The Anthem in America: 1900-1950 (open access)

The Anthem in America: 1900-1950

During the first half of this century, a wealth of anthem literature was published and performed in the United States that, as a result of the deluge of new publications since those years, has been either forgotten or is unknown to modern church musicians. The purpose of this study is to make the best of this music known, for much of it is still both suitable and desirable for contemporary worship. The research is grouped into six chapters that are entitled: The Quartet Anthem, "Anthems in the Anglican Tradition," "Prominent Choral Ensembles and the Dissemination of the Anthem," "Anthems by Prominent Music Educators," "Anthems in the Russian Style," and "The Negro Spiritual."
Date: August 1982
Creator: Fansler, Terry Lee
System: The UNT Digital Library
For Unto Us… (open access)

For Unto Us…

For Unto Us is a one movement work for soprano and orchestra. The text, by the composer, describes the thoughts and feelings of Mary, the mother of Jesus, as she watches the crucifixion. Mary's process of faith is traced through the sequence of dramatic events which proceed and follow the crucifixion. The work explores symbolic instrumentation, juxtaposition of harmonic languages, and extended techniques for performance and notation. The setting of the text combines traditional operatic idioms with new elements in the music. The duration of this dramatic, quasi-operatic scene is approximately nine minutes.
Date: May 1989
Creator: McBride, Melissa Lyn
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Three Related Works by Michael Tippett: A Child of Our Time, The Vision of Saint Augustine, The Mask of Time (open access)

A Study of Three Related Works by Michael Tippett: A Child of Our Time, The Vision of Saint Augustine, The Mask of Time

Three works by Tippett stand together among his compositions because of their similarity of subject and performance medium. All are large works for soloists, chorus and orchestra, on meditative librettos, and intended for unstaged presentation. Only A Child of Our Time is given the genre designation "oratorio" by Tippett. An in-depth analysis of these works and the model for A Child of Our Time, Handel's Messiah, reveals that though they neither present religious subjects nor, in the case of The Vision of Saint Augustine and The Mask of Time, exhibit traditional formal divisions associated with oratorio, Tippett's works do indeed belong to the oratorio repertoire of the twentieth century.
Date: December 1988
Creator: Bolthouse, Colleen R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Effect of Teacher Approval/Disapproval on Students' On-Task Behaviors in a Selected Beginning Strings Class (open access)

The Effect of Teacher Approval/Disapproval on Students' On-Task Behaviors in a Selected Beginning Strings Class

The present study explored whether (a) positive or negative reinforcement would produce higher percentages of on-task student behavior at set timed intervals, (b) positive, negative, or total reinforcement would increase student attentiveness after reinforcement, and (c) if natural fluctuations in teacher approval/disapproval would have any bearing on percentages of student attentiveness. Findings of the 15-day study concluded that (a) positive reinforcement maintained significantly higher levels of student attentiveness over negative reinforcement, (b) negative reinforcement did not significantly lower percentages of student attentiveness, and (c) natural fluctuations in rates of teacher approval/disapproval had no apparent effect on the amount of on-task behavior in the beginning strings class.
Date: August 1988
Creator: Thomas, Elizabeth Lord
System: The UNT Digital Library
Techniques of Music Printing in the United States, 1825-1850 (open access)

Techniques of Music Printing in the United States, 1825-1850

Music printing in the United States between 1825 and 1900 was in a constant state of change as older techniques improved and new processes were invented. Beginning with techniques and traditions that had originated in Europe, music printers in America were challenged by the continuous problem of efficiently and economically creating ways of transferring a music image to the printed page. This study examines the music printing techniques, equipment, and presses of the period, as well as the progression from music type to engraved plate and lithograph stone. A study of the techniques of altering music printing plates helps explain the differences occurring in prints from the same edition and will help further our understanding of this important aspect of music historiography.
Date: December 1988
Creator: Mayo, Maxey H. (Maxey Huffman)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Cognitive Interference in the Perception of Pitch and Loudness in a Five-note Musical Pattern (open access)

Cognitive Interference in the Perception of Pitch and Loudness in a Five-note Musical Pattern

The purpose of the study was to explore whether musicians experience Garner interference among the auditory dimensions of pitch and loudness. Specifically, the study explored whether the dimensions of intonation and loudness, when presented to musicians in a five-note musical pattern, were perceived as integral or separable in nature.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Cattley, Gary Thomas
System: The UNT Digital Library
Klangfarben, Rhythmic Displacement, and Economy of Means: A Theoretical Study of the Works of Thelonious Monk (open access)

Klangfarben, Rhythmic Displacement, and Economy of Means: A Theoretical Study of the Works of Thelonious Monk

The purpose of this study is to investigate the theoretical causes of the stylistic results of both compositions and spontaneous improvisations of jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. The specific topics chosen for analysis include Klangfarben (sound colors), rhythmic displacement (the relocation or complete removal of expected rhythmic events), and economy of means (the judicious use of silence, simplicity, and economy). All of the above topics are addressed with regard to the composer's original works, his selected renditions of works by other composers, and his improvisations. The musical examples appear in transcription form, as some of them are unpublished. The topics are introduced in the first chapter, and individually addressed in subsequent chapters.
Date: December 1990
Creator: Kteily-O'Sullivan, Laila Rose
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Sneetches (open access)

The Sneetches

The Sneetches is a theater piece for children based on the Dr. Suess story The Sneetches (Random House, New York, 1961). It is scored for narrator, flute, B6 clarinet, bassoon, violins I & II, viola, and cello with optional staging. The staged version of The Sneetches requires two to six actors/dancers, appropriate scenery and props, and the active participation of children from the audience, preferably ages eight or under. The Sneetches is essentially through-composed. The overall form of the music is shaped primarily by the events portrayed in the narrative. Although individual subsections may have traditional forms, they should not be viewed as independent movements of a larger work, but rather as fragments of a whole.
Date: December 1990
Creator: Schneider, Gregory Alan
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dubuisson: A Study of His Music for Solo Bass Viol (open access)

Dubuisson: A Study of His Music for Solo Bass Viol

Dubuisson (fl.1666-c.1685) is the sole French viol player-composer between Nicolas Hotman (1613-1663) and Le Sieur de Sainte-Colombe (d.c.1700) whose works are extant. His four suites from a Library of Congress manuscript (1666) are the oldest dated French music for the bass viol; his approximately 125 pieces are contained in five manuscript sources. This thesis brings together, for the first time, all the music from the five sources for study and analysis. Together with the few biographical details, this material is used to assess his position within the French viol school. Brief histories of the viol and the suite in France precede a discussion of Dubuisson's contributions to the evolution of the genre.
Date: December 1988
Creator: Cheney, Stuart
System: The UNT Digital Library