Music Commons^™

Music Composition, Spencer Snyder

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.

Finding Meaning In Detachment: An Analysis Of Kevin Volans' Asanga, Jordan Taylor Walsh

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the undeniable importance of Kevin Volans' music, there has been little academic research done on his work. This is especially true of his pieces for percussion. This paper both dissects the form and structure Volans' piece for multiple percussion Asanga and explores the different interpretations by players from around the world that have contributed to the accepted performance practice for the piece. The ultimate goal of this project is to achieve a detailed understanding of how Asanga works and record this knowledge for the benefit of any future percussionists who add the piece to their repertoire.

Attentional Flexibility And Memory Capacity In Conductors And Pianists, Andrea R. Halpern, Clemens Wöllner

Faculty Journal Articles

Individuals with high working memory (WM) capacity also tend to have better selective and divided attention. Although both capacities are essential for skilled performance in many areas, evidence for potential training and expertise effects is scarce. We investigated the attentional flexibility of musical conductors by comparing them to equivalently trained pianists. Conductors must focus their attention both on individual instruments and on larger sections of different instruments. We studied students and professionals in both domains to assess the contributions of age and training to these skills. Participants completed WM span tests for auditory and visual (notated) pitches and timing durations, …

Matteo Garrone's Reality:The Big Brother Spectacle And Its Rupture, Anna Paparcone Bronner

Faculty Journal Articles

In Garrone’s film, Reality, the protagonist Luciano Ciotola becomes obsessed with his participation in the reality TV show Big Brother to the point that his whole life turns into a spectacle. In Italian cinema studies no other scholar had yet analyzed this film, despite its success and the very engaging and up-to-date topic. In my article, at the diegetic level, I show that the spectator experiences an overlap and a (con)fusion between Luciano’s everyday reality and his life as a member of the reality TV show. However, keeping in mind Guy Debord’s seminal work The Society of the Spectacle and …

Analysis And Impact Of Selected Compositions That Endured Criticism, Grant Tyler Simms

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Throughout the history of Western art music there have been composers who were remarkably successful at creating works that stayed within the guidelines of what was viewed as "acceptable". These composers often were greeted with praise from critics and the general public for these works because they were understood and did not stray outside the boundaries of the expected. While these composers were vital to the development of music, they will not be discussed in this paper. Instead the composers who will be discussed are those who stepped outside the lines of what was viewed as customary. Works ranging from …

Fundamental Frequency Characteristics Of Modal And Vocal Fry Registers, Heidi Brubaker, Jason Albertson Whitfield Ph.D., Jane Schoonmaker Rodgers D.M.A.

Honors Projects

This study examined the distribution of fundamental frequencies in the connected speech of 14 healthy young adults. Acoustic analysis of fundamental frequency was performed on previously collected speech samples of a phonetically balanced reading passage. For the first three sentences of the reading passage, fundamental frequency contours were extracted using PRAAT, a speech analysis software package. The accuracy of these contours were visually verified and manually corrected when needed. The distribution of the fundamental frequency histories for each sample were then analyzed using Gaussian Mixture Model analyses in MATLAB. For most speakers, four statistical modes were identified in the data …

Psalms On The Shannon: A Collection Of Choral Pieces In The Irish Celtic Style, Greta E. Hanks

Senior Honors Theses

The Irish music tradition has a rich heritage ranging from ancient ballads to nineteenth-century dances. One area of Irish music, a subset of Celtic music in general, that has been somewhat underrepresented in modern times is Irish choral music. Scripturally-based choral singing has been part of the Irish tradition ever since medieval monks began Christianizing the Celts. Today, several choral groups in Ireland are working to revive the art of Celtic choral singing. This collection, presenting psalms set to choral music in the Irish style, is one modern composer’s endeavor to join the Irish choral genre, incorporating traditional harmonic elements …

One Thousand North, Amber Beams

Graduate Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

Jesus Is Born, The Lord Is Born, Myrna J. Layton, Michael Biancardi, O. A. Miller

Faculty Publications

Set to the tune of "I Will Take Care of Thee, My Child," a hymn composed by O.A. Miller (1918).

Transferring Writing Skills To A 3rd Grade Music Classroom, Megan A. Wilson

Masters Theses

The purpose of this action research study was to examine the use of writing skills in a third grade general music classroom. Students wrote narratives based on music they heard, used an interactive notebook to reflect on musical experiences, conducted a short composer research project and wrote a biography about the composer. The study was designed to investigate the following research question: Will the use of writing in the music classroom help the students apply writing skills from their general education classes while learning music content? The duration of the study was for an entire semester and the students attended …

Don't Let The World Rot: Anarchism, Hardcore Music, And Counterculture, Pearson Bolt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hardcore music is intrinsically anarchistic. The hardcore music scene represents a radical departure from contemporary society. Rejecting the materialism, militarism, and hedonism of the mainstream music scene—and, by extension, modern culture—hardcore music presents an alternative lifestyle rooted in solidarity, equality, and liberty. Indeed, the culture of the hardcore scene approaches a transitive, nomadic model of an anarchistic commune built on resistance as a way of life. In this study, I identified the ways music and lyrics craft attitudes and environments for revolt and rebellion, cultivating critical thinking and disobedience in equal measures. In order to understand the hardcore community, I …

V.1 2016-2017, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The 2016-2017 issue contains articles on Kara Walker, Women's March, "Look at Art, Get Paid" program, #pizzagate, the Mutual Encounters exhibition, and smartphones.

Henry Worrall (1825–1902): Anglo-American Guitarist, Robert Ferguson

Soundboard Scholar

Anglo-American guitarist Henry Worrall appeared on the American scene just as the guitar reached a plateau of popularity. As vital as the guitar itself, the prevailing social, philosophical, and aesthetic tenets of Worrall's era also wove a unifying thread through his life, career, and oeuvre. His immersion in both the graphic and musical arts; his straddling of vernacular and high culture; his connection to nature and especially agriculture; his nationalist and regionalist sympathies; and his fondness for folk, popular, and heroic musical themes all drew from and evinced a Romantic worldview. Here, Ferguson discusses Worrall's professional life.

Return With Us Now... Featured Facsimile: Henry Worrall’S Spanish Retreat, Robert Ferguson

Soundboard Scholar

Ferguson examines Henry Worrall's Spanish Retreat. Its origins go back to London, specifically to two guitar prints published there in the mid-1820s. Though the earliest of these (c.1826) states that the piece was "arranged for guitar" by Alexander Sosson, this does not necessarily indicate that it was originally written for a different instrument, such as piano. "Arranged" could mean the piece was already in circulation among guitarists, or another guitarist created or popularized it, and Sosson merely reworked it (and wrote it down). Moreover, imitating other instruments, at which the guitar proved particularly adroit, constituted the essence and charm of …

German Romantic Guitar Duets (Schneiderman, Yamaya), Richard Long

Soundboard Scholar

Long reviews Darr's German Romantic Guitar Duets by John Schneiderman and Hideki Yamaya.

The Life And Times Of Josef Kaspar Mertz: New Biographical Insights, Andreas Stevens

Soundboard Scholar

Stevens examines the biographical information about the German Romantic-era guitarist Josef Kaspar Mertz.The first one, authored in Russian by Nicolai Makaroff, became the best known because it has been available in English. By today's standards, Makaroff's recollections of the guitar's situation in the middle of the nineteenth century seem deeply subjective. Ever on the lookout for active exponents of the art of guitar playing, he met Mertz twice in Vienna and witnessed several private performances by Mertz. For better or for worse, his less-than-enthusiastic assessment of Mertz's playing has been taken at face value for perhaps too long, especially since …

Giuliani’S Naples: A Walking Tour, Nicoletta Confalone, Grégory Leclair

Soundboard Scholar

With 430,000 inhabitants in 1800, Naples had become the third most populous European city after London and Paris. The excavation of the site of Pompeii in the eighteenth century gave a special prestige to the city. Its newly unearthed antiquities and frescoes led to a vogue of neoclassicism across the arts. Images of ancient Greek and Roman lyres inspired the creation of the lyre-guitar, an instrument on which Mauro Giuliani performed on various occasions in Naples--probably more for its visual effect than for audibility's sake.

The Guitar In Tudor England: A Social And Musical History, By Christopher Page, Richard Long

Soundboard Scholar

Long reviews The Guitar in Tudor England: A Social and Musical History by Christopher Page.

A Performance Guide To Etüden Für Flöte(N) Solo By Isang Yun, Brian Dunbar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Born in Korea, Isang Yun (1917-1995) became one of the most prominent avant-garde composers in the world. Yun made use of a distinctive musical language that synthesized Far East Asian philosophy, especially Chinese Taoism, with Western techniques and Korean traditional instrumental idioms. Isang Yun left more that 100 works, including twelve works that feature the flute. This essay will discuss Yun’s five Etüden für Flöte(n) solo (Etudes for solo flute(s)), which are highly representative of Yun’s solo music for flute. The document will include a discussion and performance guide for each of the five etudes. This document will present an …

A Theory Of Form As Temporal Referentiality, Eron F. Smith

Pomona Senior Theses

This study proposes temporal referentiality—roughly defined as the orientation of substance in its temporal medium—as a theoretical and analytical framework for musical form. Operating on the principle of music as a temporally extended entity, this thesis explores the connections that occur between substance across its medium, suggests an additional interpretation of medium connections (temporality) in terms of language tense, and examines substance connections (referentiality) through different types of filtering.

I also propose a means for visual and literary interpretation of temporal referentiality, depicting a network of substance relationships established over a piece’s timespace. Analysis of this type assumes a listener’s …

Alternate Minimalisms: Repetition, Objectivity, And Process In The Age Of Recording, Zachary Schwartz

Pomona Senior Theses

This thesis examines the core concepts of early minimalism and the ways that they were influenced by recording as a medium of musical creation. The first chapter considers early minimalism’s historical lineage as the narrative has been passed down by music scholars, noting over-arching trends and problems of exclusion and misunderstanding inherent within it. Having established the myriad of concepts at the core of the early minimalist movement, the second chapter examines the recording medium’s effect on art music performance, noting trends in repetition, objectivity, and process that are represented within minimalism itself. With these ideas in mind, the idea …

Concert Recording 2016-11-29, Rosabelle Zhou, Cali Alexander, Brena Lackey, Danny Lopez, Stephan Mitchell, Mitch Yeager, Andrew Thompson, Kristine Mezines, Asher Perkins, Jacob Arnold, Matt Beach, Durgan Maxey, Fernando Valencia

Concert Recordings & Programs

[00:00]. Concerto 2 in Eb major. Allegro / Carl Maria von Weber -- [07:54]. Dance preludes. Allegro molto ; Andantino ; Allegro giocoso Andante ; Allegro molto / Witold Lutoslawski -- [18:47]. 3 miniatures / Krzysztof Penderecki -- [22:35]. Three pieces / Igor Stravinsky -- [27:24]. Irish spirit / Bill Douglas -- [34:23]. Fiesta de negritos / Lucho Bermudez -- [38:03]. Tico tico / Zequinha de Abreu.

Concert Recording 2016-11-15a, Cali Alexander, Brena Lackey, Rosabelle Zhou, Danny Lopez, Stephan Mitchell, Mitch Yeager, Andrew Thompson, Kristine Mezines, Asher Perkins, Mauricellis Diaz, Jacob Arnold, Matt Beach, Durgan Maxey, Fernando Valencia, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Latin American Ensemble

Concert Recordings & Programs

[00:00]. Oriente / Rick Faulkner -- [06:00]. La flauta magica / Antonio Maria Rameu -- [10:24]. Linda mañana / Oscar Hernandez -- [15:28]. Jack's tune / Hilton Ruiz -- [20:56]. Frenesi / Alberto Dominguez -- [24:48]. Que manera de quererte / Albita Rodriguez -- [31:04]. Blues for COS / Ruiz -- [35:36]. Fiesta de negritos / Lucho Bermudez -- [39:28]. A night in Tunisia / Dizzy Gillespie -- [44:48]. Tico tico / Zequinha de Abreu.

Concert Recording 2016-09-15, Ronda Mains, Miroslava Panayotova

Concert Recordings & Programs

[00:00]. Spiral lament / Ian Clarke -- [07:16]. Sonate pour flûte et piano / Mel Bonis -- [23:16]. Sonata in D major, op.94 / Sergei Prokofieff.

Concert Recording 2016-02-17, Haley Henderson, Yoko Fukuda, Nan Yang, Taylor Merrow, Ann Rye, Aaron Bloodworth, S. Michael Shuman, Laura Frederickson, Daryl Rojas, Alex Franco

Concert Recordings & Programs

Deh vieni, non tardar from Le nozze di Figaro / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -- Mai, op.1 no.2 / Gabriel Fauré -- Le colibri from 7 méodies, op.2 no.7 / Ernest Chausson -- Youth and love from Songs of travel / Ralph Vaughan Williams -- Nocturne in c-sharp minor, op. post. / Frédéric Chopin -- Three preludes. No. 2 mesto misterioso ; No. 3 estemporali impetuoso / Shuai Zhan

Concert Recording 2016-10-01, Nan Yang, Tomoko Kashiwagi

Concert Recordings & Programs

[00:00]. Sonata in E minor / Florence B. Price -- [23:20]. Autumn moon over the calm lake / Wencheng Lü ; arranged by Peixun Chen -- [27:16]. Sun flower / Yuxi Wang ; arranged by Erhao Lin -- [30:03]. Three preludes / Shuai Zhang -- [41:17]. The garden of Eden / William Elden Bolcom.

Impact Of A Music Program On Students' Standardized Test Scores, Joan Murray

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Administrators at the focus school had not determined if participation in a music program has influenced students' academic achievement, thereby ushering doubt about the utility of this program. The purpose of this causal-comparative study was to determine the impact of the music program on students' English language arts (ELA) and math Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) scores. The theoretical foundation for this study was Miendlarzweska and Trost's model of musical training, which indicates the impact of musical training on academic, social, and cognitive outcomes and identifies factors that mediate that impact. Archival data were retrieved on 74 Grade 5-8 students …

Exploring The Financial Management Skills Of Independent Rock Bands, Mary A. Hobson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the post-Napster era of disruptive innovations, independent artists are managing more nonmusical roles and more revenue streams to remain competitive and earn a living wage from their music. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the financial management strategies that one independent rock band needed to understand music royalties. Disruptive innovation was the conceptual framework used to guide the study. The sample was comprised of 4 members of an independent rock band based in Northeast Ohio. The selected band met the criteria for the study as members who earned revenue from copyrighted works, merchandise, and CD …

Four Corners: Concerto For Marimba And Orchestra And Carl Nielsen: An Analysis Of His Late Symphonies: (Symphony 4-6), Timothy James Beattie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The first part of this dissertation is a musical composition for orchestra entitled Four Corners: Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra in 4 Movements. This work is a tone poem, featuring marimba and orchestra that depicts American locales as presented by notable American authors. I employed a neo-tonal compositional approach to portray these musical scenes. The work attempts to evoke both the physical features of each place, as well as the author’s experience and mindset with each place. The movements appear in this order: Maine Woods (Henry David Thoreau’s Retreat), Key West (Hemingway’s Home), Big Sur (John Steinbeck’s Backdrop), Mount Desolation …

Developing A Mathematically Informed Approach To Musical Narrative Through The Analysis Of Three Twentieth-Century Monophonic Woodwind Works, Wesley James Bradford

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project applies mathematically informed narrative to monophonic music in the twentieth century, with a focus on three works for solo woodwinds: Debussy’s Syrinx (flute), Stravinsky’s Three Pieces for Clarinet, and Britten’s “Bacchus” from Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, Op. 49 (oboe). This music poses difficulties for traditional analytical methods due to a lack of explicit harmonies and unusual pitch language that is neither functionally tonal nor serially atonal. Additionally, these pieces present a variety of challenges due to differences in length, number of movements, and presence or absence of programmatic elements. Therefore, nontraditional methods could be beneficial for understanding these …