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open access

Jonah's Prayer: a Composition for Solo Tenor, Mixed Chorus and Two Pianos

Description: Jonah's Prayer is a choral work for solo tenor, a mixed choir of not fewer than 30 members, two pianos and a few percussion instruments to be played by choir members. The piece lasts about 13 minutes; it is a work intended for church choir use but could be performed in other venues as well.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Au, Siu-ming Stefan
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)
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

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

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

Hartley Wood Day: Inventor of Numeral Notation and Adversary of Lowell Mason

Description: Ignorance of the basic principles of music reading was one of the primary obstacles to the improvement of congregational singing in nineteenth-century America. Six separate numeral notation systems arose to provide a simple way for the common man to learn the basic principles of music. Hartley Day developed his own numeral notation system and published six tune-books that enjoyed modest success in the New England area. This thesis examines Day's numeral notation system as it appeared in the Bos… more
Date: December 1991
Creator: Carnes, Tara Barker
open access

Italian Influences in the Corellisirende Sonaten of Telemann

Description: George Philipp Telemann is often thought of an experimenter with many nationalistic styles during the course of his career. His Corellian Sonatas demonstrate this facet of his work in their employment of Corelli's manner, and the cultivation of the Italian style. Telemann's Corellian sonatas are stylistically close to those of Corelli, and they do not appear to vary widely from the church and chamber sonatas of Corelli; Telemann fused the two sonata types in that dance elements are found in the… more
Date: May 1995
Creator: Chang, Young-Shim
open access

Jindrich Feld's Introduzione, Toccata E Fuga Per Flauto Solo With Three Recitals of Selected Works of J.S. Bach, Mozart, Messiaen, Berio, Martinu, Persichetti, and Others

Description: The Czechoslovakian composer Jindrich Feld (b.1925) composed Introduzione, Toccata e Fuga per Flauto Solo, for the Italian flutist Roberto Frabbriciani. Feld's Introduzione is from his third style period. This work may be labeled as a synthesis of the experiments and experiences that have enabled him to create his own mature style of expression.
Date: May 1992
Creator: Derby McDermott, Dennette
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

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

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

Designs

Description: Designs is an algorithmic composition for small orchestra. The main compositional process used involves the realization and implementation of various musical algorithms discussed in the book Composition with Pitch-Classes by theorist/composer Robert Morris.
Date: August 1993
Creator: Fu, Yuen-Wai
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

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

How to Practice in an Efficient Way

Description: Twi major areas concerning the problems of practice are discussed. One is that poor practice often relegates itself to mindless repetition. The second problem is that the student often has a vague definition of piano technique. All technique should be a means of expression, not just an isolated physical exercise. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis was to understand the nature of practice and to develop a suggested practice routine which incorporates both technical and musical aspects. Two re… more
Date: May 1999
Creator: Hu, Shu-Chen, 1968-
open access

An Argument for the Reassessment of Stravinsky's Early Serial Compositions

Description: Between 1952 and 1957, Igor Stravinsky surprised the world of music by gradually incorporating serialism into his style of composition. Although Stravinsky still used the neo-classical trait of making strong references to the music of earlier periods, musical analyses of this transitional period have focused on serial aspects to the exclusion of anachronistic elements. Evidence of Stravinsky's possible use of musical structures adapted from earlier times is found in his consistent use of musica… more
Date: December 1995
Creator: Hughes, Timothy Stephen
open access

A Mexican Postmodernist Vision Grounded on Structuralism: The Cases of Juan Trigos' Cuarteto Da Do (1988) and Victor Rasgado's Rayo Nocturnal (1989)

Description: This thesis contributes analyses of two works by Mexican composers: Rayo nocturnal (1989) by Victor Rasgado (b. 1959), and the Cuarteto da do (1988) by Juan Trigos (b. 1965). Although composed according to structuralist principles, a postmodern interpretation is offered. The analytical method applied is based on Allen Forte's set theory, including rhythmic and timbral dimensions that are integral to the conceptions of these works. A survey of modernism and postmodernism in twentieth-century Mex… more
Date: May 1999
Creator: Madrid-González, Alejandro L. (Alejandro Luis)
open access

The Warp and Weft of Fabric: A Composition for Strings

Description: The six-movement work is scored for two violins, a viola, and a violoncello. A new approach toward the decision making of the compositional process is revealed which structures the parameters of the composition along an arbitrary frame of reference. This reference is selected prior to composition and influences every aspect of the work. The reference chosen is an existing musical work used in quotation and for stylistic modeling, paraphrase, and variation. Consonance, dissonance, and thematic d… more
Date: May 1999
Creator: McBride, Michael A. (Michael Anthony)
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

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

The Horn at the Paris Conservatoire and its Morceaux de Concours to 1996

Description: A work concerning the history of the Paris Conservatoire and music education in France. Follows the development of the horn and its correlation with the French school of horn playing. Includes biographic information on the horn professors of the Conservatoire through 1997, as well as a comprehensive list of the morceaux de concours for horn, 1795-1996.
Date: August 1997
Creator: Rekward, Susan J.
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