The purpose of this study is to analyze sets of variations on Paganini's theme by three twentieth-century composers: Ferruccio Busoni, Ignaz Friedman, and Robert Muczynski, in order to examine, identify, and trace different variation techniques and their applications. Chapter 1 presents the purpose and scope of this study. Chapter 2 provides background information on the musical form "theme and variations" and the theme of Paganini's Twenty-fourth Caprice, Op. 1. Chapter 2 also deals with the question of which elements have made this theme so popular. Chapters 3,4, and 5 examine each of the three sets of variations in detail using the following format: theme, structure of each variation, harmony and key, rhythm and meter, tempo and dynamics, motivic development, grouping of variations, and technical problems. Chapter 6 summarizes the findings from this study and attempts to compare those elements among the three variations. Special attention is given to the application of the motivic cells, which are drawn from the original Paganini theme, in the development of succeeding variations. This study shows how these motivic cells contribute to the construction of new motives and melodies in each variation. Additionally, this study attempts to examine each composer's efforts in expanding variation procedure …

The impact of training on virtual team effectiveness was assessed in five areas: communication, planning tasks and setting goals, solving problems and making decisions, resolving conflict, and responding to customer requirements. A 12-page survey was developed exploring all aspects of virtual teams. 180 surveys were distributed, 52 were returned representing 43 companies. Training led to higher effectiveness in planning tasks and setting goals, solving problems and making decisions, and conflict resolution, but not in communication and responding to customer requirements. Training may not solve all the problems that virtual teams will encounter; however, training will make the challenges easier to handle.

This thesis surveys a variety of songs and arias for high soprano which feature the nightingale; examines the musical elements that symbolize, refer to, or imitate the nightingale; and compares these musical elements with transcriptions of the nightingale's song. The first chapter reviews the symbolic development of the nightingale and its role in poetry and literature. The interior chapters address a selection of musical compositions that feature the nightingale and its song. The final chapter establishes a relationship between the sound of the actual sound of the nightingale and the musical gestures created by composers to imitate the nightingale.

Gunther Schuller is credited with coining the term Third Stream, meaning compositions where twentieth-century art music forms exist simultaneously with jazz. Furthermore, Schuller specifically states in the liner notes to the debut recording of Eine Kleine Posaunenmusik "The work is not a Third Stream piece." Yet the concerto alludes to jazz through a multitude of slide glissandi and plunger mute effects, Solotone mute passages, specific references to the jazz trombone styles of Tommy Dorsey and Lawrence Brown, musical quoting or indirect reference, and the use of a walking bass line in Movement V, Finale. What makes one piece Third Stream and another simply a modern composition with jazz implications? Is Third Stream primarily a compositional designation or a performance practice stipulation? How does a celebrated trombone soloist inspire and collaborate with a distinguished composer in the creation of a major work? The somewhat conspicuous title, Eine Kleine Posaunenmusik, seems to point towards Mozart's famous string serenade Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. What connection to Mozart, if any, does Schuller's title suggest? All of these questions are elucidated in this study through careful investigation and research of Gunther Schuller's Eine Kleine Posaunenmusik. New interviews with John Swallow and Gunther Schuller are included.

A Russian composer of French descent, Georgy L'vovich Catoire (also often spelled "Katuar") (1861-1926) is one of the most neglected composers of the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Catoire composed a number of piano pieces, most of which are chamber and solo works. These pieces are rarely studied or performed in the West. This study makes an attempt to fill this void. It thoroughly investigates Catoire's life, as well as looks into his genealogy, since his family was influential in commercial, political and cultural life of Russia for more than a hundred years. It also discusses his works for piano, with particular emphasis on Poem, Second Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 20. This sonata exemplifies the composer's mature style, characterized by the refinement of the harmonic and rhythmical ideas, while demonstrating melodious ingenuity and clear structural form. To date, there is no known study on this subject of such scope both in Russian and in English languages.

The primary purpose of this study is to address performance issues in the Polish Fantasy, Op. 19, by examining characteristics of Polish folk dances and how they are incorporated in this unique work by Paderewski. The study includes a comprehensive history of the fantasy in order to understand how Paderewski used various codified generic aspects of the solo piano fantasy, as well as those of the one-movement concerto introduced by nineteenth-century composers such as Weber and Liszt. Given that the Polish Fantasy, Op. 19, as well as most of Paderewski's compositions, have been performed more frequently in the last twenty years, an analysis of the combination of the three characteristic aspects of the Polish Fantasy, Op.19 - Polish folk music, the generic rhetoric of a fantasy and the one-movement concerto - would aid scholars and performers alike in better understanding the composition's engagement with various traditions and how best to make decisions about those traditions when approaching the work in a concert setting. Chapter 1 provides biographical and factographical information about Paderewski as a composer, pianist, and statesman. Chapter 2 examines characteristics of Polish folk music with regard to melody, rhythm and tempo. Musical examples of the Polish folk songs …

Throughout the recorded history of vocal development certain characteristics can be traced to nationalistic roots. This work explores the four major schools of singing: English, French, German and Italian and includes a brief history of the pedagogical development and ideas of these schools' development. In addition, specific techniques and their similarities and differences, between each school is explored. Through the use of students as a control group, various characteristics within the four schools are implemented in coaching. The results are noted. The major theme of this work is to outline the major schools of vocal pedagogy and to contrast and compare specific techniques found in each school. Furthermore, regarding the individual student, the positive and negative effects of teaching in a dedicated fashion to one school versus the implementation of proven methods, of various schools, even though they cross nationalistic boundaries, has been the major thrust of this investigation

As several Italian baroque violoncello transcriptions have entered the standard performance repertory for both high school and collegiate tubists, and as numerous texts, articles, and baroque performance instruction courses have illuminated a new realm of performance possibilities, no published document has provided specific, thorough, and sample approaches to performance on the tuba of a given piece (or pieces) through a detailed application of materials found in any singular source or combination of sources. Many of the existing articles and texts that approach the subject focus largely on ornamentation, while limiting the discussion and application of the following topics: tempo, spirit, affect, notation, rhythm, dynamics, and articulation. This document examines such topics and provides detailed explanations and suggestions of historically-informed characteristics applicable to two movements each from the R. Winston Morris transcription of Antonio Vivaldi's Sonata No. 3 in A Minor and the Donald C. Little/Richard B. Nelson transcription of Benedetto Marcello's Sonata No. V in C Major.

Carl Gottlieb Reissiger was a successful German composer, conductor, and teacher in the first half of the nineteenth century. At the height of his career, he was Hofkapellmeister of theater and opera in Dresden, a position he held until his death. He was a composer of more than 200 works in a multitude of different genres. Today he is mainly known as a composer of opera, a small portion of his total output as a composer. He wrote approximately eighty piano solos, eighty collections of songs or duets, nine masses, and many smaller sacred choral works, as well as 27 piano trios, seven piano quartets, and three piano quintets. In addition to these many works, he wrote five works for the clarinet: Concertino, op. 63, Duo Brillant for clarinet and piano, op. 130, Fantasie, op. 146, Second Fantasie, op. 180, and Adagio und Rondo alla polacca, op. 214. This document provides a biographical sketch of Reissiger, including his personal life, his life as a conductor, and his life as a composer. It also provides a look at the artistic life of his day: his fellow composers and the music they were writing for clarinet, outstanding clarinetists and the different instruments …

An examination of the historical treatises of Manuel Garcia II and Giambattista Mancini, scientific studies pertaining to glottal closure, and Vocal Function Exercises used in clinical speech pathology led to an exploratory study that attempted to increase the glottal closure in an untrained university male chorus using only choral voice building exercises. The exploratory study used a single group, pre-test post-test design, and data was recorded using audio recordings of the entire chorus as well as electroglottograph measurements of individual subjects. The data show an increase in glottal closure as measured by closed quotient values, and an increase in energy in the upper partials of the recorded acoustic signal from the chorus.

The euphonium has been a respected member of military bands, brass bands, and civilian concert (wind) bands since its invention in 1843. These bands were very visible to the public, and often performed popular music of the day. Since then, the euphonium has had occasional use in orchestral works, jazz, and in brass chamber groups as well. However, by the middle of the 20th century, its traditional use as an instrument of the wind band resulted in a prevailing attitude of the music world toward the euphonium as an instrument strictly for that purpose. This attitude, along with changing popular tastes in music, has over time caused professional opportunities for euphoniumists to become very limited. This lack of public expose for the instrument has therefore resulted in people outside of wind band experience being unaware of the euphonium's existence. There have been, however, positive signs in the last thirty years that changes are taking place in prevailing attitudes toward the euphonium. The formation of the Tubists Universal Brotherhood Association (renamed the International Tuba Euphonium Association in 2000) as a supportive professional organization, the emergence of the tuba/euphonium ensemble as chamber music, new solo works by major composers, and the use …

Performance practice is a term familiar to serious musicians. For the performer, this means assimilating and applying all the education and training that has been pursued in a course of study. Performance practice entails many aspects such as development of the craft of performing on the instrument, comprehensive knowledge of pertinent literature, score study and listening to recordings, study of instruments of the period, notation and articulation practices of the time, and issues of tempo and dynamics. The orchestral literature of Eastern Europe, especially Germany and Russia, from the mid-nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century provides some of the most significant and musically challenging parts for the tuba. The works of Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich, along with their orchestral contemporaries, represents a significant portion of this literature. This study examines a seminal work in the orchestral genre from each of these three Russian composers. The role of the tuba in each work is discussed. Excerpts of the tuba part are examined in terms of performance issues such as range, rhythm, phrasing, and scoring. Comparisons and contrasts are drawn as to how each composer used the tuba and the effectiveness of the utilization.

John Stevens was commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and the Edward F. Schmidt Family Commissioning Fund to compose a concerto for its principal tubist, Gene Pokorny. The piece began with multiple conversations between composer and performer and from these meetings actualized the influences that shaped the work. The most important influences that the performer mentioned were his passions for American steam locomotives and the Three Stooges, both of which were used by Stevens in his rendering of the composition. This concerto was designed to be played on the famous CC York tuba that was played by the former principal tubist of the CSO, Arnold Jacobs, the same instrument used today. Insight into the history of the York tuba will be given as well as their influence on contemporary manufacturing and design. Focus is given to how Stevens writes the piece idiomatically to the CC tuba and potential performance problems when a performer uses tubas of a different key. Conversations with both gentlemen will display the non-musical influences on Journey and how this effects the composition. Stevens' compositional language is explored and discussed in respect to the challenges and idiosyncrasies within the work. Collegiate tuba professors provide explanation for …

The abstract includes a detailed analysis of the quartet as well as idiomatic aspects of the music. In addition, a background of composer/performer relationships is outlined.

In his song cycle, Chansons madécasses (1926), a chamber work for voice, piano, flute, and cello, Maurice Ravel combines twentieth-century musical experimentation and exoticism with the late nineteenth-century style characteristics present in the vocal elements and instrumentation. Because early twentieth-century music appears to be closely connected to modern concerns, performers may tend to dismiss the style and technique of the early twentieth century as simply "old-fashioned" rather than examine and consider those elements as resources and valuable tools for interpreting and presenting authentic performances. The focus of this research includes a discussion of the historical, social, and textual implications of the music and poetry; a formal musical analysis of the work, including comparisons of an early twentieth-century, mid-century, and late twentieth-century recordings with regard to the use of vibrato and portamento in the voice, cello, and flute; and an examination of Chansons madécasses for elements of authentic Malagasy music and poetry. The paper also suggests methodologies for performance practice which reflect the results of these analyses. The beginnings of the rejection of traditional form - harmonic, rhythmic, and melodic structures - found in the early part of the century began to free composers and performers to explore musical presentations that …

During his tenure as the professor of trombone at the Paris Conservatory, Andre Lafosse wrote the Traite de Pedagogie du Trombone a Coulisse addressing trombone pedagogy that was to be studied in conjunction with his method and etude books, Methode Complete de Trombone and Vade Mecum du Tromboniste. The pedagogic philosophy reflects Lafosse's own experiences as an orchestral musician in France in the early 20th century. Lafosse designed and used his treatise to prepare students to be effective teachers after their graduation from the Conservatory. The scope of preparation for Lafosse's trombone class, however, was limited. He did not attempt to provide a text or tutor that would prepare trombonists for any career in music: Lafosse was primarily concerned with orchestral trombone playing, as reflected in musical exercises, instrument designation, and repertoire references. Solo performance skills are also explained at length in his treatise, and Lafosse includes his own solo transcriptions in the curriculum. This emphasis placed on performing as a soloist appears to oppose Lafosse's implied preference for orchestral performance. Throughout his career as a trombone professor Andre Lafosse compiled and wrote music that emphasized elements of trombone technique based on the French solo and orchestral repertoire. His primary …

The essay begins with the overview of Russian-Soviet piano music from the second half of the 19th century to the end of the 20th century. Then, biographical information about Sergei Slonimsky and an overview of his major compositions is provided. The majority of the paper focuses on Slonimsky's Sonata for Piano (1963). A brief discussion of the Sonata's compositional history is followed by the formal analysis of the overall structure of the work. Slonimsky's original principle of organization of the music is emphasized: the system of constant interrelation of the main thematic material combined with elements of the sonata-allegro form. In the analysis of the harmonic language of the piece, the composer's extensive use of Russian folk elements such as diatonic melodies, sigh motives, parallel triads, and simultaneous use of the lower third with the major triad is pointed out. The rest of the paper focuses on issues of interpretation and performance. Special notice is given to the problem of incorporating a percussive type of playing with the elements of folk cantilena singing. The paper concludes with the history of Sonata's performances and a discussion of current recordings.

John Harbison's status as a significant contemporary American composer is confirmed by his numerous appointments, honorary degrees, and awards. He is the recipient of nearly every major composition award, with works performed by major orchestras and in important opera houses spanning the world. This paper examines in detail Harbison's most acclaimed choral work, the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flight into Egypt. This study of the score is a "conductor's analysis," offering a musical guide for the conductor who seeks to perform this work. To provide a context for the discussion, Chapter 1 offers a brief biographical sketch of Harbison's life and career. Chapter 2 provides the analysis of the work and includes a history from commission to premier, a discussion of Harbison's selection of text, and an examination of the pitch organization which informs the piece. In Chapter 3, I present important rehearsal and performance implications to consider when undertaking a performance of the work. Interviews with two well-regarded conductors who have performed The Flight into Egypt, David Hoose and Patrick Gardner, and the composer himself, provide valuable insight into this discourse.

Wind bands have been recording for over one hundred years. Through advancements in both technology and process, recordings have made a monumental impact on the wind band and its repertoire. These advancements have created clarity regarding the performance practice of pieces and helped to preserve the wind band repertoire. Many early works have gained masterwork status due, in large part, to the fact that recordings have preserved them. The increase in popularity of recording and, in particular, the wind band, warrants an investigation into the various aspects of the process. Additionally, gaining insight from wind band professionals who record will help to evaluate the contributions that recording has made to the education of performers and listeners, the preservation of repertoire and the artistic enhancement of the wind band. Each chapter explores aspects of the recording process and how those aspects have shaped the wind band, its repertoire and performance practice. Information from conductors, composers and engineers provide valuable insight pertaining to the educational, historical and artistic components of the recording process. The goal of all involved in the recording process should be the pursuit of technical perfection, which does not eclipse the ultimate musical goals of the project and the …

During the 20th century, chamber works for harp expanded to include significantly different instrumentations, like flute, voice and harp. Indeed, a body of works for flute, voice, and harp began to develop mainly through the commissioning efforts of ensembles comprised of these instruments. This study of George Crumb's Federico's Little Songs for Children for flutes, soprano, and harp considers the unique advantages and challenges of this instrumentation and offers specific suggestions for performance. Attention to various compositional elements of Federico's Little Songs for Children, especially as they relate to the text, is also helpful in preparing to perform this work. The form, pitch material, and text-painting in the work allow for special opportunities to convey meaning to audiences in ways that do not rely on traditional tonal relationships. Accompanying the shift away from traditional tonal relationships, the development of the harp repertoire in chamber and solo settings during the 20th century also led to the development of many extended- techniques for this instrument. For the most part, these techniques have been described and given various notational symbols but not discussed in detail with regard to execution. Federico's Little Songs for Children itself requires several unique extended-techniques. Recommendations are given in …

The traditional cante jondo is a song unique to Andalusia as it developed from the "mosaic" of cultures that have inhabited its borders, including Arabs, Jews and Gypsies. The genre expresses the history of the region, reveals the typography of the landscape and cries the tears of its people. "Deep song," the translation for cante jondo, is the forerunner of the flamenco, but it is a communication of a dark soul rather than an exuberant entertainment. The original folk idiom is a medium less concerned with beauty than the cathartic release of pain of every day life. It expresses the soul of Andalusia. This study explores the history and the poetic and musical forms Andalusian cante jondo as the inspiration for the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca set by Elisenda Fabregas in the song cycle, Five Poems of Garcia Lorca (1992). Lorca felt the validity of "deep song" and he was disturbed that it was being corrupted by commercialism and was afraid it would be lost to posterity. His goal was to preserve the essence of the song and lift it to an artistic plain. He saw folk music as the core of the national musical and literary identity in …

Performance issues related to Soli by Carlos Chávez and Two Little Serious Pieces by Silvestre Revueltas. Chapters one and two provide a brief biography of each composer. Chapter three is an examination of their musical style and the influence that indigenous Indian music, popular music and nationalism had on their styles. Chapter four provides an investigation of Soli by Carlos Chávez, a chamber piece written for oboe, B-flat clarinet, bassoon and B-flat trumpet. Chapter five offers an examination of Two Little Serious Pieces by Silvestre Revueltas, a wind quintet for piccolo, oboe, C trumpet, B-flat clarinet and baritone saxophone. Chapters four and five contain an analysis of these pieces with regard to melodic and harmonic material, tonality, texture, range, phrase structure and form. Performance issues, such as tempo, dynamics, articulation, rhythm and style are likewise addressed with the result being an interpretive analysis of each piece. The final chapter offers a comparative analysis of Soli and Two Little Serious Pieces relative to the topics discussed in chapters four and five.

This dissertation presents a historical and analytical study of the organ works of Anthoni van Noordt. Van Noordt's Tabulatuurboeck is one of the most important music publications in mid-seventeenth-century Netherlands. It gives unique, valuable information on organ playing of its time. The process of discrete analysis has led to the identification and exploration of many details, such as extensive use of pedal, the reliance of the composer on rhetorical principals of composition, and his integration of the Italian and German principals of ensemble techniques. The dissertation is divided into three major parts. The first part contains chapters on van Noordt's biography based on available archival documents as well as a chapter on the organ and its role in seventeenth -century Amsterdam. The second part is solely dedicated to the Tabulatuurboeck examining the physical and technical features of the publication including the style of the publication, the letter and staff notation, hand positions, and rhetorical components. Finally, the third part studies the music and its peculiar characteristics with separate chapters on the variations and fantasias.

The aspiration of this dissertation is to bring forth the significance of Shostakovich's Piano Sonata Op.12. This sonata is a hybrid of the German musical tradition, Russian Modernism, and Liszt's thematic transformation technique. It demonstrates Shostakovich's highly intellectual compositional skills influenced by the education that he received at St. Petersburg Conservatory as well as the exposure to modern music in the 1920s. This dissertation discusses composition techniques, such as the harmonic piers adapted from Alexander Scriabin, neighboring-tone technique, which involves the application of semitone cell throughout the piece, as well as the technique of thematic transformation borrowed from Liszt. These all come together by Shostakovich's design in the most controversial sonata form. The Piano Sonata Op.12 also sheds light on Shostakovich's early compositional style and proves its contribution to the evolution of sonata genre in the twentieth-century.