Music Theory Commons^™

Soundboard Scholar No. 3: Editor's Letter, Thomas Heck

Soundboard Scholar

An introduction to the contents of this issue.

Soundboard Scholar No. 3: Cover

Soundboard Scholar

The color portrait of Fernando Sor which appears on the cover of this issue, not previously published as far as we know, is a hand-colored version of a printed (b&w) copy of a painting—an original portrait (now lost) of Sor—by one Innocent Louis Goubeau. Before it disappeared it was copied, in the mid-1820s, by both a lithographer and an engraver, probably in response to public demand. The lithograph, according to the British Museum exemplar now online and well documented (No. 1893,0123.45), bears the attribution “Goubeau pinxit / Lith de Engelmann / Lithod par Bordes,” which means that the original painter …

Soundboard Scholar No. 3 (Complete)

Soundboard Scholar

No abstract provided.

A Generalized Intervallic Approach To Metric Conflict In Liszt, Robert L. Wells

Music

The music of Franz Liszt has become widely recognized by music theorists for its harmonic and formal innovations. However, little attention has been given to adventurous rhythmic/metric aspects of Liszt’s compositional style: specifically, he frequently incorporates rich metric structures in which the notated metric layer, indicated by time signatures and bars, and heard metric layer, given by cues in the sounding music, are locked in an evolving conflict. To model such interactions, this article develops a new analytical system based on Lewin’s generalized interval system (GIS) concept, constructing a new three-component metric direct product GIS called Met. The article …

Villa-Lobos's Compositional Techniques And Treatment Of Folk Melodies In Cirandas For Piano, Gustavo Schafaschek

Dissertations

Despite his significance as the most important Latin American composer of the twentieth century, serious analytical studies on the music of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos are still few and far between. Recent scholarship has started to demystify the figure of Villa-Lobos as an intuitive composer with no technique, revealing an artist that strove to develop an idiosyncratic musical language. The present document aims to contribute to this new trend in Villa-Lobos’s scholarship by analyzing pieces from the piano cycle Cirandas, W220, considered one of the most important works from the composer’s mature style. Each of the sixteen pieces …

About This Issue, Michael E. Ruhling

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

No abstract provided.

Towards The Recovery Of Authentic Organ Continuo Practice In Haydn's Concerted Sacred Music, Tom Mueller

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

During the classical era, full-size church organs were used in the performance of concerted sacred music. Historical evidence such as treatises and surviving organs offer useful information that can be used to reconstruct organ continuo performance practices. In spite of this evidence, modern performances and recordings of this repertoire often make use of small positive organs that cannot match the capabilities, timbre, and dynamics of larger instrument. Furthermore, the continuo realizations published in modern performance editions rarely reflect the style and techniques of historic practice.

This article explores issues in the performance practice of continuo playing on large church organs …

A Model For Patron-Driven Acquisition Of Print Music Scores: From Conception To Reality, Alan Asher, Trey Shelton, Jason Heckathorn, Aimee Barrett

Charleston Library Conference

This paper and presentation will explore the process of developing a unique patron-driven acquisition program for print music scores and monographs from concept to reality at an American Association of Research Libraries institution. Areas to be discussed include collection development considerations, information technology infrastructure needs, acquisitions workflows, and plan evaluation. The paper and the presentation will examine how partnering with a vendor to implement an innovative collection development plan can support the needs of the library users and the goals of library collection development officers and increase access to music scores and monographs in a fiscally responsible way. Readers can …

Mood And Mode: The Impressionistic Commonalities Of Claude Debussy And John Coltrane, Simon B. Needle, Edward Eanes

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

There are marked parallels in scale use, the use of modality and harmonic construction and movement in the music of John Coltrane as compared to impressionist composers like Claude Debussy. The modal harmonic exploration employed in the works of Coltrane is often attributed to the Indian raga and other music, but it can also be likened to Impressionist works by Debussy. A fascination with exoticism and a search for new veins in music to draw from propelled both of these artists forward musically. While Debussy learned medieval modality from the Russians, Coltrane looked further East to the Arab world and …

Worlds Of If: Analyses Of The Composed And Improvised Works Of Robert Dick, Melissa Keeling

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Considered one of the most important publications in twentieth-century flute pedagogy, Robert Dick’s seminal method book, The Other Flute (1975),[1] is an extensive catalogue of multiphonic fingerings, microtonal fingerings, glissandi, circular breathing, and other extended techniques. The Other Flute and a handful of his published solos are widely studied, but these works only represent a fraction of Dick’s creative energies.

Equally comfortable in classical, jazz, rock, electronic, and world music, Dick’s oeuvre demonstrates a sophisticated, musical use of contemporary techniques and his pieces have become standard repertoire. Though Dick was not the first flutist to use or notate these …

A New Approach To The Analysis Of Timbre, Megan L. Lavengood

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two distinct approaches to timbre analysis exist, each with complementary strengths and limitations. First, music theorists from the 1980s adopt a positivist mindset and look for ways to quantify timbral phenomena, often using spectrograms, while avoiding any cultural dimensions in their work. Second, writings of the past five years focus on the cultural aspects of timbre but make no use of spectrograms. This dissertation builds upon these two approaches by synthesizing them: discussion is grounded in spectrogram analysis, but situated within a broad cultural context, through interactions with listener experience and ethnographic study of music periodicals and other published interviews. …

The Development And Continued Evolution Of The American Style Of Oboe Playing, Rebecka Rose

Masters Theses

Though the American school of oboe playing did not exist roughly a century ago, its popularity and impact, in all of its variations, currently extends throughout and beyond the United States. Marcel Tabuteau, the founding father of the American school, developed a new and unique style during the early part of the twentieth century. This style became a truly hybrid school grounded in the French oboe school, and developed through his playing and teaching at the Curtis Institute of Music into a style that encompasses beauty, expression, and the vibrancy that has come to typify the American school oboist. The …

Bimusicality: Pedagogical Insights For Music Educators From "Second-Music" Learning Experiences, Kerry Digiacomo

Masters Theses

This study explores the development of “bimusicality” in adolescent and adult music learners to discover correlations between this experience and second language acquisition processes. North American music educators need to be equipped to help their students grow in their understanding of diverse musical styles, genres, and traditions, and the ethnomusicological concept of bimusicality, in connection with existing research on second-language acquisition as a sociocultural phenomenon, offers a new frame of reference for understanding how music learners may interact with distinct musical styles. Survey research with a group of 98 adult musicians, followed by ethnographic interviews of 16 of these survey …

The Varieties Of Tone Presence: On The Meanings Of Musical Tone In Twentieth-Century Music, Aaron Harcus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is about tone presence, or how musical tone shows up for experience in twentieth-century music. In exploring the subject of tone presence, I rethink notions of “pitch structure” in post-tonal theory and offer an alternative that focuses on the question of what it is to be a musical interval for experience, drawing on a wide range of research from social theory, semiotics, theories of emotion, African American studies, literary theory, usage-based linguistics, post-colonial theory, and phenomenology. I begin by offering a critique of three basic assumptions that constrain understandings of what we mean by pitch structure in post-tonal …

Scholasticism And Formal Structure In Camille Saint-Saëns's Fugues For Keyboard, Pedro Segarra-Sisamone

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Drawing on the treatises of Cherubini (1835), Dubois (1901), and Gedalge (1901), this dissertation examines the relation between the fugue d’école and Saint-Saëns’s compositional practices with reference to his fugal works for piano and organ and sets out to answer the question: To what extent are the formal and tonal structures of Saint-Saëns’s fugues determined by the organizational conventions associated with the fugue d’école? While the scholastic fugue has been described as an artificial construct, this study argues that this tripartite model, with its variants and subtypes, can be considered as the parent model for most fugues composed during the …

Music, Politics, And Sociality: Ethnic Tensions And The Performance Of Gikuyu Nationalism, Peter Njagi Mwangi

Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

This thesis examines how some selected Gikuyu popular music propagates ethnic tensions in Kenya by promoting Gikuyu nationalism at the expense of Kenyan nationalism. This music derives its themes from the historical period of the Mau Mau armed struggle against British colonists and connects this struggle with everyday experiences of the Gikuyu people. Memory and the performance of everyday life in this music solidifies the Gikuyu community as tied to a common destiny and distances other Kenyan communities from this destiny. The music consolidates Gikuyu ethnic nationalism and authenticates the position of the community as superior and a dominant force …

Inculturation Of Liturgical Music In The Roman Catholic Church Of Igbo Land: A Compositional Study, Benedict Nwabugwu Agbo

Journal of Global Catholicism

A study of inculturation, composition and music among Catholics in Igboland, Nigeria. The article insects with contemporary discussions of inculturation/enculturation after Vatican II and the recommendation of St. John Paul II in his Ecclesia in Africa.

Britten’S Slippery Semitone And Motivic Intertextuality In The Poet’S Echo, Op. 76, And Serenade, Op. 31, Clare Sher Ling Eng

Faculty Scholarship

Britten wrote a number of vocal works that compose bouquets of poems around a central theme.  In these themed song cycles, he often uses motives to forge connections between different poems, suggesting intertextual relationships that transcend the original meaning of the poems, but render the song cycle more cohesive by underscoring its thematic unity.  This chapter focuses on the motif of the semitone, which I nickname Britten’s Slippery Semitone.  This motif is not unique to Britten, but he masterfully manipulates it in his music.  I show that the Slippery Semitone underlies some of the most characteristic features of Britten’s music, …

Between Speech & Song: Clarifying The Sprechstimme Of Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, Sara M. Paar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since its creation, the technique of Sprechstimme has fascinated the audiences, performers, and composers of twentieth century music. What is it? How is it done? How should it be notated? At the fore of investigations into these questions has been Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire, the work in which Schoenberg debuted this new technique. Much has been written in regard to Schoenberg’s creation and use of Sprechstimme, as well as his own exploration of the speech/song continuum. Composers, conductors, and performers have all tried to make sense of the notation, instructions, and performances Schoenberg left behind. Despite this, confusion, …

"Toccatas And Arias": Analysis And Historical Context Of Vivian Fine’S Last Work For Solo Piano, Manon Hutton-Dewys

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Vivian Fine’s Toccatas and Arias (1987) is an important work both in Fine’s compositional output and in the history of ultramodern music. Through her close associations with Ruth Crawford, Henry Cowell, and others, Vivian Fine was very much a product of the musical scene that developed in New York in the 1920s and early 30s. Toccatas and Arias, Fine’s last piece for solo piano shows that Fine continued to write in the ultramodern/dissonant counterpoint style throughout her life. Its characteristics also demonstrate that, contrary to music-historical writings that suggest such music essentially died out in the mid-twentieth century, Fine …

From The Concert Hall To The Cinema: The Journey Of The Classical American Sound, Rebecca Stegall

Masters Theses

American classical music has enjoyed a long-standing presence around the world as its own entity within the classical music genre. As early as the 1920s, American classical music has had its own unique sound. The early 20th Century was a time of musical experimentation and social unrest in America. Due to its relative newness and experimentation by numerous composers, identifying the defining characteristics of American music, an experimental music itself, became difficult and ambiguous. Also, the continuation of American classical music became increasingly problematic as classical music was replaced in popular culture by other genres of music. The research for …

The Application Of Eastern Band Of Cherokee Powwow Music In Music Education, Glenda Motley

Masters Theses

The Virginia education curriculum for fourth grade social studies requires the study of American Indian history and culture. Motivated by research questions, this project proposes a music education curriculum that enhances these social studies lessons through the inclusion of American Indian music. The music of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians located in Cherokee, North Carolina is appropriate for teaching students about this culture. The literature reviewed covers early American Indian history followed by the history of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Resources on the role of women are also explored in society and music. Literature examined on the …

Compositional Practice As Expression Of Cultural Hybridity In Lou Harrison’S Double Concerto For Violin, Cello, And Javanese Gamelan, Matthew N. Andrews

Student Research Symposium

Artists in the twenty-first century face a creative dilemma: styles and traditions from around the world are now available to all, and in the post-colonial era it can become difficult to discern the appropriateness of artistic borrowings. I propose that cultural hybridity, defined as genuine investment in another artistic culture's traditions and respect for its practitioners, can provide an “Ariadne's thread” to guide the interculturally sensitive artist. Lou Harrison's long relationship with the gamelan music (karawitan) of Indonesia provides an enlightening example. From his initial exposure to Asian music all through his decades of intensive study and instrument-building, Harrison's development …

Webern’S Labyrinth: Contour And Canonic Interaction– An Analysis Of Webern’S Op. 16, No. 2, Scott Saewitz

Theses and Dissertations

Contour can be recognized as an influential device that influences other musical features other than melody, such as canons and form. I introduce the concept of Subcontouric Cells, with the intent to highlight contouric influential potentiality, by thoroughly examining and providing an analysis of Webern’s Op. 16, No. 2.

The Art Songs Of Zachary Wadsworth: A Guide To Style Performance, And Literature, Jordan R. Davidson

Dissertations, 2014-2019

This Doctor of Musical Arts Document explores the role Zachary Wadsworth plays in the development of American Art Song. Born in 1983, composer Zachary Wadsworth has written over forty songs. His music is complex and challenging, with influences from all musical eras, with much of his work focusing on the techniques and sounds of twentieth-century modernism. Wadsworth’s choice of poetry focuses on English literature from many different musical eras, embracing a broad range of themes subjects, and emotions.

Following a brief biography of Wadsworth’s early life and career, the document surveys Wadsworth’s contributions to contemporary American art song regarding his …

Tonal Procedures In Lowell Liebermann's Concerto For Piccolo And Orchestra, Kathryn Laura Rice

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

This thesis seeks to impart how Lowell Liebermann incorporates common practice tonal elements into his twentieth-century Concerto for Piccolo. This will be shown through a detailed analysis of the three-movement work highlighting how the composer uses characteristics of common practice tonality as compiled by Joseph Straus in the third edition of his text, Introduction to Post-Tonal Theory. This document is organized into five sections. The first explains background information on the concerto as well as presents the parameters to be used for the analysis. The second through fourth sections provide an analysis of each movement in chronological order, detailing how …

Worship Renewal Through Discipleship: How Discipleship And Mission Affects Our Worship, Kevin Haglund

Masters Theses

Numerous articles, blogs, and books have been written in recent years about the lessening of congregational participation in singing and many have called for a renewal of worship and changes in worship practice within the church. Yet, most of the solutions offered are aimed at bettering what happens inside the worship event—singing songs with more theologically rich lyrics, incorporating more scripture and prayer, striving for more creative ways to engage the congregation, more resources and training for worship leaders, and many other valuable ideas. As excellent as those solutions may be, they are incomplete unless we also focus on that …

Enhancing The Spiritual Well-Being Of Alzheimer's Patients Utilizing Music, Sheri Heeb

Masters Theses

Over 40 million people have some form of dementia. Alzheimer’s Disease “is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.” The non-pharmaceutical approaches in this study do not have the side-effects of many of the therapies currently being used for treating Alzheimer’s Disease. As part of this project, I will reference multiple research studies which include spirituality and Alzheimer’s Disease, the Nun Study of the Sisters of Notre Dame, and music therapy and Alzheimer’s Disease. Results show that music therapy boosts the memory, reduces anxiety and behavioral issues, and restores a sense of self-awareness. Other studies show that …

Introduction To Piano Pedagogy: A Bible-Based Course For Piano Teacher Training In Christian Colleges And Universities, Alissa Passburg

Masters Theses

Piano pedagogy, like teacher education in any discipline, is built on the conviction that an individual can be trained to be a successful piano teacher. However, determining what specific aspects to include in the piano pedagogy classroom to foster a pre-service piano teacher’s growth and development is a point of much discussion. Oftentimes piano teacher training focuses on developing the characteristics considered essential to the role of a successful piano teacher. For Christian pre-service piano teachers and piano pedagogy professors in Christian colleges and universities, these characteristics provide a meaningful way for Biblical truth and piano pedagogy coursework to intersect. …

An Analysis Of Dvořák’S Symphony No. 6, Ii, Using Neo-Riemannian Transformation Techniques, Mary Hannah Mallett

Honors Theses

Music theory is often used to analyze compositions and provide insight into the inner workings of the literature. Any new type of analysis provides a different view of the work and they can all be used to better understand the work, composer, and performance practice. This analysis uses Neo-Riemannian Transformation Theory to highlight some of the voice leading within Dvořák’s Sixth Symphony. The Sixth Symphony currently has never been analyzed using Neo-Riemannian Transformation Theory. The entire second movement was analyzed using a traditional harmonic analysis and then the author selected three excerpts, containing voice leading that could be classified using …