Concertino for Flute, Timpani and String Orchestra (open access)

Concertino for Flute, Timpani and String Orchestra

Concertino for Flute, Timpani, and String Orchestra is a three movement piece that blends Western European forms with Korean idioms. The following essay addresses pitch materials, melodic structure, rhythm, form, instrumentation, vertical structures, and developmental procedures used in the work.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Moon, Jeong-Hyun
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Voice of the Composer: Theory and Practice in the Works of Pietro Pontio, Volume 1 (open access)

The Voice of the Composer: Theory and Practice in the Works of Pietro Pontio, Volume 1

The life, music, and theoretical writings of Pietro Pontio (1532-1596) yield considerable insight into questions of theory and practice in the late sixteenth century. The dissertation places Pontio within his musical and cultural milieu, and assesses his role as both theorist and composer. Volume Two presents an annotated works list for Pontio's compositions, transcriptions of archival documents used in the study, and transcriptions of representative musical compositions.
Date: December 1989
Creator: Murray, Russell Eugene
System: The UNT Digital Library
Compositional Devices of Willem Pijper (1894-1947) and Henk Badings (b. 1907) in Two Selected Works, Pijper's "Sonata per Flauto e Pianoforte" (1925) and Badings' "Concerto for Flute and Wind Symphony Orchestra" (1963), a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of Bach, Vivaldi, Dahl, Françaix, and Others (open access)

Compositional Devices of Willem Pijper (1894-1947) and Henk Badings (b. 1907) in Two Selected Works, Pijper's "Sonata per Flauto e Pianoforte" (1925) and Badings' "Concerto for Flute and Wind Symphony Orchestra" (1963), a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of Bach, Vivaldi, Dahl, Françaix, and Others

Substantial contributions to flute literature of the twentieth century were made by the Dutch composers Willem Pijper (1894-1947) and Henk Badings (b. 1907) in the Sonata per Flauto e Pianoforte (1925) and the Concerto for Flute and Wind Symphony Orchestra (1963), respectively. This paper is an examination of the compositional devices employed by Pijper and Badings in these two selected works, with a discussion of the elements of form, tonal language, rhythm, motivic usage, orchestration, and innovative flute techniques. Emphasis on Pijper as teacher and mentor to a generation of Dutch composers, including Badings, gives the basis for a comparison of the Sonata and the Concerto.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Clardy, Mary Karen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Computer Simulacra (open access)

Computer Simulacra

Computer Simulacra is a musical work composed for amplified instrumental ensemble and computer instruments on tape. It is a computer-assisted work, composed with the help of a stochastic compositional algorithm, called PTERIO, designed by the composer.
Date: December 1989
Creator: Phelps, James D. (James Dee)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Voice of the Composer: Theory and Practice in the Works of Pietro Pontio, Volume 2 (open access)

The Voice of the Composer: Theory and Practice in the Works of Pietro Pontio, Volume 2

The life, music, and theoretical writings of Pietro Pontio (1532-1596) yield considerable insight into questions of theory and practice in the late sixteenth century. The dissertation places Pontio within his musical and cultural milieu, and assesses his role as both theorist and composer. Volume Two presents an annotated works list for Pontio's compositions, transcriptions of archival documents used in the study, and transcriptions of representative musical compositions.
Date: December 1989
Creator: Murray, Russell Eugene
System: The UNT Digital Library
Garden of Eden (open access)

Garden of Eden

The Garden Of Eden is a ballet for four instrumental quintets: brass, woodwind, string, and percussion. Each ensemble is associated with one of four dancers: God, Adam, Eve, -and the Serpent, respectively. The duration of this ballet is approximately sixteen minutes and is divided into three parts depicting (1) the creation of the world and Adam; (2) the creation of Eve-and the warning about the tree of knowledge; and (3) the Serpent's temptation of the main characters, as well as their subsequent banishment from the garden by God. One of my reasons for composing this work was to answer an important question: how to control musical motion and emotion. Since ballet incorporates both motion in its choreography and emotion in its program, it provided a perfect medium in which to work.
Date: December 1985
Creator: Sutch, Mark
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Survey of the Research Literature on the Female High Voice (open access)

A Survey of the Research Literature on the Female High Voice

The location of the available research literature and its relationship to the pedagogy of the female high voice is the subject of this thesis. The nature and pedagogy of the female high voice are described in the first four chapters. The next two chapters discuss maintenance of the voice in conventional and experimental repertoire. Chapter seven is a summary of all the pedagogy. The last chapter is a comparison of the nature and the pedagogy of the female high voice with recommended areas for further research. For instance, more information is needed to understand the acoustic factors of vibrato, singer's formant, and high energy levels in the female high voice.
Date: December 1988
Creator: Stephen, Roberta M. (Roberta Mae)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Harmonic Practice in the Guitar Music of Manuel M. Ponce (open access)

Harmonic Practice in the Guitar Music of Manuel M. Ponce

This investigation examines the evolution of harmonic practice in the guitar misic of the Mexican composer, Manuel M. Ponce (1882-1948). Ponces harmonic practice evolved from a simple romantic style influenced by Mexican folksong to a more complex idiom influenced by Impressionistic harmony. This study explores the change in Ponce t s harmonic practice in two ways. First, general features of Ponce's harmonic vocabulary are surveyed in excerpts from various guitar works written over a twenty year period. Second, a work from Ponce's mature style--Theme Varie et Finale-is examined in detail. Chapter III gives a survey of harmonic materials in this work, while Chapter IV reveals aspects of its structural coherence.
Date: December 1985
Creator: Nystel, David J.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Exploratory Study of Laryngeal Movements During Performance on Alto Saxophone (open access)

An Exploratory Study of Laryngeal Movements During Performance on Alto Saxophone

The purpose of this study was to investigate laryngeal movements in selected performance situations on alto saxophone. The specific research problems were to describe glottal activity in three selected musicians as they performed musical tasks with (1) various pitch ranges and registers, (2) fortissimo and pianissimo dynamic levels, (3) crescendo and decrescendo, (4) long tones with vibrato, and (5) legato and staccato styles of articulation. A fiberoptic laryngoscope was employed to gather the visual images, which were recorded on a sound synchronized video tape. A rating system was devised to provide graphic representation of the data. Results of the data indicated that the glottis was used as an airflow constrictor in certain performance situations, especially in pianissimo performance. Other conclusions were drawn, and suggestions for further research were discussed.
Date: December 1984
Creator: Peters, Jeffrey T. (Jeffrey Thomas)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Hartley Wood Day: Inventor of Numeral Notation and Adversary of Lowell Mason (open access)

Hartley Wood Day: Inventor of Numeral Notation and Adversary of Lowell Mason

Ignorance of the basic principles of music reading was one of the primary obstacles to the improvement of congregational singing in nineteenth-century America. Six separate numeral notation systems arose to provide a simple way for the common man to learn the basic principles of music. Hartley Day developed his own numeral notation system and published six tune-books that enjoyed modest success in the New England area. This thesis examines Day's numeral notation system as it appeared in the Boston Numeral Harmony (1845), and the One-Line Psalmist (1849). It also studies Day's periodical, The Musical Visitor, in which he continually attacked Lowell Mason, possibly leading to Mason's dismissal as Superintendent of Music of Boston's public schools.
Date: December 1991
Creator: Carnes, Tara Barker
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Argument for the Reassessment of Stravinsky's Early Serial Compositions (open access)

An Argument for the Reassessment of Stravinsky's Early Serial Compositions

Between 1952 and 1957, Igor Stravinsky surprised the world of music by gradually incorporating serialism into his style of composition. Although Stravinsky still used the neo-classical trait of making strong references to the music of earlier periods, musical analyses of this transitional period have focused on serial aspects to the exclusion of anachronistic elements. Evidence of Stravinsky's possible use of musical structures adapted from earlier times is found in his consistent use of musical figures that are closely related to the cadences of the late Medieval and Renaissance eras. By fully addressing these neo-classical traits in future analyses, music theorists will gain an additional perspective, which is helpful in understanding the music of Stravinsky's transitional period.
Date: December 1995
Creator: Hughes, Timothy Stephen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel : A Bridge between Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms (open access)

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel : A Bridge between Felix Mendelssohn and Johannes Brahms

This thesis is a study of four compositions written by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, older sister of Felix Mendelssohn. Her music is compared with four pieces composed by Felix. This study shows that Fanny was a gifted and creative composer, even surpassing Felix and predating Brahms with her compositional ideas and progressive uses of harmony. Despite her excellent education and recognition among those who knew her well, she did not publicize her talent in any way because of pressure from her father, Abraham, and Felix to stay within the prescribed societal confines of wife and mother.
Date: December 1997
Creator: Tarpenning, Emily
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Offstage Effect: An Historical and Stylistic Perspective with Performance Considerations for Trumpet (open access)

The Offstage Effect: An Historical and Stylistic Perspective with Performance Considerations for Trumpet

The present study does not attempt to present a complete or exhaustive survey of the myriad spatial orchestrational devices occurring in the symphonic and operatic repertoire. Rather, the study is limited to an examination of the specified use of the trumpet as an offstage instrument in selected representative works. The study's purpose is to identify trends in the use of this orchestrational device, to serve as an aid to the trumpeter in matters of interpretation, and to provide a practical reference for the solution of acoustical and technical problems common to the performance of spatially conceived music in the orchestral literature.
Date: December 1991
Creator: Trout, Marion T. (Marion Thomas)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Melismata: Musical Phansies Fitting the Court, Citie and Countrey Humours. Edition and Commentary (open access)

Melismata: Musical Phansies Fitting the Court, Citie and Countrey Humours. Edition and Commentary

Thomas Ravenscroft, the English composer, editor, and arranger, is known for his participation in the St. Paul's Boys' Choir, as instructor of music at Christ's Hospital School, and as a prodigy. His best-known publications are a setting of the psalter, The Whole Booke of Psalmes, and the treatise, A Brief Discourse,which is an effort to revive mensural notation. Ravenscroft's works contain many examples of popular Elizabethan music which he edited and arranged. Part II of this thesis consists of an edition of his third publication, Melismata, a collection of nine rounds and fourteen partsongs. A list of critical notes is also included. The commentary to the edition includes a biography, a discussion of his works, the background and origin of the songs in Melismata, and an analysis of these songs.
Date: December 1978
Creator: Roberts, Michael L.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Early Music Ensemble in 21st Century America (open access)

The Early Music Ensemble in 21st Century America

The early music ensemble has evolved from a counterculture to a mainstream musical genre. Because of this early music is having to learn arts management. Once a unique force it now competes with other arts organizations for funding and audience. Unlike other arts groups, early music has little help from within to clarify non-profit management. Through three types of surveys that were e-mailed to 239 early music organizations and 20 early music societies, an assessment of what is currently happening with early music ensembles in terms of growth, funding and over all well-being can be made. The information obtained revealed that most early music ensembles have little or no training in how to run an organization. This inexperience is creating problems and changing the face of early music. Information from the surveys also reveals that even with the economic problems over the last three years, early music is continuing to survive.
Date: December 2003
Creator: Assid, Tonya
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Exploration of Bartók's Fugal Style (open access)

An Exploration of Bartók's Fugal Style

Introduction -- The structure of Bartók's music: Basic tonal principles, Formal principles, Harmony -- Analysis of the Fugues: The subject, The answer, The countersubject, Overall organization of the Fugues -- Conclusion.
Date: December 1984
Creator: Willett, John L. (John Lawrence)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Sounding the Ancestors: Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw and the Ancestral Spirit Imaginary (open access)

Sounding the Ancestors: Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw and the Ancestral Spirit Imaginary

Sangpuy Katatepan Mavaliyw is a Taiwanese Aboriginal pop artist of the Pinuyumayan ethnic group. His albums have been acclaimed by Aboriginal listeners and Han-Taiwanese mainstream music critics for capturing the traditional Aboriginal sound and evoking the presence of the ancestors. In this thesis, I explore why Sangpuy's songs are understood to evoke ancestral spirit imaginary using a semiotic approach. I compare his music to traditional Pinuyumayan music such as pa'ira'iraw and shamanic songs to demonstrate how he uses similar musical gestures to evoke the sense of ancestral spirits. Other sonic elements such as the inclusion of the soundscape of a Pinuyumayan village provides a direct link to the lived experiences of the Pinuyumayan. I also position Sangpuy's music in the broader context of nationalism in Taiwan and how Sangpuy uses his music to negotiate Aboriginal issues such as land rights and environmentalism. Through this analysis, I demonstrate how Taiwanese Aborigines are incorporating their Indigenous ideology into popular music to carve out a space for themselves in Taiwanese society and garner more support for Indigenous rights in Taiwan.
Date: December 2020
Creator: Chen, Yang T.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Mutes for Tuba (open access)

A Study of Mutes for Tuba

One problem in tuba performance is the use of a mute for the tuba. With no research existing a tubist has two methods with which to gain knowledge about mutes; he can learn by trial and error or he can consult a tubist having more experience with the problem. A source is needed to aid a tubist in locating information on mutes for tuba. By learning more about the uses of mutes, the availability of mutes, and the effects of mutes on tuba performance, a tubist will be better equipped to select a mute for personal use. This study is designed to provide, objectively, that knowledge to the tubist.
Date: December 1973
Creator: Jones, George W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Musical and Dramatic Analysis of the Principal Tenor Roles in Mozart's Singspiele (open access)

A Musical and Dramatic Analysis of the Principal Tenor Roles in Mozart's Singspiele

This paper will examine one area of Mozart's work, the Singspiele. This study is an analysis of the principal tenor roles of Mozart's Singspiele. The organization for analyzing these works conforms to three periods in Mozart's life. (1) Childhood and Early Youth, to 1774; (2) The Period of the First Masterworks, 1774-1781; and (3) The Years in Vienna, 1781-1791. Related biographical data and historical background have been utilized in discussing each work. Because the Singspiele is a musical composition, analyses will consider music as the major source of development, using plot and character wholly as supporting features.
Date: December 1970
Creator: Alexander, Ronald C. (Ronald Curby)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Stylistic Analysis of Liszt's Settings of the Three Petrarchan Sonnets (open access)

A Stylistic Analysis of Liszt's Settings of the Three Petrarchan Sonnets

This is a stylistic study of the four versions of Liszt's Three Petrarchan Sonnets with special emphasis on the revision of poetic settings to the music. The various revisions over four versions from 1838 to 1861 reflect Liszt's artistic development as seen especially in his use of melody, harmony, tonality, color, tone painting, atmosphere, and form. His use of the voice and development of piano technique also play an important part in these sonnets. The sonnets were inexplicably linked with the fateful events in his life and were in a way an image of this most flamboyant and controversial personality. This study suggests Liszt's importance as an innovator, and his influence on later trends should not be underestimated.
Date: December 1975
Creator: Van der Merwe, Johan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Adaptation and Validation of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale for Use with Musicians (open access)

Adaptation and Validation of the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale for Use with Musicians

Identity is a powerful concept that influences behavior and health. For over thirty years, researchers in sport psychology have been using the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) as a research instrument providing insights into the relationships between athletic identity and health variables. While musician identity is recognized as an important factor to be investigated in relation to occupational health, there are no known robust instruments like the AIMS in music psychology research. The current study aimed to adapt and validate the athletic identity measurement scale for use with musicians. The AIMS history includes episodes of modifications for performance enhancement of the instrument that resulted in five different models. The validation process includes evaluating the psychometrical properties across all five models. The sample included student musicians and non-student musicians (N = 1040). The traditional confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation method were used. The exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and robust weighted least squares (WLS) was utilized to explore a new method of estimation that was known to resolve issues consistent with the CFA and ML method. The goodness-of-fit indices of CFA and ESEM were compared. The results showed that the MIMS is a reliable and valid …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Zuhdi, Nabeel
System: The UNT Digital Library
Elements of Formal Continuity in Robert Schumann's "Novelletten," op. 21 and Other Piano Works (open access)

Elements of Formal Continuity in Robert Schumann's "Novelletten," op. 21 and Other Piano Works

This dissertation explores Robert Schumann's treatment of phrase boundaries in the Novelletten, Op. 21, and his other piano works from the late 1830s. It argues that in contrast to Classical-style works, which generally feature clearly delineates phrases and formal sections, Schumann's works of the 1830s undermine formal boundaries, making it difficult to discern exactly where phrases and sections begin and end. I examine three means through which Schumann promotes a sense of formal continuity in his music: (1) by beginning phrases with a cadential harmonic progression; (2) by ending phrases without a cadence; and (3) by weakening the boundary between the middle section and the recapitulation in small-ternary-form pieces. The dissertation culminates with a detailed analysis of Noveletten Op. 21, No. 5.
Date: December 2022
Creator: Nowak, Jeremy C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Quantitative Approach to the History of Music Binder's Volumes (1820–1900) (open access)

A Quantitative Approach to the History of Music Binder's Volumes (1820–1900)

Music binder's volumes, or collections of sheet music typically bound by women in the nineteenth century, constitute an informative and underutilized set of historical artifacts. Each binder's volume can be viewed as a Spotify playlist frozen in time. An individual volume contains more than just the volume's individual pieces; it also holds the marginalia, the choices women made on what to include in a binder, and information on where and how music was produced. This dissertation examines music binder's volumes quantitatively, processing information found in binder's volumes by using the MARC and other cataloguing data to construct a relational database. I engage with broad questions of music publishing and consumption and provide a method to contextualize qualitative results on a larger scale. In doing so, I make two distinct contributions to music research and the digital humanities. First, this project offers a clear path for engaging with music binder's volumes and material history of nineteenth-century America in ways that scholars have rarely engaged in prior to this point. I highlight how data analysis provides new framings for binder's volumes and for sheet music consumption both at the song-level and at larger levels of the data. Second, and more broadly, this …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Anderson, Brian K
System: The UNT Digital Library
Performing Translations: Rethinking Christian Wolff's Alternative Notation (1960-1968) in the Context of His Creative Communities (open access)

Performing Translations: Rethinking Christian Wolff's Alternative Notation (1960-1968) in the Context of His Creative Communities

Christian Wolff's alternatively notated scores grant the performer several interpretive choices. These pieces feature symbols (known as "coordination neumes") that instruct performers when to begin and end a sound event in relation to the sounds being made around them, thereby generating a reactive improvisation between the musicians. Among these scores are five compositions that form the basis of this project: For 5 or 10 People (1962), In Between Pieces (1963), For 1, 2, or 3 People (1964), Septet (1964), and Edges (1968). Focusing on these pieces specifically, this dissertation explores the unique performance practices required by Wolff's indeterminate music and contextualizes that music within his career in classics and comparative literature, particularly with regard to the concept of translation, and within his creative communities. These creative communities include his fellow New York School composers, New York's wider downtown artistic scenes in the 1950s and 60s, and the experimental music scenes at Cologne and Darmstadt. While scholars such as David Behrman, Thomas DeLio, and Mark Nelson have addressed the interactive quality of Wolff's notation and the technical skills needed to execute his pieces, I argue that there are deeper processes at work in these compositions that go beyond typical discussions of …
Date: December 2022
Creator: Stearns, Jessica
System: The UNT Digital Library