An Investigation of the Whistle Register in the Female Voice (open access)

An Investigation of the Whistle Register in the Female Voice

The purpose of the study was concerned with specific elements of the portion of the female voice commonly referred to as whistle or flute register. Three elements of vocal production were chosen for which past research has demonstrated relationships to source function. These elements included spectral characteristics, airflow rates, and perceptual identification. The research compared what the singer-subjects perceived as being whistle register phonations with that which they perceived as being head register phonations. A comparative technique was utilized where pitch, intensity and phonemic category were held relatively constant, register, therefore, being the only variable. Spectral characteristics and airflow rates of the two subject-determined registers were compared. In addition, an attempt was made to determine if the whistle register could be perceptually differentiated on the basis of voice quality,
Date: May 1986
Creator: Walker, Steven
System: The UNT Digital Library
Music Theory in Mexico from 1776 To 1866: A Study of Four Treatises by Native Authors (open access)

Music Theory in Mexico from 1776 To 1866: A Study of Four Treatises by Native Authors

This investigation traces the history and development of music theory in Mexico from the date of the first Mexican treatise available (1776) to the early second half of the nineteenth century (1866). This period of ninety years represents an era of special importance in the development of music theory in Mexico. It was during this time that the old modal system was finally abandoned in favor of the new tonal system and that Mexican authors began to pen music treatises which could be favorably compared with the imported European treatises which were the only authoritative source of instruction for serious musicians in Mexico.
Date: August 1986
Creator: Flores, Carlos A. (Carlos Arturo)
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
Solo Trombone Performances at the Gewandhaus in the Nineteenth Century: a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of G. Jacobs, S. Sulek, E. Bloch, C. Wagenseil, W. Ross, G. Pergolesi, T. George, F. Hidas, J. Albrechtsberger and Others (open access)

Solo Trombone Performances at the Gewandhaus in the Nineteenth Century: a Lecture Recital, Together with Three Recitals of Selected Works of G. Jacobs, S. Sulek, E. Bloch, C. Wagenseil, W. Ross, G. Pergolesi, T. George, F. Hidas, J. Albrechtsberger and Others

This study investigates and documents tenor/bass trombone solo performances at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, East Germany, between 1821 and 1876. Included is the discussion of a newly discovered composition, the Concertino fur Bassposaune und Orchester, by Carl Heinrlch Meyer, which is the earliest concerto for the tenor/bass trombone. Its performance at the Gewandhaus in 1821 marked the beginning of the solo tradition for the tenor/bass trombone, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus became one of the leading centers of solo trombone performance for the next fifty years. The study includes background information on the rise of the virtuoso soloist in nineteenth-century Germany. It specifically focuses on Friedrlch August Belcke and Carl Traugott Queisser and their performances at the Gewandhaus. All solo trombone performances at the Gewandhaus in the nineteenth century have been documented, and specific information has been provided regarding the soloists, dates of performances and repertoire performed on the concerts. The paper includes a discussion of performance reviews from the Allgemeine Musfkalische Zeitung. The conclusion discusses the importance of solo trombone performance at the Gewandhaus, and the reason for its sudden decline after 1876.
Date: May 1989
Creator: Lewis, Michael E. (Michael Edward), 1952-
System: The UNT Digital Library
Vox Organalis (open access)

Vox Organalis

Vox Organalis is a concerto for organ and orchestra. It employs an ensemble comprising the compliment of wind, percussion, and string instruments normally available within a contemporary symphony orchestra with augmented brass and woodwind sections. It is intended to be performed with a large organ such as might be found in a symphony hall or large church. The work is in two movements, and its intended performance time is twenty-five minutes. Use of the concerto format within Vox organalis results in a new approach to organizing the interaction between the solo part and the orchestral accompaniment. The organ part is notated in traditional metered notation, but the orchestral notation is organized in units of clock time (seconds). The horizontal spatial arrangement of the orchestral notation corresponds to the timing of the metered organ part. Pitch organization in Vox Oraanalis is derived from a twelve-tone row based upon the natural harmonic series. Several techniques of serial composition were used to organize and select elements of the tone row for use in the construction of the work. Use of the tone row for horizontal and vertical pitch structures provides unity to the pitch organization of the work. Vox Organalis is constructed in …
Date: December 1989
Creator: Baczewski, Philip
System: The UNT Digital Library
Antoine Reicha's Theories of Musical Form (open access)

Antoine Reicha's Theories of Musical Form

Antoine Reicha stands as an important figure in the growing systematization of musical form. While Traite de melodie (1814) captures the essence of eighteenth-century concern with tonal movement and periodicity, Reicha's later ideas as represented in Traite de haute composition musicale (1824-26) anticipate descriptions of thematic organization characteristic of his nineteenth-century successors. Three important topics emerge as crucial elements: melody, thematic development, and schematic categorization of complete pieces.
Date: December 1989
Creator: McCachren, Jo Renee
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
Concertino for Orchestra (open access)

Concertino for Orchestra

Concertino consists of two movements, Paean and Dithyramb, either of which may be performed independently. Paean, a work of calm and majestic intensity, is characterized by a rhythmic pulse which is more consistently regular than that of the Dithyramb. Its three major sections form an arch, the final measures (mm. 87-95) returning to the material of the opening (mm. 1-14). The first section begins quietly, Maestoso ma sostenuto, in a very slow tempo. The activity and intensity increase until a brief, more active middle section begins in a faster tempo (Ancora piu mosso, m. 55). A fff climax (m. 63) begins in the third section (Tempo I). After a brief poco piu mosso (mm. 72-81), the opening tempo is restored (m. 82), the opening material returns (m. 87) and the final chord fades away. Dithyramb is a free and dramatic movement in which the musical material of the wind group usually contrasts with that of the string group. The piano, which has its own material, occasionally takes on the character of one group or the other as though mediating the conflict.
Date: August 1984
Creator: Schimmel, David M.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The English Walnut Joke: A Composition for Dramatic Soprano and Band (open access)

The English Walnut Joke: A Composition for Dramatic Soprano and Band

The English Walnut Joke is a composition for concert band and dramatic soprano. The English Walnut Joke was based on a text of the same title by Alec Rowell and is divided into two movements with a total duration of approximately twenty-two minutes. The joke concerns itself with the dealings between a wood-chopper and a jongleur in medieval England and is related to the audience by a destitute factory worker (the dramatic soprano) in the early Industrial Age of that country.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Futterer, Kenneth Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library
War Is Kind (open access)

War Is Kind

This composition is a single-movement work for three choirs and full orchestra, including celesta, piano, and four percussionists. Total duration is fifteen minutes. The music is divided into six sections, with the overall form being substantially influenced by the structure of the poem, War Is Kind, by Stephen Crane (1871-1900). Many devices are utilized to contrast tension and relaxation, as associated with ironic elements of the text, with repetition and development of musical elements and motives providing unity for the entire work.
Date: August 1983
Creator: Hinderlie, Sanford E. (Sanford Edward)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Iconographs For Microcomputer and Chamber Orchestra (open access)

Iconographs For Microcomputer and Chamber Orchestra

Iconographs is such a composition in which mathematical techniques are brought to bear. Nine separate number series have been generated and carried out to 1024 units. These series are combined by addition to calculate a single number by taking the remainder after dividing the sum of the series by nine. This mod 9 reduction is used to choose a set of pitches. Iconographs is a composition for microcomputer and chamber orchestra written in proportional notation with 1024 time segments grouped into 32 pages of 32 time segments each. The duration for each segment is .618034 seconds, which is the Golden Mean of one second, represented in a horizontal space of .34375 inches. The horizontal space/time-frame proportion is consistent but the actual duration of sounds are only approximate. The duration of the entire composition is 10.54778 minutes with a total horizontal space of 352 inches. The structure of the composition as a whole has no relationship to any of the traditional forms does contain a focus of formal structure at time-frame number 632, the Golden Mean. This focus is expressed by a density of sound events in all parts.
Date: May 1982
Creator: Elliott, Don A. (Don Allen)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Curricular Content of Elementary Music in China Between 1912 and 1982 (open access)

The Curricular Content of Elementary Music in China Between 1912 and 1982

The purpose of this study was to investigate the curricular content of elementary music in China between 1912 and 1982. The questions addressed were: (1) What changes in elementary music resulted from China's becoming a republic in 1912? (2) What changes in elementary music resulted from China's becoming a socialist country in 1949? (3) What changes in elementary music in the People's Republic of China resulted from the Anti—Rightist Struggle Movement in 1957? (4) What changes in elementary music in the People's Republic of China resulted from the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)? (5) Have changes occurred in elementary music in the People's Republic of China since the beginning of the reform movement in 1978? (6) Did any of the changes affect curricular goals, contents, methods, required materials, and instruction time allotted in a like manner, or did some of these components remain the same while others changed? (7) Were the changes important enough to attribute them to a changed political ideology? After translating all pertinent documents, the goals, contents, methods, materials, and time allotted for the elementary music curricula between 1912 and 1982 were listed and identified. Subsequently, the areas of focus within those categories as well as changes in focus …
Date: December 1989
Creator: Ma, Shuhui
System: The UNT Digital Library