Music Theory Commons^™

Creolized Baroque: Early Music In A Brazilian Key, Ellwood P. Colahan

Soundboard Scholar

Review of Iberian and Afro-Brazilian Music of the 17th Century, by Ensemble Banza, Rogério Budasz, (Baroque guitar).

A Two-Winged Murcia: Spanish Dance, Italian Corelli, One Guitar, Ellwood P. Colahan

Soundboard Scholar

Review of Santiago de Murcia (1673–1739): Entre dos almas, by Stefano Maiorana (Baroque guitar).

So Much For Musicology: William Carter Plays Santiago De Murcia, Ellwood P. Colahan

Soundboard Scholar

Review of La Guitarra Española: Santiago de Murcia (1682–1732), by William Carter (Baroque guitar).

A Living Source Report: Cristian Gutiérrez Plays Cifras Selectas, Ellwood P. Colahan

Soundboard Scholar

Review of Cifras selectas de guitarra, by Cristiano Gutiérrez, (Baroque guitar).

Performing Methods Of Beethoven’S Violin Concerto In D Major, Op. 61, Third Movement: “Rondo: Allegro”, Zike Qi

Dissertations, 2020-current

This document examines the third movement “Rondo: Allegro” of Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 by Ludwig van Beethoven, focusing on how structural relationships in the score are transformed into auditory experience through performance methods. Rather than treating performance as a direct reproduction of the text, this research understands it as a process in which structure becomes perceptible in time.

Combining structural analysis, recording comparison, and self-recording practice, the study interprets the movement within a rondo–sonata framework (A–B–A–C–A–B–A). It demonstrates that the rondo theme assumes different functions—presentation, transition, and development—depending on its structural position.

Through comparison of recordings by …

Music 274 Syllabus (Theory Iv, Harmony, Counterpoint, Keyboard Skills), Gilad Rabinovitch

Open Educational Resources

This is a syllabus for Music 274 relying on open-access / zero-cost materials on Open Music Theory (Gotham et al.) and developed by the instructor. Modules developed by the instructor include Szymanowska-style and Joplin-style model composition projects and an analytical focus on chromatic harmony in Schubert.

Rockin’ Rover On The Rainbow Road, Michael Kolta, Lawrence Burgee, Ying Yuan

Transformations

This paper presents a progressive series of age-appropriate lesson plans for grades K-12 that all use the same interdisciplinary activity to educate students about Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM) simultaneously. Technology from Texas Instruments (TI) was employed including a TI Nspire graphing calculator that can run Python programs, a TI Innovator Hub, and a TI Rover. The TI Rover is a small, robotic car that has sensors and is controlled by the calculator via the Hub hardware interface. A Python program was developed that uses the color sensor in the Rover to detect the color on colored paper …

A Contextual And Sonic Analysis Of John Coltrane’S First Meditations, Matt Lind

Music ETDs

This thesis presents a contextual and sonic analysis of John Coltrane’s album First Meditations recorded in 1965. I use methods based on Dora Hanninen’s A Theory of Music Analysis to examine sonic and contextual aspects of Coltrane’s playing, including varying timbres, rhythmic tendencies, and contextual relationships in musical material. I consider pitch material from the perspective of “outside” playing, rather than traditional harmonic analysis. Considering areas of pitch, rhythm, and timbre allows the visualization of these features across each track in the album in five musical “plots.”

Pedro Ximénez Abrill Y Tirado: Another And Deeper Look, Richard Savino

Soundboard Scholar

Born in Arequipa, Peru, Pedro Ximénez Abrill y Tirado was a virtuoso cellist and guitarist who composed over forty symphonies, forty masses, dozens of chamber pieces with interesting instrumentations, and over three hundred solo pieces for the guitar. He moved to Lima for a period and later became Maestro di Capilla at the Sucre Cathedral in Bolivia. At the time Sucre was one of the wealthiest cities in South America, if not the wealthiest.

Abrill's renown was such that he was published in Paris by Richault and was written about in Hugh Bonelli's published travel diary (London, 1854). His music …

Musical Objects, Territories, And Otherness, Andrew Farrar

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As the materials that composers work with have become increasingly focused on elements outside traditional pitch relations such as timbre or register, so have their approaches to form. One such stream in modern composition, starting from electronic composers such as Pierre Schaeffer, is the use of ”sound” or ”musical” objects. These materials are marked by their wholistic nature, where qualities such as timbre, density, and con- tour are as important to their identity as pitch relationships. Composers such as Schaeffer, James Tenney, and Denis Smalley have all discussed these sound objects in their writings, though they refer to them under …

Sacred And Secular Hearings Of Holsinger's Fantasy On Old Hundred, Samantha M. Inman

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

This article explores two modes of hearing afforded by Fantasy on Old Hundred (2018), written for concert band by David R. Holsinger. On one hand, the piece works well even when approached from a secular perspective. On the other hand, familiarity with the hymn tune’s Christian texts and with evangelical theology allows engagement with a deeper network of associative meanings and their narrative implications. Part I of this article explores Holsinger’s choice of OLD HUNDREDTH for this composition, highlighting the musical resources of the tune and its associated texts centered on praise. Part II provides an initial analysis of Fantasy …

Translating Cultural Symbols Into Sound: The Creation And Transformation Of The “Mantra Chord” In Zou Xiangping’S Images Of Yalong River For Alto Saxophone And Piano, Cehuai Zhang

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

Abstract: Contemporary Chinese composers such as Zou Xiangping often engage Western compositional techniques to express Chinese cultural and spiritual imagery. In his instrumental solo work Images of Yalong River for Alto Saxophone and Piano, Zou effectively incorporates the Tibetan Buddhist six-syllable mantra “Om mani pedme hum” into a six-note sonority known as the “mantra chord.” Through transforming this chord, Zou aligns it with the descriptive and evocative program he created for the music. This article introduces the background of the creation of the “mantra chord,” examines its transformations, and explores how these adaptations engage with the composer’s program for …

The Influence Of Gustav Holst's The Planets On The Music Of John Williams, Kara Lewis

Senior Honors Theses

Throughout his six-decade career in film music, John Williams has achieved incredible success. Yet, one of the most prominent criticisms of Williams’ work is that it borrows heavily from classical repertoire. It is common to read that Williams stole from composers such as Gustav Holst. This paper examines in what aspects and to what extent the music of Williams takes inspiration specifically from Holst’s The Planets. Overall style and specific excerpts will be compared to demonstrate that, while the two share some characteristics, there is not an overall sameness of style. It shall also be demonstrated that certain excerpts …

Reimagining Puerto Rican Sonic Identity: Musical Style And Creation After Hurricane María., Gabriel E. Bouche Caro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the manifestation of Puertorriqueñidad (Puerto Rican identity) in concert music composed after Hurricane María (2017), a catastrophe that catalyzed a profound shift in Puerto Rico's cultural consciousness. Focusing on four composers whose early careers were shaped by this period—Johanny Navarro, John Rivera Pico, Iván E. Rodríguez, and Christian Quiñones—the study combines close readings of scores and recordings with extensive original interviews to understand how musical identity is constructed in the wake of collective trauma. The analysis reveals that while the composers share a generational bond, their aesthetic practices are strikingly diverse: Navarro preserves Afro-Caribbean rhythmic structures, Rivera …

Conga Santiaguera: A Century Of Innovation And Competition, Nick Herman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Santiago de Cuba is home to the island’s biggest, oldest, and most famous carnival.  Any local resident will confirm that “sin conga no hay carnaval (without conga there is no carnival).” In Santiago, conga refers to a vibrant street procession, the music that drives it, and the ensemble that makes the music.  Conga Santiaguera: A Century of Innovation and Competition presents a musical history of the conga from roughly 1910 to 2010.  This project, https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/projects/conga employs an eBook, musical analysis, oral histories, and audiovisual media to show how the conga has been constantly reinvigorated by innovation, competition, and Afro-Diasporic …

H. C. Robbins Landon (1926-2009): A Brief, But Grateful Tribute, David Wyn Jones

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

Tribute honoring H. C. Robbins Landon on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

Haydn’S Creation Challenge: A New Hypothesis About The Genesis Of Beethoven’S Ninth Symphony, Stefan Romanó

HAYDN: Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America

The article hypothesizes that Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was the product of his decision to take up the challenge that Haydn’s Creation had confronted him with since his youth.  Haydn’s oratorio was immensely popular in Vienna and Germany during Beethoven’s time, more popular than Beethoven’s own music.  It represented the golden standard of musical perfection for Beethoven himself, who strove to equal it, but repeatedly felt that he had not yet jumped over the Creation hurdle.  He took up the challenge in the years 1816-18, when he began designing the first movement of his Ninth, as a replica to the …

The Voice As The Ultimate Microtonal Instrument, Catherine Terrell

University Honors Theses

I wrote several songs in a non-standard tuning system, 19-equal temperament. I define and distinguish 19-equal temperament and 12-equal temperament, then explore why I decided to write in this tuning system. I argue that intonation is a tool composers can implement along with more common musical devices. After describing the methods I used to create this music, I detail how I taught performers to sing it. I then describe and analyze the several works of music I created. Through the compositional process, I found tuning to be a very effective means in expressing musical and poetic ideas.

Music As An Environment, Yuval Gur

Masters Theses

Music.

For me, music has always been a constant. In my happiest moments it lifted my joy into other realms; in my darkest, it consoled me and offered refuge.

Over time, however, this constancy has grown predictable. Recorded music, once capable of transforming a day, has faded into background sound - familiar but dulled. This project begins with my loss of wonder: how might the act of listening regain its power to move me?

I ask: how does the experience of listening transforms when music is encountered as an environment that can be entered and navigated rather than as a …

A Description Of Zhao Zhang’S Nature No. 2 And Xiaoxuan Xu’S An Unusual Feast Of East, Sicheng He

Dissertations, 2020-current

This research presents a new path in the development of Chinese music by aiming to incorporate both modern Western and ancient Chinese influences in form, texture, tonality, topic, and other dimensions of style and structure. Two Chinese composers whose recent compositions for the piano share similar characteristics: Zhao Zhang (b. 1964; Nature no. 2, 2013) and Xiaoxuan Xu (b. 1990; An Unusual Feast of East, 2022). The research will discuss how Zhao Zhang and Xiaoxuan Xu accomplish this fusion of old and new in their recent piano works Nature no. 2, (2013) and An Unusual Feast of East, 2022. …