Music Commons^™

A Performer's Guide To Selected Trumpet Excerpts Of Orchestral Works By Women Composers, Julia Stowell

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Orchestral excerpts are brief passages from symphonic repertoire that are intended to demonstrate a player’s musical and technical abilities. The canon of orchestral trumpet audition excerpts has been relatively unchanged for several generations. This established canon of excerpts rarely features works written by women. As orchestras begin diversifying their programs, the frequently requested orchestral excerpts require new considerations to reflect these changes. In order for excerpts to be reflective of the orchestral canon, they must be updated as the canon changes.

Once an excerpt has been identified and obtained, the next issue is addressing its unique musical and technical challenges. …

Raised On Ritalin - A Work For Concert Band Based On My Personal Experiences With Adhd Alongside A Graphic Novel By Tyler Page, Ethan Prado

Theses and Dissertations

During my time as an undergrad at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, I loved to read graphic novels, and their library had quite the collection. I lost track of how many times I made my way down to the third sub-level of the Undergraduate Library to go to the graphic novel section. In my last year at UIUC (2021-2), preparations were made to close the UGL in order for it to be renovated for their Special Collections. Essentially, they would be swapping the contents of the UGL and the Main Stacks. One time, while looking for graphic novels in …

Distant Objects, Julián Eduardo Acuña González

Theses and Dissertations

Distant Objects is a tone poem in two movements for wind ensemble, inspired by the journey of the Voyager 1, whose primary mission was to fly by and study Jupiter and Saturn. Launched by NASA on September 5, 1977, it is currently the most distant human-made object from Earth.

The first movement, Gravitas, acknowledges the difficulty faced by humankind in launching objects to outer space and the challenge of defeating Earth’s gravity. In this depiction, a series of falling lines and bouncing gestures convey the inevitability of the gravity pull.

The second movement, Gas Giants, depicts the passage …

Twelve Preludes, Sarah Miller-Ross

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

This set of 12 Preludes for solo piano draws inspiration from Chopin’s set of 24 Preludes for the same instrument, along with ideas from other composers and various genres to create a varied set in which each piece is centered around a note of the 12-note chromatic scale. The movements are titled based on the material that inspired them, the effect they create, or the special technique or limitation they used. A brief overview of inspirational material will be discussed, then each movement will be described through the lens of their compositional processes.

The Black Paintings: A Work For Orchestra, Cody Anderson

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Based on The Black Paintings, a series of paintings by Francisco Goya, this orchestral composition ventures into various themes and satirical elements present in select paintings. Topics such as military overreach, the church’s influence on society, and the resistance of scientific ideas are just a few of the areas explored in the finished three movements. First, the composer’s interpretations of the selected works are covered, and then how those themes were translated into the music. Goya’s painting, “Women Laughing,” has numerous names given to it, which are much darker in tone. However, given the somber nature of the subsequent movements, …

Engaging Elementary Music Students Through Multisensory Teaching In A Kodály-Inspired Classroom, Chelsea Taylor

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Multisensory teaching is an instructional approach that is increasingly implemented in general education classrooms. Although it has been widely studied in special education settings and in the teaching of reading skills, it has not been extensively examined within music education. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of multisensory instruction on student engagement, comprehension, and retention of concepts in my elementary music classroom. Through Kodály-inspired lessons that challenged students to audiate pitches while kinesthetically building a pentatonic scale, notate music on textured surfaces, and play games that incorporated simultaneous sensory input, these lessons intentionally integrated visual, auditory, …

Spell Of Forty Small Failings, Erin B. Ehren

Theses and Dissertations

Spell of Forty Small Failings is a collection of images and writings that draws from an unruly range of literary forms, academic disciplines, and religious cannons in order to address the Divine—all that which exists on account of the phenomena of what it is to see and be seen: to hear and be heard: to touch and be touched: to know and be known, and through that knowing proceed beyond mediation. I wrote this thesis for me in the hopes that all along I was writing for you.

Serenade No.2, James C. Mechem

West Chester University Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Final Projects

Serenade No.2 is a seventeen minute composition for Wind Symphony, dedicated to each

of my mentors in classical composition during the past 10 years: John Carbon, Brian Norcross,

Samuel Andreyev, Jay Chadwick, Adam Silverman, Robert Maggio, Ari Sussman, and Mark

Rimple. Through this composition, my goal was to both pay homage to the individuals that

helped shape my artistic voice, and to additionally connote each movement with evocative

oceanic imagery, specifically through the title of each movement in the composition. I included

this latter detail in reference to a vacation that I went on in August of 2025 to Atlantic …

Winter Term Choir Tour To London And Paris, Bryon Black Ii

Music Faculty publications

This program explores the universal longing for home—a place of belonging, safety and peace. Spanning choral traditions from England, France, Estonia, Mexico, South Africa and the United States, the music reflects how hope, faith and shared humanity shape our understanding of where we belong. Across cultures and centuries, these works reveal music’s power to foster connection and community, even far from familiar ground. We hope this program invites listeners to consider home not only as a physical place, but as a space where we are known, connected and held.

Book Review: Inside Chinese Theater: Community And Artistry In Nineteenth-Century California And Beyond By Nancy Yunwha Rao, Jiyoon Auo

Asia Pacific Perspectives

No abstract provided.

A Practice-Led Exploration Into The Melodic And Rhythmic Techniques Of Kenny Kirkland, Reuben Cope

Theses : Honours

Kenneth David Kirkland (Kenny Kirkland) was one of the most in demand and influential jazz pianists of the late twentieth century. Highly regarded among peers and critics, Kirkland worked extensively with numerous jazz luminaries and was best known for his work with both Wynton and Branford Marsalis, as well as with the pop star Sting.

This study aims to advance my ability as an improviser to access and utilise the melodic and rhythmic techniques featured within the improvisations of Kenny Kirkland. This aim was guided by observed limitations in my ability to shape the arc of my improvisations to push …

A Creative Exploration Of Bud Powell's Bebop Vocabulary For Modern Jazz Harmony, Flavio Colonetti

Theses : Honours

This thesis presents a practice-led research (PLR) exploration of adapting Bud Powell's bebop improvisational language for contemporary jazz performance. Through transcription and analysis of Powell's right-hand melodic material, this study employs an iterative framework to identify and transform several core stylistic traits. The initial investigation, focused on creatively transforming two extended melodic phrases, demonstrated success in traditional functional harmonic contexts but revealed a limitation when applied to the more modern, vertical chord progressions.

This prompted a methodological shift to a more modular system, whereby a catalogue of 26 short "Vocabulary Seeds" (VS) drawn from across Powell's discography was created. As …

Musicking In The Greek Diaspora Of Perth, Western Australia, Alix Simatos

Theses : Honours

This research investigates music making among second- and third-generation Greek Australians in the diaspora community of Perth, Western Australia. It explores how musical practices serve as a medium for expressing and negotiating Greek identity, with particular attention to how multiculturalism is embodied through music education, performance and communal exchange. Fieldwork was conducted in Perth between July and September 2025, using a methodology that included semi-structured interviews, participant observation and experiential learning through musical events. The findings highlight music’s significance in sustaining cultural heritage and shaping identity within diaspora communities. Key themes include the influence of physical and digital media on …

Hydesville Goose Prairie: Early Pioneers And The Making Of A Town, Jack Mchenry, Paula Gundlach Mchenry, Janet Corbett Mattson

Trade & Scholarly Monographs

This book is laid out as a timeline beginning when Hydesville was first being settled. Included are not only happenings in the area, but also events that were occurring outside the area that would have affect-ed or been of interest to Humboldt County residents. Great care has been taken to preserve the history of the area, to learn who the families were, their reason for coming to the area, and from where they originated. This book was compiled through the effort and interviews of the entire community. The McHenrys began collecting Hydesville history some sixty years ago. Jack McHenry wrote …

Safe And Sound, Madeleine Allen

Music and Health Case Studies

No abstract provided.

A Study Of Le Tombeau Du Couperin By Maurice Ravel, Carolyn M. Totaro, Reece Logan

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of Le Tombeau du Couperin by Maurice Ravel discussing its origin, orchestration, and significance.

A Study Of The Opera Trouble In Tahiti By Leonard Bernstein, Carolyn M. Totaro, Skyler Orr-Depner

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the opera Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein discussing the libretto, roles, and music.

A Study Of Also Sprach Zarathustra By Richard Strauss, Carolyn M. Totaro, Luke Stephens

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss covering its inception and iconic status.

A Study Of The Opera Tosca By Giacomo Puccini, Carolyn M. Totaro, Natalia Hernandez

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the opera Tosca by Giacomo Puccini covering its libretto, music, and significance.

A Profile Of Beverly Sills, Carolyn M. Totaro, Lily Adams

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A 10-minute presentation on the career of Beverly Sills.

Sonic Costumes For Immersive Theme Park Storytelling: Developing Interactive Wearables To Enhance Performer, Audience, And Environment Interaction, Rachel Yee

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Costumes enhance the themed experience through visual storytelling while also allowing performers to interact fluidly with a physical space. These garments are typically passive storytellers in theme parks, even if the performers interact directly with guests. Some garments coordinate with and react to elements of the themed environment, predominantly when worn by performers within live shows, parades, or streetmosphere settings. However, this interactivity is often available only at a distance from guests, causing a separation between audience and performer. For instance, lights on parade costumes, such as those throughout Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park, often synchronize only with parade floats and …

Student Perspectives Of A Rubric-Based Performance Assessment In A Secondary Large Ensemble Classroom: Fairness, Clarity And Learning, Jeffrey S. Payne

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate student perceptions of a rubric-based performance assessment within a secondary large ensemble music program.  Seventy high school students enrolled in a high school band class completed a rubric-based performance assessment that featured personalized feedback and opportunities for resubmission  Using a mixed-methods approach, 17 students in the class voluntarily participated in a survey, the results of which I used to study my own use of assessment.  The survey consisted of eight Likert-scale questions and four open-response questions which were used alongside data regarding the resubmission rate and teacher documentation of instruction. Results indicated …

Exploring Vocal Fatigue In Female Singers, Cory M. Pinto

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Vocal fatigue is a complex issue that may signal underlying vocal pathology or exist independently, especially among professional voice users such as singers, whose high vocal demands make them particularly susceptible. This dissertation investigates vocal fatigue in young adult female singers using both objective and subjective voice assessment measures during a novel vocal loading task. Key research questions addressed in this dissertation are as follows: (1) Which voice assessment measures demonstrate significant change over time in response to vocal loading? (2) which Participant Profile Characteristics most accurately predict changes in perceived vocal fatigue severity? (3) In what ways do symptom …

Integrating Symbolic And Waveform Music Into Large Language Models, Teng Tu, Xiaohao Liu, Yunshan Ma, Ji Qi, Tat-Seng Chua

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Music, as a unique and integral element of human life, is characterized by its complex structures, intricate details, and the fusion of multimodal information. Recent study advance music understanding by leveraging knowledge and reasoning capabilities derived from Large Language Models (LLMs). However, they often lack compatibility and fail to fully utilize the complementary strengths of diverse representations (e.g., ABC, MIDI, Waveform). To address these limitations, we propose a unified music-language model framework, named UniMuLM, transitioning from single-representation approaches to the integration of multiple music representations for LLM. Unifying different music representation formats poses challenges such as patch integrity and boundary …

“My Voice Is Trauma, My Voice Is Healing:” A Feminist, Trauma-Informed Embodied Study On The Impact Of Gender-Based Violence In Classical Music Communities, Sarah Pearson

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This Social Work doctoral dissertation explores the impact of gender-based violence (GBV) in classical music communities on survivor-artists. This is an intersectional feminist, trauma-informed, embodied study that draws on these three theoretical concepts to conceive of classical music as an institution of both colonial patriarchal power and a site of spirituality and meaning-making. The issue of systemic GBV in the performing arts has been a focus of headline news and sensational celebrity stories in the last decade following the MeToo hashtag and is slowly gaining some attention in academic research.

For this qualitative study, the sample consisted of 14 participants …

Μmodules: A Low-Cost, Eurorack-Compatible Modular Audio Synthesis System, Nolan K. Juneau

Honors Theses and Capstones

The modular audio synthesizer is one of the fastest-growing industries in contemporary music technology. Unlike a traditional audio synthesizer, a modular synthesizer allows for the user to directly control the signal path and effects of the synthesized sound, allowing for a workflow that is completely customizable to an individual musician and their creative vision. However, the modules and cases currently in production for the common “Eurorack” design standard can be prohibitively expensive to new users, often costing thousands of dollars for even a small system. The µModules project aims to eliminate this financial barrier to modular synthesis by using inexpensive …

The Matusiflute: Exploring Intercultural Collaboration Through Timbral Dízi Emulation Within An Australian-Chinese Orchestral Performance Setting, Gabriel Mcmahon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research investigates how the Matusiflute can potentially promote intercultural Sino Western collaboration within solo, chamber and orchestral settings by consciously applying technical and stylistic codes attributed to the dízi (traverse Chinese bamboo flute). Using an autoethnographic approach, I reflect on my engagement with the dízi, its morphology, timbre and stylistic interpretation, and how my pedagogical flute context impacted this approach. These learnings were then applied to the Matusiflute through two premiere performances of a commissioned intercultural work by Nicholas Ng, The Secret of the Golden Flower (2024) for Matusiflute and Chinese Orchestra. The latter being performed in a solo …

Exploring Hybrid Chinese-Western Compositional Practices Based On Chinese And Western Film Soundtracks, Jie Hong Yang

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the development of a hybrid Chinese-Western compositional practice for film scoring, combining a written dissertation (Volume I) with a folio of 80 minutes of original orchestral music (Volume II). Drawing on analyses of Tan Dun’s Crouching Tiger Cello Concerto (2000) and John Powell’s film score for How to Train Your Dragon (2010), the research investigates how Chinese (minzu yinyue) musical elements and Western scoring techniques can be integrated to create a culturally hybrid approach. The project unfolds in two phases: the first focuses on incorporating Chinese musical characteristics into Western frameworks, resulting in 40 minutes …

Emerging From The Cocoon: Strategies To Assist The Classical Violinist Develop Improvisational Fluency In A Range Of Musical Styles, Judith A. Iddison

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This autoethnographic practice-led research project documents the journey of expanding my classical violin practice with the aim of developing improvisational fluency in a range of musical styles. Building upon findings and strategies outlined in my honours thesis, which centred on the artistry of Australian cross-genre violinist Shenzo Gregorio (Shenton Gregory), this doctoral study is underpinned by an iterative cyclic process of critical observation, reflection and analysis and an examination of literature.

Knowledge gained through one-on-one, aural-based, practical violin-improvisation instruction with Gregorio was applied within collaboration with the evolving string ensemble, Sign of Four. Further, combining this tuition and collaboration with …

Towards The Acoustic Characterisation Of Ngilgi Cave's Amphitheatre Chamber In Western Australia, Mary Rapp, Manuj Yadav, John Bassett

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Ngilgi Cave, Western Australia’s first show cave and a site of Wardandi custodianship for tens of thousands of years, has long been celebrated for its “remarkable acoustics”. This reputation is anchored in the early twentieth-century anecdote of Dame Nellie Melba singing in its Amphitheatre chamber. This paper presents a quantitative acoustic characterisation of that chamber using in situ measurements within a nominal 2500 m3 interconnected limestone volume with dense speleothem surfaces. Room acoustic parameters were measured as per ISO 3382–1 across four receiver positions spanning 1–15 m from the source. Spatially-averaged mid-frequency Reverberation Time was 1.2 s, Early Decay Time …