Music Education Commons^™

Modeling Melodic Dictation, David John Baker

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Melodic dictation is a cognitively demanding process that requires students to hear a melody, then without any access to an external reference, transcribe the melody within a limited time frame. Despite its ubiquity in curricula within School of Music settings, exactly how an individual learns a melody is not well understood. This dissertation aims to fill the gap in the literature between aural skills practitioners and music psychologists in order to reach conclusions that can be applied systematically in pedagogical contexts. In order to do this, I synthesize literature from music theory, music psychology, and music education in order to …

The Effects Of Collaboration On Harmonization In College Group Piano, Yining Li

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Current university-level group piano classes may not provide adequate training on functional keyboard skills needed by non-keyboard professional musicians. Innovative teaching strategies involving collaborative learning have been successfully demonstrated in other areas of education (e.g., math, science, and English) and might efficiently improve students’ functional keyboard skills. This dissertation examined the effects of collaborative learning on harmonization in college group piano classes. This study explored the differences between performance outcomes among students who collaborated to learn harmonization, as opposed to those who worked alone. It also investigated how collaborative work influenced students’ attitudes and confidence toward learning and performing harmonization. …

Mobile Music Development Tools For Creative Coders, Daniel Stuart Holmes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This project is a body of work that facilitates the creation of musical mobile artworks. The project includes a code toolkit that enhances and simplifies the development of mobile music iOS applications, a flexible notation system designed for mobile musical interactions, and example apps and scored compositions to demonstrate the toolkit and notation system.

The code library is designed to simplify the technical aspect of user-centered design and development with a more direct connection between concept and deliverable. This sim- plification addresses learning problems (such as motivation, self-efficacy, and self-perceived understanding) by bridging the gap between idea and functional prototype …

Epic Beginnings: A Symphonic Work And Aaron Copland (The American Stravinsky) Versus Igor Stravinsky, Terrell O. Jones

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The first part of my dissertation is the original music written for this dissertation, which consists of tonal music that describes my life’s journey. I wanted to write something dark, melodic, and very energetic that described my struggles and shows the road I have taken. It exhibits everything that I have learned from my time here at the university. One of the many things that makes my passion so strong is the desire to express myself through music written for ensembles and used in films. The piece is entitled “Epic Beginnings.” Originally, it was named “The Last Dance,” a …

A Conductor's Guide To Alec Roth's "A Time To Dance", Eric Z. Rubinstein

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this monograph is to provide a comprehensive analysis and conductor’s guide for Alec Roth’s masterwork, A Time to Dance. This study will explore the origins of this work, provide rehearsal and performance considerations, and bring greater attention to its composer, Alec Roth. Compared to his English contemporaries, Alec Roth’s (b.1948) music is lesser-known within the British tradition. Roth composes for choir, orchestra, and musical theatre and is also well-known for his contributions to both the guitar and gamelan repertory. His music spans a variety of languages, voicings, orchestrations, and levels of difficulty, as he is also …

Perceptions Of Religious Music In A Southern U.S. Public Middle School: A Case Study, Emily Marie Mercado

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Intercultural experiences can result in increased knowledge of and positive attitudes towards unfamiliar cultural groups (Neto, Pinto, & Mullet, 2016; Vuoskoski, Clarke, & DeNora, 2017). Deardorff’s (2006) intercultural competence process framework provides a method for exploring and categorizing elements of intercultural competence including attitudes, knowledge/skills, internal outcomes, and external outcomes.

This narrative instrumental case study examined the perceptions of one middle school choir teacher, choir students, the student teacher, the parents, and the vice principal when implementing a researcher-designed unit titled: Religious Choral Music from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Worlds. The choir teacher offered a unique perspective as an …

A Cycle Of Giving: Transforming Individuals, Transforming Community In A Louisiana Children's Choir, Jason Paul Bowers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Kids’ Choir, a community children’s choir in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, formed in 2014 as part of the Kids’ Orchestra organization. The organization, founded in 2011, is El Sistema-inspired—a model developed in 1975 by Venezuelan orchestra conductor, José Abreu. The model’s mission is “to effect social change through music for children with the fewest resources and the greatest need” (Mission Statement, 2017).

El Sistema's focus on social change through musical excellence may hold great promise in the United States where neighborhoods are becoming increasingly diverse. Moreover, the El Sistema philosophy responds directly to issues of segregation still present in the Baton …

A Pedagogical Approach To The Waltzes And Tangos For Piano By Francisca Gonzaga, Ana Paula Machado Simoes

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Francisca (Chiquinha) Gonzaga (1847–1935) was an important composer in the development of Brazilian music. She was also a remarkable female personality and broke paradigms in a society dominated by men. In spite of that, her works are not widely performed and studied yet. The goal of this dissertation is to provide a pedagogical approach to her works. This research explores her waltzes and tangos for piano, analyzes their musical, reading and technical difficulties, and provides a graded level for half of them to stimulate their use as repertoire for piano students and performers.

Chiquinha composed 37 waltzes and 30 tangos …