The purpose of this thesis is to discuss the changes and developments of the accompanied solo song throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, including instrument usage and song types.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of choral blend through acoustical analysis of individual vocal sounds. One aspect of the study involved identifying and comparing the acoustical qualities of sounds produced in the usual solo manner and sounds produced by the same singers attempting to blend with a unison ensemble. Another aspect of the study involved identifying and comparing the acoustical qualities of vocal sounds identified as blending well and poorly with a unison ensemble. Singers attempting to blend adjust their overall intensity not only to affect the perceived loudness of their tones, but also to facilitate other acoustical changes which are helpful for achieving blend. Vocal blend apparently may be achieved more readily on vowels having few upper partials than on vowels having numerous upper partials. Where vibrato is employed, certain vocal sounds can achieve a good blend even though their fundamental frequencies only approximate the theoretically correct frequency. There apparently is an interaction between the vibrato of a vocal tone and its spectral features, making it advantageous for the singer to adopt mutually beneficial approaches to both factors in order to blend. Vowel modification effective for achieving vocal blend- -at least for sopranos-- appears …

This investigation surveys pertinent literature, from 1917 to 1982 inclusive, regarding artistic vibrato and tremolo in singing. The contents are subdivided into individual investigative reports by various vocal researchers. Due to mounting confusion within the amassed literature, the need for systematic organization and evaluation is evident. Misunderstandings within the context of the literature and misnomers within the terminology require clarification and resolution. The evaluation intends to produce a proper perspective on vibrato and tremolo, eradicating some of the confusion surrounding the terms. Artistic vibrato is recognized as a desirable component in Western vocal music. In contrast, tremolo is deemed a deviant vibrato, i.e., a vibrato which deviates from artistic norms. The study attempts to clarify the distinguishing traits of these two vocal phenomena.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the bands of the armies of the Confederate States of America. This study features appendices of libraries and archives collections visited in ten states and Washington D.C., and covers all known Confederate bands. Some scholars have erroneously concluded that this indicated a lack of available primary source materials that few Confederate bands served the duration of the war. The study features appendices of libraries and archives collections visited in ten states and Washington, D.C., and covers all known Confederate bands. There were approximately 155 bands and 2,400 bandsmen in the service of the Confederate armies. Forty bands surrendered at Appomattox and many others not listed on final muster rolls were found to have served through the war. While most Confederate musicians and bandsmen were white, many black musicians were regularly enlisted soldiers who provided the same services. A chapter is devoted to the contributions of black Confederate musicians.

The selected works by the composers studied in this thesis might well stand as illustrative of the normal development of the use of the bass trombone near the close of the nineteenth century. Although notable progress was made by the cited composers in increasing the bass trombone's usefulness in the orchestra, each composer also continued to use the bass trombone as it had been used in previous years, such as in doubling bass parts, harmonic backgrounds, and for strong rhythmic punctuations.

The research problems of this dissertation were: 1) A description of the perceived value of music in light of political undercurrents in Boston prior to and during the years under investigation, and 2) the profile of the constituency of the Boston School Committee and Committee on Music in 1837 and 1845. Questions addressed the effect of religious and moral concerns of the day on the decision by the School Committee in 1837 to try music in the curriculum, and the possible effect of religious politics on Lowell Mason's dismissal from the schools in 1845. In the minds of mid-nineteenth century Bostonians, religious and moral values were intrinsic to the very nature of music. Key members on the School Committee portrayed music as being spiritual yet nonsectarian in its influence. Therefore, the findings suggest that music was believed to provide common ground between opposing and diverse religious sects. Reasons given for Mason's dismissal by John Sargent, a member of the Committee on Music, showed parallels to H. W. Day's accusations in the press a year earlier that Mason had managed his position in a sectarian manner. Sargent's background supports the theory that religious politics were at work in Mason's dismissal. Although …

The lecture recital was given January 31, 1971. A discussion of Bartok's Out of Doors, a suite consisting of five movements entitled "With Drums and Pipes," "Barcarolla," "Musettes," "The Night's Music," and "The Chase" included biographical material, general analysis of Bartok's musical style, and specific analysis of the suite itself. The suite was then performed by memory. In addition to the lecture recital three other public recitals were performed. Two of these consisted entirely of solo literature for the piano, and the other was a vocal chamber music recital. The first solo recital was on June 7, 1970, and included works of Alfredo Casella, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, and Bartok. Part of the preparation included the writing of program notes of a historical and analytical nature.The other solo program, on July 5, 1971, consisted entirely of twentieth-century works by George Rochberg, Sergei Prokofieff, and Maurice Ravel. The chamber music recital was performed with a visiting soprano, Jane Paul, on February 28, 1971. Emphasis was given to German Lieder by Schumann, Joseph Marx, and Alban Berg, but Spanish songs of the Renaissance, by Juan del Encina and Fuenllana, as well as a modern English song cycle by Peter Warlock were also programmed.

The London British Museum Manuscript Additional 35087, hereafter referred to as London Add. 35087, is an important parchment manuscript in large octavo choirbook arrangement from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Its measurements are 19.4 x 29.3 centimeters. The manuscript contains ninety-five folios and one stub where a leaf has been torn out (f. 4).1 The last composition in the manuscript is incomplete, which indicates that one leaf is lacking at the end (f. 96). Two sets of foliation are shown: the original Roman and a more recent Arabic. Both are placed in the upper right hand corner of folio recto. The sets agree in folios 4-93. Folios 1 and 2 show no Roman figures now; folio 3 has "ii," and therefore the missing leaf probably had "iii." The Arabic numbering does not account for this missing leaf. This folio might have been assigned "4," but this number is given on the next complete leaf to coincide with the Roman "iiii." At the end, by mistake, folio 94 has "xciii" and folio 95 has "xciiii."

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of guided musical analysis and guided attention to textual understanding on the speed of solo memorization by selected university vocal students. The guided musical analysis consisted of instruction to a subject regarding the melodic elements, rhythmic elements, phraseology, form, and key relationships of the experimental songs. The guided attention to textual understanding consisted of instruction to a subject regarding the meaning and phraseology of the experimental song texts. Subjects were required to rhythmically scan the texts in a declamatory manner. It was concluded that the three conditions of memorization were equally effective. Memorization rates were not significantly altered by historical period of song. Differences in memorization rates appeared to parallel the subjects' academic performances and their performances on the Drake Musical Aptitude Tests. Findings of this study indicated that future memorization experiments should be conducted with larger samples of subjects of a single sex who are music majors.

The comparison of structural and formal traits in the concert grossi of Corelli's Opus VI and Vivaldi's Opus III will proceed in the following manner: first, the cycle as a whole will be taken up; next, the individual movements will be considered. Finally, in each instance of comparison, Corelli's music will be dealt with first.

The purpose of this study was to compare major theories of laryngeal vibration. The basic hypothesis of the study was that the differences and similarities between the major theories of laryngeal vibration could be made evident and clear through a comparative study. It was assumed that there are two or more theories of laryngeal vibration and that all the major theories of laryngeal vibration from 1945 to the present have been described in written form in English.

Serge Koussevitzky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1924-1949, had, throughout his career, a reputation as a champion of modern music. The anticipation of his arrival in Boston in 1924 sparked a great deal of public debate about his reported modernism which the critics reflected and contributed to. This thesis analyzes the critical reaction, preserved in scrapbooks of newspaper clippings at Symphony Hall, Boston, to Koussevitzky's programming of contemporary music during his first five years with the BSO.

This thesis treats Daniel Read's music analytically to establish style characteristics. Read's fuging tunes are examined for metric placement and structural occurrence of dissonance, and dissonance as text painting. Read's comments on dissonance are extracted from his tunebook introductions. A historical chapter includes the English origins of the fuging tune and its American heyday. The creative life of Daniel Read is discussed. This thesis contributes to knowledge of Read's role in the development of the New England Psalmody idiom. Specifically, this work illustrates the importance of understanding and analyzing Read's use of dissonance as a style determinant, showing that Read's dissonance treatment is an immediate and central characteristic of his compositional practice.

The purpose of this thesis is to give a descriptive look at modern Russian music, specifically the early piano sonatas of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, with focus on style and style influences.

The present study sought to confirm melodic expectancy patterns discovered in a previous investigation and to determine whether data would be affected by altering the rhythmic condition of the stimuli. The three problems of this investigation were to study expectancies generated by two-note stimulus intervals of equal duration; the expectancies generated by stimulus intervals presented with a long-short rhythm; and the expectancies generated by stimulus intervals presented with a short-long rhythm. Fifty subjects were asked to sing what they believed would be the natural continuation of the melody begun by a two-note stimulus interval. The stimulus intervals were grouped in rhythmic sets, one set of neutral-rhythm stimuli, one set of long-short stimuli, and one set of short-long stimuli. The interval from the second note of the stimulus interval to the first sung note was transcribed as the generated expectancy response interval. The data were examined in two basic ways, using response data as a whole and examining data for each stimulus interval separately. A third method of data evaluation concerned harmonic triads occurring in the response data. Both when considering response frequency as a whole, and when considering response data separately for each melodic beginning, no significant difference associated with …

In music, the term verismo usually refers to a realistic or naturalistic movement in Italian operas of the late nineteenth century. From the dawn of Italian opera four features have been manifested--umanita (humanism), sincerity (sincerity), passione (passion), effetto (not only theatrical effect but the supreme dramatic moment). The elements of verismo are among the characteristics present in the operas of Giuseppe Verdi where they reached a zenith of development. It is upon these veristic aspects, as identified in the second chapter, that the operas Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci were based. Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata richly exhibit these elements of verismo which have been identified in the fourth chapter.

Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942) was a Czechoslovakian musician born in Prague, to a German-Jewish family, and whose life came to a premature end in 1942 at the Wülzburg concentration camp, near Weißenburg, Bavaria. Schulhoff’s life, compositional style, and two of his flute works are addressed in this dissertation: Sonata for flute and pianoforte, WV 86, and Concertino for Flute, Viola, and Double Bass, WV 75. Each work is considered as a discrete entity, and insight provided into the structure of the music; stylistic and compositional influences, form, phrase structure, and other aspects are discussed. The intended audience is the flutist seeking knowledge regarding the historical significance and performance of each piece. The analysis and summary of Schulhoff’s life and primary flute works will contribute to the understanding of performance scholarship of his music and provide a deeper understanding of the composer, from the perspective of musical and compositional style.

The purpose of this thesis is to show through the presentation and analysis of authoritative information, and opinions drawn from the information and analysis, the development of violin technique from its basic rudiments as an accompanying instrument to the plane of a brilliant solo instrument, a position it still maintains today. This thesis aims to deal exclusively with the technical evolution of the violin. Many books on the history of the violin have been written, but none have dealt exclusively with the technical evolution of this instrument, and it is hoped that the materials in this thesis will constitute a contribution to this field.

Introduction -- The structure of Bartók's music: Basic tonal principles, Formal principles, Harmony -- Analysis of the Fugues: The subject, The answer, The countersubject, Overall organization of the Fugues -- Conclusion.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the multi-sensory responses of children to symbolizing musical sound through speech rhythm patterns. Speech rhythm patterns consist of the number of syllables and the stress/nonstress relationships of these syllables in a word or a phrase. The research problems were (1) to determine children's responses to speech rhythm patterns according to the differential sensory modes used; (2) to determine the children's responses to speech rhythm patterns by age, and (3) to compare children's responses to speech rhythm patterns by age and sensory modes.

Benjamin Keach (1640-1704) was a seventeenth-century preacher and hymn writer. He is considered responsible for the introduction and continued use of hymns, as distinct from psalms and paraphrases, in the English Nonconformist churches in the late seventeenth century, and is remembered as the provider of a well-rounded body of hymns for congregational worship. This thesis reviews the historical climate of seventeenth-century England, and discusses Keach's life in terms of that background. Keach's influence on congregational hymn singing, hymn writers, preaching, and education is also examined. Keach's writings and contributions to hymn singing are little known today. This thesis points out the significance of these writings and hymns to seventeenth-century religious life.

The subject of the present study, Florence, Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica Luigi Cherubini, MS Basevi 2439, abbreviated Florence 2439,1 contains secular and sacred vocal music of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, with texts in French, Dutch, Italian, and Latin.

The musical compositions known collectively as the French cantata have remained relatively unknown since their popularity waned in the middle of the 18th century. In order to establish a foundation for their systematic study and to bring them to the attention of a wider audience, this survey and catalog have been prepared. The cultural mileu in which the cantatas were written, their formal structure, and principles related to their performance have been presented along with pertinent biographical and bibliographical information.

The purpose of this study is to provide a guide for the instruction of a trumpet mariachi performance ensemble in a music curriculum. The fulfillment of this purpose is dependent upon the data supplied in answer to the sub problems: (1) What socio-cultural information provides authentic trumpet mariachi music; (2) What trumpet mariachi literature illustrates the repertoire and style; (3) What instructional source materials may be developed such that Mexican American and non-Mexican American instructors build a competency in repertoire and style; (4) How could this guide be evaluated in its functional design for a music curriculum? The data collected for use in this study has been presented in three major categories: (1) the history and milieu in which the trumpet, mariachi crystalized; (2) the repertoire--its history and function in Mexican society and the transcriptions of types demonstrating the musical structure; and (3) the technical information relative to the instruction of the particular mariachi instruments. An evaluative instrument has been supplied in an attempt to establish the validity of the information and examples provided in this practicum. The validity of the research seems to rest on its authenticity and its serviceability. The findings of this study are stated as assertions …