For those who strive to get congregations singing new songs and want out to bring the best in them. This workshop is aimed at the song-leader, often more enthusiastic than trained. We will explore how to introduce, teach, and lead new songs in worship and how to develop the singing confidence of a congregation. Alison Adam of the Iona Community has wide experience, helping those leading groups large and small to develop a strong and passionate ministry in congregational song.

The Art And Craft Of Creating Texts For Congregational Song, Ruth Duck

Symposium on Worship Archive

Ruth Duck, widely published author of many psalm and hymn texts, including in Lift Up Your Hearts and Psalms for All Seasons, will introduce several of her texts and speak about her process in writing hymns. As a seminary professor of worship, she has many insights to offer about writing, theology, and worship as they intersect in congregational singing.

Singing Songs From The Global South In A North American Church Context, Debbie Lou Ludolph

Symposium on Worship Archive

In this workshop we will sing songs of faith from around the world, share experiences of learning to sing these songs by reflecting together on how to meet the challenges of introducing foreign languages, alternate instrumentation and movement in a predominantly Euro-North American context.

Singing The Lord’S Song . . . In Times Like These: Exploring Worship And Music In Some English-Speaking Caribbean Contexts, Nicole Ashwood

Symposium on Worship Archive

Come join participants from the Caribbean as they lead us in songs of prayer, praise, proclamation and deliverance for such a time as this. Out of many cultures, one song to God.

Dancing Through The Church Year, Susan Wilson

Symposium on Worship Archive

This workshop will teach examples of liturgical dance to be used throughout the church year, starting with Worldwide Communion and then moving to Advent/Christmas, Lent/Palm Sunday and Easter, and Pentecost. She will also offer ideas for how dance can be used throughout the worship service--in a call to worship, praise, prayer, offering, communion, response to the message and the benediction.

Can The Organ Sound Like A Conga? Leading Cross Cultural Song From The Organ, John Ferguson

Symposium on Worship Archive

The organ can lead and accompany an amazing variety of musical styles. John Ferguson will share techniques for leading many nontraditional styles of congregational song from the organ, using his new resource Many and Great: Introductions and Accompaniments for Global Hymns (Morningstar). If you own this resource, bring it to the workshop!

A New Song. A Skillful Song, Bruce Benedict, Ruth Duck, Greg Scheer

Symposium on Worship Archive

Those of us who feel Psalm 33's call to write new songs must remember that the Psalm also tells us to play skillfully. In this seminar we will focus on the skills of songwriting for congregations, digging into what it means to balance inspiration and perspiration. Join Ruth Duck, Bruce Benedict and Greg Scheer, three songwriters who also spend much of their time editing the works of others as they discuss their approaches to creating new texts, new tunes, and combining texts and tunes. Participants will be invited (not required) in early January to send two of their own congregational …

Rhythms Of Desire, Jeremy Begbie, James K.A. Smith

Symposium on Worship Archive

A seminar with presentations by philosopher Jamie Smith and theologian Jeremy Begbie, exploring the theme of desire in worship, drawing especially on music. It will include a dialogue between Jamie and Jeremy, live performance at the piano, and extended time for discussion with the audience.

Composing For The Orchestra: An Exercise In Decision Making, Benjamin Sabey, Dr. David Sargent

Journal of Undergraduate Research

As a young, aspiring composer, writing for the orchestra has always been a desirable but intimidating goal. I knew that my first attempt would be fraught with obstacles and challenges. The first of these was one of purely logistical nature: the lack of orchestra that might play my piece. There aren’t many good orchestras lined up at my door waiting for me to write for them (yet). Thankfully, the Office of Research and Creative Activities provided an answer. With the grant that I received from ORCA I planned to hire good student instrumentalists and create my own orchestra. Thus, having …

Communicating Hope Through Music In Ukraine, Alisha Ard, Dr. Daniel Bachelder

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Recently celebrating the ten-year anniversary of its independence, Ukraine is a country that for those ten years has been plagued with the need for drastic social and economic reform. The people are desperate for the freedoms a word like “independence” promises, but the opportunities just don’t seem to exist for many. Discouragement sets in followed shortly by apathy, and soon they are faced with a close relative of the chicken and the egg conundrum: do people lack ambition because there are no opportunities, or are there no opportunities because the people lack ambition. While I do not offer an answer …

“Voices In The Wind’S Singing”: Three Original Art Songs With Text By T. S. Eliot, Marilyn Nelson Nielson, Murrary Eddington Boren

Journal of Undergraduate Research

French composer Francis Poulenc said “The setting to music of a poem must be an act of love, never a marriage of convenience.”¹ As I searched for a thesis topic, it was ultimately love for T. S. Eliot’s work that led me to create these musical settings of his text. I have loved Eliot since I was in second grade, when my oldest brother Kenneth memorized T. S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” He recited it for me, and though I did not understand exactly what the poem meant, I was immediately captivated by the mood …

Indigenous Music Mediation With Urban Khmer: Tampuan Adaptation And Survival, Todd Saurman

Journal of Urban Culture Research

This paper describes some lowland/highland Khmer points of interconnection for indigenous Tampuan communities from the highland Northeast, Cambodia. Tampuan community musicians respond constructively to a Siem Reap tourist cultural show that depicts their indigenous ethnolinguistic group. Tampuan musicians make trips to the urban center of Phnom Penh to represent themselves in a CD recording, a concert, and a TV program. I contend that some community members are expressing strong cultural values as they mediate with the national and urbanculture in spite of a history of Khmerization efforts by lowland Khmer. A strong value of mediation reinforces highland desires to communicate …

Java City: Developing A Successful Cultural Center, Jack G. Montgomery Jr.

DLTS Faculty Publications

Introduction:

Western Kentucky University Library had a large two-level, but largely unused lobby that had once been the library’s entrance but had been closed as a new entrance was created. By 2002, it sat empty and all but devoid of human traffic just outside our Reference area. Also, in 2002, Reference statistics were down, as was Circulation and library usage in general. Dean Binder believed that with the renovation and development of this former lobby, the library would realize an increase in campus visibility and library usage would increase.

The Benefits Of Music: An Exploration Of Music In Core-Curriculum Classrooms, Courtney Froehlich

Honors Projects

Inspired by research that establishes the benefits of using music in the teaching and learning of non-music subjects, this creative honors project provides sample lesson plans for music, math, and English teachers in grades K-8 that use musical activities to teach math and English concepts. Sample lesson plans are grouped by subject and grade levels, and underlying concepts of each plan are identified. Part One includes lesson plans that combine and draw connections between music and math concepts; Part Two includes lesson plans that combine and draw connections between music and English concepts. Within each part, plans are designed for …

Inventing Identities: The Case Of Frederick May, Mark Fitzgerald

Books/Book Chapters

This chapter examines how Frederick May has been depicted in previous musicological literature and the ways in which both biographical facts and May’s music have been misrepresented in an attempt to create the impression that he was part of the main stream of central European modernism. The article uncovers new material regarding the early stages of May’s career and demonstrates that May’s educational trajectory was similar to other pupils of Vaughan Williams. The article counters the narrative of failure created by musicologists who judge May for failing to achieve aesthetic aims that he never set out to attain and reflects …

Sound Environment Programming The Post-1945 Moment : Charles Olson, Sun Ra, John Cage, And The Way Back In, Michael Peters

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

On the eve of 1945, when the Manhattan Project's machinations to split the atom were almost in place, another physicist published a little book--What Is Life? Applying physics to biology, Erwin Schrödinger described how genetic "code-script" could create aperiodic (non-repeating) new life from periodic materials, revealing the "secret" of life. This dilemma of life or death defines the post-1945 moment. Fraught with Hamlet-like uncertainty, I argue this moment is the apex of a long-fomenting, eco-historical crisis where Western thinking had severed "Man" from "Nature." Sound Environment Programming is a term I invented to detail how Charles Olson, Sun Ra, and …

Dolce Stil Novo, Timothy W. Mcdunn

Compositions

Dolce Stil Novo is a slightly unconventional kind of tone poem. As the title suggests, the main inspiration for the piece is the poetry of Dante Alighieri, especially that subset of it which belongs to his so-called "Sweet New Style." While the three successive intermezzi are tied only obliquely to this subject, the first and final movements make direct reference to Dante's Sweet New Style as found in the Vita Nuova, an autobiographical compilation of prose and verse. In this way, the piece is a reflection on Dante's writings from two perspectives: that of the author (in the first and …

Formal Properties As The Basis For Value In Music, Thomas B. Yee

Global Tides

This paper defends the thesis that value in a piece of music is based in its formal properties rather than its non-formal properties. Two arguments are presented to support this conclusion. The first argument shows that if value in music is to be objective, then it must be grounded in a piece's formal properties rather than its non-formal properties. In the second argument, a number of alternate possibilities for grounding value in music are considered and shown to miss the mark or be inadequate. Finally, a number of possible objections against the arguments and conclusion are considered and possible responses …

Tonal And Topical Coherence In Brahms's Op.10 Ballades, Jacob Joel Gran

LSU Master's Theses

Johannes Brahms composed the op. 10 ballades in the summer of 1854 while living at the Schumann household in Düsseldorf. These pieces are unique within the instrumental ballade repertoire in that they form a collection of ballades published as a single opus. How did Brahms intend the four ballades to cohere as a group, as opposed to a collection of independent pieces? The problem in identifying coherence lies as much within the genre of the instrumental ballade as it does within the musical features of op. 10. These pieces demonstrate a wide range of musical topics, some of which appear …

Reflections On Music And Propaganda, Luis Velasco Pufleau

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

In general, the concept of propaganda refers to a method as well as the symbolic object mobilized by it. Propaganda equally constitutes a particular type of communication that involves not only the mobilization of objects, but also of discourse, places, acts, and rituals. This essay employs the writings of Max Weber, Paul Ricœur, Jacques Ellul, and Jacques Rancière to analyze propaganda as a particular type of symbolic political dispositif linked to a specific performance and utterance context. I examine humanitarian songs as a propaganda tool in democracy, and show the conditions and the limits of their mobilization through their contextualization. …

Musical Ontology: Critical, Not Metaphysical, Jonathan A. Neufeld

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

The ontology of musical works often sets the boundaries within which evaluation of musical works and performances takes place. Questions of ontology are therefore often taken to be prior to and apart from the evaluative questions considered by either performers as they present works to audiences or an audience’s critical reflection on a performance. In this paper I argue that, while the ontology of musical works may well set the boundaries of legitimate evaluation, ontological questions should not be considered as prior to or apart from critical evaluation. Rather, ontological claims are a type of critical evaluation made within musical …