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open access

Autographs 1928 : Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble

Description: Autographs 1928: Four Songs for Soprano and Chamber Ensemble is a composition of approximately 16 minutes' duration and is scored for mezzo-soprano, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn in F, viola, violoncello, one keyboardist (piano and celesta), and two percussionists (marimba, xylophone, chimes, timpani, bass drum, temple blocks, triangle, and slapstick). The work consists of four songs and four readings with texts from Walls's maternal grandmother's autograph book. The composition opens with a read… more
Date: August 1995
Creator: Walls, Jay Alan
open access

A Capella Eletronnica

Description: The intent of A capella Eletronnica is to explore the possibility of the human voice as the most versatile of musical instruments. The voice, capable of melodic, harmonic, percussive and rhythmic effects, is also employed for spoken text and conversational elements as musical sources. My aim was to enlarge this array of vocal techniques with the use of electronic processing and amplification.
Date: August 1995
Creator: Bonneau, Paul G. (Paul Gregory)
open access

The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified?

Description: One of the greatest mysteries in the history of music is the castrato singers of the Baroque era. Castration has existed for many thousands of years, but for the first time in history, it was used for artistic purposes. Who were these men who seemingly gave up their masculinity for the sake of music? By examining the time period and circumstances in which these musicians lived, an answer may be found. Exploring the economic, social, and political structure of the 17th and 18th centuries may r… more
Date: August 2006
Creator: Sowle, Jennifer
open access

Circumfusion: a Composition for Real-Time Computer Music Spatialization System

Description: Two of the leading methodologies for spatializing audio over multiple channels include non-real-time multi-track tape and variations of real-time systems that often involve complex configurations of hardware. Of the latter, composers relying on MIDI as a control source have used pairs of sound modules, effects units and automation capable mixers to achieve spatialization over four loudspeakers. These systems typically employ intensity panning, Doppler shifts and reverberation. The present rese… more
Date: August 1998
Creator: Morgan, Christopher R. (Christopher Robert)
open access

Comparative Study of the Bel Canto Teaching Styles and their Effects on Vocal Agility

Description: This thesis examines the historical significance of the vocal methods employed from the middle of the seventeenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century in what became known as the bel canto era. It provides further exploration into the pedagogical procedures of the bel canto technique through a study of the premier instructors and singers from this period. The resurgence of interest in this tradition is addressed along with its impact on current vocal pedagogy. The vital role that … more
Date: August 1996
Creator: Harper, Portia
open access

Contemporary Swedish Music for Solo Trumpet and Trumpet in Mixed Chamber Ensembles with a Performance Analysis of Selected Works of Bo Nilsson, Folke Rabe, and Tommy Zwedberg

Description: This study discusses how cultural and social aspects of contemporary Swedish society impact the musical arts. It contains biographical information on representative Swedish composers, and analyzes technical and structural elements of their compositional styles. Finally, it recommends performance practice considerations regarding technical and interpretive details in Tommy Zwedberg's Face the Music for trumpet and prepared audio tape, Folke Habe's Shazam for unaccompanied trumpet, and Bo Nilsson… more
Date: August 1991
Creator: Engstrom, Larry M. (Larry Milton)
open access

Evolution, Symmetrization, and Synthesis : The Piano Sonatas of Alberto Ginastera

Description: When Alberto Ginastera's oeuvre is viewed as a whole, an essential continuity between compositional ideas often appears in different works. This is especially apparent in the three piano sonatas, where each sonata represents an evolution and a condensation of ideas occurring in the previous one. The evolution of ideas throughout the three sonatas takes place through two primary processes. The first is a shift in cultural focus from reliance on Ibero-American material in the first sonata (1952) … more
Date: August 1991
Creator: Campbell, Grace M.
open access

Expectation as Narrative Strategy in Richard Wagner's Parsifal

Description: The story of Parsifal is presented in two manners: through action and through narrative. Using the formalist theories of Vladimir Propp, the overall narrative is articulated in three narrative episodes. This thesis interprets the structure of narrative episodes in Parsifal on the basis of expectation. Propp's theory of functions provides labels for an interpretive analysis. Levi-Strauss' reconstruction of Propp's functions into paired structures identifies key points in the drama as moments of … more
Date: August 1997
Creator: Straughn, Greg, 1972-
open access

Exploring the Private Music Studio: Problems Faced by Teachers in Attempting to Quantify the Success of Teaching Theory in Private Lessons through One Method as Opposed to Another

Description: I present strategies and methods for teaching fundamentals of music theory in the context of the private music studio through a variety of techniques and research. Beginning with a background in educational psychology, examples of behaviorist and cognitive teaching models are presented, and how each applies to teaching music is explained. Two detailed examples of actual lessons are presented, coupled with musical examples, to describe both the process and the concepts that can be presented. … more
Date: August 2006
Creator: McKnight, Michael
open access

A Financial Resource Guide for the Beginning Secondary Choral Music Director

Description: The purpose of this study was to confirm the necessity of a financial resource guide for beginning secondary choral directors in Texas. Budgetary information was gathered through an on-line survey addressing the financial knowledge of 25 participants made up of choral directors, college professors, fine arts directors and student teachers. Further information was gathered from college course guides, music periodicals and college textbooks. From the gathered survey data, a definite need for bett… more
Date: August 2006
Creator: Devous, Donald Michael
open access

The Flute: the Mechanical Improvements on the Body of the Orchestral Instrument since 1847

Description: This thesis uniquely explains the mechanical improvements which have occurred to the flute over the last 147 years. Theobald Boehm revolutionized the flute by changing many of its components culminating with the 1847 model flute. Since that time other improvements have been made which enhance the flute's capabilities in terms of pitch, tone, timbre, and simplification offingeringpassages. Among those improvements which are discussed in the following pages are the Dorus G-sharp key, the gizmo ke… more
Date: August 1994
Creator: Nussbaum, Carolyn
open access

Harmony and Structure in Richard Strauss's Macbeth

Description: This study begins with a discussion of step theory. Included in this discussion is the basis of chord succession, the idea of fundamental representation, and the uses of reinterpretation technique. These concepts are then used to demonstrate the continuity and logic of the harmonic language found in Strauss's Macbeth.
Date: August 1996
Creator: Bills, Danny C.
open access

Manuel M. Ponce: A critical study of his Concierto Romántico for piano and orchestra.

Description: The Concierto Romántico for Piano and Orchestra is one of Manuel M. Ponce's outstanding compositional accomplishments from his Romantic period, reflecting both the state of Mexican music at the turn of the 20th century, and his early nationalist tendencies. However, it remains the only concerto in Ponce's output in need of a more comprehensive analysis. This treatise focuses on a global investigative that examines descriptive and analytic references to the work, as well as a comparison and clar… more
Date: August 2007
Creator: Vázquez, Carlos Balam
open access

Practices of English Diction for Singers 1900-1971

Description: Specialized training in English diction for singers became increasingly prevalent in the twentieth century. Along with this growth, a small but significant literature on the subject developed. There are divergent practices recommended for American singers, displayed by nine authors in ten books published between 1900 and 1971. A comparative study yields pedagogies of vowel and consonant production. Issues of sounds in context, including proper linkage and stress, adjustments from speech to song… more
Date: August 1991
Creator: Barber, Carol H. (Carol Hansell)

Register Unification in Light of Twentieth-Century Vocal Pedagogy

Description: The registers of the singing voice, as commonly understood by singers, refer to the different vocal qualities induced by adjustments at the level of the larynx and of the vocal tract. This explains why register unification can be approached either one or a combination of the following procedures: (1) resonance alignment through vowel modification, (2) register alignment through intensity exercises. The wide-spread acceptance of vowel modification has made singers reluctant in exploring other av… more
Access: Restricted to the UNT Community Members at a UNT Libraries Location.
Date: August 2003
Creator: Tan, Haidee Lynn C.
open access

Schoenberg, Polyphony, and Mode : A Reception of the Composer's Twelve-tone Method in American Publications, c. 1925-1950

Description: Although Schoenberg viewed his twelve-tone method as an extension of the Germanic musical evolution from Bach to Brahms, one group of writers in America identified twelve-tone antecedents with Medieval and Renaissance polyphony. Such a correlation of Schoenberg's practice with this textural orientation of the past was part of a larger movement (what I term "neopolyphony") recognizing twentieth-century musical developments as the genesis of a polyphonic epoch reviving both the technical and aest… more
Date: August 1995
Creator: Finnegan, Sean Justin
open access

The Solo Piano Works of John Corigliano: Etude Fantasy (1976) and Fantasia on an Ostinato (1985)

Description: John Corigliano (b. 1938) is a contemporary American composer who has in the last twenty years established himself as a composer whose versatility and accessibility are appreciated by a wide range of audiences. He has labeled himself an eclectic composer who unashamedly borrows from other musical styles and periods in an effort to create works that appeal to a variety of listeners. He has been mentioned along with George Rochberg, George Crumb, and Jacob Druckman as an advocate of the post-mode… more
Date: August 1990
Creator: Simms, Beverley

A Study of Breath Management as Treated by Four Major American Vocal Pedagogues: Appelman, Reid, Vennard, and Miller

Description: Trained musicians cannot use the same breath process in daily living as for singing. Also, the normal breath cycle applied to speech is not efficient. Therefore, students who are learning to sing need to know proper breathing techniques. In this thesis, I will describe the breathing process and the correct way to breathe while singing, based on studies of four American pedagogues; Appleman, Reid, Vennard and Miller. To understand the breathing process for singing, it is necessary to study and u… more
Access: Restricted to the UNT Community Members at a UNT Libraries Location.
Date: August 2005
Creator: Kim, Jisuk
open access

A Study of Idiomatic Piano Compositions During the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China

Description: This study demonstrated that the piano, a typical Western instrument, became the Chinese composer's tool for expressing the sound ideals and tone qualities that are intrinsic to Chinese music. A new musical idiom was created in these piano compositions, an idiom that combined Western compositional techniques and traditionally-based Chinese ideals.
Date: August 1991
Creator: Fan-Long, Grace (Chun Grace)
open access

Three Motivic Topics in Beethoven's Piano Quintet, Op. 16

Description: The first movement of the Piano Quintet, Op. 16 of Ludwig van Beethoven works out three significant motivic "topics": a chromatically filled-in second, appearing first as 5 - #5 - 6 (Bb - B - C in Eb major); the emphasis om the submediant, both as vi in Eb major and as the tonal region of C minor; and the melodic interval of the sixth, which, when inverted to become a descending third, determines the structure of tonal regions at crucial points in the movement. These three motivic topics are in… more
Date: August 1995
Creator: Gratton, J. Brian (John Brian)
open access

The War Poems: An Intermedia Composition for Chamber Orchestra and Chorus

Description: Expanding on the concept of Richard Wagner's Gesamptkunstwerk, The War Poems was written to combine various elements for an intermedia composition, including music, five slide projectors, lighting, and costume. Text used in the piece was taken from the writings of the English World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon.
Date: August 1997
Creator: Schindler, Karl W. (Karl Wayne)
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