The analysis of computer music presents new challenges to the field of music theory. This study examines the fixed media composition Phoné by John Chowning from its aesthetic perspective, compositional theory and computer sound synthesis techniques. Fast Fourier Transform analyses are used to create spectrograms. The findings from the spectrograms are juxtaposed with compositional philosophies of John Chowning, Jean-Claude Risset, Pierre Schaeffer and Arnold Schoenberg and the techniques are represented via PureData patches.

Soar! is a musical composition written for wind ensemble and computer music. The total duration of the work is approximately 10 minutes. Flocking behavior of migratory birds serves as the most prominent influence on the imagery and local structure of the composition. The cyclical nature of the birds' journey inspires palindromic designs in the temporal domain. Aesthetically, Soar! portrays the fluid shapes of the flocks with numerous grains in the sounds. This effect is achieved by giving individual parts high degree of independence, especially in regards to rhythm. Technically, Soar! explores various interactions among instrumental lines in a wind ensemble, constructs overarching symmetrical structures, and integrates a large ensemble with computer music. The conductor acts as the leader at several improvisational moments in Soar! The use of conductor-initiated musical events in the piece can be traced back through the historic lineage of aleatoric compositions since the middle of the twentieth century. [Score is on p. 54-92.]

Doubling is defined as playing two instruments. It is becoming increasingly necessary for low brass musicians to double in the course of their careers. Euphoniumists often learn trombone, and trombonists learn euphonium. The instruments share several surface similarities but also differ in many significant ways. Interviews with six professional doublers highlight strategies for learning, teaching, and performing on both trombone and euphonium. Slide and valve technique, adjustment of intonation, tone quality, air usage, repertoire, and skill maintenance are all addressed. Trombone literature comprises a large part of the euphonium repertoire, due to the fact that most trombone pieces can be performed on euphonium. Euphoniumists should avoid playing pieces that require glissandi or extremely loud dynamics to be effective. Euphonium solos are generally too technical to be practical for trombonists to perform. Grøndahl's Concert pour trombone et piano ou orchestre is a standard piece for both instruments. When performing the piece on either instrument, it is helpful to practice the piece on both trombone and euphonium in order to tap into each instrument's strengths.

Since its premiere in 1878, Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Concerto in G Minor has been underrated and held in low regard by musicologists, critics, performers and audiences alike. Vilém Kurz (1872-1945), a Czech pianist and pedagogue, revised and reworked the piano solo part to incorporate what he considered to be added brilliance and pianistic effectiveness. However, the revised version has not increased the popularity of the work. In recent decades, this concerto has begun to appear more often in the programs and recordings are currently available, utilizing either the original piano part or Kurz's revision or a combination of both. In order to gain a broader analytical perspective and achieve a more authentic interpretation of the piece, a thorough understanding of the relation between Dvořák’s work and Kurz's revisions is indispensable. This study examines these adaptations and compares them with Dvořák’s scoring in order to gain further insight to Kurz's musical intent and pianistic aims. Examples from all movements are evaluated vis-à-vis the original to determine their purpose and musical validity.

The Avatar for trumpet and piano by Dr. Steve Rouse is one of the most challenging compositions in the trumpet repertoire. Due to The Avatar's challenges and increasing popularity, a study is necessary to aid its performance. Each movement is performed on a different instrument: Bb piccolo (with an optional A piccolo part) for Nativity, Bb Flugelhorn for Enigma-Release and Bb trumpet for Rebirth. In addition, the performer must convey one of the work's possible programmatic meanings: (1) The Hindu belief of an Avatar and its life cycle, (2) the life of Christ or (3) the human lifecycle. Chapter 1 gives historical information about the work. Chapters 2-4 discuss each movement of The Avatar programmatically and pedagogically. Facets of each movement are analyzed including differences in programmatic choices, rehearsal techniques and sound concepts. Chapter 5 provides recording suggestions, including choosing a recording engineer, preparing and planning for a recording section, choosing a venue and the benefits of hiring a tonmeister.

In recent years, the use of the cimbasso has gained popularity in Giuseppe Verdi opera performances throughout the world. In the past, the tuba or the bass trombone was used regularly instead of the cimbasso because less regard was given to what Verdi may have intended. Today, one expects more attention to historical precedent, which is evident in many contemporary Verdi opera performances. However, the tuba continues to be used commonly in performances of Verdi opera productions throughout the United States. The use of the tuba in the U.S. is due to a lack of awareness and a limited availability of the cimbasso. This paper demonstrates the pedagogical and aesthetic differences between the use of the tuba and the modern cimbasso when performing the works of Giuseppe Verdi operas.

The Concerto for Trombone, written in 1763 by Georg Christoph Wagenseil, is a piece in 2 movements for alto trombone and chamber orchestra. The orchestration consists of 2 parts for violin, 1 part for viola, cello and string bass, 2 French horn parts and 2 parts for flute. It is the first concerto form solo work for the alto trombone and was written during a time when wide use of this instrument had been diminished from centuries past. The Concerto for Trombone helped mark the beginning of a time when the musical expressiveness of the trombone began to be noticed in chamber genres where such attention had been lacking in previous decades. Chapter 2 examines the life and musical background of the composer. Chapter 3 discusses the history surrounding the possible origin of the Concerto and its performance history. Chapter 4 provides analytical insights into the construction and format of the piece. Chapter 5 details the creation of an urtext edition of the Concerto. Chapter 6 concludes this document with a performer's guide to the work based on the urtext edition of the solo trombone part to create the performance edition. This performance edition of the work includes historically informed …

Ida Gotkovsky, a student of Olivier Messiaen and Nadia Boulanger, composed for nearly every instrument, voice, and ensemble. Although Gotkovsky's Concerto for Trombone is a monumental work for the trombone it is rarely performed and recordings are scarce. There is a general lack of scholarly attention to the music of Ida Gotkovsky, however, the technical and aesthetic quality of her music merits further examination. Previous studies of Gotkovsky's music focused on the analysis of individual compositions. However, much more can be learned by examining a work within the context of her general compositional output. Gotkovsky's compositional style includes extensive musical self-borrowing. The goal of this project is to demonstrate melodic and textural similarities and differences within her music to inform performance practice and to establish interest in her music. The context in which Gotkovsky reuses her music is significant and can provide additional musical insight. An informed awareness of her extensive use of self-quotation familiarizes the performer with her compositional language in a variety of musical settings. Such familiarity with her musical style leads to an improved and artistically educated performance.

The keyboard works of the English virginalist Peter Philips have been little studied in comparison with his more famous contemporaries, William Byrd, John Bull and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. While Philips left comparatively fewer keyboard works than these composers, his music contains very unique attributes. This study compiles the latest research of Philips' life as well as an analysis of representative works showing many of the individual and uncommon features to be found in Philips' works for keyboard. Pieces from all genres of Philips' keyboard output are represented and discussed, including Pavanes and Galliards, Fantasias and Intabulations of madrigals. Musical examples of each of these works are provided. A description of the instruments needed for the performance of the music and an illustration of the rare type of keyboard instrument required in the Pavana and Galliarda Dolorosa is included. A discussion of Philips' style, particularly regarding ornamentation, is included with a comparison to the works of his contemporaries.

Beethoven's complex manipulation of formal structures, especially his tendency to build important connections and transformative continuities between non-adjacent sections of musical works, may be seen to function as an attempt to control and sometimes to distort the listener's perception of both the narrative process of musical directionality, as well as the subjective interpretation of time itself. Temporal distortion often lies at the heart of Beethoven's complex contrapuntal language, demonstrated equally through the composer's often enigmatic disruption of phrase-periodic gestures, as well as by occasional instances of overtly incongruous temporal shifts. The "Krakow" collection of compositional sketches for Beethoven's String Quartet in E-Flat, Op. 127, provides a number of instances of "non-linear" or "multi-linear" musical continuity. The term "Krakow" sketches, when referenced in this dissertation, specifically designates the group of Beethoven manuscripts possessed by the Biblioteka Jagiellońska in Krakow, Poland, but which formerly were held by the Royal Library in Berlin. Structural voice-leading analyses are provided for selected portions of the "Krakow" collection; these analyses are then compared to voice-leading graphs and analytical reductions of the corresponding material from Beethoven's published versions of the same musical passages. In some cases the sketches supply almost complete texts, for which critical transcriptions are …

This thesis is a comparative study on the late 16th century manuals of ornamentation by Girolamo Dalla Casa, Giovanni Bassano, Riccardo Rognoni, and Giovanni Battista Bovicelli. The study demonstrates that the latest Renaissance manual should be given more credit for the innovative ornamentation style that was to come in the Early Baroque era. Bovicelli's use of sequence, dissonances, and less moving notes for more rhythmic varieties are features most often associated in the style of the Baroque. Unfortunately, the topic of ornamentation in the late Renaissance is most commonly discussed as a group of different entities writing in the same style. The research for this paper is intended to separate the manuals of the late Renaissance, focusing on the separate styles that led to the work of Giovanni Battista Bovicelli.

In the early 1920s, Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub created a fine arts movement that began in Weimar, Germany, which questioned artistic Expressionism. In 1923, he formed an art exhibition to display new art works of simplicity that were of his anti-Expressionist goal. This exhibition was termed Neue Sachlichkeit, or New Objectivity, and quickly became associated with all fine arts. Music of Neue Sachlichkeit ideals during the 1920s and 1930s began to exhibit anti-Expressionist concepts of form, neoclassicism and limited instrumentation. Paul Hindemith was among the leading figures of Neue Sachlichkeit music. Although Paul Hindemith's Septet (1948) was composed during his later career, it shows many Neue Sachlichkeit traits found previously in the 1920s and 1930s. Characteristics of limited/mixed instrumentation, neoclassic instrumentation and form, and Baroque counterpoint are found in the Septet. These traits can also be head in earlier Neue Sachlichkeit pieces by Hindemith such as Hin und zuruck, op. 45a (1927), Das Marienleben (1922/23, rev. 1948) and Neues vom Tage (1929). Chapter 2 examines the Neue Sachlichkeit movement within the fine arts. Chapter 3 gives a brief biography of Paul Hindemith with a concentration on his influence of Neue Sachlichkeit music of the 1920s and 1930s. This chapter also relates …

Polystylism in Alfred Schnittke's music has been considered by scholars as a central aspect of his music. Although there are many published analyses of his choral music, symphonies, concerti and violin sonatas, there is no known published research for Schnittke's first cello sonata. Alfred Schnittke grew up in a culturally diverse environment influenced by many different composers and compositional styles under the restrictions of a communist Russian government. These aspects influenced the development of Schnittke's polystylism, characteristically represented by his Cello Sonata (1978). The detailed musical analysis of this sonata in this study serves the purpose to reveal Schnittke's polystylistic tendencies and his use of cyclic elements. These polystylistic elements in the sonata illustrate how Schnittke de-familiarizes listeners from rules commonly accepted as unavoidable and re-familiarizes listeners with the expressive qualities of tonal, twelve-tone and atonal music. Although Schnittke introduces polystylistic materials in de-familiarized contexts in this sonata, this study finds that Schnittke particularly re-familiarizes the audience's musical and stylistic perception through the reappearance of sections, textures and motifs. Abrupt polystylistic conflicts contrast with the repetition of previous materials, thereby forming a combination of traditional styles with features of discontinuity in 20th century music.

Throughout centuries of great classical music, many viola compositions have been crafted from a wealth of literature for instruments of similar range. Clarinet, violin, and cello concerti and ensemble literature often adapt into challenging literature for the viola. In November 2009, Oxford Music Publishing gave me permission to transcribe and perform the Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale by Rebecca Clarke in New York's famed Carnegie Hall - Weill Recital Hall. This dissertation explains the process by which I transcribed the Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale from an original Bb-clarinet/viola duo, to a new arrangement for two violas (approved by Oxford Music Press arrangement license #7007940), and discusses challenges faced throughout the transcription process.

Samuel Barber's Capricorn Concerto for flute, oboe and trumpet with strings is an important though seldom performed work. The concerto is teeming with performance choices that are indicative of both historical and contemporary influences. At present, there are limited resources available to performers regarding Capricorn. The first section of this study presents an historical and contextual examination of Capricorn both in terms of Barber's own compositional output and that of his influences and contemporaries. The second section includes a performance analysis of the work, while the third section includes an analysis of existing recordings. Implications for the performer are outlined in last section. The guide provides performers with pertinent background, analytical and performance information in order to facilitate informed, high-level performance.

Through studying the poetry and its context, the lives of the poets and composers, and the musical choices which emerged from these combined influences, students of the "Millennial" generation may experience a deeper connection to art song and its role in defining and reflecting national character. Not yet a part of the traditional canon of American art song, the songs of African-American composers are of particular value in this regard, offering teachers, students, and recitalists less frequently-performed repertoire to explore. Representing a broad spectrum of literary and cultural influences, these songs are just as diverse, multi-faceted, and full of variety as any other body of art song repertoire and richly contribute to the past and present life of the genre. Going beyond the music and the words can only reinforce the study of technique and enrich the studio experience, while at the same time providing a multicultural learning environment which more accurately reflects the America in which these same students will become the singers and voice teachers of tomorrow.

Beginning in 1939, the Concours International d'Exécution Musicale de Genève (CIEM; Geneva International Music Competition) is unique among international music competitions in its multidisciplinary approach. To date, fifteen works have been commissioned for clarinet for the years in which the clarinet was involved. The most well-known of these works is the unaccompanied work by Heinrich Sutermeister, Capriccio for Solo Clarinet in A, written in 1946 for the 1947 competition. This work is a staple in the unaccompanied clarinet repertoire. However, the other fourteen works commissioned for the competition are little known and to date no document has been prepared that examines each of these works in the context of the competition and clarinet literature. While perhaps less notable, works were also commissioned for a sight reading portion of the competition for many of the years in which the clarinet was a discipline chosen for the competition, two of which were published. These works are examined as well. This survey provides a critical, analytical, historical, performance-related and biographical review of the published and unpublished works commissioned for the clarinet by CIEM. The composers, competitors and the significance of these works and winners in the clarinet literature and history are included. A …

The guitar chord (a sonority based on the open strings of the guitar) is one of Alberto Ginastera's compositional trademarks. The use of the guitar chord expands throughout forty years, creating a common link between different compositional stages and techniques. Chapters I and II provide the historical and technical background on Ginastera's life, oeuvre and scholar research. Chapter IV explores the origins of the guitar chord and compares it to similar specific sonorities used by different composers to express extra-musical ideas. Chapter V discusses Ginastera's initial uses and modifications of the guitar chord. Chapter VI explores the use of the guitar chord as a referential sonority based on Variaciones Concertantes, Op. 23: I-II, examining vertical (subsets) and horizontal (derivation of motives) aspects. Chapter VII explores uses of trichords and hexachords derived from the guitar chord in the Sonata for Guitar Op. 47.

Keyphrases describe a document in a coherent and simple way, giving the prospective reader a way to quickly determine whether the document satisfies their information needs. The pervasion of huge amount of information on Web, with only a small amount of documents have keyphrases extracted, there is a definite need to discover automatic keyphrase extraction systems. Typically, a document written by human develops around one or more general concepts or sub-concepts. These concepts or sub-concepts should be structured and semantically related with each other, so that they can form the meaningful representation of a document. Considering the fact, the phrases or concepts in a document are related to each other, a new approach for keyphrase extraction is introduced that exploits the semantic relations in the document. For measuring the semantic relations between concepts or sub-concepts in the document, I present a comprehensive study aimed at using collaboratively constructed semantic resources like Wikipedia and its link structure. In particular, I introduce a graph-based keyphrase extraction system that exploits the semantic relations in the document and features such as term frequency. I evaluated the proposed system using novel measures and the results obtained compare favorably with previously published results on established benchmarks.

Isang Yun (1917-1995) embraced a masterful combination of two elements derived from his life: his Korean cultural upbringing and Western musical traditions. This dissertation explores Yun's distinctive style through an analysis of his Kontraste: Zwei Stücke für Violine Solo. Following the introduction (Chapter 1), Chapter 2 contains a brief biography of Isang Yun, and explores the compositions of his Korean period (1917-1955) and his European period (1956-1995). It also discusses how Yun's musical styles changed during these two periods as a result of important life events and due to cultural and political influences. Chapter 3 examines Korean instruments such as Kayakem, Hae-Kem, and Pak; discusses Nonghyun (traditional string techniques of ornamentation in Korean music); and introduces Korean performance techniques. This chapter also provides explanations of these concepts, illustrated through various examples. A subsequent discussion illuminates Yin-Yang theory and Jeong-Jung-Dong, both elements of Taoist philosophy that influenced Yun's compositional style. This is followed by explanations of Hauptton and Umspielung, two compositional techniques that Yun developed and employed in Kontraste. Yun created the idea of Hauptton to reflect the Korean traditional concept of a single note. He used the term Umspielung ("playing around" in German) to describe his interpretation of the four …

Pleroma is a digital drama: a work composed of digital animation combined with electroacoustic music, presenting an original dramatic narrative. Pleroma's dramatic elements evoke both the classical form of tragedy and the concept of perceptual paradox. A structural overview of the drama and its characters and a plot synopsis are given to provide context for the critical discussion. Analytical descriptions of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture Op.62 and Mahler's Symphony No. 9 are provided to give background on tragic form and Platonic allegory in music. An investigation into the elements discussed in the analysis of the instrumental works reveals several layers of possible interpretation in Pleroma. Dramatic elements allow for tragic narratives to be constructed, but they are complemented by character associations formed by pitch relationships, stylistic juxtapositions, and instrumentation. A copy of the dramatic text is included to supplement the multimedia production.

Pleroma is a digital drama: a work composed of digital animation combined with electroacoustic music, presenting an original dramatic narrative. Pleroma's dramatic elements evoke both the classical form of tragedy and the concept of perceptual paradox. A structural overview of the drama and its characters and a plot synopsis are given to provide context for the critical discussion. Analytical descriptions of Beethoven's Coriolan Overture Op.62 and Mahler's Symphony No. 9 are provided to give background on tragic form and Platonic allegory in music. An investigation into the elements discussed in the analysis of the instrumental works reveals several layers of possible interpretation in Pleroma. Dramatic elements allow for tragic narratives to be constructed, but they are complemented by character associations formed by pitch relationships, stylistic juxtapositions, and instrumentation. A copy of the dramatic text is included to supplement the multimedia production: http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc33228/

About 8.3% of individuals diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (DM) are diagnosed with comorbid depression, a higher rate than the general adult population. This project examined the differences of depression symptoms experienced between diabetic and matched non-diabetic individuals and the relationship of daily activity and nutrition behaviors with depression between these groups. The 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was utilized to assess: depression symptoms, diabetic glycemic control as measured by glycoginated hemoglobin (HbA1c), amount of physical activity, percentage of macronutrients, daily frequencies of foods consumed, and the use of nutritional food labels to make food choices. A sample of diabetic (n = 451) and non-diabetic individuals (n = 451) were matched to on age, gender, ethnicity, and education. The diabetic individuals experienced greater depression on both continuous and ordinal diagnostic variables. Counter to expectation, there was no relationship observed between depression and HbA1c in diabetic individuals, r = .04, p > .05.

Although Magdeburg cantor Heinrich Grimm was frequently listed among prominent musical figures of the early seventeenth century such as Heinrich Schütz, Johann Hermann Schein, and Michael Praetorius in music lexica through the nineteenth century, he has almost disappeared from modern scholarship. However, a resurgence in Grimm studies has begun in recent years, especially in the areas of biographical study and compositional output. In this study, I examine the yet unexplored music-analytic perspective by investigating the stylistic characteristics of Grimm's 1631 motet, Unser Leben wehret siebenzig Jahr'. Furthermore, I compare his compositional technique to that of his contemporaries and predecessors with the goal of examining the work from both Renaissance and Baroque perspectives.