Music Commons^™

Philsongs: A Study Of Campfire Music Performed At Scouting America’S Philmont Scout Ranch (2014 To 2021), Ellyn Rager

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation focuses on Philmont Scout Ranch, a national Scouting America high adventure base in New Mexico and the largest youth camp in the world, arguing that music at Philmont serves as a cultural force that fosters an intensive communal bond among staff and campers by blending participatory and presentational music-making practices, while producing and reinforcing memories of Philmont through interpretive performances that negotiate the place’s historical narratives. Using surveys, interviews, and Thomas Turino’s framework of participatory and presentational music-making to interpret the author’s 100 hours of field recordings, this study examines aspects of Philmont’s musical habits between 2014 and …

All She Ever Wanted Was The World: The Emergence Of Vocal Methodology, Pedagogy, And Opera Performance For Women In The Nineteenth Century, Emma Hawkinson

Dissertations and Theses

Important music methods books began to emerge in the 1750s with instrumental treatises for flute, piano, and violin. By the end of the nineteenth century, there was a multitude of treatises for a variety of instruments, including classical voice. This study investigates and analyzes the content of treatises from four individual women who performed, taught, and published vocal treatises in the nineteenth century: German Mathilde Marchesi (1821–1913), Italian Virginia Boccabadati (1828–1922), Spanish Matilde Esteban (1841–1915), and English American Clara Kathleen Rogers (1844–1931). These methods books are set in the historical context of the music industry before and during the nineteenth …

In Search Of Mozart: A History And Analysis Of The Pianos He Knew And Wrote For, Adele Benoit

Dissertations and Theses

The better one can understand what influenced and inspired a composer, the more informed and authentic one’s understanding and performance of that composer’s music will be. The musical world which influenced Mozart was a vastly different one from the musical world of the twenty-first century, and the pianos which Mozart was inspired by and wrote for were designed according to entirely different musical ideals than those according to which the modern piano was created. In order to understand the piano music of Mozart, it is important first to understand not only the musical world in which he wrote and the …

Neuroaesthetic Frequency Tuning For Neurodivergent Populations: A Network-Informed Theory Of Music For Emotional Memory And Cognitive Regulation, Piper Hutson, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Neuroaesthetic frequency tuning posits that deliberate selection of musical parameters can modulate large-scale neural systems to support emotional memory retrieval and cognitive regulation in neurodivergent populations. Drawing on contemporary evidence from network neuroscience, cognitive musicology, and affective science, the article synthesizes how rhythmic, harmonic, and lyrical structures align with Default Mode (DM), fronto-parietal control, salience, motor, and limbic systems, and how these alignments can be targeted to balance internally oriented mentation with task engagement. The theory further integrates autonomic and cellular mechanisms, describing how tempo and spectral energy shift arousal and heart rate variability, and how astrocytic ensembles contribute to …

A Study Of The Mikrokosmos By Bela Bartok, Carolyn M. Totaro, Cameron Thorne

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the Mikrokosmos by Bela Bartok discussing its organization, focus, and significance.

A Profile Of Jerome Robbins, Carolyn M. Totaro, Victoria Sims

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of the legendary dancer and choreographer Jerome Robbins covering his many collaborations with twentieth century composers.

A Profile Of Placido Domingo, Carolyn M. Totaro, Jadyn Case

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Placido Domingo covering his education, operatic career, and legacy.

A Profile Of Keith Lockhart, Carolyn M. Totaro, Gavin Buhr

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Keith Lockhart and his rise to fame as a young American conductor.

A Study Of The String Quartet By Maurice Ravel, Carolyn M. Totaro, Annie Mcmillion

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Study of the String Quartet by Maurice Ravel discussing its innovation and significance.

A Profile Of Van Cliburn, Carolyn M. Totaro, Ava Kronenberger

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Van Cliburn discussing his background, performing, and legacy.

Music, Eeg And Stress: Connections Between Music And Electroencephalographic Patterns And The Mediation Of Physiological And Psychological Stress, Alexa Warren

Behavioral Neuroscience Honors Papers

The interrelation between music and the brain is an evolving interdisciplinary interest within neuroscience research. Relying on the capacity of music to elicit emotional and physical responses, as well as scientific principles like entrainment, this area of research explores the potential for utilizing targeted music as a holistic non-pharmacological therapeutic intervention. This is often executed via musical entrainment, which is the basis for this study. Utilizing a complex, yet elegant design, this research incorporates a cross disciplinary approach into a randomized controlled study bridging science and the arts. The purpose of this study is to expand this body of knowledge …

Chaotic Complexity: Order And Chaos In Works Of Cage, Xenakis And Boulez, Levi Graham

Music Theses

My thesis explores specific applications of chaos theory in contemporary twentieth-century music and analyzes the relationship between order and chaos in their creation. I will do this by referencing the levels of chaos presented by Katherine Hayles and categorized by Judith Lochhead. These levels of chaos include “Expressive Chaos,” “Denotative Chaos,” and “Ontological Chaos,” which provide a framework for grouping expressions of chaos in music.  I will analyze works of John Cage, Iannis Xenakis and Pierre Boulez through the lens of these types of chaos, with a particular focus on “Ontological Chaos,” which describes chaos as both dependent on and …

Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy Through Popular Music And Media In Elementary Music Education, Martina Vasil

Music Faculty Publications

Elementary music teachers in the United States face many challenges today, including an increasing cultural divide between teachers and students, worsening student behavior, and excessive exposure to technology in children’s lives. These challenges are magnified due to the hundreds of students elementary music teachers see weekly, the lack of teaching and planning time, and inadequate teaching resources, making it difficult to fully understand the culture and learning needs of every child. However, music educators may find culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) a useful tool for meeting the needs of a diverse student body. Further, when teachers engage in kid culture, the …

Queer, Black & Churched: Exploring Black Lgbtq+ Lived Experience And Spirituality Through Free Verse Poetry And Music, Kei Slaughter

Music and Health Case Studies

This arts-based qualitative pilot study explored the lived experiences of queer Black adults (ages 29–43) and their relationship to the Black Church. Using critical narrative inquiry, six participants completed semi-structured interviews; three also created free verse poems reflecting on their experiences. I created a musical composition in response to participants' narratives. Analysis of participant interviews and poems revealed five themes: the church as formative; queer-antagonistic rhetoric and spiritual harm; community and belonging; Black queer joy; and music as a spiritual pathway. Notably, all participants described gospel music as having an abiding influence on their spiritual and artistic identities, even when …

Hear & Now: Culturally Responsive Music Education Through Digital Audio Workstations & Musique Concrète, Benjamin T. Connolly

Pitzer Senior Theses

Hear & Now: Culturally Responsive Music Education Through Digital Audio Workstations & Musique Concrète is a two-part ethnomusicological study of how the capacities and affordability of modern electronic instruments could be utilized within school curricula as an affordable alternative to traditional music classes. I explore the musique concrète movement from mid-20th century France, aiming my examination towards the movement’s emphasis on the materiality of sound production and utilization of modern technology during the composition process. From there, the paper transitions into a study on the affordances of contemporary music technologies through a series of interviews with electronic composers, tracing the …

Catalog Of The Music Of Nick Strimple (B. 1946), Ruth Ballenger

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation provides a rich primary source for future scholars interested in the music of American composer Dr. Nick Strimple. A complete catalog of Dr. Strimple’s works and more than thirty transcribed interviews with the composer offer broad insight into Dr. Strimple’s motivations, inspirations, and sources for his own compositions. Primary sources – that is, firsthand evidence created in real time by a participant or observer – offer what musicologists might colloquially describe as the “gold standard” for citation and understanding of their musical subjects. As the field of musicology evolved, primary sources have come to be highly valued as …

Hegemonic Microtonality: Decolonizing The Soundscape Of Music Theory Pedagogy, Ash K. Wetty

Honors Theses

This thesis examines how Western music theory pedagogy—long organized around tonal and twelve-tone equal-temperament frameworks—structures both what is taught and how students are trained to listen. Through a literature review tracing the historical construction of tonal universality in undergraduate curricula, the project argues that dominant models of music theory reproduce broader epistemic hierarchies inherited from Western conservatory traditions. Situating these histories within my own experience as a student navigating institutional listening norms, the thesis combines critical self-reflection with ethnographic research conducted across five liberal arts institutions, including the CBB consortium and JanPlan research at Wesleyan University and Amherst College. Rather …

Timbral Effects Of 3d Printing Brass Wind Musical Instruments: A Comparison Between Traditional And 3d Printed Construction, Cole K. Zelman

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the timbral effects that manufacturing wind instruments from thermoplastics (via 3D printing) has in comparison to traditionally made instruments. The project mainly focuses on the individual properties of different thermoplastics in comparison to traditional materials like brass. The instrument tested is a C bugle for a simple example of a brass wind instrument and is compared directly against the traditional brass construction. Results employ spectral centroid, spectrograms, and professional subjective analysis to compare the different thermoplastic test samples to the control brass bugle.

Left-Hand Technique And The Limits Of The Possible, Ricardo Iznaola

Soundboard Scholar

This article conceptualizes classical guitar left-hand technique through a physiomechanical framework that places coordinated movement—particularly shifting—at the center of technical practice. Challenging traditional positional doctrines that privilege static hand forms and digital independence, the author argues that such approaches often disregard the functional anatomy of the limb, resulting in inefficiency, unnecessary tension, and potential injury.   Advancing the principle that form must follow function, the study proposes shifting as the fundamental technical category governing all left-hand procedures. A systematic typology—interpositional, intrapositional, and compound shifting—serves as the basis for analyzing arm-wrist-hand coordination across diverse technical contexts, including extensions and contractions, barrés, slurs, …

Packaging Sound: The Artistic And Cultural Significance Of Album Covers In The Golden Age Of Vinyl, Anna Stener

MA in Fine and Decorative Art and Design Dissertations

This dissertation examines the album cover as an artistic medium and as an art form, primarily within the context of vinyl records, situating it within art history, media history, and cultural studies. Although album covers have been central to the experience of purchasing, listening to, and collecting vinyl, they have often been treated secondarily in scholarship and by institutions. By establishing the material, cultural, and aesthetic significance of album covers, this dissertation positions them within debates on media, authorship, and boundaries of art. Through case studies on two bands, the Moody Blues and the Rolling Stones, as well as the …

Guide To The Gospel Sheet Music & Songbook Collection, Columbia College Chicago

CBMR Collection Guides / Finding Aids

The gospel sheet music & songbook collection contains published music donated to the CBMR from individual donors, gathered into one collection for better access and research use.

Madness In The Mixtape: Gothic Literature And Pop Music, Nicholas Dertinger

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In Gothic literature, madness has often been connected to the outliers of what is considered socially normal. This dissertation explores the enduring theme of madness, particularly the figure of the “madwoman,” in both women’s literature and in its “afterlife”—or continuing conversation with—contemporary pop music. Through a comparative analysis of songs including Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” (1978), Beyoncé’s “Hold Up” (2016), Lady Gaga’s “Plastic Doll” (2020), Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” (2021), Billie Eilish’ “What Was I Made For?” (2023), Paramore’s cover of “Burning Down the House” (2024), Taylor Swift’s “mad woman” (2020) and Florence + the Machine’s “Dream Girl Evil” …

Analytical Commentary And Performer's Guide To Carlos R. Martinez's Four Pieces For Trombone, Bailey Jean Hardy-Price

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Musicians with hearing loss are documented in prominent figures, such as Ludwig van Beethoven. In the age of developing medical technology, hearing aids can turn the course for many musicians. Music can serve as an audio medium for this journey.

Carlos R. Martinez (b. 1978) is an active composer and pianist commissioned to create a piece that explores the journey of hearing loss in a musician. Martinez’s Four Pieces for Trombone and Piano illustrate a musician’s discovery of their hearing loss, its consequences, and joy in implementing the use of a hearing aid. The detailed discussion of the composer and …

Behind The Curtain: A Literature Review Of Personal And Ecological Risk Factors And Current Multi-Level Interventions For Performing Artists, Christopher A. Robles

Social Work Theses

Performing artists experience psychological distress, including anxiety, depression, burnout, and substance use disorders, at rates significantly exceeding those of the general population. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (EST) and the Person-in-Environment (PIE) perspective, this structured literature review synthesizes research published between 2010 and 2026 to examine individual personality traits, environmental stressors across meso- and macro-systems, and existing multi-level mental health interventions for performing artists. Findings reveal that while traits such as high openness to experience, sensory processing sensitivity, and perfectionism foster artistic expression, they also heighten vulnerability to occupational stressors, financial precarity, social isolation, and venue-based substance exposure. Current …

A Profile Of Arnold Jacobs, Carolyn M. Totaro, Caedmon Goettel

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Arnold Jacobs including his books and extraordinary tenure with the Chicago Symphony.

A Profile Of Vaslav Nijinsky, Carolyn M. Totaro, Megan Hoggarth

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A Profile of Vaslav Nijinsky

Guitar Amplifier Directivity, Rachel C. Edelman, Brian E. Anderson, Samuel D. Bellows, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

No abstract provided.

Interpretable Repertoire Search For Computer Supported Aural Skills Teaching: A Searchable Sia Based Digital Companion, Peter G. Fielding

Bailey School of Music Faculty Publications

Aural skills teaching depends heavily on repertoire selection, yet many large print and heritage song collections remain difficult to search in pedagogically meaningful ways. Teachers may need melodies with limited pitch collections for early solfège, modal examples for comparative listening, or repertory with controlled chromatic complexity, but such features are rarely indexed in printed sources. This paper proposes a computer-supported response to that problem: a searchable, rights-aware digital companion built around tonic-centered successive interval arrays (SIAs). SIAs provide an interpretable representation of pitch space by encoding the cyclic step pattern among the pitch classes present in a melody after tonic …

From Vision To Practice: Developing A Field-Informed Framework For Music Education In Catholic Schools, Melita Mudri-Zubacz

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This study aimed to develop a sustainable and mission-focused framework for music  education in Catholic elementary schools, in order to bridge the gap between the theological ideals of Catholic education and the lack of operational models for its implementation. The problem had significant implications for school leaders, music teachers, and students, as it restricted the potential of the school’s music programs to support the development of Catholic identity and liturgical participation.

The purpose of this study was to develop a field-informed and consensus-driven framework based on Catholic identity, sustainability, and expertise. The conceptual framework for this study integrated theological and …

"Just Let Your Soul Glo": Humorous Music In Black American Comedy Films, Drew Brady

Music Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I inspect ways in which music has been used to create humor and meaning in black American cinema. In doing so, I address gaps in film music scholarship, as music in comedy films and in black cinema are both neglected topics. I suggest that humor in these films arises out of a particular blend of musical irony, parody, and satire, the exact combination of which is contingent on various historical, cultural, and political factors. In order to track this trend, I analyze humorous music in eight films, each representing a unique manifestation of this tradition: Watermelon Man …