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Michael Daugherty's Red Cape Tango: A Comparative Study of the Original Version for Symphony Orchestra and its Transcription for Wind Orchestra, with Four Recitals of Selected Works by Beethoven, Dvorák, Verdi, Bartók and Daugherty

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Michael Daugherty has created his niche in the music world by composing works inspired by icons of American popular culture. Red Cape Tango is the final movement of his Metropolis Symphony, a work inspired by the life and times of the comic book character Superman. This movement in particular deals with the death of the superhero through the use of musical elements, most notably the Latin Sequence of the Mass for the Dead, Dies irae. Daugherty's ingenuity in blending profoundly dark subjects with humor is particularly evident in this work. Death is personified as a temptress and lures Superman through the power of a seductive tango. This study concentrates on Daugherty's compositional style and its impact in musical circles. A transcription for wind orchestra was created by another composer/conductor precisely because of the need to bring such an important work to another medium, thus making it accessible to a wider audience. In addition, this study looks at the changes in instrumentation necessary to create a second, equally formidable version of the work.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Ortega, Arturo
System: The UNT Digital Library

Monte Carlo simulation and experimental studies of the production of neutron-rich medical isotopes using a particle accelerator.

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
The developments of nuclear medicine lead to an increasing demand for the production of radioisotopes with suitable nuclear and chemical properties. Furthermore, from the literature it is evident that the production of radioisotopes using charged-particle accelerators instead of nuclear reactors is gaining increasing popularity. The main advantages of producing medical isotopes with accelerators are carrier free radionuclides of short lived isotopes, improved handling, reduction of the radioactive waste, and lower cost of isotope fabrication. Proton-rich isotopes are the result of nuclear interactions between enriched stable isotopes and energetic protons. An interesting observation is that during the production of proton-rich isotopes, fast and intermediately fast neutrons from nuclear reactions such as (p,xn) are also produced as a by-product in the nuclear reactions. This observation suggests that it is perhaps possible to use these neutrons to activate secondary targets for the production of neutron-rich isotopes. The study of secondary radioisotope production with fast neutrons from (p,xn) reactions using a particle accelerator is the main goal of the research in this thesis.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Rosencranz, Daniela Necsoiu
System: The UNT Digital Library

Gender and Desire in Thomas Lovell Beddoes' The Brides' Tragedy and Death's Jest-Book

Access: Use of this item is restricted to the UNT Community
Thomas Lovell Beddoes' female dramatic characters are, for the most part, objectified and static, but these passive women perform a crucial narrative and thematic function in the plays. Alongside the destructive activity of the male characters, they dramatize masculine-feminine unions as idealized and contrived and, thus, unstable. Desire, power and influence, as well as the constrictive aspects of physicality, all become gendered concepts in Beddoes' plays, and socially normative relationships between men and women, including heterosexual courtship and marriage, are scrutinized and found wanting. In The Brides' Tragedy, Floribel and Olivia, the eponymous brides, represent archetypes of innocence, purity, and Romantic nature. Their bridegroom, Hesperus, embodies Romantic masculinity, desiring the feminine and aspiring to androgyny, but ultimately unable to relinquish masculine power. The consequences of Hesperus' attempts to unite with the feminine other are the destruction of that other and of himself, with no hope for the spiritual union in death that the Romantic Hesperus espouses as his ultimate desire. Death's Jest-Book expands upon the theme of male-female incompatibility, presenting heterosexual relationships in the context of triangulated desire. The erotic triangles created by Melveric, Sibylla, and Wolfram and Athulf, Amala, and Adalmar are inherently unstable, because they depend upon the …
Date: May 2002
Creator: Rees, Shelley S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Reproductive Health in Yemen: A Theoretical Approach (open access)

Reproductive Health in Yemen: A Theoretical Approach

Several developing countries introduced family planning programs to reduce their population growth rates. The rapid spread of birth control programs in the developing countries was at times accompanied by measures which violated human rights. In response to the ethical violations and coercive policies on population control, toward the end of 1980s various international committees formulated a reproductive health approach to overcome the limited population control approach. Unlike other population control programs, the focus of reproductive health program is on “reproductive process,” where as the most immediate focus of family planning programs is on fertility. Although studies refer to reproductive health approach as an extension of fertility control approach, literature on reproductive health provides very few systematic approaches toward developing explanations of reproductive health. The current approaches on population control are influenced by the ideological shift towards a broad-based approach which involves fertility or family size as one of the components of reproductive health. The present study uses intermediate variables framework suggested by Davis and Blake to organize reproductive health explanations. The proposed framework suggests that the state of reproductive health is indicated by intercourse, conception, and gestation variables and assumes that reproductive health is a latent dimensional outcome indicated by …
Date: May 2002
Creator: Sunil, Thankam Sukumaran
System: The UNT Digital Library
Neckbones and Sauerfowches: From Fractured Childhood in the Ghetto to Constantly Changing Womanhood in the World (open access)

Neckbones and Sauerfowches: From Fractured Childhood in the Ghetto to Constantly Changing Womanhood in the World

A collection of five memoiristic essays arranged about themes of family, womanhood and the African-American community with a preface. Among the experiences the memoirs recount are childhood abandonment; verbal and emotional child abuse; mental illness; poverty; and social and personal change. Essays explore the lasting impact of abandonment by a father on a girl as she grows into a woman; the devastation of family turmoil and untreated mental illness; generational identity in the African-American community. One essay describes the transition from the identity-forming profession of journalism to academia. The last essay is about complicated and conflicting emotions toward patriotism and flag-waving on the part of a black woman who has lived through riots, little known police shootings of students on black campuses, and many other incidents that have divided Americans.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Smith, Starita
System: The UNT Digital Library
Loss of Innocence (open access)

Loss of Innocence

Loss of Innocence uses sculpture, two-dimensional imagery, and text to explore the moment when children lose their innocence or realize their mortality. In the introduction, I explain that there are many factors, such as age and personality, which determine how children will deal with traumatic events in their lives and the duration of time that must pass before they move past the event. Often, children will combine childhood fantasy with random facts to create their own satisfactory explanation of what has happened. In my problem in lieu of thesis, I discuss work that I created with these thoughts in mind. I explore how the sculpture, two-dimensional imagery, and text work together to convey the emotion of innocence lost.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Smith, Jennifer J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Comparison of Aural and Visual Instructional Methodologies Designed to Improve the Intonation Accuracy of Seventh Grade Violin and Viola Instrumentalists. (open access)

A Comparison of Aural and Visual Instructional Methodologies Designed to Improve the Intonation Accuracy of Seventh Grade Violin and Viola Instrumentalists.

The purpose of the study was to compare two instructional methodologies designed to improve the intonation accuracy of seventh grade violin and viola instrumentalists. The collection of data was in regard to (1) instructional methodology: aural and aural/visual, (2) performance tasks: A, B, and C; (3) individual pitches (seven from each of the music tasks), and (4) differences between instrument groups: violin and viola. Sixty-eight seventh grade string students from three string classes of two middle schools were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: (a) aural and (b) aural/visual. The instructional period was implemented daily in ten-minute sessions during twenty days by the orchestra instructors of each school. A pretest-posttest format was used to determine if there were any changes in the subjects' intonation accuracy from prior to after the instructional phase was implemented, and if these changes could be attributed to any of the methodologies. The testing material used on both testing sessions included three performance tasks composed of seven notes each. Subjects were recorded on both testing occasions. The data were the scores of absolute pitch deviation, measured in cents from equal temperament, from the pre- and postest; these were treated with analysis of variance. The ANOVA on …
Date: May 2002
Creator: Núñez, Mario Leoncio
System: The UNT Digital Library
Molecular cloning and analysis of the genes for cotton palmitoyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase (PATE) and Δ-12 fatty acid desaturase (FAD2-3) and construction of sense and anti-sense PATE plasmid vectors for altering oilseed composition of transgenic cotton plants. (open access)

Molecular cloning and analysis of the genes for cotton palmitoyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase (PATE) and Δ-12 fatty acid desaturase (FAD2-3) and construction of sense and anti-sense PATE plasmid vectors for altering oilseed composition of transgenic cotton plants.

A cotton PATE cDNA clone has a 1.7-kb insert with an coding region for 410 amino acids, lacking codons for the three N-terminal amino acids. The predicted amino acid sequence of the PATE preprotein has a characteristic stromal-targeting domain and a 63% identity to the Arabidopsis FatB1 thioesterase sequence. A cotton genomic clone containing a 17.4-kb DNA segment was found to encompass a palmitoyl-ACP thioesterase (FatB1) gene. The gene spans 3.6 kb with six exons and five introns. The six exons are identical in nucleotide sequence to the open reading frame of the corresponding cDNA, and would encode a preprotein of 413 amino acids. The preprotein is identified as a FatB thioesterase from its deduced amino acid sequence similarity to those of other FatB thioesterase preproteins. A 5'-flanking region of 914 bp was sequenced, with the potential promoter/enhancer elements including basic helix-loop-helix elements (E box). Alkaline blot hybridization of cotton genomic DNA suggests the presence at least two FatB1 thioesterase genes in cotton. Four plasmid constructs for both constitutive and seed-specific anti-sense RNA suppression and gene-transgene co- suppression of PATE gene expression were successfully generated. Two overlapping cotton genomic clones were found to encompass a Δ-12 fatty acid desaturase (FAD2-3) …
Date: May 2002
Creator: Nampaisansuk, Mongkol
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Content Analysis of Reading Software Commercially Available for Pre-K to 3rd Grade Children. (open access)

A Content Analysis of Reading Software Commercially Available for Pre-K to 3rd Grade Children.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the content and characteristics of the currently available commercial reading software for Pre-K through third grade children. The design of the study was a content analysis. Based on the evaluation rubric established by the researcher, ten commercial reading software were selected to be analyzed. By reviewing and transcribing, the data were obtained, and then coded, categorized, and interpreted. The findings from the analysis revealed that all reading software programs offered exercised for practicing basic phonics skills; the alphabetic principle, letter-sound association, word knowledge, sentence building, and reading comprehension. Depending on the software developers, phonics-based practice was presented in two ways; separate skill-based practice emphasis and storybook-reading emphasis. All software programs utilized drill-and-practice, direct instruction and mastery learning methods and utilized gaming strategies to motivate and engage the learners. Multimedia technology was used to make the software more appealing. All reading software programs were developed on the perspectives that view learning to read as the continuum of a child's oral language development and background experience about words. It is recommended that parents and teachers review and select the software based on reliable information sources, use the software as supplementary practice based on …
Date: May 2002
Creator: Nakjan, Sutat
System: The UNT Digital Library
Autoradiographic Localization of Carbachol-Induced Second Messenger Response in the Rat Spinal Cord Following Inflammation. (open access)

Autoradiographic Localization of Carbachol-Induced Second Messenger Response in the Rat Spinal Cord Following Inflammation.

This study examined central mechanisms of persistent pain using an autoradiographic technique to localize phosphoinositide hydrolysis (PI) in the rat spinal cord dorsal horn. The lateral half of laminae I-II showed the highest levels of baseline PI turnover and carbachol-stimulated PI turnover in normal animals as well as after inflammation. Inflammation resulted in increased baseline PI turnover in this region of the ipsilateral (76%) and contralateral (65%) dorsal horns. Carbachol increased PI turnover in this region in normal rats (55%) and following inflammation (ipsilateral: 46%, contralateral: 45%). The absolute magnitudes of these increases were 1.85, 2.71, and 2.51 nCi/mg, respectively. The results of this study demonstrate the involvement of PI turnover in neural mechanisms of persistent pain, and provide evidence for the involvement of cholinergic systems in this process. Because spinal cholinergic systems have been reported to be anti-nociceptive, the present results appear to reflect an upregulation of anti-nociceptive activity in response to inflammation. Thus, the spinal cholinergic system may be a regulatory site within the anti-nociceptive pathway, and may provide an attractive target for the development of new therapeutic agents.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Moore, Jack
System: The UNT Digital Library
Marxian and Weberian theory as explanations of the effects of industrialization on town development: A case study; Denison, Texas. (open access)

Marxian and Weberian theory as explanations of the effects of industrialization on town development: A case study; Denison, Texas.

While a great deal of historical literature has concentrated on the effects of industrialization on town development, most of the accounts relate to the introduction of industrialization into an established town. This study attempts to analyze, in sociological terms, the effects of industrialization (in this case, the emergence of the railroad) on the social structure of Denison, Texas which was created by industrialization. It is an attempt to combine Marxian and Weberian theory to produce a multi-dimensional theory that can explain town development without the usual economic bias as evident in most contemporary theory. This study proceeds on the assumption that the social order of a newly formed community is not based solely on economic factors. While economic considerations were important for the town of the study, social stability of the town was maintained by other “non-economic” elements. The purpose of the study is to construct a composite theory that can be utilized to analyze town development. The thrust is not the creation of new theory, rather it attempts to combine existing “classical” theories to present a balanced and, to an extent, “objective” explanation of community development. Adding the social aspects of Weber's theory to Marx's theory results in a …
Date: May 2002
Creator: White, Jack A.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An evaluation of job satisfaction among salespersons in a small department store using four psychological measures. (open access)

An evaluation of job satisfaction among salespersons in a small department store using four psychological measures.

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential of three independent psychological scales (Rotter's Locus of Control, Karasek's Job Content Questionnaire [non-injury job stress], and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale) to predict job satisfaction, as measured by Brayfield and Rothe's Index of Job Satisfaction, among salespersons in a small independent department store in Wichita Falls, Texas. An 82-item survey which examined the dynamics of a salesperson's work life was administered to 20 individuals who were full-time employees of the department store. Demographic data were also gathered although these factors were not entered into the regression analysis. A multiple regression procedure examined the responses of the 20 employees who participated in the study. The R-squared coefficient indicates that 41 percent of the variance in Job Satisfaction was explained by the three predictor measures. A major proportion of this unexplained variance may be in variables outside the scope of this study, e.g., salaries, vacation time, benefits, bonuses, or commissions. Results suggest that the independent variables measured by the Locus of Control Scale and the Job Content Questionnaire in combination were the best predictors of job satisfaction with a significance level of .01. The single best predictor was the Job Content Questionnaire, significant …
Date: May 2002
Creator: Webb, Ruth Sherrill
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Influence of the Tongue on Vocal Production (open access)

The Influence of the Tongue on Vocal Production

The purpose of this study is to assemble information needed to assess, understand and hopefully correct muscular hyperfunction that is related to tongue tension in singing and speech which inhibit freely, efficiently, and comfortably produced beautiful singing. This text will include a definition of freely produced, fully resonating tone for beautiful singing, major components of vocal technique, physiology related to singing and speech production, hyperfunctions associated with tongue tension, tongue involvement in the articulation of the four major singing languages, and will present exercises for training the muscles of coordination in a manner conducive to singing and speech.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Lindberg-Kransmo, Maria
System: The UNT Digital Library
Lucca in the Signoria of Paolo Guinigi, 1400-1430 (open access)

Lucca in the Signoria of Paolo Guinigi, 1400-1430

This study analyzes the once great medieval Tuscan capital of Lucca's struggle for survival at the beginning of the fifteenth century. This was the age of the rise of regional states in Italy, and the expansionistic aims of Milan, Florence and others were a constant challenge to city-states such as Lucca which desired a political and cultural status quo. Yet, it was a challenge that was successfully met; unlike Pisa, Siena, Perugia, and various other major Tuscan cities, Lucca did not succumb to Milanese or Florentine aggression in the early Quattrocento. Why it did not is a major topic of discussion here. One of the means in which the Lucchese faced the new political and military realities of the time was the establishment of a monarchial system of government in the signoria of Paolo Guinigi (r. 1400-1430). The Guinigi Signoria was not characterized by the use of intimidation and violence, but rather by clientage, kinship and neighborhood bonds, marriage alliances, and the general consent of the people. Paolo garnered the consent of the people at first because his wealth allowed him to protect Lucca and its contado to a greater extent than would have been possible otherwise, and because of …
Date: May 2002
Creator: Johnson, Ken
System: The UNT Digital Library
Social Intercourse (open access)

Social Intercourse

This thesis explains the stories and concepts behind each piece that was discussed on the opening night of my MFA Exhibition. The works, entitled Film Noir, Brains, Trains, and Beer, The Boy Next Door, Peterbuilt, and 10-50, H-1, was discussed more specifically and in greater detail. Speaking in public has always been a difficult task, especially on the subject of my art. My images deal with the highly intense subject matter of violence inflicted onto others as a result of human social behaviors. These vile social behaviors are translated into colorful and humorous lithographs, etchings, and drawings. These images are displayed to the public for individual interpretation. This thesis discusses audience interpretation before the literal meaning is revealed, how much information should be revealed to the viewer, and how this information manipulates the aesthetics of the piece.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Greco, Paul
System: The UNT Digital Library
Competency to Stand Trial: A Systematic Evaluation and Validation of the GCCT, MacCAT-CA, and ECST as Competency Measures (open access)

Competency to Stand Trial: A Systematic Evaluation and Validation of the GCCT, MacCAT-CA, and ECST as Competency Measures

Competency to stand trial cases constitute the largest percentage of forensic referrals for clinical psychologists. Furthermore, research suggests that the use of forensic measures facilitates the decisions of competency made by forensic examiners. This study investigated the construct validity of three competency measures: (a) the GCCT-MSH, (b) the MacCAT-CA, and (c) the ECST with 100 adult males incarcerated at the Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, TX. Construct validity was investigated via the use of a multitrait-multimethod research design for the three-prong conceptualization of the Dusky standard. Results indicated that current competency measures do an adequate job of assessing for factual understanding, but lack construct validity for two prongs: rational understanding and the ability to consult with counsel. In addition, the atypical presentation scales of the both GCCT and the ECST performed well at screening individuals for feigning. Finally, prediction of competency from clinical variables was also investigated. Psychotic symptoms and overall impairment were the strongest predictors of incompetency.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Grandjean, Nicole Rae
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (Ssri) on Auditory Measures in Clinically Depressed Subjects. (open access)

The Effects of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (Ssri) on Auditory Measures in Clinically Depressed Subjects.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication on auditory skills in clinically depressed subjects. Experimental subjects prescribed an SSRI were tested in a medicated and an unmedicated condition, and the test results were compared. Furthermore, the experimental group was compared with a control group consisting of normal subjects. Test measures included pure tone audiometry, tympanometry, acoustic reflex thresholds, and auditory electrophysiologic measures such as auditory brainstem and auditory late responses. An assessment scale for depression (Beck Depression Inventory-II) was also used. Results indicated statistically significant differences for the BDI-II between the control and experimental groups for both conditions. Electrophysiologic measures indicated a significantly shorter latency for auditory late potential P1 at 55 dBnSL, and a significantly larger amplitude at 45 dBnSL for the N1/P2 component for the unmedicated group. Although the other measures showed trends, they did not reach significance.
Date: May 2002
Creator: Goodale, Elizabeth S.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Civil Asset Forfeiture in the Fight Against Drugs (Policy Analysis) (open access)

Civil Asset Forfeiture in the Fight Against Drugs (Policy Analysis)

Even if the main criminals of an organization are incarcerated, they will be replaced by others who would continue illegal activities, unless their financial assets are removed. Thus, civil forfeiture intends to dismantle the economic infrastructure of drug trafficking networks. Civil forfeiture considers the property as guilty, rather than the owner, and it may exist even if there is not a criminal action. Therefore, it is claimed that police agencies have chosen easy targets, such as wealthy drug users rather than major drug traffickers. Consequently, it has been particularly challenged on the basis of the Excessive Fines, Double Jeopardy, and Due Process Clauses. The use of criminal forfeiture instead of civil forfeiture and the elimination of the equitable sharing provision are considered to be the primary solutions.
Date: August 2002
Creator: Tuncer, Hakki
System: The UNT Digital Library
Use of geographic information systems for assessing ground water pollution potential by pesticides in central Thailand (open access)

Use of geographic information systems for assessing ground water pollution potential by pesticides in central Thailand

This study employed geographic information systems (GIS) technology to evaluate the vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide pollution. The study area included three provinces (namely, Kanchana Buri, Ratcha Buri, and Suphan Buri) located in the western part of central Thailand. Factors used for this purpose were soil texture, percent slope, primary land use, well depth, and monthly variance of rainfall. These factors were reclassified to a common scale showing potential to cause groundwater contamination by pesticides. This scale ranged from 5 to 1 which means high to low pollution potential. Also, each factor was assigned a weight indicating its influence on the movement of pesticides to groundwater. Well depth, the most important factor in this study, had the highest weight of 0.60 while each of the remaining factors had an equal weight of 0.10. These factors were superimposed by a method called “arithmetic overlay” to yield a composite vulnerability map of the study area. Maps showing relative vulnerability of groundwater to contamination by pesticides were produced. Each of them represented the degree of susceptibility of groundwater to be polluted by the following pesticides: 2,4-D, atrazine, carbofuran, dicofol, endosulfan, dieldrin & aldrin, endrin, heptachlor & heptachlor epoxide, total BHC, and total DDT. …
Date: August 2002
Creator: Thapinta, Anat
System: The UNT Digital Library
Water Quality Aspects of an Intermittent Stream and Backwaters in an Urban North Texas Watershed (open access)

Water Quality Aspects of an Intermittent Stream and Backwaters in an Urban North Texas Watershed

Pecan Creek flows southeast through the City of Denton, Texas. Characterized as an urban watershed, the basin covers approximately 63.5 km2. Pecan Creek is an intermittent stream that receives nonpoint runoff from urban landuses, and the City of Denton's wastewater treatment plant, Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant, discharges effluent to the stream. Downstream from the City of Denton and the wastewater treatment plant, Pecan Creek flows about 6,000 m through agricultural, pasture, and forested landscapes into Copas Cove of Lake Lewisville, creating backwater conditions. Pecan Creek water quality and chemistry were monitored from August 1997 to October 2001. Water quality was influenced by seasonal, spatial, climatic, and diurnal dynamics. Wastewater effluent discharged from the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant had the greatest influence on water quality of the stream and backwaters. Water quality monitoring of Pecan Creek demonstrated that dissolved oxygen standards for the protection of aquatic life were being achieved. Water quality modeling of Pecan Creek was completed to assess future increases in effluent flow from the Pecan Creek Water Reclamation Plant. Water quality modeling indicated that dissolved oxygen standards would not be achieved at the future effluent flow of 21 MGD and at NPDES permitted loadings. Model results …
Date: August 2002
Creator: Taylor, Ritchie Don
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cohort Differences in Perceptions of Helpful Counselor Characteristics (open access)

Cohort Differences in Perceptions of Helpful Counselor Characteristics

The present study examined age cohort differences in older and younger adults as they relate to perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. The present study also assessed whether previous help-seeking behavior influences perceptions of what counselor characteristics would be helpful. The social influence model is used as basis for predictions. The first research hypothesis for the present study was that there would be an age by cohort interaction in perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics at both Time 1 (1991) and Time 2 (2001). The second research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for cohort, with more recently born cohorts preferring more interpersonal counselor characteristics. The third research hypothesis was that there would be a main effect for age in endorsement of the social influence model. The fourth research hypothesis was that there would be a significant difference between the perceptions of those individuals who had previously sought help from a mental health professional and those individuals who had not sought help, regardless of age and cohort. A revised Adjective Check List (Gough, 1965; Gough & Heilbrum, 1983) was used to assess perceptions of helpful counselor characteristics. Chi-square analyses, MANOVA/supplementary ANOVAs, and exploratory factor analyses were used to test …
Date: August 2002
Creator: Utermark, Tamisha L
System: The UNT Digital Library
'Gimme That Ole Time Religion': Traditionalism, Progressivism and Popular Media (open access)

'Gimme That Ole Time Religion': Traditionalism, Progressivism and Popular Media

This thesis examines the role of Christianity in contemporary American culture using 1990s popular media as cultural artifacts. Building on theories of ideological analysis and hegemony, this project uncovers a balance between progressive and traditionalist ideologies in American culture with progressive ideologies most often superficially acknowledged and incorporated into dominant traditionalist Christian ideologies through hegemonic negotiation. An analysis of the popular Hollywood films The Last Temptation of Christ, Leap of Faith, Michael, City of Angels, Dogma and Keeping the Faith, illustrates this process by addressing Christian dominance in multicultural America, a backlash against feminism constructed through patriarchal and “family values” ideologies, and an integration of popular culture and traditionalist Christianity.
Date: August 2002
Creator: Turner-Reed, Laura
System: The UNT Digital Library
"Ch'io t'abbandono" by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: A Dramatic Image of the Education and Aptitudes of the Composer (open access)

"Ch'io t'abbandono" by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: A Dramatic Image of the Education and Aptitudes of the Composer

The unpublished concert aria, "Ch'io t'abbandono," by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1825), is representative of the adolescent composer's developing musical aesthetic. In this study, Mendelssohn's education, work ethic, and perfectionism are revealed, paradoxically, as both the catalysts for the piece's composition and also the reasons it was not published during Mendelssohn's lifetime. An exploration of the text, form, thematic usage, and performance demands of the aria yields specific examples of his uniquely balanced romantic-classicist style. A consideration of possible original performers of the piece, Franz Hauser and Eduard Devrient, leads to further discussion about the nature of the work as both a reflection of Mendelssohn's romantic self-expression and his appreciation for the Baroque melismatic style. The significance of the aria, both stylistic and biographical, is further delineated by a presentation of possible motivations for its composition. The musical setting of the text, as well as the text itself, indicates both Mendelssohn's awareness of himself as a maturing adolescent composer and his desire to be a composer of operatic works, a desire that was never fully realized.
Date: August 2002
Creator: Turley, Charles William
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performing the Trumpet works of Donald Erb; A Guide to Preparation, Interpretation and Practices: A Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works by Purcell, Hindemith, Holmes, Friedman, Koetsier and Others (open access)

Performing the Trumpet works of Donald Erb; A Guide to Preparation, Interpretation and Practices: A Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works by Purcell, Hindemith, Holmes, Friedman, Koetsier and Others

This study is a guide to the performer on practices associated with the trumpet music of Donald Erb. It examines the following solo and duo compositions for trumpet: the as yet unpublished Sonatina for Trumpet and Piano (1954); Four Duets for Trumpets (1960); Diversion for Two for trumpet & percussion (1966); Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra (1980); Remembrances for two trumpets (1994); and Dance, You Monster, To My Soft Song for solo trumpet (1998). A history of each composition and information concerning the performers who premiered them are documented. An examination of particular harmonic, melodic and rhythmic elements found frequently in these pieces follow. The pieces are further assessed for difficulty through an investigation of extended technical demands, range, endurance and articulation. Additional discussion focuses on the use of mutes, tempos and dynamics as well as suggestions for the preparation and performance of these works. The dissertation concludes with a review of Donald Erb's legacy as a composer and teacher. A comprehensive discography and complete list of Mr. Erb's compositions are included in appendices.
Date: August 2002
Creator: Spencer, David W.
System: The UNT Digital Library