Healey Willan's Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue: English Style with German Overtones, with Three Recitals of Selected Works by L. Vierne, J.S. Bach, F. Mendelssohn, W. Piston, V. Persichetti and Others (open access)

Healey Willan's Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue: English Style with German Overtones, with Three Recitals of Selected Works by L. Vierne, J.S. Bach, F. Mendelssohn, W. Piston, V. Persichetti and Others

This document consists of the following elements: (1) an examination of Healey Willan's background in the English Cathedral tradition; (2) a study of the formation of his compositional style based on his knowledge of English composers and treatises of the day; (3) a look at the German influences on his compositional style; and (4) an analysis showing how he merged these styles into a unified whole to create a monumental work for the organ. Included are musical examples of English and German keyboard works compared with examples from Willan's introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in order to illustrate the use of similar compositional devices and stylistic traits. Also included is a discussion of the evidence of Willan's individuality as a composer in spite of numerous derivative sources.
Date: August 1998
Creator: Bedford, Don Michael
System: The UNT Digital Library
A performance analysis of Joseph Turrin's works for solo trumpet, a lecture recital, together with three recitals of selected works by J.S. Bach, E. Bloch, H. Tomasi and others (open access)

A performance analysis of Joseph Turrin's works for solo trumpet, a lecture recital, together with three recitals of selected works by J.S. Bach, E. Bloch, H. Tomasi and others

This study addresses on facet of Joseph Turrin's compositional oeuvre: his published works for solo trumpet. Complete histories if all six trumpet compositions are chronicles. A discussion of formal organization and significant style features including harmonic language, melodic style and rhythmic features is included. A detailed performance analysis follows. The degree of difficulty of each work is assessed through an investigation of tessitura, range, melodic contour, endurance factors, fingerings, and technical features of the accompaniment. Analysis of tempi and dynamics, articulation and phrasing, and timbral considerations provides additional points of focus to the study. Finally, the importance of Turrin's works for trumpet and his impact on trumpet literature is assessed. Idiomatic aspects of composition that make Turrin's music attractive to performers are investigated and discussed.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Korak, John
System: The UNT Digital Library
Paul Wittgenstein's Transcriptions for Left Hand: Pianistic Techniques and Performance Problems : A Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of R. Schumann, S. Prokofiev, F. Liszt, M. Ravel, and F. Chopin (open access)

Paul Wittgenstein's Transcriptions for Left Hand: Pianistic Techniques and Performance Problems : A Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of R. Schumann, S. Prokofiev, F. Liszt, M. Ravel, and F. Chopin

Paul Wittgenstein (1887-1961) made significant contributions to the piano literature for the left hand through numerous commissioned works as well as his own transcriptions. In the transcriptions, Wittgenstein preserved the texture of two-hand music, aiming for the simulation of the original works. This requires special techniques in the performance by the left hand alone. This dissertation investigations technical means and performance problems associated with the transcriptions as well as Wittgenstein's own recordings of selections from his works. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction, providing a historical overview of the role of the left hand in two-hand piano literature. Chapter 2 gives biological information on Paul Wittgenstein and discusses the commissioned works. Chapter 3 investigates special techniques in the transcriptions, in the areas of arpeggios, widespread chords, fingering, pedaling, and others. Chapter 4 discusses Wittgensteins's performance style based on his recordings. Chapter 5 presents a conclusion pointing to the benefits of performing left-hand music in two-hand piano playing.
Date: August 1999
Creator: Kong, Won-Young
System: The UNT Digital Library
The History of Horn Playing in Los Angeles from 1920 to 1970 : a Lecture Recital, Together With Three Recitals of Selected Works for Horn by M. Haydn, Franz, Britten, Mozart, Koetsier, Hindemith, Herzogenberg, Rossini, Stevens and others (open access)

The History of Horn Playing in Los Angeles from 1920 to 1970 : a Lecture Recital, Together With Three Recitals of Selected Works for Horn by M. Haydn, Franz, Britten, Mozart, Koetsier, Hindemith, Herzogenberg, Rossini, Stevens and others

The History of Horn Playing in Los Angeles from 1920 to 1970 begins with the horn players who played in the silent film orchestras and the Alfred Brain's tenure with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This study details the introduction of soundtracks, the early studio orchestras, the contract studio orchestras, the musician union's role in structuring the work environment, the horn players who played in both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the studios, major figures from the subsequent freelance period such as Vincent de Rosa, and the local and international influence of the Los Angeles Horn Club.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Hilliard, Howard (Howard Louis)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Trumpet in Selected Solo and Chamber Works of Paul Hindemith : Elements of Trumpet Technique and Their Relationship to the Gebrauchsmusik Concept, a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of J.N. Hummel, A. Jolivet, C. Chaynes, and Others (open access)

The Trumpet in Selected Solo and Chamber Works of Paul Hindemith : Elements of Trumpet Technique and Their Relationship to the Gebrauchsmusik Concept, a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of J.N. Hummel, A. Jolivet, C. Chaynes, and Others

The trumpet was one of the wind instruments Hindemith used frequently in his chamber music, and he employed it prominently in five works from 1925 to 1954. These works are the Sonate fur Trompete (1939), the Konzert fur Trompete in B und Fagott mit Streichorchester (1954), Drei Stucke (19251 the Septett fur Blasinstrumente (1949), and "Morgenmusik," from the collection Plöner Musiktag (1932). This study examines and compares Hindemith's writing for the trumpet in these selected works, noting features in his use of the instrument which determine the applicability of the works to the Gebrauchsmusik concept.
Date: August 1994
Creator: Bogard, Rick
System: The UNT Digital Library
The trumpet as a musical and dramatic element in selected operas of Gioachino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi: Its employment in on-stage and off-stage instrumental ensembles, a lecture recital, together with three recitals of selected works of J. G. B. Neruda, P. Hindemith, G. Antheil and others (open access)

The trumpet as a musical and dramatic element in selected operas of Gioachino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi: Its employment in on-stage and off-stage instrumental ensembles, a lecture recital, together with three recitals of selected works of J. G. B. Neruda, P. Hindemith, G. Antheil and others

The popularity of the miscellaneous wind bands in Italian society through the centuries, and the prominent use of the trumpet within these ensembles and as a solo instrument, become evident in the examination of the development of the banda sul palco (the band on stage) in Italian opera. Gioachino Rossini was the first to use the banda sul palco (stage band) with any regularity. Giovanni Paisiello, Giuseppe Gazzaniga, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart must be considered earlier contributors to the growing movement of using instrumental ensembles on stage.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Peters, Grant S. (Grant Shields)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Performer's Analysis of Benjamin Britten's Phaedra, Dramatic Cantata for Mezzo Soprano and Small Orchestra, op. 93: a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of H. Purcell, R. Schumann, R. Vaughan Williams, P. Tchaikovsky, G. Fauré, K. Löwe, G. Menotti, S. Barber and Others (open access)

A Performer's Analysis of Benjamin Britten's Phaedra, Dramatic Cantata for Mezzo Soprano and Small Orchestra, op. 93: a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of H. Purcell, R. Schumann, R. Vaughan Williams, P. Tchaikovsky, G. Fauré, K. Löwe, G. Menotti, S. Barber and Others

A little-known chamber work by Benjamin Britten is the dramatic cantata Phaedra, op.93, for mezzo-soprano and small orchestra. Among his chamber works, the solo cantata was a musical form used only once by Britten, thus making Phaedra unique among Britten's oeuvre. Britten chose a genre that flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the cantata - as a vehicle for the story of Phaedra. He employs clear allusions to Baroque music in Phaedra by the use of harpsichord and continuo in the recitatives, ornamentation, and word painting. The text for Britten's setting of Phaedra is a translation of Jean Racine's Phedre by the American poet Robert Lowell. From Lowell's complete play, Britten extracted Phaedra's key speeches that deal with her three confessions of incestuous love for her stepson, Hippolytus. These monologues are set in a series of recitatives and arias that make up the entirety of this chamber cantata. In order to gain complete understanding of Phaedra, this document will begin with an investigation into the historical background of Racine's Phedre and the conventions of French tragedy from which it arose. Lowell's translation method will then be explored in comparison to Racine's play. In turn, Britten's extractions from Lowell's translation …
Date: May 1999
Creator: Beard-Stradley, Cloyce (Cloyce May)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Epidemiological Survey of Musculoskeletal Pain Among a Self-Selected Population of Organists (open access)

An Epidemiological Survey of Musculoskeletal Pain Among a Self-Selected Population of Organists

The purpose of this study was to investigate problem areas of organists' performance as indicated by common experiences of pain. The research problems were to determine the specific areas of the body that were affected by pain, to determine the perceived level of that pain on a scale indicative of its severity, and to explore the relationship between demographic and performance-related factors within the population and specific area of reported pain. An examination of the demographic, performance-related, and pain data, as well as subject comments, indicated possible relationships of the pain experience to other factors. Organists attributed their pain to instrument characteristics, such as keyboard action, music rack height, bench design, and pedalboard shape. Pain was also associated with the time spent playing the organ, playing literature which required large reaches and rapid passage work, such as french toccatas, or playing with incorrect posture. To explore these relationships to spinal and upper extremity pain, further research is indicated.
Date: May 1998
Creator: Dillard, E. Margo (Edna Margo)
System: The UNT Digital Library
An investigation of the attitudes of selected professional classical solo singer-actors toward specific concerns of the music profession (open access)

An investigation of the attitudes of selected professional classical solo singer-actors toward specific concerns of the music profession

The purpose was to investigate attitudes of successful full-time performing classical singer-actors toward career concerns of the music profession. Five research problems were formulated to: (1) describe attitudes toward control of work conditions; (2) describe attitudes toward entrapment; (3) describe attitudes toward dependency; (4) report attitudes concerning current practices of training the solo singer; and (5) identify commonalities among the subjects regarding demographic, the attitudes described in problems one through four, and demeanor during the interviews.
Date: December 1990
Creator: VanEaton, Sunny F. C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Bohuslav Martinu: An Examination of Selected Chamber Music Involving the Clarinet (open access)

Bohuslav Martinu: An Examination of Selected Chamber Music Involving the Clarinet

The discussion dealt with stylistic influences, compositional techniques, and performance considerations of chamber music involving clarinet composed by Bohuslav Martinu and included a performance of three of his works: Quartet. for clarinet, horn, cello, and side drum, Madrigals for oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, and Sextet for flute, oboe, clarinet, two bassoons, and piano. The selections performed and discussed in the lecture show compositional growth of the composer through the three periods of his life in which he composed chamber music which included winds. These three time periods are 1923-40 during his residency in Paris, 1941-56 during his residency in the United States, and 1957 until his death in 1959 when he returned permanently to Europe.
Date: December 1997
Creator: Walzel, Robert L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Investigation on the Use of Verbal Communication and Vocal Performance During University-Level Applied Studio Voice Lessons (open access)

An Investigation on the Use of Verbal Communication and Vocal Performance During University-Level Applied Studio Voice Lessons

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of verbal communication and vocal performance during university-level applied studio voice lessons. Specific emphasis lay on the relationship between verbal communication, vocal performance, and instructional segments as defined by technical and song literature vocal repertoire.
Date: August 1991
Creator: Albrecht, Karen E. (Karen Elizabeth)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hearing History: Musical Borrowing in the Percussion Ensemble Works, Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music (open access)

Hearing History: Musical Borrowing in the Percussion Ensemble Works, Duo Chopinesque and Chameleon Music

Duo Chopinesque by Michael Hennagin and Chameleon Music by Dan Welcher represent two of the most significant percussion ensemble compositions written in the last twenty years. Both works are written for the mostly mallet type of percussion ensemble wherein the keyboard instruments predominate. However, the most unique aspect of these two pieces is their use of musical quotation. Duo Chopinesque borrows Chopin's Prelude in E minor in its entirety, while Chameleon Music borrows portions from four Mozart Sonatas. This paper places each work within the history of the percussion ensemble, and in the larger history of musical quotation in the twentieth century. In addition, the compositional characteristics of both works are examined with particular emphasis on each composer's use of borrowed material from the music of Mozart and Chopin. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between quoted material and newly composed rhythmic motives.
Date: December 1999
Creator: Fulton, Stephen L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Ralph Vaughan Williams: An Interpretive Analysis of Concerto for Bass Tuba (open access)

Ralph Vaughan Williams: An Interpretive Analysis of Concerto for Bass Tuba

An interpretive analysis of Ralph Vaughan Williams' Concerto for Bass Tuba which compares tempi, interpretation of the melodic line, ornamentation, dynamics, pitches, rhythms. phrasing and articulations as utilized by four prominent tuba performers. Performers selected to share their interpretations include Arnold Jacobs, Donald Little, Richard Nahatzki and Harvey Phillips. Little, Nahatzki and Phillips provided a copy of their solo parts with their personal markings. Jacobs gave permission to transcribe his interpretation from the recording he made with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Performers' biological information is included along with musical reviews of Concerto for Bass Tuba.
Date: December 1998
Creator: Fischer, Michael A. (Michael Alan)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Preferred Oboe Vibrato: An Analysis of Pitch Modulation and Intensity Level Modulation (open access)

The Preferred Oboe Vibrato: An Analysis of Pitch Modulation and Intensity Level Modulation

The purpose of this study was to determine the pitch and intensity level characteristics found in the vibrati of preferred oboe players whose vibrato was ranked by a panel of experts. The investigation also sought to discover factors that distinguish the preferred oboe vibrato from vibrato that is less preferred.
Date: December 1996
Creator: Remley, Jon Stephen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Content and Musical Language in the Piano Sonata of Sofia Gubaidulina, and Three Recitals with Works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy, and Rachmaninov (open access)

Content and Musical Language in the Piano Sonata of Sofia Gubaidulina, and Three Recitals with Works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Debussy, and Rachmaninov

Sofia Gubaidulina is one of the leading composers in the contemporary music world. Her compositional interests have been stimulated by the exploration of and improvisation with rare folk and ritual instruments, and by a deep-rooted belief in the mystical properties of music. Gubaidulina is the author of orchestral and choral works, compositions for solo instruments, chamber music, as well as electronics music. Gubaidulina's Piano Sonata sums up the composer's thinking within her piano music, and at the same time projects the development of her spiritual vision within other genres that are to come. The analytical approach in this paper is based on the correlation between each of the elements of the musical material (form, rhythm, sound, etc.) and its contextual meaning in terms of musical dramaturgy. Set-theory is applied to the analysis of motivic components of the work. The traditional form is just the basis for the original intonational structure within a modern musical idiom. Varieties of rhythmic patterns, as well as an unconventional sound production, make this work breath with an impetuous power. The examination of the Sonata's musical language and content should give some insight not only into Guabaidulina's piano music, but also into a consequent development of …
Date: December 1998
Creator: Ćojbašić, Ivana
System: The UNT Digital Library
Theobald Boehm and the History of the Alto Flute, Including the Facsimile Edition of His Arrangement of Beethoven's Largo From the Concerto for Piano, Op. 15, No. 1 for Alto Flute and Piano (C. 1858), With Three Recitals of Selected Works by Griffes, Telemann, Bartok, Jolivet, Gaubert and Others (open access)

Theobald Boehm and the History of the Alto Flute, Including the Facsimile Edition of His Arrangement of Beethoven's Largo From the Concerto for Piano, Op. 15, No. 1 for Alto Flute and Piano (C. 1858), With Three Recitals of Selected Works by Griffes, Telemann, Bartok, Jolivet, Gaubert and Others

An historical perspective of Theobald Boehm (1794-1881) and his design of the modem alto flute. Chapters I and II discuss the development of design, playing technique and repertoire of the ancestors of the modem alto flute beginning with the Renaissance consorts detailed in the treatises of Agricola, Praetorius and Mersenne, through the Baroqueflate d'amour and its use in the music of J.S. Bach, to Boehm's alto flute design (c. 1855) and its use in early twentieth-century orchestral and chamber repertoire such as Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps (1911), ending with specific aspects of contemporary alto flute design and manufacture since 1950, including the innovations of Dutch flutemaker Eva Kingma. Chapters III and IV concentrate on Boehm's mechanical and acoustical developments for the concert flute in C, the resulting modem alto flute in G, and his career as a virtuoso flutist, teacher, and composer. Chapter V is a critical commentary on Boehm's arrangement of Beethoven's Largo from the Concerto for Piano, Op. 15, No. 1 for alto flute and piano (c. 1858). Appendices A and B include the facsimile of the unpublished Largo manuscript and a list of Boehm's works for alto flute.
Date: May 1997
Creator: Redcay, Andrea
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Use of the Clarinet in Selected Viennese Operas, 1786-1791, With Three Recitals of Selected Works by Brahms, Muczynski, Benjamin, Widor, Hindemith, and Others (open access)

The Use of the Clarinet in Selected Viennese Operas, 1786-1791, With Three Recitals of Selected Works by Brahms, Muczynski, Benjamin, Widor, Hindemith, and Others

In an appendix section, three notable arias have been transcribed for two clarinets, voice, and piano. A further evaluation of Classical period opera orchestration will aid modern performers and musicologists in their understanding of what clarinets and clarinetists were able and expected to do.
Date: December 1997
Creator: Thrasher, Michael, 1972-
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Utilization of Folk Song Elements in Selected Works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger with Subsequent Treatment Exemplified in the Wind Band music of David Stanhope (open access)

The Utilization of Folk Song Elements in Selected Works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger with Subsequent Treatment Exemplified in the Wind Band music of David Stanhope

An examination of the utilization of folk song elements in the wind band music of Australian composer David Stanhope, represented in two movements ("Lovely Joan" and "Rufford Park Poachers") from his Folk Songs for Band. Sets 1 and 2. Included is an historical overview of English folk music, emphasizing the theoretical properties of the English folk song and the events surrounding the modern renaissance of British folk music. Background information related to the musical development of Vaughan Williams, Grainger, and Stanhope is provided, noting the influence of the folk idiom in their compositional styles and Grainger's influence on the music of David Stanhope. An historical account of the two folk songs examines the events and compositional procedures related to the inclusion of "Lovely Joan" in Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on Greensleeves. and Grainger's use of "Rufford Park Poachers" in Lincolnshire Posv. Emphasis is placed on the subsequent compositional treatment of the folk elements in Stanhope's wind band compositions. A detailed analysis of Stanhope's compositional style includes structural, harmonic, melodic, and historical considerations, while specifically illuminating his contemporary and innovative approaches to scoring and instrumentation.
Date: May 1996
Creator: Birdwell, John Cody
System: The UNT Digital Library
Parallels in the Development of Electronic and Percussion Music and an Examination of Performance Problems in Lejaren Hiller's Machine Music for Piano, Percussion and Two-Channel Tape Recorder with Three Recitals of Selected Works of Rolnick, Kessner, Xenakis, Winsor, Niimi, and Others (open access)

Parallels in the Development of Electronic and Percussion Music and an Examination of Performance Problems in Lejaren Hiller's Machine Music for Piano, Percussion and Two-Channel Tape Recorder with Three Recitals of Selected Works of Rolnick, Kessner, Xenakis, Winsor, Niimi, and Others

This study traces the significant developments in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries which led to the development of electronic music and increased writing for percussion. Whether by coincidence or premeditation, the field of percussion in Western culture and electronic music share many parallel aspects in their history. Carlos Chavez, Edgard Varese and John Cage foresaw a time when electronic music would allow composers to realize compositions with ease, provide new sounds to the spectrum of possible material for pieces and aid in the conception of works. Significantly, these same composers were important figures in the development of percussion composition. In many ways, Lejaren Hiller's Machine Music can be seen as a culmination of the developments which had been taking place in the history of electronic music and percussion music. A product of the innovations in both fields, it poses some formidable problems for the performers. This study will give some background into its composition, examine its structure and deal with its performance problems.
Date: May 1992
Creator: Smith, Jeffrey B., 1957-
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Survey of Singers: Is Mental Imagery Used in the Conceptualization of Pitch and Vowel? (open access)

A Survey of Singers: Is Mental Imagery Used in the Conceptualization of Pitch and Vowel?

Mental imagery is a common theme in research that clarifies how musical thought relates to musical performance. Unfortunately, minimal information exists regarding mental imagery and singers. The purpose of this study was to probe the role, if any, mental imagery plays in the conceptualization of pitch and vowel. By interviewing singers at differing levels of expertise, basic information was obtained about the mental processes used by singers. Through evaluations of the singers' mental processes, it was concluded that 95% of the singers in the study employed mental imagery. All singers described using kinesthetic imagery, while the majority implemented sensory and auditory imagery. Viso-spatial imagery was implemented among the more experienced singers. The majority of singers also reported: imaging pitch and vowel interactively; imaging from an internal perspective; and utilizing mental rehearsal. Less than half of the singers described using methods other than mental imagery to conceptualize pitch and vowel.
Date: December 1992
Creator: Moyer, Karen E. (Karen Elizabeth)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Selected Vocal Exercises and Their Relationship to Specific Laryngeal Conditions: a Description of Seven Case Studies (open access)

Selected Vocal Exercises and Their Relationship to Specific Laryngeal Conditions: a Description of Seven Case Studies

Good vocal health is a vital concern for those people who use the voice in a professional capacity, such as teachers, singers, actors, clergymen, and lawyers. Research in the area of vocal health reveals the need to determine if specific exercises are beneficial to the voice and if exercises used to train the singing voice might be beneficial to alleviate pathological and/or dysfunctional voice disorders. The purpose of this study was to describe the response of a variety of pathological voices to a selected set of singing exercises. Subjects were selected from the private practice of cooperating physicians who felt that the vocal instruction and exercise program might be helpful to the teachers, students, professional "pop" singers, and housewife-singers who were diagnosed to have muscle tension dysphonia, nodules, recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, or iatrogenic dysphonia. Instrumentation for assessing conditions before, during, and after exercise included a brief case history, subject interviews, attending physicians' medical charts, flexible fiberoptic video nasolaryngoscopy, video cassette recorder and video tape segments, three physician/observers, and a specific diagnostic procedure which provided a method of assessing organic, functional, and perceptual variables. For the exercise program the researcher chose seven vocalises from the routine designed by Allan R. …
Date: May 1990
Creator: Mathis, Barbara
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Case Study of Interpersonal Influences in a Band Music Setting: Bohumil Makovsky (1878-1950) and His Association with Selected Individuals Involved in Instrumental Music in the State of Oklahoma (open access)

A Case Study of Interpersonal Influences in a Band Music Setting: Bohumil Makovsky (1878-1950) and His Association with Selected Individuals Involved in Instrumental Music in the State of Oklahoma

The purpose of this study was to investigate the interpersonal influences which Bohumil Makovsky, Director of Bands and Chairman of the Music Department at Oklahoma A&M College from 1915 to 1943, had on his students and peers, as confirmed through the perceptions of selected individuals, and to determine what personal characteristics and means he drew upon to induce changes in his students and peers.
Date: May 1992
Creator: Dugger, Richard Charles
System: The UNT Digital Library