Music Theory Commons^™

Finding Euridice: A Singers Introduction To Jonathan Dove's L'Altra Euridice, Cody Laun

Dissertations

Orphean mythology continues to fascinate musical and literary scholars to this day. The thematic elements originally presented in the Greek myth of Orpheus and Euridice continue to be written about and studied, and this interest in antiquity plays a critical role in solidifying the myth’s importance and value to today’s musical and literary scenes. Dove’s L’altra Euridice presents the traditional Orphean mythology, but in a radically altered account of the transpiring events, reversing Orpheus’ and Plutone’s roles as hero and villain. Dove wrote two seemingly divergent ethea, which causes elements of the emotional content within the narrative are lost …

A Pedagogical Study Of The "Four Lauds For Solo Violin" By Elliott Carter, Heesun Shin

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Elliott Carter was one of the most influential composers of the past century, leaving a diverse and prolific body of over 150 works to posterity. Along with the Violin Concerto and “Mnemosyné,” the Four Lauds are the only works written for solo violin. Literature on these pieces is not extensive thus far, and this dissertation will provide an introduction to any student who is interested in learning about Carter’s violin music. In the first chapter, I will discuss relevant aspects of Carter’s musical language such as his use of all-trichord hexachord, all-interval trichord, complement union property, and his ideas on …

Integrating Worship Pedagogy Into New Membership Curriculum For The Local Church, Janicka Newbill

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

A review of current research reveals there is a deficit in several models for new membership classes among Christian churches. In reviewing the current model examples the introduction and explanation of worship to new members as part of the new membership curriculum is missing. This deficit has implications toward churches that are having challenges with church membership. One of the challenges includes members grasping the importance of worship and its impact on members assimilating into the local church body. To address the gap in literature and the challenges with understanding worship, research examining local church curricula and performing class observations …

Ministry Through Musical Performance: Establishing Biblical, Historical, And Pedagogical (Educational) Precedent For The Christian Performing Artist, Lindsey Graham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As a performing artist, the author suggests in an “American Idol” culture, Christian artists have largely lost their identity as worshipers with a ministry of the Gospel through music. The Christian performing artist has the responsibility to commit to spiritual maturity and personal growth. This thesis project proposes the artist is a communicator of the Gospel through music and seeks to substantiate the Christian performing artist through biblical, historical, and educational rationale and precedent. Biblical rationale of the Christian performing artist is considered in Old Testament and New Testament principle and precedent. Historical rationale and precedent is established through the …

Implications Of Theory Of Mind, Feelings Of Connectedness, Flow State Of Mind Through Active And Passive Music Improvisation Experiences, Rebecca Lint

Honors Theses

This study is an introduction examining the relationship between a performer and the audience in a musical improvisation context. Current research exploring performer-audience interaction in improvisation experiences is scant and typically framed in a purely narrative context. This study seeks to evaluate four different components of the performer and audience relationship; amount, or level, of experience with improvisation and comfort levels, flow, theory of mind, and emotional connection. A survey was generated and given to students in an improvisation class to collect results based on these four components. This study found that improvisation experience levels were low but comfort with …

A Rhythmic Transcription And Spectral Analysis Of Luciano Berio's Thema (Omaggio A Joyce), Christopher C. Mccardle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Thema (Omaggio A Joyce), composed by Luciano Berio resides within a tempo of 80 beats per minute. The discovery of a constant tempo allowed for a precise rhythmic transcription to be created which found musical structures including large formal sections, subsections, phrases, rhythmic and melodic motives, layers, and dialogue. Analysis of the rhythmic phrases shows that electroacoustic music can have a controlled structure and that these structures earned Thema an enduring legacy of masterpiece. The transcription provides a road-map to compare and contrast different elements that reoccur throughout Thema. The work was composed with a well thought-out and …

Note Drill For Music Rudiments, Orly Krasner

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

The Sunlight Cycle, Michael Flynn

Masters Theses

The Sunlight Cycle is a work in four movements which evokes certain time periods within a 24-hour day. In order of number, the movements are meant to represent dawn, daytime, twilight, and night, respectively. Each movement transitions seamlessly into the next, with Mvt. 4, “Nocturnal,” transitioning back to the beginning of Mvt. 1, “Matutinal”. This cyclical nature allows for a performance of the cycle to begin with any of the four movements. Theoretically, the work can repeat indefinitely.

Musically, the work develops in three main areas: harmony, rhythm, and timbre. Harmonically, the work is tonal, featuring extended and altered triadic …

From Korngold To The Movies: Korngold's Influence On Film Scores, Michelle L. Grosser

Student Publications

During the 1920s, a new cultural movement called Neue Sachlichkeit (or New Objectivity) was developing in Germany and Austria. During the rise of Nazi Germany, the Neue Sachlichkeit movement protested by bringing back elements of the Romantic era in art, literature and music. One of the most recognizable composers of this time was Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897 – 1957). Today’s listeners often hear Korngold’s concert works as being very similar to contemporary film scores; but in reality, Korngold wrote in his very distinctive harmonic and melodic style from the beginning of his career, before film scores came to be, and …

The Musicality Of Salsa Dancers: An Ethnographic Study, Janice Mahinka

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This work analyzes the musical knowledge and aesthetics acquired by improvisatory social salsa dancers who hone close listening skills through corporeal means. The connections that these dancers construct between music, self, and partner make evident an engagement with musicality that can be seen through their demonstration of kinesthetic entrainment, structural feeling of hypermetric conventions, and enactment of expressive microtiming within beat and metric structures. I introduce the concept of timespace to explain how dancers manipulate this physiological experience to create different feelings in a dance, addressing issues that dancers raised in our feedback interviews such as feel, flow, and play. …

A Content Analysis Of Beginning Guitar, Electric Bass, And String Bass Method Books, Michele Berlin

Masters Theses

Guitar instruction is an integral part of 21st-century best music education practices. This quantitative study compares six beginning guitar method books to beginning electric bass and string bass books. The books in the sample are Essential Elements for Guitar by Will Schmid and Bob Morris, Mel Bay's Modern Guitar Method Grade 1 Expanded Edition, Alfred's Basic Guitar Method by Morty Manus and Ron Manus, FJH Young Beginner Guitar Method Lesson Book 1, Belwin 21st Century Guitar Method 1 (2nd edition) by Aaron Stang, and KJOS Guitar Sessions Book 1: A Comprehensive Method for Individual or Group Study by Kevin Daley. …

Schumann’S Frauenliebe Und Leben: An Analysis Of “Nun Hast Du Mir Den Ersten Schmerz Getan”, Emily Schwitzgebel

Black & Gold

"Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz getan" ("Now you have caused me pain for the first time") is the eighth and final song in Robert Schumann's Frauenliebe Und Leben song cycle, based upon a poem cycle by Adelbert con Chamisso, which follows the stages of love as told by the woman—the narrator. Unique from the previous seven songs in both content and musicality, this song mourns the loss of the woman in the poem’s husband. Schumann uses techniques such as tonal unclarity, dynamics, tempo markings, and a lack of cadences in order to connect the music to Chamisso's words, …

A Checklist Of Works Attributed To Charles De Marescot, Damián Martín-Gil

Soundboard Scholar

The musical output of Charles de Marescot (1790–1842) has never been subjected to close examination. Only a few of his compositions are featured in guitar scholarship, notably his Méthode de guitare, op. 15, and the collection of pieces entitled La Guitaromanie, op. 46. And yet Marescot was rather prolific in his time. This checklist offers, for the first time, a catalogue—albeit incomplete—of all his guitar music published in France and England, offering, if possible, locations and dates for each work.

Undergraduate Music Theory Terminology Used By Selected Spanish-Speaking Instructors In Chile: Development, Similarities, And Limitations, Enrique Sandoval-Cisternas

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Six Chilean music theory instructors participated in an anonymous survey applied over an online platform between April and October of 2017. These instructors were invited to participate in this study because of their role in teaching music theory at influential institutions, each of which is ranked among the top ten best universities in Chile. The questions included in the survey relate to the terminology used to refer to music elements upon which current American music theory textbooks consistently agree, and that are usually taught during the first two years of undergraduate studies in accredited American music schools: types of cadences, …

Volume 32, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Past, Present, And Future Of Romanticism: Analyses With Brief Biographies Of Works Performed In A Senior Recital, Jordan Langberg Hastings

Honors Theses and Capstones

A melodic and harmonic analysis of four instrumental works performed in a senior recital is presented in this thesis with brief biographical outlines of each composer. Three of the works, Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda's Morceau de Salon, Edmund Rubbra's Sonata in C, and Robert Schumann's Three Romances are written for oboe and piano. The remaining piece, Paul Hindemith's English Horn Sonata, is written for English horn and piano. The author provides a detailed and methodical approach for understanding the functionality of each piece.

A Choral Conductor’S Approach To Christopher Theofanidis’S The Here And Now, Regan Arlene Macnay

Theses and Dissertations--Music

American composer Christopher Theofanidis’s choral-orchestral work The Here and Now (2005) is a setting of Jalal ad-Din Rumi’s thirteenth-century poetry as translated by Coleman Barks. Theofanidis employs a cappella sonic contrasts, silence, rhythmic text setting, and a libretto based on fragments of Rumi’s poems to tell a story about the search for love, longing, joy, and gratitude. While rooted in traditional Western composition methods, this twenty-first-century work uses musical elements like color chords (bichords), cluster chords, changing meters, and modality, as well as imitative polyphony and unifying motifs within a new, tonal American aesthetic espoused by the Atlanta School of …

Tyler Kline’S Render: A Formal Analysis And Performance Guide, John Douglas Handshoe

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Since the 1950s, composers worldwide have explored the use of the trombone in new and exciting ways, from expanding the functional range of the instrument to creating unique timbres through the use of mutes and extended techniques. Since then, many standard works in the literature have been born from this pushing of the envelope from composers like John Cage, Luciano Berio, Iannis Xenakis, and Daniel Schnyder.

On the forefront of the newest crop of composers expanding the voice of the trombone is Tyler Kline (b. 1991). This project will function as a formal analysis and performer’s guide to his 2015 …

“Instants D’Un Opera De Pekin” For Solo Piano By Qigang Chen, Mengying Wan

Theses and Dissertations--Music

My monograph focuses on the Instants d’un Opera de Pekin by the contemporary Chinese composer Qigang Chen in particular how he incorporates Chinese musical elements with Western compositional techniques.

The main focus of this study is an analysis with emphasis on performance issues. A brief introduction to Chinese music elements is provided to establish a context. This document provides brief information about Chinese scale modes and instruments.

An Analysis And Performance Guide Of Steve Reich’S Mallet Quartet, Francisco S. Perez

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Steve Reich’s music has had a profound effect on the contemporary percussionist’s repertoire. More recently, his Mallet Quartet (2009) has been one of the most performed works in the rising genre of mallet-keyboard quartets, which was featured in Third Coast Percussion’s 2017 Grammy-winning album Third Coast Percussion | Steve Reich. With Mallet Quartet, Reich codified this type of ensemble into the contemporary repertoire of percussion as evidenced through current commissions in progress by groups such as Sō Percussion and Third Coast Percussion.

The purpose of this document is to delineate the trajectory (past and present) of the mallet-keyboard …

A Critical And Performance Edition Of Agustin Barrios’S Cueca: Comparative Analysis Of Form, Notation, And Performance Practice Of Barrios’S Work To Traditional Chilean Cuecas From The Beginning Of The Twentieth-Century, Enrique Sandoval-Cisternas

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Agustin Barrios's guitar music has become increasingly popular over the last forty years. After his death, a revival of interest in his compositions began in the 1970s, motivated by a series of publications and recordings of his music by important guitar performers at that time. The most important of these recordings came from the Australian guitar performer John Williams, who was interviewed in 1976 by ABC Television Australia for a film about the Paraguayan composer. The next year, Williams recorded a collection of fifteen works in his album John Williams-Barrios: John Williams Plays the Music of Agustín Barrios Mangoré. …

The Touch Of Arvo Pärt, Gabriel Lane

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Honors Project Abstract

My project is on the modern Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt and his work Spiegel im Spiegel. Of all the pieces written by Pärt, this is one of his most popular and revered works. It has a major emotional impact on many people who listen to it, but also on me. Through my research, I have discovered compositional techniques which help the work achieve such a profound effect on a listener.

To help show these techniques to the reader, I include handwritten excerpts in my paper. This is also to avoid copyright issues. In each image presented, …

Do Different Music Genres Differentially Affect Autonomic Activity? How Music And Sound Affect Autonomic Activity Aroused By Visual Stimuli, Andrew Manson

Online Theses and Dissertations

The primary researcher sought to determine whether different genres of music would differentially influence measures of autonomic nervous system activity (heart rate, galvanic skin response) while viewing visual stimuli in a sample of college students. All participants listened to the same songs and music genres and viewed the same International Affective Picture System (IAPS) images. Autonomic nervous system activity was recorded by attaching electrodes to participants' non-dominant hand and torso. Music order presentation and picture order presentation were randomly determined by E-Prime. Heart rate and skin conductance responses were both significant, with melodic metal music inducing greater intensity of responses …

An Ecossaise Exercise: Lesson Plan And Materials For A Class In The Second Week On Tonicization, Jonathan Guez

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This lesson plan and accompanying slide show (PowerPoint and PDF) present secondary functions as energetic, goal-directed chords that contain a leading tone and therefore mimic the voice leading of dominant-to-tonic progressions. It is designed for use in the second week on tonicization, after students have been introduced to secondary functions. In presenting secondary dominants as chords that contain local leading tones that demand upward resolution (onto their local “tonics”), it embodies a pedagogical approach that stresses the importance of identifying a local leading tone and its upwards resolution as a prerequisite for understanding secondary function. Here, secondary leading tones are …

Repository Of Sentence And Period Examples, Garreth Broesche

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This collection of 44 short phrases, ranging from the baroque to romantic periods, is designed to help teachers quickly and easily locate musical examples for the purpose of teaching phrase structure, as well as testing students’ knowledge of the same. The collection includes numerous examples of periods and sentences, as well as compound periods. Many examples are straightforward, but there are also many that modulate, add phrase extensions, have interesting hypermetrical structures, etc. Given the variety of analytical paradigms, these examples have not been pre-analyzed. When first downloading the master PDF, therefore, I suggest analyzing each example with one’s preferred …

Open Educational Resources For Undergraduate Music Theory, Kyle Gullings

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This is a collection of assignments, projects, exams, and syllabi meant to cover the entire lower-division written music theory sequence. There are over 100 unique documents available in .pdf format.

The materials include 73 worksheets on 35 unique topics (most have 2 versions to allow for practice and graded assignments), 16 larger analysis and composition projects, 16 exams on 8 unique topic sets, and 4 syllabi.

While inherently modular, these materials are designed to align with the topics found in the free online textbook Open Music Theory.

In some cases I have omitted audio links, scores, and lyrics from …

The Guitarist Behind La Guitaromanie : Charles De Marescot, Damián Martín-Gil

Soundboard Scholar

The guitarist Charles de Marescot is a figure often cited when referring to the guitar mania that arose in France during the first decades of the nineteenth century. Yet very little is known about his life and musical production, which was dedicated almost entirely to the guitar. Drawing on several newly discovered documents, this article aims to understand the role of this polemical figure in the vogue for the guitar by reconstructing his whereabouts. Particular attention is given to his relationship with Hector Berlioz, with whom he conducted some minor business.

Challenges To Student Success In An Introductory Music Theory I Course, Megan Darby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A state college in the mid-Atlantic United States requires a music theory course for 4 of its undergraduate music programs. In the 6 years prior to this study, students had difficulty with the course, with many failing or withdrawing. Tinto's theory of student retention served as the foundation of the conceptual framework for this study, the purpose of which was to identify challenges to successfully completing the course. This purpose was reflected in the study's driving research question focused on students' experiences regarding challenges to success. In this instrumental case study, 12 students and 2 instructors participated in individual interviews, …