Clarinet works by Taiwanese female composers are not well researched or catalogued, and to date, and no comprehensive research codifies this subcategory in Taiwan or elsewhere. A comprehensive research and bibliography is necessary to the international community. It is hoped that through this annotated bibliography, readers will gain a deeper understanding of this genre. This study contains a brief history of Taiwan's Western music history, the female composers' history in Taiwan, and literature review. A total of twenty compositions by eighteen different Taiwanese female composers are discussed in the annotated bibliography, including thirteen for unaccompanied clarinet and seven for clarinet and piano. Information includes a brief biography of the composer, the date of composition, duration, premiere, dedication, commission, location of the score, difficulty and commentary on the piece.

The purpose of this document is to chronicle and describe the historical developments of saxophone performance in mainland China. Arguing against other published research, this document presents proof of the uninterrupted, large-scale use of the saxophone from its first introduction into Shanghai's nineteenth century amateur musical societies, continuously through to present day. In order to better describe the performance scene for saxophonists in China, each chapter presents historical and political context. Also described in this document is the changing importance of the saxophone in China's musical development and musical culture since its introduction in the nineteenth century. The nature of the saxophone as a symbol of modernity, western ideologies, political duality, progress, and freedom and the effects of those realities in the lives of musicians and audiences in China are briefly discussed in each chapter. These topics are included to contribute to a better, more thorough understanding of the performance history of saxophonists, both native and foreign, in China.

The Sound of the Prairie Land (Caoyuan Zhige) for viola and piano by the Chinese composer Qingwu Guan (b. 1938) has become one of the most popular works in the growing Chinese repertoire for viola. It also exists in another version for viola and viola ensemble, arranged by the Chinese violist Wing Ho, who also expanded the viola part with the composer's approval. The pentatonic work was highly influenced by the landscape and music of Inner Mongolia, a province of China next to the Mongolian border, and incorporates the music of an ode by the Inner Mongolian composer Alatengaole (1942–2011) called Sincere Wishes for a Long Life to Chairman Mao. Guan remains a strong supporter of Mao, the first chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. The work makes use of some performance techniques of the Inner Mongolian two-stringed fiddle called morin khuur, which has a similar tone to the viola: three kinds of slides, grace notes, imitations of a horse's neigh, and the representation of horses galloping across the prairie. The background of the work, understanding of the musical structure, and information about morin khuur techniques presented in this dissertation should aid performers in interpreting the work more authentically.

Females make up the minority in professional euphonium playing and teaching roles in the USA. The purpose of this research is to unveil the reasons behind this imbalance and to discover potential impacts females experience as a minority in the field. Research methods included sending a questionnaire to professional female euphonium players and teachers to document the experiences of participants. A secondary purpose of this study is to further document the existence of past and present potential female euphonium role models. Through a discussion of possible origins of and reasons behind a perceived lack of female euphonium players, I am seeking ways to achieve greater parity by garnering a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by female euphonium players.

There are very few significant sonatas for flute and piano written between 1880 and 1918, a period of unusually rich stylistic diversity. Gabriel Pierné composed his Sonata in D Minor, Op. 36 for piano and violin in 1900, and later transcribed it for flute and piano. Unfortunately, the work has not been embraced to a significant extent by either violinists or flutists. The wealth of violin sonatas from this period might explain it not becoming part of the canon for violinists, but this is not the case for the flute repertoire, where it seems that it should hold a place of genuine importance. Since little has been written about Pierné as a composer or about this piece in either of its versions, this project is intended to promote an understanding of the work in its historical and theoretical context and to advocate for more frequent performances. This document also suggests an alternate version of several particular passages so it can better represent the characteristics of today's flute and its modern techniques. This research will help other flutists and flute professors to introduce and spread an awareness of its existence and ideally helping to establish its place in the flute repertoire. …

Wayne Barrington was a tenured member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for ten years and held positions with the LA Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, and San Antonio Symphony. He was an early member of the Chicago Brass Ensemble and a founding member of the LA Brass. While performing in these major orchestras and brass quintets, Barrington played alongside many notable musicians including Philip Farkas, Forrest Standley, Arnold Jacobs, Bud Herseth, Frank Crisafulli, Miles Anderson, Roger Bobo, David Krebhiel, and Christopher Leuba. Many of these musicians mentioned have received recognition in books and dissertations for their achievements as performers and pedagogues. Barrington, however, has not. Barrington was also a founding member and secretary of ICSOM, the International Conference of Symphony and Orchestra musicians. This organization helped improve the working conditions for musicians by creating transparency of orchestra salaries and giving musicians throughout the United States and Canada a say in ratifying their contracts. After Barrington's years as a symphonic musician, he transitioned from a full-time performer to a full-time pedagogue and taught for over three decades at the University of Texas at Austin, and several of his students went on to have successful careers of their own. His impressive career and influence …

Frederick Thurston was a prominent British clarinet performer and teacher in the first half of the 20th century. Due to the brevity of his life and the impact of two world wars, Thurston's legacy is often overlooked among clarinetists in the United States. Thurston's playing inspired 19 composers to write 22 solo and chamber works for him, none of which he personally commissioned. The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive biography of Thurston's career as clarinet performer and teacher with a complete bibliography of compositions written for him. With biographical knowledge and access to the few extant recordings of Thurston's playing, clarinetists may gain a fuller understanding of Thurston's ideal clarinet sound and musical ideas. These resources are necessary in order to recognize the qualities about his playing that inspired composers to write for him and to perform these works with the composers' inspiration in mind. Despite the vast list of works written for and dedicated to Thurston, clarinet players in the United States are not familiar with many of these works, and available resources do not include a complete listing. Much of this repertoire remains unexplored and unrecorded yet is suitable for intermediate to advanced level …

Viola pedagogy has historically been closely intertwined with and highly dependent upon violin repertoire. As the viola emerged as an instrument worthy of independent study, many still rely on transcriptions of violin etudes. Fortunately, the efforts of performers, teachers, and scholars have brought forth discoveries of original viola literature and thus shifted toward the perception that viola should begin to embrace its individual pedagogy. Viennese composer and violist Marco Frank contributed three volumes of Viola-Etuden and a method book, Praktische Viola-Schule, which are suitable for the intermediate violist. This document explores and analyzes the usefulness of an original viola series in comparison to the ‘tried and true' violin transcriptions.

In 1966, René Le Roy (1898-1985) and his student Claude Dorgeuille co-authored Traité de la flûte historique, technique et pedagogique. This treatise presents the culmination of Le Roy's career as a renowned performer and teacher in both Europe and North America. His approach to the study of music, as presented in the method, diverges from traditional French training, instructing teachers to compose exercises specific to the needs of the student and by using repertoire as source material. Claude Dorgeuille writes of the method, "...the Traité gives an outline analysis of the principal elements of technique, thus allowing exercises to be devised as appropriate to the needs of the individual." Using Le Roy's treatise, I demonstrate the application of his teaching to Jacques Ibert's Deux stèles orientées pour voix et flûte (1925), a work dedicated to and premiered by Le Roy, through the creation of individual exercises tailored to preparation of Ibert's work.

Spanish settlers brought the precursor to the bassoon, el bajón, to Mexico in the late sixteenth century. Documentation of the bassoon was intermittently from the sixteenth century on, the current playing traditions were not established until the second half of the twentieth century. Bassoon education in Mexico flourished in the 1970's because several bassoonists became expatriates, and chose to live and work in Mexico for the entirety of their careers. Two major pedagogues, Lazar Stoychev and Jerzy Lemiszka paved the way for the current Mexican bassoon community. This dissertation presents a selective lineage of bassoonists who have held positions in major Mexican orchestras and universities since the mid-twentieth century. The purpose of this study is to recognize the contributions these players and teachers have given to the bassoon world. In recent years, Mexican bassoonists have commissioned hundreds of works for the bassoon and this significant achievement has placed the Mexican bassoon community in an upward trajectory. To place these players in proper historical context, a brief history of classical music institutions in Mexico since the sixteenth century is given. This dissertation documents the history and pedagogy of recent bassoonists in Mexico via a cohesive family tree.

A comparative analysis of the musical transcriptions of Dorothy Ashby with those of her predecessors proves that Ashby was a uniquely powerful and innovative influence on the genre of jazz harp. This dissertation begins with a summative biography of Ashby, following her education in both jazz and classical music through to her career highlights as a performer, arranger and composer. An analysis of Ashby's recordings reveals the development of her groundbreaking musical style throughout her life. This paper also examines Ashby's social activism through musical theatre, especially with regards to combating racism. Next, a brief biography of jazz harp forerunners Casper Reardon and Adele Girard precedes a comparative analysis of Reardon's "Aint' Misbehavin" with Ashby's "Soft Winds" and a comparative analysis of Girard's "Harp Boogie" with Ashby's "Blues for Mr. K." Finally, myriad examples of current musicians covering and sampling her work confirm the paramount and lasting influence of Dorothy Ashby's music.

Since the first saxophone professor at the Paris Conservatory in 1858, saxophone instruction has primarily been a male-dominated field. Numerous sources detail the experiences, lives, and influence of male post-secondary saxophone instructors. Women have made great strides in the performance and instruction of the saxophone at the post-secondary level, but sources discussing their lives and experiences are limited. Saxophone instruction at the post-secondary level in the United States began in the late 1800s. As the instrument grew in popularity through the 20th century, more and more higher education institutions began incorporating the saxophone as an instrument for primary study. This increased the need for saxophone professors in the United States. In 1994, Elizabeth Zinn Ervin, became the first woman full professor. This was 40 years after the the first man, Larry Teal, held this rank. As of 2023, 15 women have achieved the rank of full professor. This document is intended to highlight several women saxophone instructors throughout the history of the instrument, and detail the thoughts and experiences of women saxophonists who have achieved the rank of full professor in the United States.

Harry Sparnaay was a major contributor to the development of unaccompanied works for the bass clarinet and commissioned over 100 pieces for bass clarinet alone. While Sparnaay's book, The Bass Clarinet: A Personal History, includes a list of works written for him, there is minimal information available regarding most of these pieces. This project fills the information gap for this repertoire by providing publication status/score availability, performance challenges, recording history, program notes, and composer information. Each work is classified into three categories based on its publication status and recording history, providing a framework for understanding which works have entered the standard repertoire for the instrument.

In this project I identify the pedagogical techniques, philosophy and legacy of Raymond Crisara. I examine how his pedagogical philosophy led to Crisara's personal success as a teacher and to his students' success in their performing and teaching careers. In much the same way that Ernest Williams's legacy has been passed on to his students, Crisara's legacy is now being handed down. I have examined Crisara's pedagogical concepts and philosophy through the eyes of four former students: Dr. Todd Hastings (Professor, Pittsburg State University), Billy Hunter (Principal Trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Dr. Gary Mortenson (Dean of the School of Music, Baylor University) and Keith Winking (Professor, Texas State University) as well as from transcripts of interviews Crisara gave. Crisara extended and modified William's pedagogy through the use of a multitude of étude methods. This modification and Crisara's experience as a leading New York freelance musician greatly influenced the teaching and success of the four subjects I interviewed. While these teachers have adopted Crisara's pedagogy and philosophy largely unchanged, I found that they modified his pedagogy slightly through the use of added teaching materials never used in Crisara's career or teaching studio.

The career of Osvaldo Lacerda (1927-2011) spanned a critical time in the development of Brazilian nationalist music. Though he was an outspoken nationalist composer, he was also influenced by European trends and training. Even within his nationalist compositions, evidence of a shift in style that mirrors the European movements of Modernism and Postmodernism is found in his works. Among his thirty-six chamber works, three are wind quintets, written between 1962 and 1997. Although all three works warrant extended discussion, Variações e Fuga para quinteto de sopros is particularly valuable for studying Lacerda's musical language. It was originally written in 1962. However, Lacerda made significant revisions in 1994, completely rewriting and expanding it. Through comparing the 1962 and 1994 versions of Variações e Fuga and analyzing the significant differences between the two, this document aims show that even with his strong stance as a Brazilian nationalist composer, Lacerda was clearly influenced by the movements of the broader music world. Examples from his other two woodwind quintets, Quinteto de sopro and Suíte pra cinco, written in 1988 and 1997 respectively, help to support the idea that this change in his musical language was not an anomaly, but rather a true evolution of …

The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce Le Temps Déformé for solo flute, percussion, and strings, composed by Korean American composer Texu Kim (b. 1980) in 2017. The dissertation includes an analysis of the work and its background, to show that it represents a significant expansion of the concerto repertoire for solo flute and to help performers interpret it. This piece of writing should also contribute to the available sources about the composer Texu Kim, given that it is the first dissertation about him or his work. This piece should be appropriate for flutists who are seeking to perform a new piece with orchestra. Although hundreds of concertos have been written for solo flute and orchestra or string orchestra, Kim uses the unusual instrumentation of strings and percussion (drum and triangle) without woodwinds and brass. In a program note, the composer mentions that he made use of Korean traditional music, Sujecheon, which has similar instrumentation. The note also discusses he transformed and interpreted Korean traditional music to create a new interaction with Western music.

American composer David Kechley was profoundly impacted by a 1990 trip to the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. The composer describes the finely raked, small white stones in the midst of fifteen large rocks in the Japanese Zen garden as "planned randomness." Kechley's inaugural composition for saxophone-guitar duo, In the Dragon's Garden, reflects his experience at the Ryoan-ji Temple. The use of minimalistic compositional techniques without literal repetition in the work represents a departure from the first generation of Minimalist composers, such as LaMonte Young, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, and John Adams. An analysis of minimalistic compositional elements, combined with an interview with the commissioning ensemble, the Ryoanji Duo, provides insights into the interpretation and preparation of this complex work. Furthermore, this document contains helpful information pertinent to the saxophone-guitar duo. Details on balance and amplification, orchestration, and collaboration with the composer will supply performers and composers with essential knowledge needed to participate in this growing musical medium.

The purpose of this study is to examine the acoustic implications of using aspirated, well-coordinated, coup de la glotte, and hard glottal onset methods, in order to compare and contrast the radiated acoustic spectra. Twenty-five singers trained in bel canto singing style were asked to sing 5-second samples on three pre-determined pitches comprising the low, middle, and high range in male and female voices. Each participant was instructed and trained to sing the three pitches with the four methods. EGG was used with audio perception to verify onset type, and VoceVista Video Pro was used to analyze power spectra. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (rMANOVA) was performed with the SPSS General Linear Model function, with onset type as the within-subjects variable to determine main effects and interaction effects on harmonic amplitude (up to 5000Hz) from the independent variables. A significant main effect was found for onset type and more specifically, a significant acoustic difference was found between the well-coordinated and coup de la glotte onsets. Substantial inconsistencies were found in the execution of the well-coordinated onset, as well as in participants' reported preferred onset compared to their baseline measurement of executed onset type. Intentional study of the phonatory …

Tommy Smith is considered by many to be one of the greatest jazz saxophonists not only in Scotland, but world-wide. Celebrated for his virtuosic performance skills, tremendous compositions, and prized albums in the jazz idiom, Smith has also had great success as a composer and performer of the classical genre. Fusing the styles of jazz and classical, he composed and recorded two sonatas, entitled, Sonata No. 1 - Hall of Mirrors and Sonata No 2. - Dreaming with Open Eyes, on his 1998 album, Gymnopédie: The Classical Side of Tommy Smith. Unique pieces, they are not considered standard repertoire in the classical saxophone world, however, they are welcomed, substantial works for either the soprano or tenor saxophone and piano. Composed in a classical style and performed with jazz inflections and improvisation, these sonatas are challenging pieces to learn and execute at a high level. For many classical saxophonists, improvising a cadenza or utilizing standard jazz performance techniques could dissuade them from performing these terrific, distinctive works. This study is intended to aid in the learning and presentation of these two pieces, and includes transcriptions from Tommy Smith's album, errata, and performance analyses for each sonata.