Other Music Commons^™

Senior Recital: Medicine, Grace Betzold

Honors Theses

No abstract available.

Refuge: Seeking Solace Amidst Chaos, Andrew Deur

Honors Theses

“REFUGE: Seeking Solace Amidst Chaos” is an eight-movement suite composed for small jazz ensemble that explores the book of Psalms and the recurring idea of refuge in God that the psalmist describes. Featuring original compositions and arrangements by Andrew Deur, the suite tells the story of humankind’s relationship with God over the course of their creation and their fall into brokenness. As danger, adversity, struggle, and pain become prominent figures in humanity, the psalmist cries out to the Lord for help, and while the response does not always match their expectation or timeframe, God hears their prayers and answers with …

A History Of Skydiving In West Michigan, Garrett Mohney

Honors Theses

My Lee Honors College Thesis project will coincide with my degree in Multimedia Arts Technology to create a documentary production surrounding the sport of Skydiving. The film will have a run time of approximately 20 minutes, including introductions and the credits. The project will consist of historical background on the sport, real jump footage taken by myself and other experienced camera flyers, and interviews with influential people in the greater Southwest Michigan area involved with the sport. The project will involve video capture and interviews, video editing, and advanced technical video creation. After the completion of the video, I will …

Influences: Eight Songs/Artists That Impacted My Musical Journey, Ava Lynch

Honors Theses

A song is often recognizable by catchy melodies, creative lyrics, and/or the rhythmic groove and feel of the overall song. Within the melody, there are catchy movements between notes that engrains it in the mind of its listeners for hours or days. When it comes to lyrics, if there is something resonating it will stick with the consumer forever, allowing them to sing along for years after the fact. Finally, the factor of rhythm is what gets people up and out of their seats to dance along, sway, or nod their heads to the beat. There is a lot of …

"Contemporary Audio Software Designs And Applications", Jacob Wolfe

Honors Theses

This study was an ear-first investigation into the spatial fidelity of binaurally rendered Ambisonic content, which is a technique currently in wide use to create multi-dimensional sound for virtual and augmented reality. 4 participants compared sounds played back on a 2-dimensional horizontal acoustic loudspeaker configuration, and a replication of an identical sound field that has been binaurally rendered for headphone playback. The final goal of altering the headphone program to align more closely with the original acoustic loudspeaker sound field has been realized and proven with improved localization results for participants.

The discovered improvements of this investigation consist of a …

Mindstate: A Capstone Project, Kyle Petronio

Honors Theses

Objectives For four years, I have been trying to release music under the moniker of Rookie Plenty. Aside from a few songs on Bandcamp, my releases have been few and far between. In addition to releasing music on streaming platforms, MindState: A Capstone Project is an experiment in exploring genre fluidity. Many mainstream musical projects released in the twenty-first century are often genre constrained and demonstrate minimal sonic deviation between songs. This extended-play album is an attempt to exemplify a mastery of genre conventions while branching outward into new musical territory.

Methods To demonstrate an understanding of genres, I focused …

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 …

Teaching Body Mapping In The Orchestra Classroom, Gretchen Clemans

Honors Theses

For young string musicians, it is easy to fall into the habit of playing with improper body alignment and unhealthy technique. In response, this study investigates the ways in which the teaching of healthy body techniques can be taught in the orchestra classroom, in order to prevent students from experiencing pain, tension, and muscle strain while studying their instrument. Overall, the results from the research group of students showed that over half of the students have experienced pain while playing their instrument. Furthermore, the results indicated that students responded positively to the content presented. After being introduced to the material, …

The Litmus Initiative - Enabling Teachers To Recognize Domestic Human Trafficking, Bethany Hansen

Honors Theses

Every day, an estimated 100,000 residents of the United States are sold for sex. At least half of these victims are under the age of 18. Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) has tragically plagued the U.S. for decades and even centuries, but it has only come into the public spotlight within the last fifteen years. As a result, there are few widespread sources of information about DMST, and even fewer resources for victims and survivors. DMST is a branch of human trafficking, which the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines as “(A) Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex …

Audio Software (Vst Plugin) Development With Practical Application, Zachary Hummel

Honors Theses

Audio engineers around the world routinely utilize small pieces of software, known as “plugins,” to help shape the sound of the media they are working with. These plugins are inserted into a digital audio workstation (DAW) and contain digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms that can affect audio in a number of ways limited only by the creativity of the software developer. Common implementations of plugins include equalizers, compressors and limiters, gain, phase rotation or polarity inversion algorithms, reverb and delay, and emulation of the non-linearities of analog audio equipment. The intent of this thesis project is to design and produce …

Neuromusicology And Combat-Induced Traumatic Brain Injury, Brittany Neuser

Honors Theses

The number of reported cases of combat-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) among American veterans is rapidly increasing. The results of TBI are often a combination of deficits in cognitive, physical, emotional, and behavioral functions. Each case poses unique challenges for all involved—soldiers, their families, and health care personnel. Though each case is unique, common symptoms include impaired gross and fine motor, speech and language, memory, attention, visual, auditory, and emotional functioning (Davis, Gfeller, Thaut, 2008).

Due to the holistic nature of TBI symptoms, finding an effective yet cost-efficient treatment modality proves to be a difficult task. Previous research has suggested …

Neuromusicology And Combat-Induced Traumatic Brain Injury, Elisabeth Spinniken

Honors Theses

The number of reported cases of combat-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) among American veterans is rapidly increasing. The results of TBI are often a combination of deficits in cognitive, physical, emotional, and behavioral functions. Each case poses unique challenges for all involved—soldiers, their families, and health care personnel. Though each case is unique, common symptoms include impaired gross and fine motor, speech and language, memory, attention, visual, auditory, and emotional functioning (Davis, Gfeller, Thaut, 2008).

Due to the holistic nature of TBI symptoms, finding an effective yet cost-efficient treatment modality proves to be a difficult task. Previous research has suggested …