Music Commons^™

Approaches To Teaching Music Reading To Piano Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Rachel Elizabeth Davis

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to collect information about teaching music reading to piano students with Autism Spectrum Disorder and to determine best teaching practices that may be implemented into existing curricula. The study involved interviewing six professionals who are nationally recognized for successfully teaching piano to students with ASD and analyzing the interviews to learn their procedures for teaching music reading to this population.

The interviews contain information concerning the backgrounds of the individuals being interviewed, the demographic backgrounds of students being taught, and the pedagogical process, instructional materials and technology used for teaching music reading in lessons. …

Relationships Between Hospitals' Music Therapy Services And Hospital Consumer Assessment Of Healthcare Providers And Systems ( Hcahps ) Scores, Kimberly S. Iverson

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The implementation of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey measured patients’ satisfaction with their hospital stays. The HCAHPS brought increased public access regarding hospital performance and changes to repayment polices. As such, patient satisfaction became a popular topic in hospitals within the last several years. Previous research demonstrated medical benefits for the use music therapy in hospitals, but research regarding its relationship to patient satisfaction was limited.

Hypotheses: The hypothesis of the current study was that patients who received music therapy services while in the hospital would have higher HCAHPS scores than those who …

An Analysis Of The Compositional Technique And Structures Of Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 1 In E Minor, Op. 22 “Nordic”, Eunseok Seo

Theses and Dissertations

Howard Hanson was the first American composer who attained international prominence in the early 20th century. During his time as conductor and director of the Eastman School of Music, he was perhaps one of the greatest promoters of modern musical expression and avant-garde performance techniques. However, Hanson was a composer who preferred composing in a traditional style, and his compositional style was faithful to nuanced Romantic expression and a Classical structure. Hanson’s music career ebbed and flowed with contrasting periods of struggle and success. His music was enormously popular during the 1930s and 40s but quickly entered a period of …

Vladimir Pleshakov: A Historiography And Analysis Of His Liturgy Of St. John Chrysostom, Andrew Cameron Pittman

Theses and Dissertations

Vladimir Pleshakov, an accomplished concert pianist, began composing at the age of seventy-five after a struggle with cancer. While awaking from anesthesia after surgery, Pleshakov began hearing spontaneously-composed and completed original Slavonic sacred choral music (in his mind). Over the last decade Dr. Pleshakov has produced nearly sixty compositions. Many of his compositions have found critical acclaim and are published by Musica Russica. This document provides a biography, list of compositions, background information, and a conductor’s analysis of his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

Communicative Language In The Compositional Output Of Kirke Mechem, Kirstina Rasmussen Collins

Theses and Dissertations

Kirke Mechem (born 1925) has had a long career, spanning several decades. In looking at his large body of work, it is argued that the role of communicative language is central to his compositional style. This priority, originating from his own background, has influenced his choices of musical and textual language, his preferred genres of composition, and his beliefs about the role of music. The importance of communicative language in Mechem’s music sets him apart in the musical landscape of the late 20th and early 21st century.

From early on both music and the written word held a high importance …

Six Vignettes For Solo Violin, Deshawn A. Withers

Theses and Dissertations

Six Vignettes for Solo Violin

• Adagio Misterioso
• Allegro con fuoco
• Adagio
• Allegro
• Interlude- Presto
• Finale- Allegro con moto

Deshawn Withers (b. 1982)

Six Vignettes for Solo Violin written for the illustrious Pala Garcia blends different moods and techniques into short segments. These vignettes each contain their own character ranging from reserved to furious, pensive to sassy, traditional to defiant. Each movement explores range and timbre uniquely as to bring out some of the infinite colors of the Violin.

Illuminations, Emerson Sudbury

Theses and Dissertations

Illuminations is a vocal piece for mezzo-soprano and electronics. It incorporates elements of ambient and noise music. Relying on texts by Arthur Rimbaud and drawing inspiration from composers such as Debussy and Arvo Pärt, it is an attempt to blend tradition with contemporary practices and aesthetics.

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.

A Stylistic And Compositional Analysis Of Ciranda Das Sete Notas By Heitor Villa-Lobos, Paulo H. Siqueira

Theses and Dissertations

Heitor Villa-Lobos created his idiosyncratic Brazilian style in Ciranda das Sete Notas by using Bach’s compositional numbered alphabet idea. The intention is to help musicians, and more specifically bassoonists, have a clearer understanding of the construction of Villa-Lobos’s Ciranda das Sete Notas by providing context for the composer’s choices and compositional process. The central argument focuses on the interrelationship between the compositional intention and post-composition analyses with regard to Brazilian stylistic foundations. Beyond this process, with a nod to Bach`s numerical approach, the errors found on the only printed version in 1961 have been leading bassoonists to misguided performances, resulting …

Music, Dance, And Tourism In Los Cabos, Mexico, Melanie E. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

For a thriving music and dance scene to flourish in tourist destinations, certain factors for performers must be present including economic stability, a baseline level of patronage, resilience to seasonal tourist fluctuations, and adaptation to demographic changes over time. In the Los Cabos arts community, local aesthetics are transformed and embodied by work of performers whose activities are multicultural and multilingual. Over the past fifty years, Los Cabos was transformed from a sleepy fishing village into a major international destination. The island-inspired arts scene includes live performances featuring cultural representations from other lands besides Mexico. Grounded in the humanities, I …

To Prelude (V.): The Art Of Preluding And Applications For The Modern Classical Guitarist, Christopher Schoelen

Theses and Dissertations

In Western classical music, there are many types of compositions; some examples include sonatas, symphonies, fugues, and motets, each with a particular form. The prelude stands out as one of the few classical music forms in which the title can also be used as a verb. This is not frequently seen with other compositional types; there is never a case of “sonata-ing,” and an orchestra cannot suddenly burst into “symphony-ing.” However, there is a practice known as preluding. Historically, preluding was a common improvisational practice although many musicians today are unfamiliar with the tradition. Generally unexplored, preluding has played an …

A Performance Guide And An Examination Of Selected Saxophone Works By Stacy Garrop, Yi-Chia Tu

Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, there have been numerous new works written for the saxophone in a variety of styles, including pieces that utilize avant-garde and other contemporary techniques as well as traditionally tonal melodic and harmonic structures. This document explores five saxophone works composed by American composer Stacy Garrop and provides a brief analysis of Garrop’s compositional style. It examines how Garrop tells stories by using her own unique compositional style to make a connection with her audience and performers. Furthermore, this document includes a performance guide to help the saxophonist understand and master the techniques required to successfully perform …

Douze Préludes- Poèmes, Op. 58 By Charles Tournemire: A Stylistic Analysis, Mengdi Li

Theses and Dissertations

Douze Préludes-Poèmes, Op. 58 is a composition for solo piano by French composer Charles Tournemire (1870-1939). The object of this study is to help musicians have a better understanding of Douze Préludes-Poèmes through a stylistic analysis of the work.

The study provides background and biographical information on Tournemire. It also traces influences from which the composer drew inspiration. Since Tournemire created a unique musical language for the work by combining the Melakarta ragas from Southern India with the French symbolist and impressionist styles, this study identifies each raga used in the set and provides information on structure, harmony, melody, tempo, …

Bel Canto To Punk And Back: Lessons For The Vocal Cross-Training Singer And Teacher, Lara C. Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Most singing studied and taught before the 20th century was based on western European classical forms. The continual development of opera and its increase in popularity caused singers to adjust vocally as orchestras grew in size and theaters became larger. As a result, the pedagogy of classical vocal styles has been studied, developed and described in print for hundreds of years.

With the invention of both recorded and amplified sound however, new styles of singing emerged, allowing singers to be heard without the need to project over large orchestras in huge spaces. These new singing styles, developed for the most …

Codification Of Terminology And Procedure In Mental Practice With Applications To Piano Pedagogy, Anna Beth Rucker

Theses and Dissertations

Mental practice has been discussed among piano pedagogues from the nineteenth century until the present. Over time, many terms have been used to describe different kinds of mental practice. This variety can make it challenging for the independent teacher to consolidate the information and effectively apply mental practice to the private lesson. For this reason, a codification of the terms associated with mental practice is presented in this thesis. Terms are classified into four groups: Visualization (kinesthetic imagery and musical imagery), Aural (aural imagery and audiation), Psychological (mental wellness and guided imagery), and Hybrid (practice away from the piano and …

The Big Five Personality Types And Music Performance Anxiety In Collegiate Piano Students, Lindsey Brooke Chattin

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine if relationships exist between the Big Five personality types and levels of music performance anxiety (MPA) in collegiate piano majors. Fifty-five (N = 55) collegiate music majors enrolled in private lessons in the fall 2017 semester participated in this quantitative study. Participants completed a survey consisting of three sections: demographic questions, the “International Personality Item Pool Big Five Factor Markers” questionnaire (Pettersson and Turkheimer, 2010), and the “Three-Dimensional Performance Anxiety Inventory” (Cheng, Hardy, and Markland, 2009).

The questionnaire had three primary focuses: (1) to collect demographic data and information of collegiate …

Tracing The Genesis Of The English Requiem Through Selected Works, V. Dwight Dockery, Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

This document investigates the “English Requiem,” coined by the present author as a subgenre of the broader compositional genre of the Requiem. This subgenre demonstrates certain characteristics including grandeur in scale, implementation of non- standard religious text(s), especially the English Burial Service, and/or the utilization of (often secular) English poetry. The subgenre’s genesis is found in English composers’ response to the dead from the First World War (1914-1918), which coincided with the English Musical Renaissance of the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The purpose of this document is to provide a clear understanding of the development of the English Requiem within …

The Effectiveness Of Video Modeling With Video Feedback On A Given Piece For Mid-To-Late Elementary Piano Students, Huiyun Liang

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of video modeling with video feedback for developing mid-to-late elementary piano students’ motor skills in learning the piece “Polka” by Dmitri Kabalevsky. The secondary purpose was to evaluate the benefits of this method for other aspects of performance and performance retention. Five (N=5) piano students, 8 to 9 years old, at mid-to-late elementary level were selected to participate in this study. The results of the study summarized the performance progress of four participants who demonstrated similar levels of technical and reading skills and completed the test requirements.

The full-scale …

Instrumental Gendering: A Case Study Of Convent Bajón Tradition In Early Modern Spain, Taylor Danielle Gable

Theses and Dissertations

It is generally accepted by Western music epistemologies that women did not perform on wind instruments during the early modern era. Recent organological and convent research has discovered a female bajón tradition in Spanish convents. This tradition lasted from the mid-15th century through the early 20th century. This document discusses the implications of this tradition and explores why similar traditions did not exist throughout early modern Europe. Capitalism, church law, and early modern medical theories are all discussed to give a fuller context of gender and music performance in the early modern era.

The Toccatas Of Johannes Hieronymus Kapsberger’S Libro Primo D’Intavolatura Di Lauto: Analysis, Performance Practice, And Transcription For Modern Classical Guitar, Brett Edwin Floyd

Theses and Dissertations

Johannes Kapsberger (1580-1651) was an Italian composer of the early Baroque era. Known for his compositions for the lute, and chitarrone, Kapsberger was a talented composer who worked for great patrons like Francesco Barberini and Pope Urban VIII. Kapsberger published his only surviving lute works in 1611, which contained eight lute toccatas, twelve galliards and twelve courantes. Music produced for the lute during the renaissance and baroque eras are products of their time. Published lute music was written in tablature and relied heavily on the performance practices of its day. Today, trained lutenists have the skills and knowledge needed to …

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 …

Expanding Experimentalism: Art And Popular Music At The Kitchen In New York City, 1971-1985, Sarah A. Cooper

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores artists' engagement with popular music at the interdisciplinary alternative space, the Kitchen, from 1971 to 1985. It seeks a critical language to challenge institutional frameworks to account for the creative output of artists' bands and the relationship between parallel and hybrid popular music and avant-garde performance practices.

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.

A Survey Of The History Of The Concertmaster Through The Baroque, Classical, And Romantic Eras, Leah E. Bonas

Theses and Dissertations

During the evolution of the orchestra from 1600-1900, the concertmaster remained a key leadership figure who held great influence over the ensemble. This paper examines the concertmaster’s changing role in the orchestra throughout the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic eras and studies the examples of exceptional concertmasters from each era, giving further historical insight into the lives and duties in of these orchestral leaders and musicians. During the Baroque era, when ensembles lacked conductors, the concertmaster shared control of the orchestra with the keyboard-player or time-beater. During the Classical Era, the concertmaster gained a larger role in the orchestra and often …

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 …

The Sequential Method: An Analysis Of Robert Jesselson’S Cello Pedagogy, Kalim D. Alvarez Campos

Theses and Dissertations

Dr. Robert Jesselson has made significant professional contributions as a cello performer and music educator. His pedagogical approaches are innovative in helping students overcome technical problems, building good work habits, instilling self- discipline, addressing kinesthetic issues, and improving practice techniques. His Sequential Method involves a systematic and logical progression of technical exercises, scale systems, etudes and repertoire. It is unique in its applications for teaching and learning left and right hand techniques, building a progression of etudes which address technical and musical issues and working through the cello repertoire in an organized and meaningful manner that is appropriate to the …

Electronics And The Music Of Miles Davis, Darren E. Shekailo

Theses and Dissertations

Miles Davis produced a wealth of music relying on the use of electronic instruments and new technology. With their adoption, the famous trumpeter began his “electric” period. Examining the electric period of Davis’s career helps us trace the profound impact of electronic instruments and technological advances on his music.

Guitar Suite, Stephanie Boyer

Theses and Dissertations

Guitar Suite is a two movement piece composed for solo guitar. In addition to the guitar suite, an orchestral arrangement of its second movement, "Dance of the Fields," concludes this thesis, presenting the same melody in various textures.

Making Sounds, Patrick Costello

Theses and Dissertations

Using collaboration and performance as tools, I situate my personal story, my body, and my skills and interests within a contemporary landscape that is intersectional, full of partialities, and rooted in evolving ecologies.