Music Commons^™

The Vocaloid Phenomenon: A Glimpse Into The Future Of Songwriting, Community-Created Content, Art, And Humanity, Bronson Roseboro '19

Honor Scholar Theses

No abstract provided.

Old School For The New School: Discussing The Importance Of Motown Records In American Music History, Crystal Darcell Birdsong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to look at the contribution of Motown Records within music history and American history, as well as why it should be of great importance to those who study 20^th century music. It tends to be overlooked in the world of academia, despite efforts to bring the subject to the forefront of today’s classwork and courses at the collegiate level. It is not so much that it does not exist, but it is not nearly as prevalent as it should be, seeing as its contribution to music history and history in general is so …

Epic Beginnings: A Symphonic Work And Aaron Copland (The American Stravinsky) Versus Igor Stravinsky, Terrell O. Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The first part of my dissertation is the original music written for this dissertation, which consists of tonal music that describes my life’s journey. I wanted to write something dark, melodic, and very energetic that described my struggles and shows the road I have taken. It exhibits everything that I have learned from my time here at the university. One of the many things that makes my passion so strong is the desire to express myself through music written for ensembles and used in films. The piece is entitled “Epic Beginnings.” Originally, it was named “The Last Dance,” a …

Electronic Music And The Uno Technology Assisted Performance Ensemble, Nicholas Spencer

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

The University of Nebraska at Omaha's Technology Assisted Performance Ensemble (or TAPE) is UNO's first Laptop Orchestra. TAPE focuses on electronic music as well as exploring the boundaries of what we understand to be music. Combining traditional music theory and digital synthesis creates a new genre of academic music that is on the cutting edge of research in both fields of music and technology. TAPE was founded by Dr. Seth Shafer and Nicholas Spencer with initial funding by the University of Nebraska at Omaha's FUSE grant.

La Bicicletta, Jack Druffel

Compositions

Program Notes:

La Bicicletta was written in the fall of 2018 and edited for the Illinois Wesleyan Symphony Orchestra in early 2019. It is a narrative about an accident the composer endured while in Milan, Italy. While cycling home, he was struck by a motorcycle and spent a night in an Italian hospital and was released the next day with minor injuries. The main idea of the piece is to reflect the mundane tasks of daily life, and this motif is presented in each of the four sections that make up La Bicicletta.

The first part of the piece reflects …

From Improvisation To Artistry: A Study Of The Piano’S 12 Sides By Carter Pann, Louis Claussen

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

Intended as a resource for pianists who may analyze or perform Carter Pann’s The Piano’s 12 Sides, this study provides biographical information on the composer and explores his professional relationship with the pianist for whom it was composed, Joel Hastings. Each piece from The Piano’s 12 Sides is discussed in terms of form, melody, harmony, texture and Pann’s approach to the pianistic compositional idiom. The composition is also examined with regard to extra-musical details and programmatic elements as well as inspiration and dedications that influenced Pann’s compositional process.

Correspondence and interviews with the composer reveal the motivation and inspiration behind …

Transcribing Astor Piazzolla's Works To Maximize Stylistic Fidelity: An Examination Of Three Saxophone Quartets With A New Transcription, Sarah L. Cosano

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

Astor Piazzolla is recognized as a pivotal figure who drew tango music onto an international stage. His output of written compositions and recordings provide a reference for studying tango. Though Piazzolla adapted a collection of flute etudes in 1988, he did not write specifically for saxophone during his lifetime. Saxophonists must instead rely on transcriptions of his music. Today, tango is a widely performed idiom for saxophone quartet.

Because of its tessitura, timbral variety, and flexibility, the saxophone is uniquely suited to perform tango music. This instrument has an expansive range when altissimo is included. Its written range spans from …

The Tenth Annual Festival Of New Music February 28 - March 1, 2019, Mark Zanter

All Performances

No abstract provided.

Cultural Transmission Modes Of Music Sampling Traditions Remain Stable Despite Delocalization In The Digital Age, Mason Youngblood

Publications and Research

Music sampling is a common practice among hip-hop and electronic producers that has played a critical role in the development of particular subgenres. Artists preferentially sample drum breaks, and previous studies have suggested that these may be culturally transmitted. With the advent of digital sampling technologies and social media the modes of cultural transmission may have shifted, and music communities may have become decoupled from geography. The aim of the current study was to determine whether drum breaks are culturally transmitted through musical collaboration networks, and to identify the factors driving the evolution of these networks. Using network-based diffusion analysis …

Studies Of Musical Borrowing: Borrowing As Compositional Tool In Béla Bartók's Second Piano Concerto And The Influence Of Luciano Berio On The Grateful Dead's Approach To Live Improvisation, Michael J. Crowley

Theses and Dissertations

J. Peter Burkholder’s typology of musical borrowing provides new ways of thinking about and understanding how composers and musicians incorporated influential ideas into their own compositions. This paper explores two cases of musical borrowing in order to gain a deeper understanding of the compositional styles of the chosen subjects. In the first study, I explore Béla Bartók’s use of Paraphrase, Modeling and Stylistic Allusion in his Second Piano Concerto, demonstrating how Bartók used borrowing as a compositional tool to develop his own innovative ideas. In the second study, I investigate how Luciano Berio’s compositional style influenced the Grateful Dead’s approach …

Cartegory Theory: Framing Aesthetics Of Mathematics, Maria Mannone

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Mathematics can help investigate hidden patterns and structures in music and visual arts. Also, math in and of itself possesses an intrinsic beauty. We can explore such a specific beauty through the comparison of objects and processes in math with objects and processes in the arts. Recent experimental studies investigate the aesthetics of mathematical proofs compared to those of music. We can contextualize these studies within the framework of category theory applied to the arts (cARTegory theory), thanks to the helpfulness of categories for the analysis of transformations and transformations of transformations. This approach can be effective for the pedagogy …

2018-2019 New Music Festival, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Lisa Leonard

New Music Festival

Thirteenth Annual New Music Festival

• Yevgeniy Sharlat, Composer-in-Residence
• Lisa Leonard, Director

Friday, January 18, 2019 at 7:30 PM

• Spotlight I: Young Composers

Saturday, January 19, 2019 at 1:00 PM

• Master Class with Yevgeniy Sharlat

Sunday, January 20, 2019 at 4:00 PM

• Spotlight II: Yevgeniy Sharlat

Commissioned Work

Air on the G for Trumpet, Viola, and Piano

Diy In Early Live Electroacoustic Music: John Cage, Gordon Mumma, David Tudor, And The Migration Of Live Electronics From The Studio To Performance, Lindsey Elizabeth Hartman

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research examines early live electronic works by Gordon Mumma, David Tudor, and John Cage—three influential American experimental music composers who designed, built, and recontextualized electronics for live performance—and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) aesthetic embodied by their instruments and the compositions written for them. This dissertation serves as a presentation of original research into the earliest composers of live electronic works and the necessary DIY approach used in building independent systems. Previous research on the DIY perspectives in music often touch on the grass-roots nature of contemporary electroacoustic systems but there is not yet research specific to the DIY approach taken …

Forward, Backward, Colin Cannon

Theses and Dissertations

The is a piece that explores compositional structure and form. The piece is divided into two movements, “Forward” and “Backward” and may be performed in either order. I like to think of it as a Rorschach inkblot – a reflection of an asymmetrical image creating a symmetrical image.

Margie Riggs Collection, University Archives And Special Collections, Prescott Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University

Manuscript Finding Aids

Copy of sheet music of Louisiana Tech's Alma Mater "O Tech Thy Halls So Beautiful" signed by the composer, John P. Graham.

Far Flung Trio Tour Of Ireland And Uk, 2019, Dermot Dunne

Concert Programmes

The Far Flung Trio gives 17 performances, including 12 performance of the programme below and 5 performances of their own arrangement of Sergei Prokofiev's 'Peter and the Wolf'. The other performances consist of the trio's own arrangements of the following works:

G Rossini: Overture to the Barber of Seville

J. Bandolim/Pixinguinha/Z. Abreu: 3 Choros

R. Guilfoyle: Binary Number

A. Dvorak: 2 Slavonic Dances op.46 nos. 2 & 3

A. Corelli: Trio Sonata in E minor op.2 no.4

G. Gershwin: 3 Songs

L. Fancelli: Pupazzetti

M. Robinson: N7

P. Sarasate: Carmen Fantasy

Shush: A Creative (Re)Construction, Kathleen Spring

Faculty & Staff Publications

Shush: A Creative (Re)Construction stems from work conducted during a sabbatical in fall 2017. The audio piece, Shush Me Awake, is a composition that explores the shush as a performative act. The accompanying framing essay uses an autoethnographic approach to provide a contextualized look at the composition process for this piece, while simultaneously situating it within existing scholarship in library and information studies on the image of the librarian and stereotypes. The composer notes provide additional technical details about the audio piece itself.

Symphonic Fantasy: Discussion And Analysis, Tyler Turcotte

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The following piece is a three movement, twenty minute orchestral work in a Romantic style whose primary goals are accessibility and beauty. In the process of writing this piece, I learned that strong and memorable melodies are the key to a successful composition - taking influence from Henry Mancini and early Japanese video game composers, this work takes a central melodic theme through a series of variations to demonstrate the power of harmonic and orchestrational recontextualization. Rhythmically, the work utilizes techniques from the Minimalist and Progressive Rock traditions to strike a balance between rhythmic complexity and melodic focus. The three …

Theoretical Study And Performing Edition Of Sonata Iii By Javier G. Compeán, José Mario Ortiz Sánchez

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Mexican composer Javier G. Compeán finished Sonata III, his most recent composition for solo guitar, in December 2015. Since the composition of his first such work in 2003, the composer has been experimenting with texture, register, dynamic range, extended techniques, harmonic possibilities, timbre, and form in his solo guitar music. In Sonata III, Compeán applied the experience he gained in previous compositions for guitar.

This work represents the composer’s current style, in which he returns to a more traditional language but continues to experiment with the technical capabilities of the instrument. Sonata III is Compeán’s most ambitious guitar composition and …

Lost & Found An Electro-Acoustic Musical Composition Referencing A Day In An African Village: A Commentary On A Musical Composition, George Essilfie

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Electro-acoustic music composition makes it possible for composers to manipulate sounds with the computer with either alone or both live and prerecorded sounds. From the end of the 19^th century when the first electronic devices for performing music were developed up till today, transformations in music technology keep surfacing and the possibilities with working with sounds have become endless. Electro-acoustic music has the ability to conjure mental images using vast sound manipulation techniques using the DAW(Digital audio workstation) and sound amplification through loudspeakers. Every space in our environment has its unique sound/s. Lost and found through these techniques provides …

Gender, Politics, Market Segmentation, And Taste: Adult Contemporary Radio At The End Of The Twentieth Century, Saesha Senger

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation explores issues of gender politics, market segmentation, and taste through an examination of the contributions of several artists who have achieved Adult Contemporary (AC) chart success. The scope of the project is limited to a period when many artists who figured prominently in both the broader mainstream of American popular music and the more specific Adult Contemporary category were most commercially viable: from the mid-1980s through the 1990s. My contention is that, as gender politics and gendered social norms continued to change in the United States at this time, Adult Contemporary – the chart, the format, and the …

Partita For 8 Voices & Wind Ensemble: A Transcription Process, Kaitlin May Bove

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Partita for 8 Voices (2012) is a groundbreaking a cappella work that earned its composer, Caroline Shaw, the record of youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013. While the work continues to receive performances from its premiere ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, no transcription of the piece to any other ensemble type existed at the beginning of this DMA project. The author sought to transcribe a piece by a living female composer with no work for band into the wind band medium. The resulting transcription, Partita for 8 Voices & Wind Ensemble, adds a new work to …

The Performer-Composer: A Reimagined Career Pathway For The Modern-Day Saxophonist, Jazmin Ealden

Theses : Honours

The ambiguity of the twenty-first century classical musician career pathway has resulted in a change of professional traditions and opportunities for musicians both within Australia and internationally. The literature discussing the portfolio career model of musicians demonstrates a clear place for this career in the current music industry; one such pathway is that of the performercomposer musician. The aim of this research project was to explore the career pathways of three performer-composer saxophonists. Specifically, this study aimed to identify the change and development of traditional composer-performer roles, explore the fluidity in the spectrum of composer and performer led creative outputs, …

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

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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 …

A Constant Haunting, Russ Wilcox

Graduate Thesis Collection

A three movement work for wind ensemble and soprano soloist.

Core Curriculum For Orchestra, Andrew Thomas Aycoth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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 …

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

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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 …

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

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

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 …

Singing The Landscape: A Meditation On Song, Sound And Community At The Fall Line Of The James River, Sara Bouchard

Theses and Dissertations

I work in the medium of song. A multidisciplinary artist and composer, I make work that is immersive, time-based and often participatory. I interact with landscape and the complexities of American history, bringing into focus local ecologies through the lens of song.

This document accompanies my thesis performance The Sound of a Stone, an immersive exploration of song, language, ecology and locational listening performed in a 4-channel surround format. In the semi-improvised composition, I sample live vocals, mandolin and found natural objects in a combination of roots music traditions and experimental techniques. Utilizing the software Ableton Live to process …

Re-Composing Feminism: Australian Women Composers In The New Millennium, Talisha Goh

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In the age of postfeminism and fourth-wave feminism online, Australian women composers are theoretically able to “have it all,” however, the proportion of women in the occupation appears to have plateaued in recent years. In this thesis, I explore the multiple ways in which gender and feminism interact with practising Australian women composers. Feminist musicology has had a large impact on the Australian musicological scene, with theorists such as McClary and Macarthur bringing the subject of women in music to the fore in the 1990s, aiding efforts to advocate for reform on behalf of women composers. Additionally, third-wave feminist scholars …