Music Performance Commons^™

An Authentic Key To Universality: The National Sound Of Tajčević And The International Sound Of Milojević In Serbian Piano Music, Nikola Šćepović

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This thesis argues that the authenticity of the works of Marko Tajčević and Miloje Milojević arises from their deep artistic response to the cultural and historical environment in which they lived and created, while their universality lies in their ability to articulate this authentic language within established artistic forms that resonate with a broader international musical community. It situates these works within the broader cultural context of Serbian music between the two World Wars, a period marked by the negotiation between national identity and European artistic integration.

It also explores the two formative directions of Serbian piano music, the music …

Developing Vocal Technique Through The Canción Ranchera In The Middle School Mariachi Classroom, Perry Chacon Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Mariachi is taught in more than 500 public school programs across the United States, yet current scholarship on the mariachi voice primarily focuses on defining and analyzing performance practice, offering limited guidance for classroom instruction. This study provides a methodology for developing healthy vocal technique in the middle school mariachi classroom. Grounded in established vocal pedagogy and informed by teaching practice, this approach first builds student confidence through participation in group vocal exploration that encourages active vocal participation. Instruction progresses from foundational skill development, including aural skills, breath coordination, and healthy vocal projection, to the application of these skills through …

Expressions Of Taiwanese Cultural Identity In Piano Music: A Study Of Hsiao Tyzen’S Memories Of Home And Ma Shui-Long’S A Sketch Of The Rainy Harbor, Fang-Yu Hsu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigates how Taiwanese cultural identity is expressed in the piano works of composers Hsiao Tyzen and Ma Shui-Long, focusing on Hsiao’s Memories of Home and Ma’s A Sketch of the Rainy Harbor. While both composers are pivotal figures in Taiwan’s musical history, their approaches to integrating local heritage with Western compositional techniques differ significantly. This dissertation argues that they represent two distinct creative paths: Hsiao’s model of Romantic Nationalism and Ma’s model of Modernist Synthesis.

Through historical contextualization and detailed musical analysis, this research examines the specific methods each composer employed. The findings reveal that Hsiao directly quotes …

The Collision Between Chinese Traditional Culture And Western Musical Styles In Zhang Zhao’S Piano Work Pi–Huang, Weijing Li

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study focuses on Zhang Zhao’s solo piano work Pi–Huang and explores how Chinese traditional operatic culture is expressed through the piano as a Western instrument. As a piano work with a strong Chinese cultural background, Pi–Huang connects directly to the pihuang vocal system of Beijing opera and shows important elements of Chinese traditional music in its melody, rhythm, timbre, texture, and structure. This dissertation examines the historical and cultural background of pihuang, analyzes the musical language of the work, and discusses its interpretation in performance practice. It focuses especially on pentatonic materials, operatic melodic lines, rhythmic features, timbral images …

Negro Spirituals: The Long Journey West, Lavell Thompson, Jr.

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This text seeks to explore the origins of Negro spirituals, and how they evolved, highlighting their arrival to Las Vegas, Nevada. It outlines the primacy of vocal music, particularly in reference to African American spirituals, and how they were shaped via the influence of African and European traditions. As it is impossible to address every type of spiritual created, the text focuses on a few types of spirituals—namely joyous accounts and spirituals that use codes for messages. Moreover, it seeks to create a comprehensive understanding of the origins of Las Vegas, because without acknowledging the contributions of the Mormon Church, …

Treatment And Recovery Of Mucoceles In Brass Musicians: The Performance Trap And Its Consequences, David D. Torres

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation examines the treatment and recovery of oral mucoceles in professional brass musicians through a qualitative case study combining personal narrative, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of medical and pedagogical literature. I interviewed four professional trumpet players who experienced mucoceles and lip trauma, and three medical professionals with relevant expertise. My own case serves as the primary study, documenting 15 years of scar tissue management following surgical excision and an immediate return to demanding performance. Medical literature treats mucocele excision as a routine procedure with recovery measured in weeks. Brass pedagogy literature assumes healthy lips and offers no guidance for …

Comparative Study Of Vocal Pedagogy Systems In South Korea And The United States: Developmental Strategies For Classical Voice Education In South Korea, Dongmin Byeon

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This dissertation presents a comparative study of vocal pedagogy systems in South Korea and the United States, with the aim of identifying deficiencies in Korean higher education and proposing strategies for reform. While South Korean university voice programs are deeply rooted in the traditional master–apprentice model and rely heavily on anecdotal teaching methods, U.S. institutions have developed structured, evidence-based pedagogical frameworks informed by anatomy, physiology, acoustics, and voice science. This research explores the historical evolution of vocal pedagogy in both countries, highlighting how traditional practices in Korea, though culturally significant, have not sufficiently adapted to contemporary scientific standards.

Employing qualitative …

Integrating Classical Singing Techniques To Aid Natives In Performing Traditional Tongan Folk Songs Of The Late Queen Sālote Tupou Iii, Pauline 'Ofa Vaitāfā Tamale

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This document introduces a structured, classical vocal approach to equip native singers with healthier performance techniques and enable anyone in the music world to perform the art songs derived from the poetry and compositions of Queen Sālote Tupou III. The objective of this project is to provide performers, particularly those with a native proficiency, with classical techniques to perform this music with vigor while circumventing vocal fatigue caused by the linguistic, dialectal, and cultural demands inherent in the repertoire. Queen Sālote Tupou III (1900–1965) reigned for nearly 50 years – the longest of any Tongan monarch – and left an …

East Meets West In Chinese Orchestral Repertoire: The Fusion Of Chinese Nationalism And Western Musical Influence, Tianxi Wen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This doctoral document explores the intersection of Chinese musical traditions and Western orchestral influences, focusing specifically on how Chinese composers have navigated this blend to create distinctive orchestral works. Grounded in my background as a doctoral student in orchestral conducting and enriched by my ethnomusicological expertise, this document examines how these composers have integrated both traditions into their music.CHAPTER 1, “Introduction”, introduces the document’s structure, central argument, and the selection of orchestral works for analysis. It also defines the document's purpose and scope. CHAPTER 2, “A Brief History of the Orchestra in China”, examines the origins, evolution, and development of …

Influences On The Ecuadorian Flute Repertoire: Compositions By Sixto María Durán, Jacinto Freire, Gerardo Guevara, Luciano Carrera, Juan Carlos Urrutia, Blanca Layana, And Leonardo Cárdenas, Ligia Verduga

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Ecuadorian music is rich, diverse, and beautiful. It encompasses several genres, rhythms, histories, backgrounds, and influences. Ecuador is a small country situated in the northwest corner of South America atop by the equatorial line that divides the northern Hemisphere from the South, hence the name Ecuador. It borders to the north by Colombia, to the south and east border by Peru, and to the west, by the Pacific Ocean. The repertoire for flute from Ecuadorian composers is a very interesting topic that deserves further exploration and research. As additional repertoire is available; however, there are not many scholarly papers written …

A Poetics Of Handel’S Operas, By Nathan Link, Jonathan Rhodes Lee

Music Faculty Research

Textbooks and program notes summarize the relationship between story and music in opera seria with tidy bullet points: recitatives = action; arias = reflection; ensembles sometimes contribute to a story’s progression, while instrumental pieces typically do not. Nathan Link’s A Poetics of Handel’s Operas dismisses such generalizations as caricatures, going so far as to assert that opera seria is “easily among the most complex forms of storytelling yet devised” (p. 7). The author turns to narratological theory, with occasional forays into opera studies and cinema studies (including film music scholarship), to explain the “semantic decoding” (p. 2) that audiences must …

Dance Experience Affects Tempo Perception, Jasmine Xu, Jordan E. Hayes, Cole Smithers, Jared Leslie

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

In music, the word “tempo” refers to the speed or pace of the music (the number of beats per minute, for example). Tempo is surprisingly subjective, given that beat perception depends on age and cultural experience. Other factors besides beat (like the density of events per unit time) might influence how fast or slow people dance to music. Certain styles of music afford different speeds of dance, even when their tempos are the same.

Mural: An Online Space For Co-Creating Meaning And Understanding, Kimberly James

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Building an online community around learning has been challenging throughout the academic and artistic disruptions caused by the COVID 19 pandemic. In order to promote remote interaction and educe student contributions, I utilized MURAL, a virtual, collaborative whiteboard, several times during AY2020-2021 to co-create meaning and understanding of common pedagogic topics that are applied in my studio. This practice allowed all participants to contribute ideas, make revisions, and enjoy new “aha” moments in real-time with far less pressure and concern for feeling “called out” or being “wrong.”

These activities benefitted the students and the overall wellness of the student participants …

Doctoral Recital, Dejan Dasklov

Graduate Student Recitals

List of performers and performances.

A Night Of Quintets, Chritin Nance, Quinn Ngo, Sharon Nakama, Alina Eckersley, Brock Norred, Brandon Denman, Dora Ivanov, Miguel Villarreal, Rachel Larance, Nick Guevara

Chamber Music Programs

Program listing performers and works performed.

Doctoral Recital, Allison Mcswain, Jae Ahn-Benton, Justin Bland

Graduate Student Recitals

List of performers and performances.

String Chamber Music Concert, Unlv Chamber Music

Chamber Music Programs

Program listing performers and works performed.

Doctoral Recital, Luc Brust

Graduate Student Recitals

List of performers and performances.`

Senior Recital, Robin Calarese, Brandon Denman

Senior Recitals

List of performers and performances.

Junior Recital, Belinda Martinez, Jae Ahn-Benton

Junior Recitals

List of performers and performances.

Doctoral Recital, Cordelia E. Anderson, Jae Ahn-Benton, Samantha Noel

Graduate Student Recitals

List of performers and performances.

Doctoral Recital, Stephanie Weiss, Kosta Popovic

Graduate Student Recitals

List of performers and performances.

Junior Recital, Belinda Martinez, Jae Ahn-Benton

Junior Recitals

List of performers and performances.

Convocation, Unlv Convocations

Convocations

No abstract provided.

Guitar Ensemble Concert, Unlv Department Of Music

Chamber Music Programs

Program listing performers and works performed.

Trombone Choir Concert, Unlv Choral Ensembles

Choral Ensembles

No abstract provided.

Convocation, Unlv Convocations

Convocations

No abstract provided.

Chamber Recital, Dafne Guevara, Chris Fujiwara, Ivan Ivanov, Linnie Hostetler, Kevin Eberle

Chamber Music Programs

Program listing performers and works performed.

Doctoral Recital, Erin Vander Wyst, Jae Ahn-Benton

Graduate Student Recitals

List of performers and performances.

Tuba-Euphonium Studio And Unlv Brass Ensemble, Zane Z. Douglass, Adam Hille

Chamber Music Programs

Program listing performers and works performed.