Music Commons^™

Music Cultures Of Mechanical Reproduction, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

Popular musics arc best understood as comprising those genres whose styles have evolved in an inextricable relation with their dissemination via the mass media and their marketing and sale on a mass-commodity basis. While much popular-music activity takes place independently of the mass media, other essential aspects of popular-music production and marketing arc inevitably inseparable from technologies of mechanical reproduction, which perforce condition aspects of music culture in general. Hence, just as one could speak of military cultures based around the stirrup, or later the firearm, or agrarian cultures based on the hoe, the ox, or the tractor, so do …

Retention And Invention In Bhojpuri Diasporic Music Culture: Perspectives From The Caribbean, India, And Fiji, Peter L. Manuel

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Popular Music Studies And The Problems Of Sound, Society And Method, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

Building on Philip Tagg’s timely intervention (2011), I investigate four things in relation to three dominant Anglophone popular music studies journals (Popular Music and Society, Popular Music, and the Journal of Popular Music Studies): 1) what interdisciplinarity or multidisciplinarity means within popular music studies, with a particular focus on the sites of research and the place of ethnographic and/or anthropological approaches; 2) the extent to which popular music studies has developed canonic scholarship, and the citation tendencies present within scholarship on both Western and non-Western popular musics; 3) the motivations for two scholarly groups, Dancecult and ASARP, to breakaway from …

"Cinematic Suite For Orchestra" And Notable Composers In The Evolution Of Film Music From Hollywood's Golden Age To The Present, Edward C. Anderson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The composition Cinematic Suite for Orchestra is composed for full orchestra. This Suite, in three parts, was inspired by the works and compositional influences of several select classical and film composers who have greatly inspired my personal aesthetic towards symphonic music as they have for many composers of my generation. This work is not necessarily intended to sound purely like the works of these earlier composers but instead, to borrow from their compositional techniques, aesthetics, and overall sonic influence as needed to serve the purpose of my own personal muses. The First Movement was inspired by the grand symphonic style …

The Effect Of Real-Time Pitch Tracking And Correction On High School Instrumentalists' Tuning Accuracy, Kathryn Elizabeth Strickland

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The main purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of pitch tracking and correction (auto-tuning) on the intonation performed by high school clarinet (n = 30) and trumpet (n = 30) players with at least three years of experience in the large ensemble setting. Participants (N = 60) were assigned to one of three treatment groups, each differentiated by means of intonation evaluation. An aural group (n = 20) used Real Time Pitch Tracking and Correction (RTPTC) software; a visual group (n = 20) used an electronic tuner; and a control group (n = 20) “played in-tune to …

Walter Burle Marx's Cello Concerto, Pedro Augusto Huff

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract Brazilian pianist, conductor, and composer Walter Burle Marx (1902-1990) is an important musical personality from Brazil whose works and contributions to the introduction of Latin American concert music throughout the world have yet to be fully recognized. In addition to providing a brief biography of Walter Burle Marx, this monograph focuses on his Violoncello Concerto. The concerto is dated 1984, and dedicated to his cellist daughter, Madalena. It was premiered in July 18th, 2006 by cellist Dennis Parker in Brasília (Brazil), with the Orquestra Sinfônica do Teatro Nacional, conducted by João Guilherme Ripper. I was introduced to this piece …

Musical Achievement And Attitude Of Beginning Piano Students In A Synchronous Videoconferencing Lesson Environment, Rebecca Carter Bellelo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to examine the effects of an online synchronous lesson environment on beginning piano students’ musical achievement, time spent in target behaviors across the study period, and attitude toward piano lessons. Beginning piano students (N = 19) between ages 6-9 with no prior private music instruction served as participants, receiving 30-minute weekly lessons throughout a 7-month period. Participants were grouped into one of the two lesson groups: a face-to-face traditional lesson group or distance lesson group. Pre-treatment assessments included a beginner readiness assessment and online attitudinal survey. The post-treatment musical achievement tasks (a prepared performance …

Julie, & Aaron Copland's Development Of The Opening Idea Through Quartal Harmonies, Pitch Space, And Register In The First Movement Of His Third Symphony, David Paul Cortello

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT The first part of this dissertation is an original opera, Julie, composed on a libretto by Julia Carey. The opera consists of a prologue, 4 acts, and an epilogue, with an instrumentation of (2-2-2-2, 4-3-3-1, timpani, 3 percussion, harp and strings). The style is pluralistic and is determined at any moment by the demands of the text. The Prologue is an instrumental section of about 4’30” and introduces the primary themes employed in the opera. The music employs a simple leitmotiv system, associating certain themes and instruments to particular characters and emotional states. Additionally, though themes are recycled and …

Sicong Ma's Amei Suite & Gaoshan Suite : Historical Background And Performer's Guide, Ming-Ying Chiu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Before the Spanish, the Dutch, the Japanese, and the Chinese Mainlanders occupied Taiwan, Austronesians are believed to have been the island’s first immigrants. They are acknowledged as the Aboriginal Taiwanese. Since these people do not have a written language, music, especially singing, became an important means of communication and education for the Aborigines, whose culture is today considered one of the most historically valuable cultures in Taiwan. Sicong Ma (1912-1987) is a major composer who also played an important political role in China. After escaping from China during the Culture Revolution in 1967, Ma was protected by the United States …

"It's Easier If You Have A System" : Analysis And Applications Of The Milanov Violin Method, Paula Farias Bujes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to analyze the historical context, philosophic basis, and teaching principles of Trendafil Milanov’s violin method, as well as practical applications for violin pedagogy. This qualitative case study incorporated narrative and material culture components and utilized ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews. The participants were members of the Milanov family who were raised in that tradition and an American student using the Milanov method at the time of the study. An analysis of Milanov’s last published method, First Violin Lessons (1981), was completed to complement interview and observation data. Emergent themes related to the method’s pedagogical …

Transcription And Analysis Of Ravi Shankar's Morning Love For Western Flute, Sitar, Tabla And Tanpura, Bethany Padgett

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to provide a transcription and musical analysis of Ravi Shankar’s Morning Love for Western flute, sitar, tabla and tanpura. This document provides a discussion of Ravi Shankar’s biography, a theoretical context for the piece including an introduction to Hindustani musical characteristics, and prescriptive transcriptions of Morning Love in Western and Indian notation. A detailed analysis of the piece applies the Hindustani classical musical characteristics discussed. Morning Love is one of only two pieces for Western flute composed by Ravi Shankar as a result of his collaboration with French flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal. Prior to this …

Zoltán Kodály's Sonata For Unaccompanied Cello, Op. 8 : One Cellist's Path To Performance, Celeste Power

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

My purpose in writing this document is to simply present my experience in learning and performing Zoltán Kodály’s Sonata for Unaccompanied Cello, Op. 8. My intent is not to instruct cellists on the interpretation of this piece. Each musician must decide how to play it in a way that suits his or her own conception of the piece. Rather I intend to go through each movement and discuss the problems I faced and how I endeavored to solved them, why some solutions worked and others did not, how I prepared for a recital performance of the piece, and what I …

An Original Composition, Symphony No. 1, "Eustace The Monk" And Compositional Techniques Used To Elicit Musical Humor, Samuel Howard Stokes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Part I – “Symphony No. 1 – ‘Eustace the Monk’” is based on a figure from medieval legend. Although Eustace Busket is a historically documented person that lived c.1170-1217, the exact details of his life are shrouded in legend. Many of the details of the legend of Eustace were passed down through the anonymous Li Romans de Witasse Le Moine. The legendary tale of Eustace, who is reported to have learned black magic from the devil, became a Benedictine monk in order to corrupt the monastery, and later became a mercenary pirate, is the subject matter of this five-movement dramatic …

Interactive Musical Partner: A System For Human/Computer Duo Improvisations, Jeffrey Vernon Albert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research is centered on the creation of a computer program that will make music with a human improviser. This Interactive Musical Partner (IMP) is designed for duo improvisations, with one human improviser and one instance of IMP, focusing on a freely improvised duo aesthetic. IMP has Musical Personality Settings (MPS) that can be set prior to performance, and these MPS guide the way IMP responds to musical input from the human. The MPS also govern the probability of particular outcomes from IMP’s creative algorithms. IMP uses audio data feature extraction methods to listen to the human partner, and react …

Peter Klatzow's Six Concert Etudes For Marimba : A Performer's Guide, Daniel Brian Heagney

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Peter Klatzow has become one of the most prominent composers for keyboard percussion over the last thirty years. Several of his works have found their way into the standard repertoire for percussion. The primary purpose of this document is to serve as a performer’s guide to his Six Concert Etudes for Marimba. This document is intended to help percussionists become less intimidated by Klatzow’s music, and make it more approachable. By studying the technical and musical demands within the Concert Etudes, a percussionist will be better prepared to perform Klatzow’s other keyboard percussion compositions. Both technical and musical advice is …

An Examination Of Middle School Band Students' Ability To Match Pitch Following Short-Term Vocal Technique Training, Abby Bush Lyons

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine middle school band students’ ability to sing and play their instruments in tune following short-term vocal technique instruction. In a posttest-only design, individual participants listened to three-note stepwise sequences produced digitally and performed them in three ways—sung on the syllable /Zu/, sung on /Zi/, and played on the instrument. Performances were recorded and analyzed for cent deviation from equal-tempered tuning (reference A=440). Results showed a significant 3-way interaction among pitch direction, performance condition, and pitch, with the most inaccurate playing happening after the first time participants sang the pitch sequence. Singing accuracy, …

A Performance Guide To Jean-Yves Malmasson's Opus 6 : Trois Poémes De Charles Baudelaire And Opus 30: Les Fleurs Du Désir, Zuly Elizabeth Inirio

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This document is a performance guide of Jean-Yves Malmasson’s Opus 6: Trois poèmes de Charles Baudelaire for medium voice and piano and Opus 30: Les fleurs du désir, a chamber cantata for soprano, violin, cello and piano. Chapter 1 discusses the life and solo vocal works of Jean-Yves Malmasson. It contains biographical information as well as a discussion of Malmasson’s general compositional approach, his influences and his treatment of text, an analysis of the text that the composer wrote for Opus 30. Charles Baudelaire and selections from his volume of poems, Les fleurs du mal, is the focus of Chapter …

Songs Without Words : The Forgotten Piano Works On Nadine Dana Suesse, Sarah Jane Johnson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this paper is to bring attention to Nadine Dana Suesse, a gifted composer who gained particular acclaim during the 1930’s and 40’s. Suesse was among the composers of Tin Pan Alley who captured the tone and atmosphere of this important period in American music through their popular songs and instrumental works. In this predominantly male setting, a handful of female composers also made significant contributions. These women are often left in the shadows and are not known as well, even though many of their works are noteworthy and their dedication to the arts inspirational. Among them was …

The Seven Last Words Of Christ : A Comparison Of Three French Romantic Musical Settings By Gounod, Franck, And Dubois, Vaughn Roste

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Seven Last Words of Christ—those sayings uttered by Jesus between his crucifixion and death as recorded in the Gospels—have long been of interest to liturgists and composers alike. Many composers have been inspired by these texts, and this study examines three settings, by Charles Gounod, César Franck, and Theodore Dubois. All were French composers who set this text in Latin during the Romantic era. Not only were these works composed in the same temporal vicinity, within twelve years, but they were also all composed within the same geographic vicinity, Paris. Franck and Dubois even worked together at the same …

Background, Analysis, And Performance Guide For Edison Denisov's Sonata For Flute And Piano, Esther June Waite

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

After composer Edison Vasilievich Denisov (1929–1996) finished his graduate work at the Moscow Conservatoire, he launched into an independent examination of composers whose music had been banned by the Soviet authorities during his conservatory years (1951–1959). It was during this time in his compositional development that he composed his Sonata for Flute and Piano (1960). The first section of this document provides a biographical summary of Edison Denisov and the circumstances surrounding the composition of the flute sonata. The second section is devoted to formal, harmonic, and stylistic analysis of the sonata. The final section of the document provides a …

A Performer's Guide To John Corigliano's Mr Tambourine Man - Seven Poems To Text By Bob Dylan, Jovan Zivkovic

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this monograph is to provide a documented score study analysis of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man – Seven Songs to text by Bob Dylan, since up to date there has not been another documented score analysis of the particular piece from a conductor’s standpoint. The monograph aims to contribute to the performance practice, by reviewing the conductor’s preparation process, and by highlighting key performance considerations as they relate to the execution of the piece that took place on October 12th, 2012 at the School of Music at Louisiana State University. The monograph aims to serve as a …

Practical Performance Considerations For The Andante Con Moto Of Beethoven's Piano Concerto In G Major, Op. 58, Young Eun Kim

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this monograph is to provide a thorough analysis of the Andante con moto of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, focusing on a variety of interpretative options for the performer. The sources of interpretive options will include conventional formal and harmonic analysis, consultation of existing scholarly research on the subject, historical performance practices, and possible musical implications of the application of the Orpheus program as proposed by Owen Jander. The formal and theoretical analysis refers to significant scholarly works and includes a variety of interpretive options, detailing possibilities for phrasing, formal musical structure, and the overall function and purpose …

When The Mouse Meets The Elephant : A Manual For String Bass Players With Application Of The Philosophy And Principles Of The F. M. Alexander Technique, Yun-Chieh Chou

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study was concerned with the use of the Alexander Technique principles in avoiding unwanted muscular tension and maintaining proper use of the body in double bass playing. Of particular importance was how the Alexander Technique could facilitate the fundamentals of double bass playing. The Alexander Technique is a hands-on method which aids the individual in achieving muscular coordination which is free and lively. Applying the principles of the Alexander Technique helps one achieve a harmonious psychophysical state, which results in greater ease, poise, and physical coordination in any activity, even the most demanding of virtuoso works for double bass. …

Creating And Performing New Australian Works On The Hungarian Concert Cimbalom, Joshua Webster

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the creation and performance of five new Western Australian works for the Hungarian concert cimbalom. These include four solo works, and one duet, which were scored, analysed, performed, and recorded. This thesis is in two parts: this exegetical component, which details the background, development, and findings of the research, including the scores created, and the manual that was developed for composers’ use; and a practical component, which is an active representation of the research, included as video recordings. To assist the composition of the new works, a manual was developed for the composers’ use. This manual began …

Bury Me Deep In Isolation: A Cultural Examination Of A Peripheral Music Industry And Scene, Christina Ballico

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Since 1998, Perth bands have had a strong presence within the Australian music scene. Primarily, each year between 1998 and 2009, songs by indie pop/rock acts from Perth have charted within national broadcaster triple j’s Hottest 100 countdown. Many of the albums from which these songs have been taken have sold in excess of 35,000 copies, and a number of successful and recognised Perth bands have toured with the nation’s largest music festival, the Big Day Out as well as their own high profile national tours. At the same time, Perth’s local indie pop/rock music industry has undergone tremendous growth …

Ladakhi Traditional Songs: A Cultural, Musical, And Literary Study, Noe Dinnerstein

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the place of traditional songs in the Tibetan Buddhist culture of the former Himalayan kingdom of Ladakh. I look at how Buddhism and pre-Buddhist religion informed the texts and performance contexts of traditional songs, and how Ladakhi songs represent cultural self-images through associated musical, textual, and visual tropes. Many songs of the past, both from the old royal house and the rural Buddhist populations, reflect the socio-political structure of Ladakhi society. Some songs reflect a pan-Tibetan identity, connecting the former Namgyal dynasty to both the legendary King Gesar and Nyatri Tsangpo, the historical founder of the Tibetan …

The New York Chamber Music Society, 1915-1937: A Contribution To Wind Chamber Music And A Reflection Of Concert Life In New York City In The Early 20th Century, Lisa Kozenko

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The New York Chamber Music Society, founded in 1915, was one of New York City's prominent cultural institutions in the early twentieth century. A vital piece of the classical music landscape, the Society played an important role in the city's development as one of the major artistic capitals of the world. The contributions that the organization made to wind chamber music repertoire and its mission to further the performance of chamber music in New York City are remarkable. The legacy of the New York Chamber Music Society is the works that were premiered or played for the first time in …

Two Sides To A Drum: Duality In Trinidad Orisha Music And Culture, Ryan J. Bazinet

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents an ethnographic and historical study of music and culture in the Yoruba-derived Trinidad Orisha religion in Trinidad and New York City. Its objectives are: (1) to provide description and documentation of Trinidad Orisha music, an understudied music genre in the African diaspora; (2) to shed light on the historical, cultural, and demographic factors contributing to the development of Trinidad Orisha music by its practitioners; and (3) to provide substance for meaningful comparisons between Trinidad Orisha music and other Yoruba-derived musics.

Based on four years of fieldwork (2008-2012) in Trinidad and in Brooklyn, NY, the study explores Trinidad …

Utilizing Classical Saxophone Articulation Techniques In Jazz Performance, Jeremy Trezona

Theses : Honours

No abstract available.

A Transcultural Journey : Integrating Elements Of Persian Classical Music With Jazz, Kate Pass

Theses : Honours

This study centres on the integration of Jazz with Persian classical music. In particular it documents the processes and the outcomes of a musical collaboration between myself—an Australian jazz double bass player—and a group of classically trained Persian musicians.

The study is in three parts. Part one serves as a backdrop to parts two and three and explores notable examples of collaborations between jazz musicians and musicians from other cultures. Part two provides a succinct exposition of the main features of Persian music, and part three documents my work in integrating Persian classical music with Jazz.