Music Theory Commons^™

Chopin Prelude In C, Op. 28 No. 1: Reductive Analysis Worksheet, Gabe Fankhauser

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This two-page assignment on Chopin’s brief but sophisticated Prelude in C, op. 28, no. 1 is designed for use in advanced undergraduate or graduate music theory courses involving reductive techniques or form. The primary question requires students to write a simple SATB- style reduction of the piano score. The first measure is given as example. Completion of the entire assignment would likely take more than one day. Other questions guide students to consider questions of motivic development, narrative, Fibonacci numbers and the Golden Mean, and performance. Suggested readings are provided to guide students interested reading more about prolongation (voice-leading graphs) …

Mode Mixture In John Mayer's Continuum, Gabe Fankhauser

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This one-page assignment is designed for use in undergraduate music theory or graduate music theory review courses. Two questions, one involving part writing and the other analysis, involve popular songs by John Mayer, “Stop This Train” and “Gravity,” both from his 2006 album Continuum. Both questions require some familiarity with mode mixture or borrowed chords, particularly iiø65, as well as basic part writing principles, secondary dominants (V7/V), and figured bass. The product of the student’s part-writing is a reduction of “Stop this Train,” in which seven different chords can be traced to convention tonal harmony and voice leading, yet with …

Volume 36, Various Authors

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Set Class 014 And Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, Gabe Fankhauser

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This one-page assignment on set class 014 and Schoenberg’s “Nacht” is designed for use in undergraduate or graduate courses involving analysis of 20th-century music. The main question requires students to trace 014 trichords in the introductory measures. A chart of pitch classes approximating location in the score simplifies the task. Other questions guide students to consider questions of meaning, specifically connecting abstract trichords to the narrative of the music, which exemplifies Expressionism. A separate PDF provides a key and commentary for instructors.

Introduction To Modes, Daniel Lee

Journal of Music Theory Pedagogy

This lesson will introduce the Lydian, Mixolydian, and Dorian modes, as well as connect the major and minor scales/keys to the terms of Ionian and Aeolian. Students will need to know the WT/HT sequence within major and minor scales before receiving this lesson, and the visuals in this lesson include examples in treble, bass, and alto clefs. Also, musical excerpts and review/assessment examples are given in various keys.

This lesson is appropriate for undergraduate or high school theory students, or for anyone desiring a review of modes. During the lesson an acknowledgement of the system of assigning modes to specific …

Rhyme, Metrical Tension, And Formal Ambiguity In Kendrick Lamar’S Flow, Benjamin Wadsworth, Simon Needle

Faculty Articles

The flow of Kendrick Lamar veers between old-school, metrically rigid and new-school, prose-like rhymes. Through manipulating rhymes within 4/4 time, Lamar increases and decreases affective tension, suggests formal ambiguity, and highlights changes in point of view and literary topic. Although rhyme manipulations have been discussed by Kyle Adams (2009), Mitch Ohriner (2019a), and others as sources of formal contrasts, their effects on affective tension, relaxation, and formal functionality have been unspecified. In this essay, we propose a more comprehensive model of rhyme-based tension and relaxation, then apply it to questions of formal norms and ambiguities in Lamar’s songs. Analyses of …

The Goat: Rescoring A Buster Keaton Classic, Shannon Bradley

West Chester University Master’s Theses

This thesis examines Buster Keaton’s The Goat (1921) and provides insight into the methods used to rescore the music of this classic silent film. After a brief review of Keaton’s life and career, I will discuss each step in the process of understanding this film and determining the best methods of implementing music to enhance the film. This process includes creating detailed spotting notes for each scene, sketching most of the central musical themes using my preferred traditional composition software, Sibelius, and finally transferring this musical information into my preferred digital audio workstation, Logic, in order to sync all aspects …

X Marks Nothing: Chiasmus And Kenosis In Kaija Saariaho's La Passion De Simone, Desiree Scarambone

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Composer Kaija Saariaho’s 2006 work La Passion de Simone often leaves audiences and critics at a loss to understand what they have witnessed. The title, subject, and sparse libretto only complicate this confusion. The genre of the work is ambiguous to many; some critics call it an opera, some an oratorio. Because the subject of the work, French philosopher Simone Weil, is widely unknown to the public, her placement within the framework of a Passion is often met with confusion if not criticism.

By fusing Weil’s life and philosophical ideas in this work, Saariaho explores how the awareness of the …

Siren Song: Examining The Lorelei Topos In Nineteenth-Century German Art Song And Its Manifestation And Transformation In Popular Song, Elizabeth Woodall

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The Lorelei, a German mythical figure, is a popular topic in nineteenth-century German Lieder. However, there are also many overt references to her in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. Does she continue to manifest in current music in the same ways or has she evolved over time? I will also explore musical settings in which she is not specifically named, but is referenced through musical and mythical descriptors. In order to identify covert references to the Lorelei, one must first classify and understand the musical and literary signifiers that composers of the nineteenth century used to depict her …

Constructing A Cultural Bridge: The Compositional Approach And International Impact Of Albert Mangelsdorff’S Now Jazz Ramwong, Michael Desousa

Theses and Dissertations--Music

In the period following World War II, countries such as Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand were under constant intellectual bombardment from global superpowers vying for political influence. West Germany, a newly established ally of Western democracy, was a small part of a global effort to spread this democracy to Asia. Working alongside Joachim-Ernst Berendt and the Goethe Institute, the jazz trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff arranged an album which sought to merge both Western European and Asian music. The album, Now Jazz Ramwong (1964), and accompanying fifty-concert tour helped pioneer a lasting cultural connection between Western Europe and Asia. The methodology behind Now …

From “Radical Blunders” To Compositional Solutions: A Form-Functional Perspective On Beethoven’S Early Eroica Continuity-Sketches, Thomas Posen

The Beethoven Journal

Beethoven’s sketches to his third symphony, the Eroica, have fascinated scholars since Nottebohm’s pioneering study of the Eroica Sketchbook in the late nineteenth century. More recently, Alan Gosman and Lewis Lockwood finished a complete transcription of the sketchbook, which has led to a resurgent interest in these sketches. In this article, I re-evaluate Beethoven’s approaches to composing the first movement of the Eroica symphony by reappraising two supposed problems with the first two exposition continuity-sketches. Contrary to prior studies, which have interpreted these reputed compositional problems as “failed experiments” or “radical blunders” (Tovey 1941, 80), I interpret them …

Stylistic Changes In The Music Of Ruth Crawford Seeger, Xinlei Chu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

While the body of Ruth Crawford Seeger’s works is not extensive, her musical legacy cannot be ignored. As a central member of the “ultramoderns,” her work influenced the next generation of American composers such as Elliot Carter. This research document examines the stylistic changes of Crawford’s music throughout her career as a composer. Taking into account the various influences that could have impacted her compositional style over time, three pieces were selected for in-depth analysis from different times in Crawford’s life. The first two pieces analyzed are the first movement of Diaphonic Suite No. 2 and the third movement of …