Music Performance Commons^™

Soundboard Scholar No. 6 (Complete)

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

Developing A Systematic Approach For Teaching Beginning Improvisation Using The Concert Percussion Ensemble, Ian Mcclaflin

Dissertations

Typically, when studying percussion at a University, a student is required to be proficient at multiple aspects of percussion (snare drum, mallet keyboards, drum set, hand drumming, etc.) and work through multiple method books and solos on the different instruments. This often leaves little to no room for the study of improvisation on their instrument.

Examined in this study are the following points pertaining to the state of teaching improvisation:

• There is an apparent lack of improvisation in the classroom
• Teachers often feel unprepared in teaching improvisation
• Improvisation is most commonly associated with jazz
• Both teachers and students tend to …

Composing Irishness: Remembrances Of The Irish Past Through The Prism Of The Present In Music By Donnacha Dennehy (B. 1970) And Jennifer Walshe (B. 1974), Timothy Diovanni

Masters

Although modern remembrances in the fields of literature, theatre, poetry, and the visual arts have received considerable scholarly attention in Ireland since the publication of History and Memory in Modern Ireland in 2001, similar activities in an Irish art music context remain unexplored. This thesis addresses this lacuna in examining how the contemporary Irish composers Donnacha Dennehy (b. 1970) and Jennifer Walshe (b. 1974) have remembered, reimagined, and reinvented the past to communicate their positions on Irish history and modern Irish society, as well as to respond to recent historical and curatorial practices. Through a series of five works written …

Martial Caillebotte’S Mélodies And Scènes Lyriques: Analytical Essays And Performance Guide, Dominique Mccormick

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Composer, pianist and photographer, Martial Caillebotte (1853–1910) was the unknown younger brother of famous Impressionist painter, Gustave Caillebotte. Martial studied piano and harmony at the Paris Conservatory from 1870–1874. Martial created a substantial number of musical compositions including mélodies, scènes lyriques, operas, symphonic poems, as well as sacred choral and symphonic works. Born into a wealthy Parisian family, he did not need to work for a living and did not self-promote, therefore his pieces were rarely performed and after his death, most of his compositions were left in family archives. In the late 1990’s a rebirth of interest in 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 …

Coltrane Plays The Blues: Multi-Level Coherence And Stylistic Tendencies, Lukas Gabric

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As a principal musical figure of the twentieth century, John Coltrane created a legacy that still resonates with listeners. Similarly, the blues may be regarded as one of the most iconic genres of the twentieth century. This dissertation examines Coltrane’s shifting stylistic tendencies to the blues and explores structural relationships with reductive voice leading analysis. As a variation form, the blues poses issues of continuity since every chorus may be regarded as self-sufficient and internally closed. Voice leading analysis provides a powerful explanation for the fact that Coltrane’s blues solos may be perceived as structurally unified. I also develop a …

Analyzing Perceptions Of Music From A Songwriting Perspective, Jackson Stephen Reynosa

Communication Studies

This study seeks to understand listeners’ perceptions of music from a generational and songwriting approach. A total of 123 participants aged 18 and older took part in an open-ended survey design that measured their subjective music preferences. Four different sections tested participants’ music taste, music tied to generations, an original song made by the researcher, and songwriting in a holistic sense. It was found that participants exercised individualism and authenticity in their responses throughout. By using the Uses and Gratifications Theory, it is explainable that people listened and sought out music for their own unique reasons. By applying Mood Management …

Corporeal Analysis: The Performing Body As Analytic Site, Laura Cocks

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A framework of corporeal analysis posits that the physicality of the performer can be construed as a primary analytical parameter in a work. This dissertation seeks to set up such a method of analysis largely through anecdata and autoethnography with the aim of eliciting a deeper space for additional performer-driven analyses that prioritize the bodily knowledge of performers and their physical understandings of a work. Centering around David Bird’s 2013 work for solo piccolo and “no-less-than twenty-nine spatialized piccolos,” Atolls, three main aspects of corporeal analysis will be explored. These are: performance physicality as expressive connective tissue between flutist …

The Performer As Analyst In The Piano Sonata Opus 12 By Jean Sibelius, Jesse Tingle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines and models the process of analysis as a means for performers, particularly pianists, to engage with the large-scale organizational features of musical works, using the Piano Sonata, Opus 12 by Jean Sibelius as a case study. The unique character and structure of each of the three movements suggests an equally wide range of approaches to analysis, including studies in sonata form, construction of a musical narrative based on external source material, and the use of concepts from Sonata Theory to explain the logic of a highly unconventional tonal and thematic design. The analyses are interwoven with a …

Nadia Boulanger’S Fantaisie Variée Pour Piano Et Orchestre A Study Of A Significant Unpublished Piece, Sarah Elias

Dissertations

The research consists of a brief historical and biographical overview of Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), a main focus of a thematic and motivic analysis of her work Fantaisie variée pour piano et orchestre, along with touching upon the influences of Fauré, Debussy, Widor, Reger, and Franck on its composition, and a mention of the process of obtaining the Fantaisie from the Centre international Nadia et Lili Boulanger. Boulanger produced works in a variety of genres, including: a fugue; more than thirty songs for voice and piano; two completed works for solo piano; three works for organ; several chamber works; three works …

A Bright Size Transformation: Examining Pat Metheny's Improvisatory Evolution Through Select Original Compositions From The Album Bright Size Life (1976), Lee Heerspink

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

Pat Metheny has consistently been one of the most widely celebrated and prominent jazz guitarists from the mid-1970s to present day. Over the course of Metheny’s 45-year career, he has accumulated 44 albums as a band leader, 20 Grammy awards, and numerous “Best Jazz Guitarist” awards from DownBeat and JazzTimes. Despite the general sources, articles and interviews conducted about Metheny’s life and music, there is a lack of scholarly research which addresses how Pat Metheny’s improvisatory approach has changed throughout the course of his career.

This document provides a better understanding of Pat Metheny’s improvisatory evolution with transcriptions, analyses, …

Bach-To Ysaÿe: History And Performance Considerations Of Sonata No. 2, Mai Vestergaard

Honors Scholar Theses

Eugene Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata No. 2 has been influenced by the baroque music of Johann Sebastian Bach and the musical techniques brought forth by the Franco-Belgian Violin School. Each sonata movement has musical elements incorporating virtuosic techniques such as ponticello, chromaticism, and emphasis of the tri-tone. The performer draws attention to the audience by using advanced performance practices to change the piece's color and story. Ysaÿe engages with these ideas to share a musical and personal journey through each sonata movement, dedicating it to Jacques Thibaud. This violin sonata is a pinnacle to the violin repertoire, emphasizing the importance of …

A Conductor's Guide To Amass By Jocelyn Hagen, Matthew J. Myers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Contemporary American composer Jocelyn Hagen grew up in Valley City, North Dakota, where she found an early love for singing, playing instruments, and composing. After completing degrees at St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota, Hagen began a career as a full-time composer. Her appointment as Composer-in-Residence for The Singers led to her first major multimovement work, amass (2011).

Though Hagen planned to write a traditional setting of the Catholic Mass, she struggled to accept the text of the “Credo” as the only path to salvation. Thus, she substituted spiritual poems from a variety of faith traditions to create …

About This Issue, Michael E. Ruhling

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

No abstract provided.

Caryl Clark And Sarah Day O'Connell, Eds. The Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia, Denis Mccaldin

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

A review of "Caryl Clark and Sarah Day O’Connell, eds. The Cambridge Haydn Encyclopedia"

Two Cello Works Of Pēteris Vasks: Structure, Symbolism, And Identity, Caroline Bean Stute

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents analyses of two compositions for cello by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks: Grāmata Čellam (1978), for solo cello, and Concerto No. 2, “Klātbūtne” (“Presence,” 2011–2012), for cello and string orchestra. It acquaints readers with defining elements of Vasks’s musical language and relates his music to the concurrent stylistic classifications of Baltic Minimalism and Neoromanticism. The paper also discusses the significance of Vasks’s national identity in his creative process and provides historical context on Latvia.

Cf Album, Transcriptions, And Analyses, Collin Felter

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

CF is an album of Collin Felter original compositions with a focus on creating a more approachable form of jazz harmony. To further the accessibility of the music, Felter has transcribed and analyzed his compositions for the listeners to theoretically understand what they are aurally experiencing. Included is the transcriptions/analysis document along with a link to the recordings of the album (can be found on all music streaming platforms).

Theorizing Trikāla: A Generalized Intervallic Approach To Pulse Transformation In South Indian Carnatic Music, Robert L. Wells

Music

The rich rhythmic/metric construction of South Indian Carnatic music is characterized, in large part, by intricate interplay between an internalized metric cycle called the tāḷa and performed phrases that may generate expressive tension with this tāḷa. Thus, informed listeners, who track the tāḷa using standardized hand gestures (kriyās), may experience substantial internal tension. A common source of such tension is trikāla technique, in which the performed pulse unit expands or contracts over constant tāḷa. While trikāla has been thoroughly described performatively, historically, and culturally, it has received little attention within the music-theoretic realm. Thus, this paper seeks to …

An Exploration Of Smetana’S Z Domoviny (From My Homeland), Two Pieces For Violin And Piano, Jb 1:118, Yeseul Kim

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Z domoviny (From My Homeland), by Bedřich Smetana (1824-84), is among the most colorful and effective works for violin and piano of the 19^th century, and yet it is not as well-known, nor as often performed, as many other works by Antonín Dvořák, Johannes Brahms, Pablo de Sarasate, Henryk Wieniawski and their contemporaries. This document will attempt to balance the work’s place in the repertoire and provide a performer’s guide. It consists of an historical background of the composition, including a biography of Smetana; a discussion of his compositional technique and style, along with an exploration of his nationalistic …

Singing Out: Gala Choruses And Social Change, Heather Maclachlan

Books and Book Chapters by University of Dayton Faculty

Can you change the world through song? This appealing idea has long been the professed aim of singers who are part of choruses affiliated with the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA). Theses choruses first emerged in the 1970s, and grew out of a very American tradition of (often gender-segregated) choral singing that explicitly presents itself as a community-based activity. By taking a close look at these choruses and their mission, Heather MacLachlan unpacks the fascinating historical and cultural dynamics behind groups that seek to change society for the better by encouraging acceptance of LGBT-identified people and promoting diversity …

A Performance Analysis Of Cloud Folk For Percussion Octet And Piano By John Psathas, James Vilseck

Theses and Dissertations--Music

John Psathas is the one of the most forefront, living New Zealand composers and is considered to be one of the three most important living composers of the Greek Diaspora. His music is performed across the globe, most notably as the opening and closing ceremony music for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. His percussion music has been championed by percussionists for three decades, starting with Dame Evelyn Glennie with the work Matre’s Dance. Psathas still receives regular commissions for percussion instruments, having released multiple works in the last few years and multiple works still to be premiered.

The …

A Performer’S Guide To Norman Bolter’S Morning Walk For Trombone And Piano, Justin Croushore

Theses and Dissertations--Music

For the past 45 years, Norman Bolter has been one of the most prolific and important composers, performers, and educators for the trombone. Born in Minnesota in 1955, Bolter held the position of Second Trombone of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Principal Trombone of the Boston Pops from 1975 until 2009. He has taught at leading conservatories, universities, and festivals around the world and continues to teach as trombone faculty at the New England Conservatory and the Boston Conservatory today. His compositional output is large and wide-ranged, including works for solo trombone, trombone and piano, trombone ensemble, chamber ensemble, band, …

Steven Bryant’S The Automatic Earth: A Conductor’S Analysis And Performance Perspectives, Corey S. Bonds

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The purpose of this research is to present a conductor’s analysis and performance perspectives of The Automatic Earth, composed by Steven Bryant for the Arizona State University Wind Orchestra, and premiered by its conductor, Professor Gary Hill, at the 2019 College Band Director’s National Association National Conference. Through the conductor’s analysis and performance perspectives, the author seeks to provide future conductors and performers with necessary musical interpretations and technical guidance. The four-part process of research includes: 1. detailed analysis of the musical score of The Automatic Earth, 2. observation of rehearsals and world premiere of the work, 3. in-depth …

Engaging The Eclectic Bulgarian Soul In Viola Concerto No. 1 By Marin Goleminov (1908-2000): A Faceted Analysis With New Pedagogical Studies, Lubitza Braikova

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The main purpose of this monograph is to provide a faceted study of Marin Goleminov’s Concerto for Viola No.1, a work of art complexly revealing its creator’s constructive study of style – including national style. It is hoped that this will, among other things, assist in deepening relevant performances and researches.

This document examines the M. Goleminov Concerto for Viola and Orchestra no.1, 1950 (Концерт за Bиола и Oркестър Hомер 1 Марин Големинов, р.1908–п.2000). It would bring essential features of it to the attention of a broader audience, perhaps beginning with inquisitive violists. If, with the necessary selectivity, …

The Roman Catholic Ordinary Mass From Circa 1750 To Circa 1820: A Selected Bibliography, Letícia Gabriele Grützmann Januario

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Orchestrated masses from the 18th century and early years of the 19th century provide a valuable source of repertoire for contemporary choral conductors. This project will explore composers and works from circa 1750 to 1820 to provide choral conductors with a list of works suitable for programming based on the practical size of vocal and instrumental forces.

Western choral music was born in a church setting. Among all choral genres, the mass is the only genre composed throughout all eras, from medieval until the 20th century. The mass remained a prominent genre during the 18th century despite the secularizing influence …

Joby Talbot’S Path Of Miracles: Musical And Dramatic Analysis, Joseph Stuligross

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This project investigates Joby Talbot’s choral composition Path of Miracles, focusing on interpretive insight as well as musical and extra-musical understandings related to the subject matter, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain known as the Camino de Santiago. It explores the sources and methods of generating dramatic intensity and seeks to understand how the composer achieved particular dramatic effects. The project proceeds along two related modes of inquiry. The first involves musical evaluation, particularly of pitch, motive, harmony and rhythm techniques, in a somewhat traditional analysis. The second investigates the ways in which musical techniques generate the …

About This Issue, Michael E. Ruhling

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

No abstract provided.

Michael Haydn's Early Masses And Their Viennese Context, Bruce C. Macintyre

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

Although Joseph Haydn felt that his brother Michael (1737-1806) held “first place” in the field of church music, scholarship on the brother surprisingly still has many lacunae; e.g., in the study of Michael’s early works composed before he went to Salzburg. Nearly half of this brother’s 28 settings of the Mass Ordinary for voices with orchestral accompaniment were composed in his early years, i.e. after his early studies in Vienna ca. 1745 and during his work for the bishop in Grosswardein (Oradea, Romania) and prior to his arrival in Salzburg in August 1763. This paper attempts to shed more light …

An Integration Of East And West: History, Analysis And Reception Of The Yellow River Piano Concerto, Lin Tao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Yellow River Piano Concerto remains as one of a few representative and major instrumental compositions within the Chinese repertoire since it was composed in 1969. Thanks to the devoted work of Chinese pianists, the Yellow River Piano Concerto has disseminated around the world and has become a musical symbol of Chinese culture in recent years. This piano concerto serves as a tool for the cultural communication between China and the world. The Yellow River Piano Concerto has a unique ability to depict Chinese culture and history through the language of music. Its exotic pentatonic melodies and eastern orchestrations make …

J.K. Mertz’S Bardenklänge: A Context For The Emergence Of The Character Piece Genre Within The Repertoire For Solo Guitar, Brinsley Doran

Masters

Having experience a large increase in concert activity in recent years, one would assume that the works of J.K. Mertz (1806–1856) would haveexperience the same level of attention within academic circles, however research is still limited. As a result, this thesissetsout to understand in what areas do Mertz's works differ fromother guitar works in the first half of the nineteenth century—specifically Mertz's set of character piecesfound in hisBardenklänge, op. 13. This thesiswill address shifts in culture, aesthetics and the increasing interest in the ‘Folk’c.1800–1850 that led to the composition of Mertz’s Bardenklänge. Published in 1847, these works are unique in …