Music Theory Commons^™

Directional Tonality In Schumann's Early Works, Benjamin K. Wadsworth

Faculty Articles

Beginning and ending a work in the same key, thereby suggesting a hierarchical structure, is a hallmark of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century practice. Occasionally, however, early nineteenth-century works begin and end in different, but equally plausible keys (directional tonality), thereby associating two or more keys in decentralized complexes. Franz Schubert’s works are sometimes interpreted as central to this practice, especially those that extend third relationships to larger, often chromatic cycles. Robert Schumann’s early directional-tonal works, however, have received less analytical scrutiny. In them, pairings are instead diatonic between two keys, which usually relate as relative major and minor, thereby allowing Schumann …

"The Performance Of 16th-Century Music: Learning From The Theorists" By Anne Smith, Kenneth Kreitner

Performance Practice Review

Kenneth Kreitner discusses and reviews Smith's 2011 work.

Smith, Anne. The Performance of 16th-Century Music: Learning from the Theo­rists. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.

ISBN 978-0-19974261-5.

From Profane To Divine: The Hegemonic Appropriation Of Pagan Imagery Into Eastern Christian Hymnody, Jordan Lippert

Scripps Senior Theses

Spanning the first seven centuries of Christianity, this paper explores how Eastern Christian and Byzantine hymn chant was developed alongside pagan and Jewish worship traditions around the Near East. Comparison of hymns by Christian composers such as St. Romanos the Melodist and pagan poetry reveals many similarities in the types of metaphorical imagery used in both religious expressions. Common in Christian hymn texts, well-known metaphors, like the “Light of God,” are juxtaposed with pagan mythological gods, such as Apollo and Helios. This paper attempts to explain how and why Christians appropriated and adopted ancient pagan imagery into the burgeoning musical …

The Impact Of Vowels On Pitch Finding And Intonation In The Movable-Do Solmization System, Thomas Neuerburg

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

The modern movable-Do solmization system based on syllables devised by Guido d'Arezzo was modified and pieced together over centuries by various scholars and pedagogues, each with their own rationale. To date, considerations of the movable-Do system have not sufficiently examined the effects of the vowels contained within its solfège syllables. While vowels have been thoroughly analyzed among vocal pedagogues, that information has not been adequately transferred to the realm of aural theory. Individual vowels contain perceptual qualities and intonational tendencies, due to their physiological articulation and acoustic properties. This document relates vowel characteristics with the solfège syllables used in the …

Pitch Perception In Changing Harmony, Cecilia Taher

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The role of harmony in the definition of tonality provides theoretical framework for the hypothesis that harmonic context affects pitch perception. In tonal music, the stability of individual notes depends on the harmonic setting. It seems then reasonable to expect harmonically guided variations in the cognitive representation of tones. With the purpose of enhancing current models of pitch perception, this thesis proposes an empirical investigation of the effects of harmony on pitch sensitivity. In two experiments, nonmusicians performed a same/different discrimination task on two pitches (a reference tone RT and a comparison tone CT) that were embedded in a melody …

Metrical Transition And Resolution In The Music Of Blindside, Patrick Sallings

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Meter in rock cannot always be determined by the backbeat. I have adapted metrical analysis models developed by Harald Krebs and others to the music of the rock band Blindside to address the issue of identifying logical metrical schemes in a particular repertoire of rock music. Blindside's use of metrical dissonance necessitates expansion of the existing analytical models in that the meter in some of their songs is ambiguous at times, allowing for a period of transition from one metrical scheme to another. The ambiguity of the meter in songs such as "The Endings," combined with the message of the …

Variations On A Russian Folk Song, Brian R. Denu

Student Publications

This piece for solo piano demonstrates a wide range of techniques utilized in twentieth century composition. The theme is taken from the Finale of Igor Stravinsky's ballet "The Firebird", which itself is based on a Russian folk song. Each subsequent variation focuses on one or more compositional technique.

I. Theme

II. March (chords by thirds, extended triads)

III. Molto grave e expressivo (chromaticism)

IV. L'istesso tempo (ten-tone row)

V. Fast and light (twelve-tone row, secundal harmony)

VI. Much less (minimalism, extended techniques)

VII. Hazy (quartal harmony, modal melody)

VIII. Finale (spectralism)

The order of the variations partly reflects a chronological …

The Count's Dilemma, Or, Harmony And Dissonance In Legal Language, Ian Gallacher

College of Law - Faculty Scholarship

Lawyers have had a long, but ambivalent, relationship with metaphor. Viewed by some as a mere literary device, a trick of language that "adds little of substance to an argument," metaphor is seen by others as an essential component of legal language, a rhetorical device inseparable from thought. On one thing, though, all can agree: lawyers only have words to express their thoughts, so they have an obligation to use words, whether used metaphorically or not, as exactly as possible.

This article offers a critique of the way lawyers meet this obligation when they use metaphors based in musical language. …

Book Reviews, John M. Cipolla

Music Faculty Publications & Performances

Book reviews by John Cipolla of:

• Mandat, Eric. Chips Off the Ol' Block for Solo Bass Clarinet
• Rossini, Gioachino & Carlos Pässler. Divertimento for Clarinet & Piano
• del Aguila, Miguel. Pacific Serenade, Op. 59 for Clarinet & String Quartet
• Wilson, Jeffrey. Colour Studies for Clarinet

Clara Schumann, Andante, Jennifer Snodgrass

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

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 …

A Sonata-Theory Analysis Of Mozart's Piano Sonata In B-Flat, K. 333, I. Allegro, David Castro

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Volume 26, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Faure's "Nocturne," Op. 43, No. 2, Jena Root

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This analysis assignment includes a blank score for the piece, and includes an English translation of the French text, an annotated score, with suggested analysis answers, a study guide that contains questions that may be given as a homework assignment and/or used for class discussion of the work, and answers to the study guide and points for further class discussion.

Gloria, Abigail L. Kempson

Student Publications

A four part (SATB) motet written with Renaissance counterpoint, specifically in the style of Palestrina. Set to the text of the Gloria. About 2 minutes and 15 seconds in length.

A New Geometric Model And Methodology For Understanding Parsimonious Seventh-Sonority Pitch-Class Space, Enoch S. A. Jacobus

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Parsimonious voice leading is a term, first used by Richard Cohn, to describe non-diatonic motion among triads that will preserve as many common tones as possible, while limiting the distance traveled by the voice that does move to a tone or, better yet, a semitone. Some scholars have applied these principles to seventh chords, laying the groundwork for this study, which strives toward a reasonably comprehensive, usable model for musical analysis.

Rather than emphasizing mathematical proofs, as a number of approaches have done, this study relies on two- and three-dimensional geometric visualizations and spatial analogies to describe pitch-class and harmonic …

Investigating The Structure Of Acoustic And Electronic Noise : An Analysis Of 'Volumina' By Gyorgy Ligeti And 'Canaanda' By Merzbow, Sam Gillies

Theses : Honours

The term noise as it pertains to music is a subjective one and open to interpretation. What we find is that over 20th century discourse, the term noise has been used as a broad label to encapsulate all musical sound that functions in a way that opposes what would widely be considered 'musical'. While much of the literature covers the categorisation and political theory of noise in music, there is comparatively little literature that analyses musical construction of noise music beyond that of a purely aesthetic or political reaction.

This thesis seeks to explore the world of noise music with …