Like numerous other Baroque pieces, the Ciaccona attributed to Tomaso Antonio Vitali (1663-1745) was transformed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The German violinist and composer Ferdinand David (1810-1873) was the first to edit and publish the piece. The composition became popular after being included in the second volume of his Die Hohe Schule des Violinspiels [The Advanced Method of Violin Playing] (c.1867). Since then, Vitali Ciaccona became an essential work in the violin repertoire and is often heard in concert halls. However, what many audiences hear in concerts is essentially an arrangement of the Ciaccona. Acknowledging the "double life" of the piece as both Baroque and Romantic, this dissertation examines the advantages and disadvantages of playing the Ciaccona attributed to Vitali on both the Baroque and modern violins.

Unlike most other musicians, pianists need to play by memory during their recitals, juries, etc. Doing so can greatly influence the intensity and frequency of anxiety due to potential memory slips when performing. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between memory strategies, experiences with memory lapses, and performance anxiety among classical pianists. The specific aims of the study are to: (1) characterize demographics, performance practices, and memorization strategies used by college-level pianists; (2) assess experiences of performance anxiety and the influence of performance anxiety on memory lapses; (3) examine the relationships between demographics, performance practices, and memorization strategies; and (4) suggest various memorization strategies that might be useful intervention to overcome memory lapses. To examine participants' awareness and perception, a survey was conducted via invitation of participation from music schools and piano groups on social media, and the useable collected data came from 162 respondents. The results disclosed that pianists' awareness of memory strategies and performance anxiety were significantly correlated. It showed a relationship between knowledge of memory strategies and frequency of performance anxiety within their musical experiences.

Paul Schoenfeld (b. 1947) is considered one of the major American composers of the present day to have incorporated many different styles in his music. Although Schoenfeld primarily uses a combination of folk, popular music, klezmer, and jazz in most of his compositions, he has also incorporated other distinctive musical styles in his works, such as neo-Baroque, particularly in his Partita for Violin and Piano (2002). The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the eclectic combination of neo-Baroque and klezmer elements found in Schoenfeld's Partita. This research provides a detailed comparative analysis of his work with Johann Sebastian Bach's Clavier-Übung I, BWV 825–830, and 6 Sei Solo a Violino senza Basso accompagnato, BWV 1001–1006, primarily to see how Schoenfeld made use of Baroque forms, imitative passages, rhythms, and other stylistic features, then fused them with klezmer elements. Klezmer is a genre of music stemming from the Eastern European Jewish tradition; its distinctive characteristics are modal scales and Hasidic vocal ornaments. Knowing the mixture of Baroque and klezmer stylistic influences should help performers to interpret the piece.

Isang Yun (1917-1995), one of the most important avant-garde German-Korean composers, is perhaps best known for his success at integrating Korean musical elements into traditional Western styles. His Concerto for Oboe, Oboe d'amore, and Orchestra incorporates many traditional Korean elements, and uses techniques such as Hauptton, Hauptklang, and Umspielung to blend these elements into a Western musical style. This study explores the elements of traditional Korean music and instruments present in Yun's score, examines his compositional techniques, and makes practical performance suggestions that allow performers to properly convey his intentions. This dissertation includes six chapters. The first chapter discusses the purpose and importance of the study. The second chapter reviews Isang Yun's biography and works, based on a published interview with Yun and a biography written by his wife of many years. The third chapter introduces the characteristics of traditional Korean woodwind instruments relevant to the work. The fourth chapter examines Yun's compositional techniques of Hauptton, Hauptklang, and Umspielung in the work and their relationship with the main-tone and Sigimsae techniques. The fifth chapter introduces and explores different types of Sigimsae in the work, with suggestions for quarter-tone performance techniques. The sixth and last chapter is a conclusion.

In this memoir, I use the elements and conventions of creative nonfiction to examine particular strands of my experience for significance. Initiated as an inquiry into my father's suicide, this book quickly shifted focus, re-centering around my own development as an individual, a woman, and a writer. Both my father's suicide and the subsequent birth of my daughter serve as focal points for this inquiry, which I use to articulate and explore questions related to identity development, male-female relationships and gender roles, female sexuality, mental illness, trauma, loss, grief, and the inheritance of intergenerational traumas. In places, my investigation also broadens to consider the social, economic, and cultural contexts in which my story, and my family's story, have taken place. My goal in writing this book was to reclaim something of value from a series of personal and familial tragedies and triumphs. I believe that the act of using tragedy as raw material for a new creation is in itself an act of hope. By bearing witness—both to the events that have occurred, and to my personal experience of these events—I see myself as contributing to a larger human project. Every contribution to this project, whether technological innovation or philosophical …