Music Practice Commons^™

Befitting Bach: Prelude And Fugue Transcribed For Horn Quartet, Caitlin Murphy

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This thesis, titled “Befitting Bach: Prelude and Fugue Transcribed for Horn Quartet,” consists of horn quartet transcriptions of Prelude 1 and Fugue 1 from Johann Sebastian Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I. The prelude and fugue pair were originally written for harpsichord during the Baroque period, and the pieces remain commonly performed on keyboard instruments. The transcription translates the pieces into four-part horn music while preserving the original musical ideas and accounting for the different technical capabilities between the instruments. The accompanying written component provides a brief history of the original compositions. Further, the report delves into the transcription …

Analytical Perspectives For The Wind Band Conductor: Discovering The Musical Growth Of A Composition Through Focused Observation Using The Elements Of Shmrg From Jan Larue’S Guidelines For Style Analysis, Eric Elker

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Productive score study and analysis is one of the most essential skills conductors need for preparing rehearsals and performances of repertoire. Musical conductors acquire score study skills and tools early in their educations. Much of their attention is given to achieving the composer’s intention by searching for and discovering significant musical moments created by several musical elements such as form, harmony, melody, rhythm, timbre, texture, and dynamics. This analytical approach is necessary for learning a piece of music, but conductors miss musical and creative opportunities if they confine themselves solely to their analytical observations for studying, rehearsing, and performing musical …

Martin Bresnick's “Bitter Suite” Duo For Violin And Piano, Xun Xu

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

This document is intended to be a practical tool for those interested in performing, researching, and cultivating an acute understanding of Martin Bresnick’s Bitter Suite Duo for Violin and Piano. A composer working within varying neoclassical and modern idioms, Bresnick has merited many accolades, from the Rome Prize to a Guggenheim to the American Academy of Arts and Letters' first-ever Charles Ives Living Award.

The first movement of Bitter Suite was commissioned by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bresnick enjoyed composing this movement and was inspired to write three additional movements, transforming the commission …

New Paradigms In Band Performance: An Analysis Of Three Prototypes, Scott Walker-Parker

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

This document seeks to propose new paradigms in band performance through inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinarity. Initial inspirations were drawn from performance innovations shaped by the new music theater which became popular in the 20^th century. Key concepts which were used throughout the creative, planning, logistic, rehearsal, and performance processes are analyzed in three recitals through prototypes of new paradigms in band performance. These concepts include accessibility and community, nonverbal/multimodal performance and instruction versus time, and nonverbal/multimodal communication.

The document has been organized in a manner which highlights successes and breakdowns of each process so future refinement can be made. …

The Singing Conductor: Interviews On The Benefits And Limitations Of Choral Conductors And Teachers Continuing To Sing, Anne Carissa Gassmann

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

It is our duty as musicians, conductors, and teachers to continue developing our teaching and musicianship. One of the ways growth can occur is by singing regularly in ensembles outside of teaching. As one balances career and personal life, continuing to sing is a choice each must make. It is through this document that one may see the relevance of pursuing opportunities to sing, as it may inform and elevate one’s teaching and conducting. Eleven interviews were conducted with elementary, high school, and collegiate teachers and conductors, only half of them still singing in an ensemble. This document is intended …

Transcribing Astor Piazzolla's Works To Maximize Stylistic Fidelity: An Examination Of Three Saxophone Quartets With A New Transcription, Sarah L. Cosano

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

Astor Piazzolla is recognized as a pivotal figure who drew tango music onto an international stage. His output of written compositions and recordings provide a reference for studying tango. Though Piazzolla adapted a collection of flute etudes in 1988, he did not write specifically for saxophone during his lifetime. Saxophonists must instead rely on transcriptions of his music. Today, tango is a widely performed idiom for saxophone quartet.

Because of its tessitura, timbral variety, and flexibility, the saxophone is uniquely suited to perform tango music. This instrument has an expansive range when altissimo is included. Its written range spans from …

The Iconic One-Hit Wonder: The History And Reception Of Franz Biebl's Ave Maria, Matthew Oltman

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

Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria is one of the most well-known small-scale choral pieces written in the latter half of the twentieth century. Since its introduction to American choirs in 1970, it has become an important part of the standard choral repertoire and is often performed perennially, especially at Christmas. It was integral to the rise in popularity of Chanticleer, the American professional male chorus, and remains closely associated with the ensemble thanks to it being recorded and published in the United States under Chanticleer’s auspices. Despite these facts, very little has been written about the composer or his iconic setting …

Pilot Study To Assess Breathing During Sight-Read Stringed Instrument Performance, Collin T. Erickson, Clark Potter, Gregory Bashford

UCARE: Research Products

For many musicians, one common occurrence during a performance is the presence of stage fright. Stage fright, though not always expressed can influence the confidence and self-esteem of a performer, and thus can affect the quality of the performance. Every day musicians are affected by stage fright, and there has been no exact solution as to how to lessen the feeling of anxiety musicians feel before performing. No data has been collected to find the correlation between the regularity of breathing and the level of stage fright that a person feels during their performance. A way to quantify regularity of …

Love's Austere And Lonely Offices: An Analysis Of Tom Cipullo's America 1968, Joshua Zink

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

My study reveals how the music of Tom Cipullo’s America 1968 mirrors the theme of adversity leading to resolution as found in the poetry of Robert Hayden. This study should serve the purposes of investigating Cipullo’s music in relationship to Hayden’s poetry, and be a practical tool for anyone interested in performing these marvelous pieces. This study contains an introduction, a systematic look at each poem and song, and a conclusion reflecting upon my findings.

Advisor: William Shomos

Virtuoso Violinist Maud Powell: Enduring Champion For American Women In Professional Music, Sarah Joy Pizzichemi

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

Maud Powell, the first great American virtuoso violinist, sparked a change in the spirit of the advancement of classical music throughout North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This document addresses gender inequality present in the classical music profession during Powell’s lifetime. It also explores the roles women occupied in the public and private spheres in Western art music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. More specifically, it investigates the life of virtuoso violinist Maud Powell through her activism and interest in American women in professional music.

The document is divided into three parts. After a …

The Evolution Of The Cello Endpin And Its Effect On Technique And Repertoire, William Braun

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

This document investigates how the concept of a lifting device has evolved into the modern endpin that is a now a standard part of the cello. The endpin has a unique history that, prior to this writing, has not yet been fully documented. The evolution of the endpin has caused significant changes to cello technique, as its use, or lack of, alters the basic posture and setup of the instrument on the cellist’s body. Written and iconographic evidence show that endpins and other lifting devices have been used throughout all eras of the cello’s history. There are many instances when …

Syntagma Musicum Ii: De Organographia, Parts Iii – V With Index, Michael Praetorius, Quentin Faulkner Trans. & Ed.

Zea E-Books Collection

Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) achieved distinction as a practicing musician: as organist and Kapellmeister at Wolfenbüttel, Dresden and Magdeburg, and (in his later years) by incessant travel to fulfill commissions at various central German courts. Amid his travels Praetorius found time to publish an impressive series of collections of musical compositions, in all more than a thousand works. Praetorius’s three-volume Syntagma musicum (Musical Encyclopedia) belongs to the last years of his life. Volume I, Musicae artis analecta (1614/15, in Latin), treats principles and practices of religious music, from a decidedly Lutheran perspective. Volume II, De organographia (1619, in German) deals with …

Tracing The Development Of Vivaldi's "L' Estro Armonico" Concerto No. 8 In A Minor Through J.S. Bach And Samuil Feinberg's Keyboard Transcriptions: Exploring The Possibilities Of A Modern Authentic Performance, Andreas Xenopoulos

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

This document explores the development of the Concerto No.8 in A minor from the collection L’Estro Armonico by Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) through the transcriptions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and Samuil Feinberg (1890–1962). Feinberg was a Russian and Soviet pianist, composer and piano pedagogue, highly influenced by the teaching of Franz Liszt and the principles of the new, modern ‘piano school’ during the end of the 19^th century. Biographical information about Samuil Feinberg along with the influences Franz Liszt had upon piano education in Russia and the Moscow conservatory in particular is offered. Two comprehensive comparisons between the two …

Sing Solo Pirate: Songs In The Key Of Arrr! A Literature Guide For The Singer And Vocal Pedagogue, Michael S. Tully

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

Pirates have always been mysterious figures. They came out of nowhere, attacked their victims, plundered their goods, and vanished. Reason tells us that pirates were no more than common criminals, but over the centuries, history has come to portray them as romantic and even heroic figures. This stereotype of piracy has long been a fascination of authors, poets, and composers, and it is evident in our cultural landscape.

This document examines an area of pirate literature that has been neglected, if ever discussed: the published pirate song for solo voice and piano accompaniment. Over the past two centuries many such …

Mued 345: Instrumental Music Methods, Dale Bazan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The course Instrumental Music Methods (MUED 345) is designed to provide a fundamental preparation for future music educators to teach instrumental music--both orchestral and band--to adolescents in schools. The description in the UNL Schedule of Classes describes this course as dealing with "administrative approaches, rehearsal techniques, and modern comprehensive teaching styles for the secondary instrumental teacher." I chose this course for my peer-review because preparing future instrumental music teachers is one of my primary responsibilities as the instrumental music education specialist at UNL, and this course is the primary course to prepare students for this outcome. It is therefore vital …

A Survey Of The Sacred Choral–Orchestral Works Of Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869–1941), Martin C. Cook

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

In the closing years of the 19th Century, when Charles Villiers Stanford, Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar were at the height of their fame and influence in British musical society Henry Walford Davies emerged as one of the most promising talents of the day, receiving commissions from the provincial music festivals of Great Britain, which were a rite of passage for emerging composers.

Between 1904 and 1929 Davies produced eleven sacred choral-orchestral works for these festivals and one further work, which were received favorably in their day but are now almost forgotten. There are five large multi movement works: The …

Musica Mechanica Organoedi • Musical Mechanics For The Organist, Jacob Adlung, Johann Lorenz Albrecht, Johann Friedrich Agricola, Quentin Faulkner

Zea E-Books Collection

This is the first English translation of Musica mechanica organoedi, originally published in Berlin in 1768. Its author Jacob Adlung (1699-1762) was a musician and scholar and organist at the Predigerkirche in Erfurt.

The Musica mechanica organoedi focuses primarily on the organ, from the perspective of the information an organist might need to know about the instrument; specifically, it encompasses the following:

• an evaluation, from an 18th-century perspective, of earlier works on its subject: Praetorius, Werkmeister, Mattheson, Niedt, Kircher and others

• an appreciation of the organ: its value and regard

• the history of the organ

• …

An Evaluation Of Compositions For Wind Band According To Specific Criteria Of Serious Artistic Merit: A Second Update, Clifford Towner

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

This study is an update to the 1978 thesis of Acton Eric Ostling, Jr. and the 1993 replication study by Jay Warren Gilbert. These two studies explore a process for evaluating specific compositions, from a selected list, against a set of ten criteria defining serious artistic merit. This study reevaluates those compositions that met the criteria in the previous studies, as well as those compositions that were within ten points of meeting the criteria in the previous studies. Additional compositions, especially those composed since 1993, are also included.

The study utilizes eight procedures for accomplishing its objective, including defining the …

Cognitive Processes For Infering Tonic, Steven J. Kaup

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

Research concerning cognitive processes for tonic inference is diverse involving approaches from several different perspectives. Outwardly, the ability to infer tonic seems fundamentally simple; yet it cannot be attributed to any single cognitive process, but is multi-faceted, engaging complex elements of the brain. This study will examine past research concerning tonic inference in light of current findings. First I will survey the recent history of experimental research in cognitive functions for memory retention and expectation as they relate to the recognition and learning of musical schemas. Then I will discuss distributional theories associated with the tonal hierarchy of major and …

Randall Thompson's Requiem: A Text Setting Analysis And Recommendations For Performance, Zachary J. Vreeman

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

Randall Thompson is a well-known composer of some of the most familiar and accessible American choral music of the twentieth century. His conservative harmonic language and idiomatic writing for voices has made many of his works popular with both amateur and academic choirs. They are particularly admired for their sensitive setting of English text.

In 1958, Thompson wrote a large work titled Requiem, inspired by a young terminally-ill choral conductor, and commissioned by the University of California. Though positively reviewed, it received only a handful of performances, and is little known today outside of a few extracted movements. The …

David Maslanka's Desert Roads, Four Songs For Clarinet And Wind Ensemble: An Analysis And Performer's Guide, Joshua R. Mietz

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

Known primarily as a composer for the wind band, few American composers have received the notoriety and widespread acclaim that David Maslanka has since 1970. His works for wind ensemble are now considered standard repertoire and are played frequently by high school, college-level, and professional ensembles alike. Additionally, his works for chamber groups and soloists have continued to gain in popularity.  As of the writing of this document, Maslanka has composed concertos for saxophone, euphonium, flute, marimba, trombone, and piano.  Early in 2005, he completed his first large-scale work for solo clarinet with wind ensemble accompaniment:  Desert Roads.  Desert …

A Metrical Analysis And Rebarring Of Paul Creston's Sonata For Alto Saxophone And Piano, Op. 19, Christopher Kyle Sweitzer

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

The Sonata For Alto Saxophone and Piano Op. 19 is one of the most popular pieces in the saxophone literature, commonly played by professional saxophonists during their training. It features exciting rhythmic devices like irregular and mixed meter, the notation of which is the main focus of this paper. Although Creston often used irregular and mixed meter in his compositions, he rarely specifically notated them, choosing instead to use accents, beams, slurs, and other phenomenal cues at the musical surface to create the effect of these metric plans. Time signatures often remained constant throughout entire movements. Creston believed this would …

A Performer’S Guide To The Original Works For Solo Horn, Horn And Piano, Two Horns, And Two Horns And Piano By Paul Basler, Nicholas A. Kenney

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

The horn music of Paul Basler, while extremely popular and widely recognized, is relatively unexplored in academia. Basler’s experiences have led him all over the world from Wisconsin, Florida, and New York to Kenya and the Dominican Republic. Because of Basler’s variety of experiences, his music encompasses many styles and media. This document focuses on the life and influences of Paul Basler as a composer for the horn as the featured instrument. It provides a historical context for each of his original pieces for solo horn, horn and piano, two horns, and two horns and piano. Also present is a …

The Contributions Of Axel Jørgensen To The Solo Trombone Repertoire Of Denmark In The Twentieth Century, Andrew H. Converse

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

Axel Jørgensen is one of a few Danish composers who has contributed compositions to the solo trombone repertoire that gained an international and lasting reputation in the twentieth century. Jørgensen, like many Danish composers from the first part of the twentieth century, is often overlooked due to the imposing figure of Carl Nielsen. Jørgensen’s compositions, while not overly patriotic, give the trombonist a sense of the Danish Nationalistic Romantic style of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Jørgensen was one of the first composers to write for the emerging slide trombone idiom in Denmark at the beginning of the …

Starlata, Princess Of Mars: A Space Operetta In One Act, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Starlata, Princess of Mars: a space operetta in one actStarlata, Princess of Mars a space operetta in one act Randall Snyder (2003)Randall Snyder (2003)

synopsis

Two Americans attempt the first landing on Mars. After escaping a meteor shower, they crash on the Red Planet and are captured by a hostile band of Children led by Ergo, the Grand Vizier. They are brought to the palace of Starlata, Princess of Mars, the last female of her dying species. After an intensive and humiliating interrogation, Starlata, in order to ensure the survival of her race, eventually decides to mate with …

The Divine Madness: A Comedic Theater Piece For Six Players In Five Scenes, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

The Players (in order of appearance)

a middle-aged composer, dressed in 19th century costume
an impresario, speaks with W.C.Fields accent, dressed in a Dickensian style
the cast (chorus) of the Willy-Nilly Traveling Opera-Circus Troupe:
a flamboyant soprano, an aging diva, colorfully dressed
an alto, a timid musicologist, dressed as a college co-ed
a tenor, a jazzer, dressed in a pin-striped zoot suit, wearing sun-glasses
a bass, a bitter old man, speaks with a German accent, wearing shabby clothes
stage audience including a critic, and crew

Place

Five days in the present sets a garret and the backstage of a theater …

“A Splendid Time Is Guaranteed For All,” Sgt. Pepper’S Lonely Hearts Club Band: A Brief Consideration, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the 13th of 18 Beatles albums, released in the United States on June 1, 1967, has come to be regarded as one of the seminal artifacts of popular culture of the 20th century. This short paper explores aspects of this music that reached such a broad audience, in particular, some observations of the albums’ astonishing textual and musical diversity as well as less-obvious commonalities that bind the 13 songs with a logic and unity rarely found in popular music.

Words And Music: The Assembling Of Traveling West, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

This paper is a consideration of the art song as a unique collaboration of poet and composer, the result of which, rarely achieving a balance between the two, often resulting in a creation that comprises the predominant artistic vision of one or the other, with poetry usually getting short shrift. This discussion will examine how dfferent methods of text setting can affect the intended meaning of the poem, citing examples of poet-composer relationships. Then I will discuss how these concepts are utilized in my song cycle, Traveling West, settings of poems by Susan Strayer Deal, Marjorie Saiser, Hilda Raz, …

Ma Fin Est Mon Commencement (My End Is My Beginning): An Allegory In Five Scenes, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Dramatis personae: Artist, Narrator, Chorus

Synopsis

PROLOG

Perceiving society as decadent, an artist ruminates over his existence. A narrator describes the chorus as they reluctantly assemble on a black box stage.

SCENE 1

Painful thoughts force the artist to remember his past as essentially a trilogy of forces: (1) Caritas – mystical religious feelings embodied in the Latin liturgy; (2) the narrow space between the five lines – an allusion to the musical staff and his career as a composer; (3) post puterbific thoughts – physical, carnal instincts. The chorus dismisses the composer’s concerns as superficial. They speak of their …

Noumenon: A Metaphysical Comedy, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Noumenon: Synopsis

The work, which perhaps could best be described as a “metaphysical comedy”, consists of three levels:

1) the biography of the unnamed dilettante artist-philosopher “__”
2) personal interpolations by the biographer, Russel Stanford
3) editor’s commentary by Randall Snyder

Stanford, in spite of a lack of enthusiasm for the subject, agrees to write the biography. During this period his health degenerates and he increasingly imposes his own irrelevant opinions into the biography (his remarks are all indented, using the Palatino font, and further identified by the use of the small case “i”. The “biography” uses the New York …