Music Performance Commons^™

Crossing The Pond: The Influence Of Southern Appalachian Old-Time On Contemporary Irish Music, Amanda Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Numerous studies examine Irish traditional music influencing old-time music, but few examine the influence of old-time on contemporary Irish. As our societies become more global, folk music travels faster and becomes more open to influence. Thes influences can be heard in the music of “Alfi” and “Lankum,” two ensembles steeped in Irish traditional music.

This study defines common musical elements of old-time and examines the use of those elements in two recordings: Alfi’s, “Jubilee” and Lankum’s, “The Old Man from Over the Sea.” Much of my data comes from interviews with Irish and American musicians and my own professional knowledge, …

Dong Qing Fang’S Musical Depiction Of Lin Chong: An Analysis Of Chinese Traditional Music Elements In His Cello Composition Of 2009, Congcong Bi

Doctoral Projects

Dong Qing Fang (b. 1981) is a prolific composer of cello music. His contribution includes twenty compositions, many of which have been performed around the world.[1] While Fang is the most famous composer in China as well as a leading figure of recent music, his compositions have not been recognized world-wide. This project focuses on his representative cello composition Lin Chong (2009). Lin Chong is a significant character in Chinese literature, known for his role in the classic novel, Water Margin (1524). Fang's musical portrayal of Lin Chong's life incorporates elements of Chinese traditional music.

The methodology for this …

Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, Gurminder Kaur Bhogal

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The harmonium is prominent in Sikh practices of devotional music known as kirtan and yet its significance has barely been addressed in Euro-American scholarship. Following on the heels of a recent ban against using the instrument at the holiest temple of the Sikhs, Harmandir Sahib (popularly known as the Golden Temple), this article explores how the ban seeks to discard this colonial instrument and return to playing traditional string instruments (tanti saz) associated with the courts (darbar) of the Sikh Gurus. This study is the first to examine primary missionary sources from the nineteenth and early …

Pange Lingua, Gustavo Leone

Department of Fine & Performing Arts: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Jesuits were expelled from the Spanish colonies in South America in 1767, leaving behind a remarkable musical legacy that was buried for over two hundred years. But the music did not disappear completely. Thanks to the Chiquitos people of Bolivia, the music was played and preserved throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

In 1985, Swiss architect Hans Roth discovered 9,000 of these musical manuscripts and in 1990 UNESCO declared the churches of the Chiquitos a “patrimony of humanity”. Dr. Gustavo Leone of Loyola University Chicago's Department of Fine and Performing Arts has painstakingly retrieved and restored several of these …

Give The Drummer Some: A Dive Into Drum Breaks And Drum Break Production, Kyle Kaldhusdal

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper traces the history of hip-hop culture through the evolution of the drum break, the original context of drum breaks in funk and soul music, their influence on DJ culture, and the subsequent impact of drum breaks on music and music production. It follows the development of breakbeat compilations in the 1970s and 1980s, parallel to the development of turntablism and sampling techniques. It also examines in detail how copyright litigation in the 1990s shaped the development of sample-based music genres and created a niche market for originally-recorded drum breaks over the subsequent decades.

A Look Into Spiritual Sketches: A Performance To Damien Sneed’S Arrangements Of Selected Spirituals, Katrina Cox

Doctoral Projects

The African American Spiritual is a long-standing genre of music in the classical arena that drew influence from slave songs or enslaved Africans in America. The Spiritual has always required specific knowledge and understanding of the Black culture and struggle since its conception. As an art form, its genesis came around the end of the 18th century with the abolishment of slavery. The Spiritual (folk melodies) became a popular addition to the concert hall repertoire and were first brought to the forefront by the famed Fisk Jubilee Singers between 1853 and 1943. The Concert Spiritual became more popular in the …

The Headbangers Of The Himalaya: An Investigation Of Nepal’S Rock And Metal Scene, Samuel White

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The goal of this research endeavor was to generate findings which unveil information about the culture, the bands, and the lives of the musicians and fans who make up the Nepali rock and metal scene. The community is rather esoteric and information regarding certain bands and their musicians’ background is limited to broad, outdated articles published online. Thus, most of the information regarding the scene can only be obtained if one truly immerses themselves within it. I was fortunate enough to make friends which granted me a firsthand look into the Nepali rock and metal scene. The general questions which …

Pleasure And Power In A Cover Culture: Audiences, Musicians, And Venues In İZmi̇R’S Popular Music Scene, Yılmaz Onur Sönmez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The live popular music scene in İzmir, Turkey, is dominated by slow-changing cover repertoires that are performed by musicians who have been on stage for a few decades, at places that have been hosting covers shows for a prolonged time. In this dissertation, I question the reasons behind this practice, which I call cover culture, and analyze it from the three different but interrelated perspectives of audiences, musicians, and venues. My analysis relies on the fieldwork data I collected between March 2019 and May 2022, and on my long-term involvement with and observations of the scene since the early 2000s. …

Director's Statement, Andrea Leland

Jamesie: King of Scratch

No abstract provided.

Unconventional Wisdom In Resonating Echoes Of The Past: A Memoir On The Life And Music Of Royal Hartigan, Joseph Elias Boulos

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Unconventional Wisdom in Resonating Echoes of the Past:

A Memoir on the Life and Music of royal hartigan

Joseph Elias Boulos

Detailed fieldwork achieved by people in the discipline of social/humanistic studies, specifically ethnomusicologists, in any form: book, biography, documentary, etc., have contributed to the strengthening the understanding of any group of people, community, or culture. This research project is a co-authored memoir grounded in oral history and collaborative ethnography on, and with, Dr. royal hartigan. The purpose of this ethnographic research is to fill in the lack of information readily available on royal, from his sole perspective, and to …

Analysis And Performance Of Osvaldo Golijov’S Hebreische Milonga, Gerardo Sanchez Pastrana

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov is one of the most important and well-recognized composers of the 21^st century. His works are unique because of the diverse mixing of styles due to the interculturalism present in his music. In the program notes of his Hebreische Milonga, Golijov mentions that this piece can connect his Argentinian and Jewish roots as well as the influence of Astor Piazzolla’s music. In addition, there is a connection between the tango and the Jewish people residing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that is not addressed frequently when discussing the history of the tango. This research begins …

Musikah V’Ḥalil, “Music And The Flute”: The Use Of Jewish Prayer In Flute And Piano Music, Kathryn L. Rudnik

Dissertations, 2020-current

Music has been a part of Jewish life since Biblical times and remains an integral part of the culture. Within Jewish music, instruments have also played an important role historically. The flute has been traced through Judaism back to Biblical times; however, it has lost prominence in modern synagogue and religious services. As Western music has developed into the twenty-first century, composers, both Jewish and Gentile, have been exposed to the music of the Jewish communities, some of whom have utilized it in their own compositions. Compositions based on Jewish prayer melodies have brought up the question of whether the …

Etcètera Ii: Notes Sobre Música, Art I Literatura (2020-2022), Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

A compilation of essays on music, the arts, and literature previously published in Bellver, the arts section of Diario de Mallorca (2020-2022). This is the second part of ETCETERA.

Chanting The Medicine Buddha Sutra: A Musical Transcription And English Translation Of The Medicine Buddha Service Of The Liberation Rite Of Water And Land At Fo Guang Shan Monastery, Jeffrey W. Cupchik

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

A book review is presented for Reed Criddle, ed., Chanting the Medicine Buddha Sutra: A Musical Transcription and English Translation of the Medicine Buddha Service of the Liberation Rite of Water and Land at Fo Guang Shan Monastery. Recent Researches in the Oral Traditions of Music 13. Philip V. Bohlman, general editor. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2020. 77 pages.

Perils Of Heavy Rainfall: Displacement And Resettlement Driven By Floods, Shumaila Hemani Dr.

The Goose

Monsoon is typically a season to rejoice in South Asia because it cools off July's hot summer weather. In the poetry of Sufi mystic Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, the monsoon represents a time of abundance, and his verses are prayers of abundance for Sindh and the entire world as rainfall is indeed a much-awaited season to cast off dry spells of the desert. However, in the past few years, climate change has led to heavy floods and massive displacement of poor people in Sindh. This year, floods even reached Karachi's urban city, the biggest metropolis of Pakistan, causing the displacement …

Changes In Identity: How Mongolian Musicians And Performers Have Responded To Geopolitical Transition, Heather Cook

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

During Mongolia’s socialist period, traditional forms of Mongolian music were deliberately altered as the government, heavily influenced by the Soviet Union, attempted to modernize Mongolian culture. Throughout this period, traditional instruments were modified, the types of music that could be performed were strictly censored, and the structure of performances was set to strictly mimic those of Western orchestras. After Mongolia’s Democratic Revolution of 1990, the artistic freedom of Mongolian musicians has greatly increased, but even now, socialist cultural policies are deeply intertwined with Mongolian musical culture. Why is this the case? What is the common perception among performers about the …

Homage To Eleanora: A Musical Journey Through The Billie Holiday Songbook, Keith A. Dames

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Billie Holiday was a singer, songwriter, vocalist, bandleader and composer in the fields of music, black culture and more specifically the genre of jazz. The primary focus of this study is Billie Holiday’s discography, music, and compositions as treated in relation to the black culture of production. This study will explore a secondary content analysis of Billie Holiday’s music, musicianship, musicality and compositional skills within the American jazz mainstream, broader jazz audience and world at large. This project will take an analytical look at the structure and form of the compositions of Billie Holiday. Billie Holiday is credited with composing …

Decolonizing And Enriching Opera: A Nigerian Folktale One Act Opera, Miracle O. Amah

Dissertations, 2020-current

Aligned with the decolonial aims of this project, this English and Yoruba language opera promotes an international understanding of African operatic styles which reflect literary, musical, instrumental and dance cultural traditions. This paper addresses some of the issues faced by people of color in the opera world, ways that people of color have been resilient in this genre and ways to enrich the opera world with the aim of decolonizing and deframing the white racial structure. This opera was first performed on March 29th, 2022 and was created as a workshop for performances in high schools, colleges, music institutions, and …

Misticismo Y Arcadismo En El Villancico Novohispano. Manuel De Sumaya Y Sus Contemporáneos, Luciana Kube Tamayo

Vernacular: New Connections in Language, Literature, & Culture

El siglo XVIII trajo consigo una evolución estilística vertiginosa en todas las artes. La plástica, la literatura y la música confluyen y sirven de soporte a un arte nuevo, el Rococó. La floración churrigueresca está intensamente presente, además de en lienzos y biombos, en el vocabulario de la lírica de la Nueva España; a la vez que se afianzan los modelos religiosos, por un lado, se asientan los modelos pastoriles por otro. En cuanto a la espiritualidad, los modelos se encuentran encajados en la miniatura poética y el ingenio dieciochesco, desbordante de naturaleza y fantasía. En el presente trabajo me …

La Ricarda, Mestres Quadreny I L'Experimentalisme Musical Català Dels Anys Seixanta: De Com L’Arquitectura Va Esdevenir Música I La Música, Arquitectura, Antoni Pizà

Publications and Research

Eren uns temps magnífics per a la creació: els concerts semblaven obres de teatre i les obres de teatre, concerts. Els músics feien d’actors i aquests havien de fer de músics. I la distinció entre el públic i els intèrprets també es diluïa, si és que no s’eliminava del tot. Els semiòlegs —o són semiòtics?— havien explicat que en tot acte comunicatiu hi havia un emissor, un missatge i un receptor; i precisament d’això es tractava, d’eliminar aquestes distincions. Ah, i en molts casos, tampoc no hi havia escenari, ni sala de concerts.

The World Is Your Pulpit: A Research-Based Performance On The Broder Singers, Amanda Seigel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My capstone project is a research-based performance about the Broder Singers, the first Yiddish actors. They performed primitive musical and theatrical pieces in Yiddish beginning in the mid-19th century in non-theatrical spaces such as taverns and gardens, in Eastern Europe. They were part of a larger movement creating secular Yiddish culture beyond the religiously proscribed expressions of traditional Jewish life. Largely born and raised in traditional communities themselves, they mocked wealthy religious community leaders, utilized gender drag, and compassionately portrayed impoverished people. This white paper explores the context of their work and draws on primary sources such as memoirs, published …

Viola Music Written By Costa Rican Composers: Analysis Of Three Compositional Trends In Costa Rica, Karen Soto Huertas

Theses and Dissertations--Music

What could come from a country that just this past year celebrated 200 years of independence that was only discovered in 1502 and was under the yoke of the Spanish Empire for over 300 hundred years? What contribution to the art music community could this third-world country, Costa Rica, bring to the table? Specifically, what contributions could Costa Rica make to the viola repertoire, which status as a soloistic instrument was raised only 100 or so years ago? How could a small country contribute to the repertoire of this often-forgotten instrument? To answer these questions, I have embarked on research …

Travelin' To The Promised Land: Symbolism Of The Jordan River In African Spiritual, English Hymn, And American Folksong Selections, Hope V. Dornfeld

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

These program notes originally accompanied a performance of three vocal pieces: Deep River, On Jordan's Stormy Banks, and Poor Wayfaring Stranger. The notes analyze the role of the Jordan river in each piece, focusing on their historical context, first performances, and issues of authorship. As part of a performing arts research project, the program notes also address the method of expression and creative process that went into preparing the performance of these pieces.

The songs included in this presentation all speak to the journey from earth to heaven. In each piece, the Jordan River is found to symbolize a …

Sacred Music In Colonial Era Hispaniola: The Evangelization Of The Taino People, Tito J. Gutierrez

Student Theses

During the 15th-18th centuries, the major European religious orders; the Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, and Jeronymites, journeyed to the newly colonized American territories in an attempt to convert the multitudes of natives peoples living there. Along with prayer books, crucifixes, and religious images, these missionaries brought sacred European music to American shores in an attempt to attract the native people to the Catholic faith.The use of music as a tool for conversion of native people in places such as Mexico, South America, California, and the South West United States, have been well researched and documented. However, the research of the spiritual …

"I Can't Breathe": Toward A Pneumatology Of Singing And Missional Musicking For Racial Justice In Jacksonville, Florida, Thomas Shapard

Doctor of Pastoral Music Projects and Theses

This thesis develops a philosophy of musicking that intersects with missional ecclesiology and expands the role of music-making beyond the church walls. The central hypothesis assumes that predominantly white congregations in the Free Church tradition located in the southern United States incorporate ways of singing that reinforce, albeit inadvertently, attitudes toward others that buttress white ethnocentricity. Musical practices arising from a Western European heritage can promote cultural exclusivity as well as a perceived—yet false— sense of superiority. Is there an implicit theology of singing in white churches that engenders a culture of complicity and apathy in matters of racial injustice, …

01 Traditional Songs Introduction, William Donner

Sikaiana Traditional Songs

This is an introduction to Sikaiana songs. It includes a discussion of the social cultural context of song composition and singing. There is a discussion of the different features of song production and a list of different song genres. Most of the discussion is concerned with traditional song expression that are part of derived form changes associated with colonialism and modernization.

Shining A Spotlight On Female African American Composer Evelyn Simpson-Curenton, Iris E. Fordjour-Hankins

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Those who are interested in learning more about Evelyn Simpson-Curenton (b. 1953) will find it challenging to find scholarly material on her life and music. She is best known for her arrangements of spirituals that were sang and recorded by Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman (whose concert recording Spirituals in Concert was released in 1991). Simpson-Curenton is also known for her choral work, “Psalm 91,” made famous by Oakwood University’s Aeolians. Though she is self-published, her absence from compilations, volumes, and anthologies for solo voice and piano is regrettable. This dissertation provides well researched scholarly information about her musical life …

The G7 Suite: Score And Analysis, Joseph C. Dunn

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The G7 Suite is a multi-movement chamber work that combines elements of European Art Music, Indigenous Music from Latin America, and various representations of American music. The melodic material is derived from the national anthems of the Great Seven nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Each melody is re-set to new music genres and aligns itself to the rules and expectations within each idiom. This compilation is more than a series of arrangements or reharmonizations of the anthems; these are new compositions based on melodic elements from previous works.

This analysis of The …

Fostering Music Performers In The 21st Century: A Contemporary Professional Perspective Toward A New Curricular Agenda For Graduate Study In Music, Andre Januario

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

What if the core curriculum for graduate students in music performance were designed to prepare students to succeed in the world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

This dissertation offers a hypothetical answer: a structured and systematic academic curricular framework for music graduate students of performance of concert music (especially those in terminal degrees, such as doctoral students), along with music instructors, professional music performers, school administrators, and college professors, seeking to prepare such students for achieving and maintaining a music career more in keeping with the current work environment, especially those skills demanded by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the …

The Modes Of Intervention In Alvin Lucier’S I Am Sitting In A Room, Daniel Fox

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Alvin Lucier’s I am sitting in a room (1969) is an icon of experimental music and sound art. The sizable literature addressing the aesthetic and philosophical implications of this piece rarely discusses the performance practice beyond what is indicated in the score itself. This is problematic for two reasons: 1) The meaning that is derived from the piece often hinges not just on what sounds are obtained, but on how they are obtained. 2) Over the past 50 years, changes in the performance practice have altered what constitutes the work: magnetic tape was used until 2000 when it was replaced …