A significant body of solo literature for the trombone has been written in the last fifty years that draws as much from the jazz tradition as from that of European classical music. While much attention has been paid to these works' use of characteristic jazz rhythms, harmonies and melodic inflections, there has been little focus on timbre, the musical element that perhaps most readily distinguishes jazz from other styles of Western music. This paper focuses on the important role jazz timbres should play in a performer's interpretation of those works that are significantly influenced by jazz. It includes explorations of the significant differences in concepts of timbre between European classical music and jazz, some of the ways in which these timbral differences are produced, and methods by which performers can develop the skills necessary to produce these varied timbres. Particular attention is paid to the importance of timbre to idiomatically appropriate performances of two significant works from the solo trombone repertoire, Robert Suderburg's Night Set (Chamber Music III) and Richard Peaslee's Arrows of Time.

An examination is conducted of the life, career and musical styles of Richmond Matteson, an influential jazz euphonium and tuba performer of the twentieth century. The study includes a brief history of the euphonium's role in concert bands. A description of Matteson's background as a musician and clinician including education, influences and career changes will also be discussed. Analysis of Matteson's improvisational style and a transcription from the recording Dan's Blues is included. A formal analysis of Claude T. Smith's Variations for Baritone is provided, as well as a brief biography of the composer. Matteson's stylistic traits which Smith employed for the composition of Variations for Baritone are illustrated. The conclusion calls for further study of jazz styles by euphoniumists with more frequent performances of Variations for Baritone. Appendices include lists of Matteson's compositions and arrangements, a selected discography and a list of clinics and performances from 1982-1992.

In Caught Between Jazz and Pop, I challenge the prevalent marginalization and malignment of smooth jazz in the standard jazz narrative. Furthermore, I question the assumption that smooth jazz is an unfortunate and unwelcomed evolutionary outcome of the jazz-fusion era. Instead, I argue that smooth jazz is a long-lived musical style that merits multi-disciplinary analyses of its origins, critical dialogues, performance practice, and reception. Chapter 1 begins with an examination of current misconceptions about the origins of smooth jazz. In many jazz histories, the origins of smooth jazz are defined as a product of the jazz-fusion era. I suggest that smooth jazz is a distinct jazz style that is not a direct outgrowth of any mainstream jazz style, but a hybrid of various popular and jazz styles. Chapters 2 through 4 contain eight case studies examining the performers of crossover jazz and smooth jazz. These performers have conceived and maintained distinct communicative connections between themselves and their audiences. In the following chapter, the unfair treatment of popular jazz styles is examined. Many early and influential jazz critics sought to elevate jazz to the status of art music by discrediting popular jazz styles. These critics used specific criteria and emphasized notions …

Examination of the relationship of musicianship and educatorship of teacher and students as interacting partners in a specific musical context proceeded with investigation of how formal, informal, impressionistic, and supervisory musical and educational knowledge were evidenced in rehearsal. Attention was also given to how the teaching strategies of modeling, coaching, scaffolding, fading, articulating, reflecting comparatively, and exploring were used to develop student musicianship. The research methodology may best be described as an inductive analytical case study approach. Multiple data sources included: videotaped observations of 19 bi-weekly rehearsals, audio taped interviews of the 12 participants, supplemental materials, (a published interview, journal articles, rehearsal schedules), and member checking with the teacher and David Elliott. Rehearsal data were initially organized into categories identified in David J. Elliott's (1995) model. The relationship of teacher and student musicianship, and teacher educatorship emerged during analysis. Musical details of problem finding, reducing and solving were also identified. Three themes emerged from the student interviews: their perceptions of the teacher's musicianship, general rehearsal strategies, and the teacher's use of specific teaching strategies. Interviews with the teacher illuminated his perception of musicianship and teaching strategies employed in the context. The findings confirmed that as music making transpired in the …

This paper discusses the compositional techniques developed for the clarinet during the Swing period of big band jazz. Victor E. Wertz traces the history of big band jazz and highlights some major clarinetists and their performance techniques.

This study documents and analyzes cyclic patterns used as melodic vocabulary in John Coltrane's improvisations from compositions of 1965 to 1967. The analysis is categorized in two distinct sections. The first section analyzes melodic vocabulary that is derived from the cycle of descending major thirds progressions found in the compositions of 1959 to 1960. The second section analyzes melodic vocabulary that is derived from Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns using the theoretical terminology incorporated in the treatise. Musical examples consist of patterns from the Thesaurus and excerpts from selected improvisations of John Coltrane as transcribed by Andrew White. Important scholarly contributions relevant to the subject by Carl Woideck, Lewis Porter, David Demsey, and Walt Weiskopf are included. Every effort has been made to cite interviews with musicians and commentaries by writers contemporary to that period of time with special emphasis on the important influence of Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Ornette Coleman. Chapter headings include: Literature Review and Methodology; Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, and Ornette Coleman: Converging Influences; Analysis: Coltrane's Major Thirds Harmonic Cycles Used as Melodic Vocabulary; Interval Cycles in Coltrane's Melodic Vocabulary Based on Patterns from Slonimsky's Thesaurus; Summary and Conclusion.

Methods of incorporating jazz in opera range from using simple blue notes and fox-trot rhythms, to utilizing jazz instruments, to employing elaborate passages of improvisation. Current definitions of "jazz opera" do not consider variations in the genre, which, because of their evolving nature and the varied background of their composers, are diverse. This study attempts to collectively discuss these third-stream works. Jazz rhythms and harmonies first appeared in the 1920s in the works of Gershwin, Harling, Krenek, and Freeman. In 1966, Gunther Schuller was the first composer to use improvisation in an opera, which has become the primary distinguishing factor. There has since been a tremendous interest in this genre by such jazz musicians as Dave Burrell, Anthony Davis, Duke Ellington, Max Roach, Anthony Braxton, George Gruntz, and Jon Faddis.

This thesis concerns the performance of identity in the music of Indian American jazz musicians Rudresh Mahanthappa and Vijay Iyer. In combining the use of Indian classical music elements with jazz, Iyer and Mahanthappa create music that is inextricably tied to their multifaceted identities. Traditional musicological analysis is juxtaposed with a theoretical framework that draws on postcolonial theory and the history of Asian immigrant populations to the U.S. I chronicle the interactions between Indian and Western music and link it to larger issues of Asian American identity formation and activism through music. Through interviews and transcriptions of studio recordings, I identify specific compositional and improvisational strategies of the musicians. I emphasize the role of individual agency in the formation of second-generation identities, drawing attention to the distinct ways that Iyer and Mahanthappa approach their music. Finally, I connect this research to a larger discourse on Indian American artistic identity.

The American musical team John Kander and Fred Ebb created many celebrated works, yet musicologists have carried out little research on those works. This study examines the role of music in the parodic narration of Kander and Ebb's final collaboration, The Scottsboro Boys. Kander and Ebb use minstrelsy to tell the story of the historic Scottsboro Boys trials with actors portraying the Scottsboro Boys as minstrels; at the same time, they employ a number of devices to subvert minstrelsy stereotypes and thereby comment on racism. Drawing on African American literary theory, sociolinguistics, and Bakhtin's dialogism, this study illuminates how Signifyin(g), a rhetorical tradition used to encode messages in some African American communities, is the primary way the actors playing the Scottsboro Boys subvert through minstrelsy. This study not only contributes to the discussion of Signifyin(g) in African American musicals and theatre as a tool of subversion, but also provides an example of non-African American creators—Kander and Ebb—using Signifyin(g) devices. They use these in the music and the book; in particular, Kander and Ebb do some Signifyin(g) on Stephen Foster's plantation melodies.

The purpose of this manuscript is to provide a representative collection of jazz standards with improvised solos fashioned after the types of resources available for traditional jazz instruments, yet transcribed and adapted specifically for horn, hence, expressly designed to assist horn players in achieving greater success in jazz performance. By providing transcriptions and adaptations of significant performances from jazz history, horn players will have a resource with which they can better understand jazz performance practice. Featured artists include Miles Davis, Curtis Fuller, Ella Fitzgerald, Tommy Turk, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Wes Montgomery, J. J. Johnson, Stan Getz, and Milt Jackson. Song titles and albums are as follows: "Autumn Leaves," Somethin' Else (1958), "Blue Train," Blue Train (1957), "How High the Moon," Ella in Berlin (1960), "Lester Leaps In," Jazz at the Philharmonic (1949), "Lover Man," The Magnificent Charlie Parker (1951), "Moritat," Saxophone Colossus (1956), "Naima," Giant Steps (1959), "On Green Dolphin Street," Kind of Blue (1959), "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (1960), "Satin Doll," The Trombone Master (1957), "Stella by Starlight," Stan Getz Plays (1952), "Straight, No Chaser," Genius of Modern Music 2 (1951).

A stylistic analysis of John Stevens' second brass quintet, Fabrics, which discusses the composer's use of orchestration, harmonic language, rhythmic activity, melodic and formal considerations, and performance practice issues. Collaboration between composer and performer is investigated, particularly through Stevens' status as member of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet, the ensemble for which Fabrics was composed. Biographical information about Stevens and the Wisconsin Brass Quintet is provided, with appendices providing information regarding Stevens' activities as composer and performer and the activities of the Wisconsin Brass Quintet. Stevens was extensively interviewed as source material for this dissertation.

Nine universities in the United States with the greatest number of international students and having an accredited music program through the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) were selected. Survey research methodologies were used to identify the status of the international music students from East Asia in U.S. higher education institutions and to determine their attitudes toward their schools. Among East Asian international music students at US higher education institutions, the results indicated that the professor's reputation, scholarships, and the program's reputation were perceived as the most influential factors impacting the program choice; a good relationship with professors, good feedback from professors, and emotional stability were perceived as the most influential factors impacting academic success; and the professor's teaching, the professor's expertise, and the improvement of musical skills were perceived as the most influential factors impacting students' satisfaction level. The most problematic issues reported were the language barrier and the cultural differences between their host and own countries. In addition, many of the East international music students in this study noted financial difficulties.

A large segment of society is either preparing to enter the work force, or is already engaged in some chosen line of work. Preparing to enter the work force takes a considerable amount of time and effort. The decision to follow one career path over countless others may, on the surface, appear to be discretely individual. But when viewed from a sociological perspective, occupational choices are implicitly and explicitly reached through a consensus of contributing factors. Consequently, an occupational identity is not how an individual describes a personal work-related self, but is rather dialectic. It is the merging, albeit, negotiation of viewpoints which causes persons to view themselves in relationship with how others think of them. It is expected that students newly enrolled in music education degree programs will, with time, replace erroneous lay conceptions of music teaching with those presented in curricula and espoused by significant role models. However, the professional socialization process, characteristic of music education degree programs, has not always been successful in transforming students’ personal perspectives of music teaching. This transformation process is critical toward the development of occupational identities that are congruent with school music teaching positions. There has been an established line of research …

The purpose was to analyze Turkey's current music teacher training curriculum as situated in the centralized educational system, focusing on the extent to which the written document (1) reflects the core elements of the overall centralized educational system; (2) prescribes the nature of teaching materials and methods, assessment tools and other forms of evaluating and monitoring performance as teachers and musicians; and (3) acknowledges cultural diversity by addressing repertoire, musical activities and concepts according to geographic and cultural regions. Qualitative-descriptive and quantitative content analysis, including the methods of (a) Inverse document frequency and (b) relevance feedback model, were the analytic tools. Of the required 147 credit hours, 138 are the core. The music core consists of 87 (63%) and the non-music core of 51 credit hours (37%). On paper, there is a conceptual overlap in wording between the music core, the general core, and the teacher training core, suggesting curricular cohesion and consistency. Noticeably less cohesion exists between the document and three major policy papers on teacher competencies. By word count, preparing teachers for instruction in Turkish folk music and multicultural issues appears to hold a low priority in the curriculum. However, course descriptions, where they exist, speak to skills …

In “Sounds for Adventurous Listeners,” I argue that Conover’s role in the dissemination of jazz through the Music USA Jazz Hour was more influential on an educational level than what literature on Conover currently provides. Chapter 2 begins with an examination of current studies regarding the role of jazz in Cold War diplomacy, the sociopolitical implications of avant-garde jazz and race, the convergence of fandom and propaganda, the promoter as facilitator of musical trends, and the influence of international radio during the Cold War. In chapter 3 I introduce the Friends of Music USA Newsletter and explain its function as a record of overseas jazz reception and a document that cohered a global network of fans. I then focus on avant-garde debates of the 1960s and discuss Conover’s role overseas and in the United States. Chapter 4 engages social purpose and jazz criticism in the 1960s. I discuss Conover’s philosophy on social responsibility, and how his contributions intersected with other relevant discourses on race on the eve of the civil rights movement. I argue that Conover embodied two personas: one as jazz critic and promoter in the United States, and the other as an international intermediary. In chapter 5 I …