Musicology Commons^™

Chaconnes, Sonatas, And Fugues, Oh My: A Study Of The Influence Of Baroque, Classical, And Romantic Musical Forms On Today's Media, Cadence A. Graves

ATU Research Symposium

As a future music educator, it is my duty to have not only understanding and knowledge of composers, music history, and compositional techniques, but to also have an appreciation, passion, and interest in what music is, where it has been, how it has changed, and where it is going now. With this research, I deepened my appreciation for the evolution of music over the course of history, expanded my understanding of how and when they came into existence, and broadened my understanding and appreciation of music that draws on those techniques today.

In the comparisons I made between compositions of …

In Praise Of Simplicity: Marie Hinrichs’S Op. 1, Neun Gesänge, Stephen Rodgers

Music & Musical Performance

In a chapter from German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century (1996), Jürgen Thym describes the historiography of the German Lied as “a hike through the high-peak area of a mountain landscape where the trail along the ridge leads from one glorious peak to the next.” Beneath the high peaks of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, and Wolf, he notes, are smaller peaks not reachable by trail. Thym clears paths through this unexplored landscape by surveying the Lieder of Carl Loewe, Fanny Hensel, Franz Liszt, Robert Franz, Clara Schumann, and Peter Cornelius. My essay extends one of these paths, exploring the songs of …

Rodrigo’S Concierto De Aranjuez Through The Writings Of Regino Sainz De La Maza, Leopoldo Neri

Soundboard Scholar

Regino Sainz de la Maza was the guitarist who premiered Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona in 1940. Although musicologists have studied this musical phenomenon from different approaches, this study approaches the subject from the perspective of the performer and his musical writings, affording us new historical, aesthetic and technical data on Rodrigo's work.

Sculpting Time: A Performance Guide To Four Fragments Of Time By Marcus Siqueira, Luis Felipe Vargas Magdaleno De Moraes

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation investigates the musical and phenomenological aspects of Four Fragments of Time by Marcus Siqueira (b. 1974) and provides a performance guide for this work. Furthermore, this dissertation analyzes previous guitar works by the composer, seeking to understand Siqueira’s compositional idiosyncrasies and to provide context for the interpretation of Four Fragments of Time. This dissertation includes a biography of the composer, an analysis of the compositional process of Four Fragments of Time, an analysis of the recurrent idiomatic procedures in Siqueira’s guitar works, and an overview of the collaborative process between the composer and the author. Additionally, an analysis …

Blending European And Latin Sounds: A Study Of French Horn Repertoire In Mexico, Aj Bernal

Theses and Dissertations--Music

As a first generation Mexican-American, it is crucial that I advocate and promote music of the culture I grew up in. This project aims to unearth Mexican compositional techniques that derive from the fusion of European and Indigenous roots in an effort to promote diversity within the realm of Western Classical music. Music in Mexico is characterized by a unique blend of indigenous rhythms, European classical structures, and regional folk influences. This project will discuss how the bold timbre of the French horn intertwines with traditional Mexican and indigenous melodies, rhythms, and forms that create a unique style. The horn’s …

Andrés Segovia And Federico Moreno Torroba’S Danza Castellana, Julio Gimeno

Soundboard Scholar

The guitar’s early twentieth-century repertoire is of unique importance, containing as it does the first guitar pieces by non-guitarist composers known for their symphonic, operatic and chamber music. Many of these composers wrote for the pioneering Andalusian guitarist Andrés Segovia, and among the most prolific of them was Federico Moreno Torroba. In various memoirs and interviews, Segovia identified Torroba’s miniature Danza castellana as not only the first piece written for him by a non-guitarist composer but even the first such piece by anyone, predating, in Segovia’s telling, Falla’s 1920 Homenaje. This article challenges Segovia’s claim by recounting the details …

Joaquín Rodrigo And Julian Bream: Aspects Of A Relationship, Javier Suárez-Pajares

Soundboard Scholar

In light of the complex diplomatic relations between Spain and the United Kingdom in the 1950s, the deteriorating relationship between the Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo and the English guitarist Julian Bream describes a telling arc—from 1951, when Bream gave the British premiere of the Concierto de Aranjuez, to 1959, when he emphatically rejected the Sonata giocosa that Rodrigo had written for him. To explore Bream's negative reaction, this study considers both Rodrigo’s relation to England and Bream’s ambivalent attitude toward the Spanish guitar tradition. An epilogue examines the recordings that the guitarist subsequently made of the Concierto de Aranjuez …

Music Of The Divine: Interweaving Threads Connecting Contemporary Chant-Based Piano Repertoire, Jeremy D. Duck

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

The purpose of this document is to prove chant remains an important source of inspiration among living composers, and, despite the number of piano works already incorporating chant, composers today are still finding unique ways to include chant in their music. To achieve this objective, representative works have been selected for research and analysis for four of the major chant traditions. Connor Chee’s The Navajo Piano, Victoria Bond’s Illuminations on Byzantine Chant, and Hayes Biggs’ E.M. am Flügel: Poem-Étude for Piano Solo, though the chants from which they are inspired are diverse in concept and style, they …

The “Rebuff Chorus” In 1960–2000 Pop Music, David Heetderks

Gamut: Online Journal of the Music Theory Society of the Mid-Atlantic

In some verse–prechorus–chorus (VPC) songs from 1960–1990, the prechorus sets up an expectation for tonic arrival, only to have the subsequent chorus reject this tonal implication and either withhold tonic resolution, abruptly change to a new key, or contain a passage whose relation to the previous one is tonally ambiguous. I call this event a “rebuff” chorus. Formal analysis and intertextual comparison show how rebuff choruses use absent-tonic passages or modulatory “breakout” passages in order to swerve away from the implications of the previous section. The formal device often transforms the expressive effect of the chorus from arrival and sincerity …

Introduction To Music, Mus 10100, Daniel Beliavsky

Open Educational Resources

This course examines musical works, composers, and aesthetics from antiquity to the present. Central to our curriculum are the questions, “what are music’s meanings?” and “how can music communicate meaning?” Through the process of discovering the varied answers to these questions, we will learn about music history, music philosophy, composer biographies, and how aesthetic concerns change across time and place. As a result of our work, you will develop the critical skills needed to understand the socio-historical events that inspire musical compositions and styles.

Conference Report: Reassessing Haydn’S Sacred Music, 12–14 June 2023, Eisenstadt, Austria, Robert B. Wrigley

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

A conference entitled "Reassessing Haydn's Sacred Music" took place in Eisenstadt 12-14 June, 2023. Historical, political, and religious contexts, reception, compositional and religous influences upon Haydn, and stylistic characteristics of specific works were all discussed.

Form In The Preludes Of J.S. Bach's Well Tempered Clavier, Daniel E. Prindle

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the forms of the preludes in J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier. The prelude originated as an improvised genre in the mid-fifteenth century. Treatises of the period gave instruction on how to improvise and eventually compose preludes and that tradition informed Bach’s compositional practice. However, an additional genre, the invention, played a similarly important role in influencing the composition of the preludes in the Well Tempered Clavier, particularly in Book II. I analyze the forms of the preludes by proposing a new method: dimensional interplay. This method examines the form of each prelude in three musical dimensions: melody, …

Music And Mind Games: Disability And Genre In The Psychonauts Series, Sophia Wetzel

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The cult-classic video game Psychonauts (2005) and its acclaimed sequel Psychonauts 2 (2021) are known for their depiction of mental illness and trauma. However, the depictions in each game reinforce different disability narratives: the first a “cure” narrative and the second an “accommodation” narrative (Mitchell & Snyder 2000; Howe 2016). Each level occurs within the mind of a different character, allowing the player to interact with manifestations of the character’s cognitive disability, such as fighting enemies called “Panic Attacks” or sorting their “Emotional Baggage.” The scoring for each level reflects the respective character by drawing from existing musical genres to …

Tracking The Harmonium From Christian Missionary Hymns To Sikh Kirtan, Gurminder Kaur Bhogal

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The harmonium is prominent in Sikh practices of devotional music known as kirtan and yet its significance has barely been addressed in Euro-American scholarship. Following on the heels of a recent ban against using the instrument at the holiest temple of the Sikhs, Harmandir Sahib (popularly known as the Golden Temple), this article explores how the ban seeks to discard this colonial instrument and return to playing traditional string instruments (tanti saz) associated with the courts (darbar) of the Sikh Gurus. This study is the first to examine primary missionary sources from the nineteenth and early …

Play Makes Perfect: An Exploration Of Game And Play Elements In Composition And Performance, Gabrielle Chou

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to explore the intersection of play and games in Western classical music and define a new category of pieces, “ludic pieces,” which contain play structures and game mechanics within their composition. Starting with surveying perspectives in ludology and ludomusicology, including those by Roger Caillois, Johan Huizinga, Jesper Juul, Katie Salen, and Eric Zimmerman, I will examine various definitions of a “game” and what its qualifying aspects are. I will then turn to music and consider pieces that interact with play and games without containing game structures, including examples of musical humor and pieces which evoke the imagery …

Making Malice Musical: Verdi’S Compositional Journey Through The Eyes Of Six Villains, Michael Chadwick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Giuseppe Verdi is a pillar of the operatic world and had a profound impact on the evolution of the art form. From a rudimentary beginning, he developed over time from a popular creator of operas in the solita forma style of 19^th century Italy into a master craftsman of combining music, text, and theatrical drama. Verdi utilized the popular compositional formal convention of solita forma to begin his career. Over time he evolved beyond its boundaries and shifted his focus to the holistic theatrical presentation of the drama. Much has been written about this evolution through analysis of Verdi’s …

Three Settings Of "Cruda Amarilli:" Examining Melismatic Cadences And Word Repetitions That Convey Meaning, Peter Richardson

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis was to do a comparative analysis between three settings of “Cruda Amarilli:” one by Monteverdi in 1605, and two by D’India in 1606 and 1609, and to interpret my findings. I focused on each composers use of melismatic cadences and word repetitions in each setting.

Singing Planets Don't Sing; They Speak, Joanna R. Lauer

Musical Offerings

Ancient Greek philosophers conceived a theory called Music of the Spheres. This ancient theory progressed for almost one thousand years before finally proving itself untrustworthy. However, this examination uncovers an overlooked fact: the large amount of natural order in sound and music existing before the creation of man. Scripture reveals that God is a God of order, and an extensive amount of natural order is found in the universe. Evidence points to God being the creator of the universe. Specific examples of such evidence are the inherent order of sound laid out in pitches, interval ratios, the overtone series, the …

Chopin’S Piano Sonata No. 3 In B Minor Op. 58: A Structural Analysis, Maverick Harrold

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in b minor Op. 58 is an incredibly important composition to the world of music. This work will uncover many of the unique facets and features of this piece as well as discover the beautiful intricacies of each of the four movements. By learning about this sonata, the reader will gain an understanding of the importance of musical structure and musical form and will gain insight into the ways of Chopin’s compositional style and of romantic piano music as a whole.

Early Instruments In 21st Century Composition And An Original Composition For Saxophones And Viols, Jacob Bitinas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Composers continually seek new timbres and sonorities to bend to their will. The early music revival of the twentieth century has resurrected dozens of instruments that have gone unutilized in contemporary composition for centuries. The historically-informed-performance movement has now evolved to a point where early instruments and period performance techniques can add extraordinary new characters to twenty-first century compositions. This thesis explores how composers effectively utilize early instruments like the viola da gamba, harpsichord, lute, and recorder in their compositions.

The document also contains interview transcripts from eight composers and performers, including Nico Muhly, Liam Byrne, Martha Bishop, David Loeb, …

Give The Drummer Some: A Dive Into Drum Breaks And Drum Break Production, Kyle Kaldhusdal

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper traces the history of hip-hop culture through the evolution of the drum break, the original context of drum breaks in funk and soul music, their influence on DJ culture, and the subsequent impact of drum breaks on music and music production. It follows the development of breakbeat compilations in the 1970s and 1980s, parallel to the development of turntablism and sampling techniques. It also examines in detail how copyright litigation in the 1990s shaped the development of sample-based music genres and created a niche market for originally-recorded drum breaks over the subsequent decades.

Chinese Folk Song Meets Western Compositional Technique—A Case Study Of Zhou Long’S The Partita For The Violin And The Piano, Bo Wu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the field of contemporary Chinese music, a large number of outstanding composers and works have emerged in China. As one of the most prominent Chinese American composers, Zhou Long has created many excellent pieces that combine Chinese national elements with world-class composition techniques. These contributions have helped promote Chinese music on the global stage. Zhou Long possesses profound creative skills, with a deep understanding of both Chinese national modes and Western composition techniques. By applying these skills and techniques to his works, he has developed a unique style that integrates Chinese national features with modern music concepts and techniques, …

Soundboard Scholar No. 8: Cover

Soundboard Scholar

Cover image: Ex Libris bookplate for Jane Patterson by Robert Anning Bell. Line illustration from 1893 that appeared in The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art. Private Collection.

Editor's Letter, Jonathan Leathwood

Soundboard Scholar

An introduction to the contents of Soundboard Scholar, no. 8.

Exploring Jam Sessions In New York, Ricardo Pinheiro

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

This paper addresses the relationship between jazz jam sessions in Manhattan, and the concepts of Scene, Ritual and Race. These issues emerged during research that, from an ethnomusicological perspective, focused on the role of jam sessions in Manhattan as a privileged context for the following:

i) learning performative styles of jazz,

ii) developing the creative process,

iii) constructing professional networks,

iv) establishing of the status of musicians.

Studying and analysing the jam sessions at five jazz performance venues in New York, I demonstrate the vital importance of participating in jam sessions by examining their relationship with this performative occasion (Pinheiro …

Restructuring Hierarchy Within And Between Jazz And Classical Orchestras, Emiliano Sampaio

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

From 2017 to 2021, Emiliano Sampaio dedicated his time and energy to the development of a jazz symphonic orchestra artistic research project. To put this complex and intricate journey in words, he wrote this article, which guides the reader through the development of the four-year work. It describes, discusses and reflects on some paths I experienced through the research, and how they contributed and transformed my views on the subject and on his music. The backbone of this article will be the discussion of the practical process conducted with different large ensembles, where hypotheses and ideas were put into practice.

Music: Numbers In Motion, Graziano Gentili, Luisa Simonutti, Daniele C. Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Music develops and appears as we allow numbers to acquire a dynamical aspect and create, through their growth, the various keys that permit the richness of the musical texture. This idea was simply adumbrated in Plato’s work, but its importance to his philosophical worldview cannot be underestimated. In this paper we begin by discussing what is probably the first written record of an attempt to create a good temperament and then follow the Pythagoreans approach, whose problems forced musicians, over the next several centuries up to the Renaissance and early modern times, to come up with many different variations.

Thirty Years On: Reflections On Haydn’S “Farewell” Symphony By James Webster, L. Poundie Burstein, Elaine Sisman, W. Dean Sutcliffe, James Webster

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

It has been just over thirty years since James Webster published his influential monograph Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony and the Idea of Classical Style: Through-Composition and Cyclic Integration in His Instrumental Music (Cambridge University Press, 1991). To honor the anniversary of Webster’s groundbreaking book, the Encounters with Eighteenth-Century Music: A Virtual Forum steering committee asked L. Poundie Burstein, Elaine Sisman, and W. Dean Sutcliffe to offer perspectives on the book, and James Webster to respond to their perspectives. The interesting online session occurred on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, and included a lively open discussion following the presentations and Webster’s response. The …

The Research Cataloque, Casper Schipper

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

The Research Catalogue is an online, open-access research platform, developed for documenting artistic research outcomes. Provided by the Society for Artistic Research, it offers more than just the traditional formats such as PDFs. The RC offers researchers in the arts to expose artistic practice as research, by creating online presentations that can include video, audio and other media and building an “exposition” out of these elements. A growing number of academies, conservatories, and universities in Europe require their master students to publish their artistic research in the Research Catalogue.

Five Tips For (Re)Entering The Professional World After The Pandemic, Wojtek Justyna

The IASJ Journal of Applied Jazz Research

Building and sustaining a career, as a performing jazz artist, has always been a path filled with challenges and roadblocks of many sorts. The current climate has definitely made the hill we have to climb steeper. Nevertheless, understanding the oppositions at hand, adequately preparing for them, combined with careful planning and structured execution will lead to the ability to comfortably navigate this new reality.