The Influence Of Past Experiences On Middle School Band Directors’ Instructional Practices, Jessie Lynn Peterson

All Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated the influence of middle school band directors’ past experiences on their instructional decision-making and implementation of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP). Embedded in Ladson-Billings’s (1995, 2014) CRP framework and Lortie’s (1975) apprenticeship of observation theory, this study explored the relationship between middle school band directors’ past experiences, their beliefs about CRP, and their instructional practices.

Music education in the United States has historically focused on Western European classical traditions that overlook the cultural diversity of today’s students and reinforce dominant pedagogical norms. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six middle school band directors. Participants discussed their musical backgrounds, …

Predicting Music Origin With Deep Learning, Fruzsina Ladanyi

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This project explores the usage of a late fusion deep learning architecture to predict the geographic origin of music. Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) and the language of the music sample are used as features. MFCCs were extracted from audio files to capture sound features. The language was identified using OpenAI’s Whisper model to provide additional context. A late fusion neural network architecture combining Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) layers for sequential MFCC input and dense layers for non-sequential language features were employed to support both classification and regression tasks. The classification model achieved an accuracy of 33.03% across 56 countries or …

0895: Whear Family Papers, 1909-2019, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Dr. Paul W. Whear was a noted composer and Marshall University professor and founded the Huntington Chamber Orchestra. Nancy Robinson Voiers Whear was a renowned musician who worked in Morrow Library at Marshall University and wrote several articles that were published. Their children were Allen Whear, violoncellist, brother Bill, a prominent photographer, and Cynthia, another distinguished musician.

The Whear Family Collection includes original compositions and musical scores by Paul W. Whear, research materials used by Nancy Whear, photography by Bill Whear, and documentation of the musical career of Allen Whear. Also included are programs and other materials from the Huntington …

Building Toward A Timbral Tool-Kit: A Practice-Led Exploration Of Timbre As An Inspirational Tool In The Composition Process, Kailan O’Dell

Postgraduate

This exegesis is a practice-led investigation into the role of timbre as a tool of inspiration and musical expression in the composition process, with a specific focus on keyboard instruments. Two contrasting compositions for grand piano were recorded, then recorded again using four other distinct keyboard instrument timbres. The composer’s emotional perception of each keyboard instrument timbre was evaluated through reflective analysis, and with the use of the Geneva Emotional Music Scale. Knowledge of the emotional associations of the various timbres was used in the creation of four new compositions, one for each of the four distinct keyboard instrument timbres. …

A Study Of The History, Repertory And Instrumentation Of The Band Of The Corfu Philharmonic Society From 1840 Until 1920, Foteini Angeli

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

The Corfu Philharmonic Society band was founded in 1840 and is still active today. It is considered the one of the oldest continuously operating music education organizations in Greece. The people, repertoire, and instrumentation of this band influenced all other wind bands in Greece. There are important resources available on the topic, but dedicated research to the organization is in its infancy. Focusing on the changes in instrumentation through original manuscripts from the inaugural band (1840) through the end of the First World War reveals significant multinational influences that continue to be felt to this day. This is the first …

Perceptions Of Ai Chatbots In Music Education, Lauren Beauchamp

Music Education Theses

Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI chatbots like the Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT), have impacted education, yet their specific implications for music education remain underexplored. This study explores general music educators’ perceptions of information provided by ChatGPT, focusing on their ability to distinguish AI-generated content, its perceived accuracy, and the perceived influence of professional experience. A qualitative multiple case methodology including six general music educators located in the state of New York was utilized. Participants were purposively sampled to ensure maximum variation in age, gender, service years, and teaching levels. During interviews, they were asked to …

Composition Portfolio Of Doug Falk, Doug Falk

Music ETDs

This composition portfolio contains six compositions:

Heterogeneity (2020) for solo guitar

Amalgamation (2023) for reed quintet

Oil and Vinegar (2024) for wind symphony (satisfying the requirement of one work for large ensemble)

Shouting into the Abyss (2024) for flute with electronics (satisfying the requirements of a work for electronics and a work for voice)

Movements Come, Movements Cease (2025) for voice, trumpet/flugelhorn, marimba, electric bass, drum set and fixed media; written in collaboration with choreography by Laura Orozco Garrett (satisfying the requirement of one collaborative work)

Celestial Bodies in Motion (2025) for 10 piece wind ensemble (satisfying the requirement for …

Picturing The Victorian Revival Of The Guitar: The Diary Of Caroline Maud Berkeley (1859–1949), Christopher Page

Soundboard Scholar

The diary of Caroline Maud Berkeley née Tomlinson, compiled in thirteen sketch books from 1888 to 1901, offers the most extensive social record of guitar-playing to be found in any private document of the nineteenth century. This article, compiled with exclusive access to the original manuscripts, offers the first comprehensive digital record of more than twenty scenes of guitars in use, together with the accompanying diary text, which has never before been published in an authentic form. The diarist’s sharp eye for facial expressions and gestures, her radiant sense of color, and her keen sense of humor allow her to …

An Investigation Of Mental Well-Being Of Music Ensemble Participants At Eastern Arizona College: A Case Study, Geoffrey D. Despain

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the experiences of collegiate music ensemble students with mental illness and if music ensemble participation helped them cope. Students have indicated that participating in a music ensemble or listening to music has helped them cope with perceived or diagnosed mental illness such as depression and anxiety. Music students at Eastern Arizona College (EAC), a rural community college in Thatcher, Arizona, expressed their mental health struggles with band and choir directors. Some students have sought help through the counseling department. Many students do not seek help in any form. This qualitative …

Investigating The Need For A Contemporary Bachelor Of Music In Music Education Degree At Trevecca Nazarene University And Union University, Thomas Paul Goddard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the traditional music education curriculum being valuable to music education majors, it fails to provide contemporary approaches and relevant content within a modern musical society. Students graduate from Trevecca Nazarene University’s (TNU) School of Music (SoM) and Union University’s (UU) Department of Music (DoM) and enter the music education field without sufficient guidance. This study examined the perspectives of music education professionals from interviews and the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES). Guided by Gordon’s music learning theory, this multimethod study identifies experiences from music educators that create a comprehensive undergraduate music education curriculum. In addition to the traditional …

Crazy - Ep, Ben P. Focht

Music Summer Fellows

A collection of four songs, written, recorded, and mixed by me as part of an EP. Created under the guidance of Dr. Andrew Davis, and featuring fellow student Nico Yanzaguano on drums. Exploring the themes of power dynamics and identity, these songs display various stylistic elements highly inspired by grunge bands like Nirvana, Alice In Chains, and Soundgarden. These songs are the result of two months of creation, exploring what it was like to write and produce original music.

Singing Our Story: Composing And Writing An Original Musical, Gianna C. Daiuto

Music Summer Fellows

How can we use music to deepen the emotions of the stories we tell? What is the effect of combining song and speech? Through an extensive independent project, I have composed several pieces of original music alongside a script to create an original musical. While it is still in its infancy, this project is the first full draft of this story, and will hopefully be fleshed out to be staged and performed one day in its entirety.

A Performance Guide To Christos Hatzis’ Songs On Poems By Sappho, Maria E. Thomas

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Christos Hatzis’ Three Songs of Poems by Sappho (1999) represents a compelling yet understudied contribution to contemporary art song repertoire. This study examines Hatzis’ settings of Sappho’s Fragments 1, 16, and 44, offering both scholarly analysis and practical performance guidance to make the cycle more accessible to singers and scholars. Through musical and textual analysis, this project reveals how Hatzis bridges ancient Greek lyric poetry with modern compositional techniques. The study demonstrates his innovative approach to word painting, rhythmic flexibility, and extended tonality, showing how these elements honor Sappho’s intimate first-person voice while creating a distinctive 20th-century art song …

Fin De Siècle Russian Topos And Rimsky-Korsakov's The Golden Cockerel, Jaidan Ursich

Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado

Russian composers, including Glinka and The Mighty Five, helped establish a fin de siècle Russian nationalistic style in art music through the implementation of idiomatic folk music gestures and other commonly employed musical elements. Scholars, including Richard Taruskin, Barry Bilderback, and Pieter Van Den Toorn, have identified many of these elements, however, they have not provided clear codification of a Russian topic. Likewise, the music of Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov has been largely ignored when compared to that of his contemporaries, though most research indicates he was heralded as a nationalistic composer.

The purpose of this research was to create an initial …

The Oboe Thread: Tracing The Evolution Of Viet Cuong's Compositional Voice, Devin Gilbreath

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Viet Cuong is an emerging and highly regarded American composer currently serving on the faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he teaches composition, orchestration, and music theory. Cuong's academic credentials include degrees from prestigious institutions such as the Curtis Institute of Music, Princeton University, and the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Over the years, his compositional portfolio has expanded significantly, encompassing a diverse range of genres and mediums, including vocal, orchestral, wind band, and chamber music. His chamber works, in particular, stand out for their fusion of diverse genres and instrumentation. One area in which Cuong has made …

Modifications To The Spiral Array: A Computational Approach To Music Analysis, Rose Bittle

DePaul Discoveries

The Spiral Array is a geometric model of musical tonality and exists as a tool in computer-aided music analysis. The model was first published in 2000 by Elaine Chew, PhD, in her thesis, Towards a Mathematical Model of Tonality. This project aimed to restructure the Spiral Array, limiting user ambiguity and optimizing the application of musical key finding. The existing model defines pitch, chord, and key location to form a series of spirals dependent on a set of flexible weights. In our research we were able to identify potential issues with the pitch definitions themselves and experiment with methods …

Tripping The Telematic Fantastic: Adventures In Presenting Telematic Musicing At In-Person Conferences In 2024, Tom Zlabinger

Journal of Network Music and Arts

This article documents my challenges, successes, and what I learned while demonstrating what I describe as telematic musicing at six academic conferences in the U.S., Scotland, Finland, and Lithuania in 2024. Through personal narrative, autoethnography, and audience reactions, I share observations and conclusions I drew as a result of demoing telematic musicing to different audiences. I outline the technological and attitudinal challenges I encountered at the conferences and assess whether I was able to resolve them. I also discuss the need to strike and maintain a balance between hardware, software, and what Peter Neumann calls “peopleware.” Finally, I reflect on …

Transmission: Works Of Sarah Rose Weaver And Collaborations (2022–2024), Sarah Rose Weaver

Journal of Network Music and Arts

The Transmission Series took place between 2022 and 2024, primarily in a virtual network music setting. The series consists of my compositions and collaborations for solo, chamber, and large ensemble performance, building on my works and essays since 1998 that engage in-person, hybrid, and virtual spaces. This essay details the artistic and technological strategies employed in the Transmission Series, including audio, video, and score excerpts. The technologies discussed include networked audio and video, along with streaming and recording methods. The works featured in the discussion are “Transcendence Transmission” (2022) for large ensemble, “Sub Way” (2022) for chamber ensemble, “Here Mirror” …

Reconceptualizing The Organ Through Networked Spaces: Interviews With Participants Of The 2023 Global Hyperorgan Concert, Daniil Pilchen, Rebekah Wilson

Journal of Network Music and Arts

This paper examines the Global Hyperorgan concert held at the 16th annual Orgelpark Symposium in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in June 2023. The Symposium aims to reimagine the historically significant yet underused pipe organs. As part of meeting this aim, the concert featured performances linking Amsterdam and Vancouver using the Global Hyperorgan, a system that connects pipe organs via network technology. Interviews were conducted with the participating musicians to explore their experiences with this musical platform. Three key themes of primary interest to these musicians are revealed: alternative control interfaces, space and acoustics, and latency as a creative tool that drives innovations …

Traces Of Presence: Remembering Daniel Pinheiro, Billy Clark

Journal of Network Music and Arts

A tribute article in memory of artist Daniel Pinheiro (1982–2025).

The Zone: Hyperintimacy In Telemersive Performance, Benjamin Burger, Patrick Muller, Joel De Giovanni, Martin Frölich, Eric Larrieux, Hannah Walter

Journal of Network Music and Arts

This article explores how immersive technologies can create intimate connections between physically separated people through the telematic performance titled The Zone. The project links two stage spaces—one for a performer and one for an audience member—using advanced technologies including volumetric video, 3D scanning, spatial audio, motion capture, and augmented reality. Developed at the Institute of Computer Music and Sound Technology at the Zurich University of the Arts, these Extended Reality (XR) tools enable what we call hyperintimacy—an enhanced form of connection that transcends physical distance through immersive telepresence. Despite the artificial technological context, participants experience genuine encounters that balance digital …

Mediating The Exquisite: Aesthetic Affordances Of The Network Arts, Seth Adams

Journal of Network Music and Arts

This paper argues that the Network Arts afford uniquely nuanced aesthetic interactions among humans and between humans and machines. After defining these moments under a new concept I call exquisite musicking, I investigate how distributed networks of human and nonhuman actors create experiences that challenge or complicate traditional notions of agency, ensemble, aesthetics, and synchrony. Using Actor-Network Theory as a lens of inquiry, I explore the exquisite affordances of network-based musicking, discussing how pitch, timbre, and texture are co-created in networked performances. I also examine how exquisite musicking could serve as a fruitful concept in music education, particularly in pedagogical …

Editorial, Sarah Rose Weaver

Journal of Network Music and Arts

No abstract provided.

Community Engagement In Music Therapy: Reflections From The Field, Jess Rushing, Denise M. Cumberland

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper reflects on a music therapy community engagement project that incorporates clinical training, service learning, and community music therapy. Two faculty members and a practicum student in a Midwestern university engaged community members connected to Parkinson’s disease to create a music-based program. We offer a conceptual framework that connects approaches situated within community music therapy (CoMT) qualities and community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles. We share project processes, findings, and recommendations, emphasizing all as equal stakeholders.

"Inspiring Empathy": A Descriptive Review Of A Musical Composition, Garo Saraydarian

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study explored the experiences of college professors using an assessment approach, descriptive review, to assess undergraduate music compositions. College professors, and educators in general, often debate best practices around assessing student work. A literature review showed a debate amongst music educators over approaches to assessing student compositions, with rubrics being especially controversial. Descriptive review uses collective discussion and a series of non-judgmental exercises that aim for participants to become more intimate with a student and their work. As an assessment technique that had been used to look at student artwork, albeit at the elementary grade level, descriptive review has …

Music, Poetry And Identity In Badakshan, Tajikistan: Singing And Sounding Community, Chorshanbe Goibnazarov

Music & Performance in Muslim Contexts

An illuminating account of Ismaili music, spiritual poetry and social change in Badakhshan.

In the riverine valleys of the Pamir Mountains of Tajik Badakhshan, a thriving millennium-old community of Nizari Ismaili Muslims created a unique spiritual culture in which the performance of music and poetry plays a central role. This book focuses on the central musical and poetic tradition of the Pamiri Ismailis, qasīda-khonī (also known as maddo), tracing its origins, evolution, delocalisation and relocation.

This book introduces readers to leading performers of qasīda-khonī and to the Ismaili gnosis that inspires its music and poetry.

• Based on six …

Global Studies Initiative Faculty Report: Music 124: Non-Western Music Course Redesign, Matthew A. Dixon

Global Studies Initiatives in Arts and Sciences 2025

No abstract provided.

Relationships Between Modern Marching Percussion And Concert Percussion: An Investigation Of Selected Percussion Ensemble Repertoire, Ian Patrick Mahaffey

Theses and Dissertations

Percussion, as an expansive and diverse art form, encompasses a wide range of performance and cultural aesthetics, all unified by the foundational elements of rhythm, technique, and expression. Within this spectrum, the relationships between marching percussion and concert percussion presents a significant area of study. This document explores the relationships of marching percussion and concert percussion through the contextual analysis of specific percussion ensemble repertoire. By defining the distinct characteristics of concert and marching percussion, the study establishes a framework for comparison and analysis. It highlights how techniques, both musically and compositionally, and the roles of specific instrumentation has contributed …

Awareness And Practice Methods For Musicians With Invisible Disabilities: Insights Gained From Playing The Flute With Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Jessica Pelltier

Theses and Dissertations

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that presents significant physical and mental challenges for musicians, particularly in instrumental performance. These challenges may include chronic pain, joint instability, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. While such symptoms are associated with EDS, they are not exclusive to it and are also common among individuals with other invisible disabilities, such as fibromyalgia, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), celiac disease, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). This study explores the experiences of flutists with EDS and other invisible disabilities, focusing on the coping strategies and adaptations they use …

Comparing Prokofiev’S Piano Transcriptions: “Romeo And Juliet” And “Cinderella”, Yu Hua Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Sergei Prokofiev transcribed and arranged many of his own works, including excerpts from many of his ballets and one of his symphonies. Among his most famous transcriptions are the piano versions of Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella, both derived from his ballet scores.

This document explores Prokofiev’s approach to transcription through a comparative analysis of the orchestral and piano versions as well as an analysis of the transcriptions considered as independent compositions. Chapter One outlines the value and necessity of a comparative analysis. Chapter Two provides brief historical overviews of Russian ballet and piano transcription, highlighting how Prokofiev expanded on …