Uncovering Aspects of Western and Indian Music in Vanraj Bhatia's Night Music for Solo Flute, and Selected Other Works (open access)

Uncovering Aspects of Western and Indian Music in Vanraj Bhatia's Night Music for Solo Flute, and Selected Other Works

Born in 1927 in Bombay, Vanraj Bhatia is an Indian composer of music for concerts, film, television, opera, meditation, and commercial jingles. His musical style is unique, stemming from his training in both Western and North Indian classical, or Hindustani, music. Little is known about Vanraj Bhatia in the Western classical world, and in India he is recognized primarily as a composer of film music. This dissertation aims to bring awareness of Vanraj Bhatia's significance as a Western classical composer, focusing on uncovering the cross-cultural influences of his only solo flute piece, Night Music, composed in 1964. This research offers Western flutists a better understanding of Indian music, specifically Hindustani and Indian folk music traditions, often not fully understood since Indian music is an aural tradition, rarely transcribed and notated, and relies on a guru/shishya (teacher/student) relationship. Such an understanding will elucidate the compositional choices made in Night Music, allowing flutists to be more informed in their performance of it. Although the focus of this study is on Night Music, other repertoire from Bhatia's concert music and film music will also be examined to illuminate Bhatia's compositional style, which includes elements of Hindustani music, Indian folk music, and Western musical …
Date: August 2018
Creator: Woolf, Rachel, 1988-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Expanding the Violin's Possibilities in Chinese Music: A Case Study of Transcription and Performance Issues Related to Pipa Music Played on the Violin (open access)

Expanding the Violin's Possibilities in Chinese Music: A Case Study of Transcription and Performance Issues Related to Pipa Music Played on the Violin

In recent years, a large part of the erhu's repertoire has been arranged for performance on the violin and vice versa. Given the difficulties involved in transcribing the music of plucked or woodwind instruments for the violin, the erhu has been the most popular choice for transcribing Chinese music for the violin. However, the erhu and violin are radically dissimilar instruments based on different principles. Pipa music is an essential part of traditional Chinese music from as early as 202 BCE, and the instrument's repertoire represents a large portion of East Asian music aesthetics, and this context should be considered to successfully transcribe pipa music for violin. This dissertation talks briefly about Chinese music history and its categories and also focuses on the history and development of the pipa as well as its repertoire categories to provide context for the following musical examples. I use existing transcription examples from different categories of pipa music as an avenue to discuss how to transcribe pipa music for the violin. Even though the violin has some limitations for use as a plucked instrument, the instrument can still make use of several different kinds of techniques in order to play the music in a …
Date: August 2018
Creator: Wang, Tracy (Chun-Chia)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Contemporary Bassoonist: Music for Interactive Electroacoustics and Bassoon (open access)

The Contemporary Bassoonist: Music for Interactive Electroacoustics and Bassoon

As the bassoon has evolved over time, the music written for the instrument has evolved around it, and was many times the catalyst for its evolution. Bassoon music of the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries has defined much of the curricula for bassoon studies, and has established how we consider and experience the bassoon. We experience, write, and consume music in vastly different ways than just a generation ago. Humans use technology for the most basic of tasks. Composers are using the technology of our generation to compose music that is a reflection of our time. This is a significant aspect of art music today, and bassoonists are barely participating in the creation of this new repertoire. Performance practice often considers only the musical score; interactive electronic music regularly goes beyond that. The combination of technological challenges and inexperience can make approaching electroacoustic music a daunting and inaccessible type of music for bassoonists. These issues require a different language to the performance practice: one that addresses music, amplification, computer software, hardware, the collaboration between performer and technology, and often the performer and composer. The author discusses problems that performers face when rehearsing and performing interactive electroacoustic works for bassoon, and …
Date: May 2016
Creator: Masone, Jolene
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Evolving Role of the Solo Euphonium in Orchestral Music: An Analysis of Lorin Maazel's "Music for Flute and Orchestra with Tenor Tuba Obbligato" and Karl Jenkins' "Cantata Memoria" (open access)

The Evolving Role of the Solo Euphonium in Orchestral Music: An Analysis of Lorin Maazel's "Music for Flute and Orchestra with Tenor Tuba Obbligato" and Karl Jenkins' "Cantata Memoria"

The euphonium has been an integral part of wind bands and brass bands for more than a century. During this time the instrument has grown in stature in both types of band, as an ensemble member and a solo instrument. Until recently, however, the instrument has been underrepresented in orchestral literature, although a growing number of composers are beginning to appreciate the characteristics of the instrument. The purpose of this research is to explore the perceived rise of the euphonium in an orchestral environment through analyzing the significance of the role it plays within Lorin Maazel's Music for Flute with Tenor Tuba Obbligato (1995) and Karl Jenkins' Cantata Memoria (2005); specifically, how the euphonium contributes to the orchestral scores in relation to its capabilities as an instrumental voice.
Date: August 2020
Creator: Kittaweepitak, Boonyarit
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Survey of Selected, Original Chamber Music for Saxophone with Diverse Instruments by Marilyn Shrude (open access)

A Survey of Selected, Original Chamber Music for Saxophone with Diverse Instruments by Marilyn Shrude

Marilyn Shrude is a champion for contemporary concert music. Throughout her career, she has written multiple works including the saxophone that utilize its unique timbre. Atonality is a chief characteristic of her compositional style. Her contributions to the saxophone repertoire include solos, duos with piano, chamber works, quartets and larger works with band. This study surveys five chamber pieces that include saxophone with diverse instruments written by Marilyn Shrude. The pieces includes are Splintered Visions (1985), Notturno: In Memorium Toru Takemitsu (1996), Transparent Eyes (2000), Face of the Moon (2000) and Within Silence (2012). The analysis of each work includes information pertaining to the creation of cohesion and atonality throughout the piece.
Date: August 2016
Creator: Wright, Andrew (Saxophonist)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Historical Significance of the Compositions for Clarinet by Nguyen Phuc Linh in Vietnamese Instrumental Music (open access)

The Historical Significance of the Compositions for Clarinet by Nguyen Phuc Linh in Vietnamese Instrumental Music

The document provides an annotated bibliography of the compositions for clarinet by Dr. Nguyen Phuc Linh, one of Vietnam's foremost contemporary classical musician. Brief biography of Nguyen and his music aesthetic are also included. The dissertation also provides an overview of Vietnamese music and instrumental music.
Date: December 2020
Creator: Trần, Quang (Trần Khánh Quang)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Saxophone Music of Pierre-Philippe Bauzin: A Survey of Original Compositions and Rediscovery of Lost Works (open access)

The Saxophone Music of Pierre-Philippe Bauzin: A Survey of Original Compositions and Rediscovery of Lost Works

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin (1933-2005) was a skilled keyboard performer, improviser, and composer. By way of his close personal friendship with renowned saxophonist Jean-Marie Londeix, Bauzin began dedicating, composing, and often times performing music for saxophone with Londeix, beginning in 1959. The results of this friendship produced eleven original works for saxophone with diverse instrumentation, ranging from solo compositions to large ensembles. Due to Bauzin's preference for improvising the piano accompaniments of his music on each performance, however, a majority of his compositions were thought to be incomplete or lost. This study surveys Bauzin's complete opus for saxophone by way of both his published works, and the author's rediscovery of the manuscripts to these previously assumed lost compositions for saxophone. The pieces studied are Sonata no. 1 (1959), Poème (1960), Cinq Pièces Breves en Forme de Musique (1960), Esquisses (1967), Divertimento (1968), and Quatuor no. 1 (1962). In addition, chapter 8 provides information regarding other compositions for saxophone by Bauzin that did not survive in their completed form. The survey of each work contains information pertaining to creation, performances of significance in saxophone history, and compositional techniques present within each work that can be used to identify the components of Bauzin's unique …
Date: May 2019
Creator: Murphy, Sean (Saxophonist)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Drum Music: A Performance Guide and Discussion of John Mackey's Influential Concerto for the Modern Percussionist (open access)

Drum Music: A Performance Guide and Discussion of John Mackey's Influential Concerto for the Modern Percussionist

John Mackey is an influential and prolific composer of wind band literature. His focus on and exploration of the percussion section are defining characteristics of his compositional voice. Mackey's concerto for percussion and wind band, "Drum Music," is a perfect example of his exploitation of the myriad timbres available within the percussion family, and also serves to showcase the versatility required of a modern percussionist. This dissertation and accompanying lecture recital provide a comprehensive guide for performers of the work. Major aspects of Mackey's compositional approach are discussed with emphasis placed on his use of percussion throughout his works. Analysis and performance concerns are discussed for each of the concertos three movements, and information is provided on the reduced version of the work prepared as part of this study.
Date: August 2017
Creator: McWilliams, Chris
System: The UNT Digital Library
Addressing Technical and Musical Demands of Contemporary Music for Horn through Newly-Composed Etudes (open access)

Addressing Technical and Musical Demands of Contemporary Music for Horn through Newly-Composed Etudes

Contemporary music for horn often requires techniques and musical or notational considerations that are unconventional with respect to the standard pedagogy of the instrument. As such, these considerations often represent a level of challenge to which the average-intermediate to advanced-hornist is unprepared to approach or altogether unfamiliar. The most prominent of these demands arising in the last few decades of the twentieth century through today include microtonality (such as extended just intonation and quarter tones), extended techniques in combination or juxtaposition (such as multiphonics and right hand technique), rhythmic complexity (including metric modulation, non-dyadic meters, additive rhythms, and nested tuplets), and unconventional notations (graphic, spatial, and other temporal notations). This document first surveys the challenges of the repertoire in question, which includes works by György Ligeti, Thea Musgrave, Milton Babbitt, Brian Ferneyhough, Iannis Xenakis, Heinz Holliger, and Douglas Hill, among others. After considering the merits and limitations of existing pedagogical materials that work towards these ends, the document then underlines a strategic pedagogical goal for understanding and approaching unconventional contemporary repertoire through newly-composed etudes. This document is written in conjunction with and justification for the author's 24 Unconventional Etudes for Horn, and includes examples therefrom.
Date: August 2019
Creator: Hessel, Eric
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Survey of Solo, Chamber Music and Orchestral Excerpts Selected and Organized Pedagogically for the Intermediate Cellist (open access)

A Survey of Solo, Chamber Music and Orchestral Excerpts Selected and Organized Pedagogically for the Intermediate Cellist

The use of orchestral excerpts from standard music repertoire as a pedagogical means has been adopted by many instrumental pedagogues to train the advanced instrumentalist. This dissertation presents an innovative idea among the excerpt tradition by drawing excerpts from solo, chamber music and orchestral music to function as etudes for the intermediate level cellist. 320 music excerpts are drawn and organized under the headings of different technical categories in order to train the techniques within the context of quality music. The purpose of the dissertation is to introduce the young player to the concept that techniques and musical expression are not two separated entities, rather, techniques serve as a medium to convey the music.
Date: August 2019
Creator: Zhou, Lejing, 1986-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Benjamin Britten's Neglected "Gemini Variations," Op. 73 and Its Place in the Chamber Music Repertoire (open access)

Benjamin Britten's Neglected "Gemini Variations," Op. 73 and Its Place in the Chamber Music Repertoire

In 1964, Benjamin Britten met the multi-instrumentalist twins Zoltán and Gábor Jeney while traveling in Budapest. At their behest, Britten composed Gemini Variations: Twelve Variations and Fugue on an Epigram by Kodály, a work which exploited the brothers' abilities on multiple instruments: Zoltán on flute and piano, and Gábor on violin and piano. In foreseeing the difficulties of programming this work, Britten simultaneously arranged a version for four players: flute, violin, and four-hand piano, eliminating the need for switching instruments. Despite this arrangement, as well as a very public and highly anticipated premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1965, Gemini Variations has remained neglected by performers and scholars alike. This document serves to 1) promote a work that can justifiably be considered as part of the chamber music repertoire involving flute; 2) advocate for its musical merit and appropriateness for chamber music concerts made up of more traditional groups of players; 3) compare the two-player and four-player versions Britten wrote; and 4) explore the likely reasons why a piece by one of the most celebrated composers of the twentieth century has remained largely ignored for over fifty years.
Date: May 2020
Creator: Gibb, Charles, 1991-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Traditional Korean Music in Contemporary Context: A Performance Guide to Gideon Gee Bum Kim's Kangkangsullae (open access)

Traditional Korean Music in Contemporary Context: A Performance Guide to Gideon Gee Bum Kim's Kangkangsullae

Gideon Gee Bum Kim is an internationally-acclaimed contemporary Korean-Canadian composer. Kim has utilized traditional Korean music with Western composition techniques in some of his works. Kim created his own style by incorporating traditional Korean musical elements such as the scale, rhythmic diversity, syncopation, variation, ornamentation, and the progression of melody into a body of music that is otherwise contemporary and Western. The purpose of this study is to develop a performance guide for Gideon Gee Bum Kim's Kangkangsullae for string trio. Kangkangsullae trio is based on Korean historical, cultural and musical influences. I give a detailed historical and cultural background for this work and demonstrate how Kim integrated Western compositional techniques with traditional Korean music. My emphasis is on defining specific characteristics of traditional Korean music which will provide several points toward understanding Kim's compositional style.
Date: May 2018
Creator: Lee, Hyejin
System: The UNT Digital Library
John Playford's The Division Violin: Improvisation and Variation Practice in English Violin Music of the Seventeenth Century (open access)

John Playford's The Division Violin: Improvisation and Variation Practice in English Violin Music of the Seventeenth Century

English publisher John Playford (1623-1686/1687) first published his "The Division Violin: Containing a Collection of Divisions Upon Several Grounds for the Treble-Violin" in 1684. The first edition of this violin collection contains 26 written-out examples of improvisation, serving as a living snapshot of the performance practice of the time. This research is based on the second edition, which Playford had expanded into 30 pieces for the violin, published in 1685. The purpose of this study is to investigate the art of improvisation in England during the late 17th century, focusing on Playford's "The Division Violin." The dissertation first surveys the development of English violin music in the 17th century. Then, the dissertation traces eight selected 16th-century Italian diminution manuals. This will help readers understand the progression of the Italian diminution and improvisation practice in the 16th century and how it relates to the English division of the 17th century. Finally, based on a thorough research of the 17th-century improvisatory style and rhetorical approach, the author of this study provides performance suggestions on "Mr. Farinell's Ground," No. 5 from "The Division Violin."
Date: August 2017
Creator: Chan, Tzu-Ying
System: The UNT Digital Library
Commissioning Music for Trombone and Percussion: A Collaboration Between Composer and Performer with an Accompanying Survey of Trombone and Percussion Repertoire (open access)

Commissioning Music for Trombone and Percussion: A Collaboration Between Composer and Performer with an Accompanying Survey of Trombone and Percussion Repertoire

The repertoire for trombone and percussion has grown in popularity since the later 1980s. There are currently more than 110 pieces written for the ensemble. This project follows the commissioning and collaboration of Dr. Blake Tyson, Professor of Percussion at the University of Central Arkansas and well known percussion composer, in the creation of a new piece for trombone and percussion. The project also created a survey of works for trombone and percussion duet that includes 32 works. The survey includes details such as specific percussion instrumentation range, tessitura, grade level, publisher, and a description of each piece.
Date: December 2016
Creator: Cook, Justin Hastings
System: The UNT Digital Library
Antonio María Valencia's "Dúo en forma de sonata": An International Approach to Colombian National Music (open access)

Antonio María Valencia's "Dúo en forma de sonata": An International Approach to Colombian National Music

Antonio María Valencia (1902-1952) was one of the leading Colombian composers, pianists, and educators of his generation. His Dúo en forma de sonata (1926) for violin and piano serves as an early example of the composer's aesthetic. According to the programmatic description he sent to his mother, the Dúo depicts Valencia's "indelible impressions" of his homeland. Through structural and harmonic analysis, I examine the piece in relation to the composer's informal programmatic description. The analysis argues that the work poetically re-creates the landscape of Valencia's birthplace region through an international language, devoid of Colombian folk rhythms and melodies. Valencia proposes a different perspective on Colombian music as an alternative to the use of folk-based music elements that were predominant to Colombian music during his lifetime.
Date: May 2023
Creator: Villamil Gómez, Diego Esteban
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Worlds Beyond": A Stylistic Analysis of Collage in the Music of Daniel Schnyder as a Universal Model for the Bass Trombone Repertoire (open access)

"Worlds Beyond": A Stylistic Analysis of Collage in the Music of Daniel Schnyder as a Universal Model for the Bass Trombone Repertoire

The modern trombone player can experience a variety of styles on any given day. There is a need for the ability to switch between a plethora of styles ranging from avant-garde pieces to many forms of popular music to masterworks of the symphonic repertoire. It is the responsibility of the musician (performer or educator) to be familiar with all music due to global access via the internet. There is a responsibility to properly perform and respect music as more composers are beginning to blend different styles, genres, idioms, and cultures within the same composition. Daniel Schnyder is a prominent continuation of this style of musical collage that began with composers such as George Rochberg, Luciano Berio, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, and Charles Ives. The goal of this project is to analyze the stylistic saturation of Daniel Schnyder's Worlds Beyond Suite, focusing on performance and stylistic analysis to aid in an informed performance. This project will highlight the flexibility required by modern trombonists to perform with a deeper understanding of music in multiple styles, as the blending, juxtaposing, and superimposition of style is the universal future of music.
Date: August 2020
Creator: Norton, Colby
System: The UNT Digital Library
Strategies for Developing Individual Education Programs for Public School Music Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Dyslexia (open access)

Strategies for Developing Individual Education Programs for Public School Music Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Dyslexia

Strategies for Developing Individual Education Programs for Public School Music Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Dyslexia explores the need for curriculum modifications, accommodations, and remediation techniques for beginner band students with specific learning disorders (SLDs) under the umbrella of Individual Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or dyslexia. ADHD and dyslexia are the most common of the neurodevelopmental disorders, often affecting a student's ability to stay focused and attentive; remain quiet and well behaved; comprehend written, visual and/or oral instruction; organize thoughts and materials; exhibit good time management; execute fine and gross motor skills; retain and recall information; decode symbols; process information quickly and correctly; maintain healthy, interpersonal relationships; and overcome anxiety. In order to provide inclusive instruction, music educators should understand how to identify these (often comorbid) conditions and the musical challenges these students might encounter, including time/pulse, notation, rhythm, posture, fingerings, and sight-reading. A guide for instrumental directors and private instrumental teachers, "How to Accommodate or Modify Musical Instruction for a Student with ADHD and/or Dyslexia" is included in this dissertation to provide useful information, multisensory techniques, and suggestions to help students with these learning disabilities achieve better success in the music …
Date: December 2016
Creator: Raviotta, Benjamin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Flute Music of Cristóbal Halffter: His Roots in Spanish Tradition and Place in the Avant-Garde Generación del 51 (open access)

Flute Music of Cristóbal Halffter: His Roots in Spanish Tradition and Place in the Avant-Garde Generación del 51

Cristóbal Halffter, born in 1930, established himself as an important figure in Spanish avant-garde composition in the middle of the twentieth-century. As one of the prominent leaders of the Generación del 51, he helped establish modernity in music as a part of Spain's identity. His compositional style mixing tradition with the avant-garde was built on the success and breakthrough of Manuel de Falla, a composer with close ties to Halffter's family and served as a 'father figure' to the Generación del 51. This study begins with a discussion on Falla's work and reception, as he lay the groundwork for modernism in Spanish music. Further, discussion on Halffter's background and compositional periods, from his nationalist approach in the 1950s to his embrace of the avant-garde in the 1960s and beyond exemplifies Halffter's prominent role in shaping Spanish modernity. This research then sheds light on previously unexplored solo flute works Debla [Solo VI] for Flute and Studie II [Solo III] for Flute by Halffter. Provided is insight to their respective influences (the Spanish debla and the Fibonacci sequence), analysis of each work, and a discussion on their similarities and differences. By taking an informative approach prior to analysis and performance suggestions, readers …
Date: May 2020
Creator: Godoy, Martin, Jr.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Extended String Techniques and Special Effects in Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1 and Its Significance in Chamber Music Literature (open access)

Extended String Techniques and Special Effects in Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1 and Its Significance in Chamber Music Literature

Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1, Op. 7 stands out as being the first chamber music piece to use a vast number and variety of extended string techniques within one composition. This paper examines a brief history of extended string techniques in chamber music, analyses the unique ways in which Schoenberg applied extended string techniques to manipulate motives in his Op. 7 quartet, and ultimately shows that Schoenberg's use of extended string techniques influenced future composers to employ even more extended techniques and special effects in their own twentieth-century chamber music.
Date: August 2017
Creator: Greenfield, Leah
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Selected List of Music for Solo Clarinet and Clarinet with Piano by Taiwanese Female Composers Composed between 1986 and 2015: The Investigation of a Neglected Repertory with an Annotated Bibliography (open access)

A Selected List of Music for Solo Clarinet and Clarinet with Piano by Taiwanese Female Composers Composed between 1986 and 2015: The Investigation of a Neglected Repertory with an Annotated Bibliography

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.
Date: May 2017
Creator: Wang, Yi-Wen
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Use of the Trumpet in Early Seventeenth Century Spanish Music Dramas: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Works by Sebastián Durón, Joaquín Martínez de la Roca, and Alessandro Scarlatti (open access)

The Use of the Trumpet in Early Seventeenth Century Spanish Music Dramas: A Comparative Analysis of Selected Works by Sebastián Durón, Joaquín Martínez de la Roca, and Alessandro Scarlatti

The purpose of this project is to conduct and analysis of the role and symbolism of the trumpet in two early eighteenth century Spanish music dramas: La Guerra de los Gigantes by Sebastian Duron and Los Desagravios de Troya by Joaquin Martinez de la Roca.
Date: December 2016
Creator: Duell, Trevor
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performance Editions of Three Works for Winds by Gyorgy Druschetzky (open access)

Performance Editions of Three Works for Winds by Gyorgy Druschetzky

Gyorgy Druschetzky was a noted Czech composer of Harmoniemusik, who wrote more than 150 partitas and serenades, along with at least thirty-two other selections for larger wind groups. This is in addition to twenty-seven symphonies, eleven concertos (most for wind instruments), two fantasias, forty-seven string quartets, two operas, a ballet that is lost, and other miscellaneous chamber music for various combinations of wind/string instruments. Three of his works for winds have existed only in manuscript form since their composition: Concerto in E-flat pour 2 clarinett en B, 2 cors en E-flat, 2 fagott; Overture to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte; and Partitta a la camera a corno di bassetto primo, secondo, terzo, due corno di caccia, due fagotti. These works remain remarkably interesting to modern ears and deserve to be heard in the twenty-first century. Along with a brief examination of Druschetzky's life and how it figures into the history of Harmoniemusik, this work presents each piece edited into a modern performance edition.
Date: August 2018
Creator: McDannald, Brandon K.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Crystal Clear: A Performance Guide and Electronic Accompaniment of Mario Lavista's Marsias for Oboe and Crystal Glasses (open access)

Crystal Clear: A Performance Guide and Electronic Accompaniment of Mario Lavista's Marsias for Oboe and Crystal Glasses

Mario Lavista (b. 1943) is a dominant figure in Mexican classical music. In the second half of the twentieth century, he promoted the use of contemporary techniques, leading to a series of collaborations with expert instrumentalists to explore extended techniques. Marsias for Oboe and Crystal Glasses is one of those pieces. Due to the nature of contemporary techniques, different oboes and reed styles produce different effects with the same fingerings. This document analyzes the contemporary fingerings in the two published editions of the work in consideration of the long-scrape reed style and oboes commonly used in the United States. The contemporary techniques were played on twelve professional oboe models as a way to collect data on how the printed fingerings work. The data is the foundation for the performance guide, which details every contemporary technique in the work. The performance guide also provides comprehensive information about the crystal glass logistics. The document also presents an electronic accompaniment created with Max/MSP in the event that the crystal glasses or crystal glass players are unavailable.
Date: August 2019
Creator: Thompson, Jonathan (Oboist)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A comparison of Petar Christoskov’s Op. 1 and Op. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin: The effect of the changing Bulgarian political climate on his compositional style (open access)

A comparison of Petar Christoskov’s Op. 1 and Op. 24 Caprices for Solo Violin: The effect of the changing Bulgarian political climate on his compositional style

Bulgaria, though a fairly small Eastern European country, boasts an ancient history of folk traditions and music; however, very few notated works exist due to the people's primitive lifestyle throughout Bulgaria's history. Singing and dancing as well as creating instruments from wood and animal skin were considered an integral part of everyday life, equal to cooking, sewing, herding, or farming; in fact, one almost always accompanied the other. Thus, more than 1500 years of folklore was orally passed on and preserved generation after generation; however, nothing was notated until only very recently when Bulgarians realized the cultural and national value of their history. After the liberation from Ottoman Rule (1453-1877) a nationalist movement spread throughout the Balkan countries, which resulted in the emergence of Bulgarian composers. Music and songs from the local folk traditions evolved, developed, and - with notation - became the foundation for the vocal and instrumental music of the so-called first generation of Bulgarian composers. Around the turn of the century, many Bulgarian artists and musicians traveled to Western Europe (mostly Austria, Germany, and Russia) and upon their return, their artistic output created an original mixture of Bulgarian national folk with influences from Western classical music. After …
Date: May 2016
Creator: Vassileva, Veronika
System: The UNT Digital Library