The flute music of Anna Bon di Venezia (1738–ca. 1767) belongs to the group of long-overlooked compositions by women composers throughout history worthy of rediscovery. This dissertation includes a discussion of Bon's life and music, as well as the artistic, historical, and theoretical significance of her compositions. It also presents biographical research on Bon, including Michaela Krucsay's dissertation, which provides new evidence of Bon's birth date, which had been uncertain up until 2015. Bon's Sonata in F Major for flute and basso continuo is analyzed to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the work. A table is provided explaining specific ornaments and articulations added to the performance edition. In addition, this dissertation includes analyses of sonatas by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) and Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773) to contextualize Bon's sonatas within the standard flute repertoire. This dissertation expands the music scholarship on this distinguished composer and performer and provides a historically informed performance edition of the Sonata in F Major, op. 1, no. 2, for flute and piano, to serve as a model to modern flutists for historically informed performances of Bon's entire opus 1.

The purpose of this study is to examine the acoustic implications of using aspirated, well-coordinated, coup de la glotte, and hard glottal onset methods, in order to compare and contrast the radiated acoustic spectra. Twenty-five singers trained in bel canto singing style were asked to sing 5-second samples on three pre-determined pitches comprising the low, middle, and high range in male and female voices. Each participant was instructed and trained to sing the three pitches with the four methods. EGG was used with audio perception to verify onset type, and VoceVista Video Pro was used to analyze power spectra. A repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (rMANOVA) was performed with the SPSS General Linear Model function, with onset type as the within-subjects variable to determine main effects and interaction effects on harmonic amplitude (up to 5000Hz) from the independent variables. A significant main effect was found for onset type and more specifically, a significant acoustic difference was found between the well-coordinated and coup de la glotte onsets. Substantial inconsistencies were found in the execution of the well-coordinated onset, as well as in participants' reported preferred onset compared to their baseline measurement of executed onset type. Intentional study of the phonatory …

Charlotte Moorman (1933–1991) was a Juilliard-trained cellist whose life and work made an indelible mark on the development of the American avant-garde. In her career, Moorman acted as a performer, collaborator, composer, administrator and muse. She solely founded the inaugural New York Avant Garde Festival, and subsequently directed fifteen of these festivals between 1963 and 1980, the feat for which she is most widely acknowledged today. Yet, her revolutionary performance practice, which blurred the lines between her life, her body, and her work, and brought into focus the dynamics of corporeality, the feminine body, female nudity and sexuality, and gendered politics within the contexts of musical performance, has so far escaped serious consideration in the written histories of the American avant-garde. This dissertation describes the nature of Moorman's practice as one that evolved to become inherently and irrevocably embodied, explores how this approach fell at odds with the pervasive avant-garde philosophies of music, and illustrates how her work troubles even a feminist musicological analysis. Further, through a contemporary critique of Moorman's oeuvre which centralizes the social, cultural, and political implications of her body in performance as integral to the work, this project offers a retrospective visibility to the artist which …

Occupational burnout is a concern to the health and longevity of clergy and musician careers. However, no known study has assessed occupational burnout among pastoral musicians. A literature review revealed pastoral musicians anecdotally experienced multi-tasking, workplace politics, inequality of workload, competing liturgical styles, lack of job security, lack of financial security, and lack of rest, among other indicators of burnout. Therefore, the aims of this paper were to: (1) describe pastoral musicians as a population; (2) identify the prevalence rate of burnout among pastoral musicians; (3) investigate the relationship between pastoral musicians' burnout and religious coping; and (4) investigate the relationships between pastoral musicians' burnout and depression, anxiety, and stress. In 2021, an online questionnaire was designed to assess burnout among pastoral musicians. Dissemination techniques included emails to members of the Hymn Society of North America and via social media to collect data from pastoral music directors in the United States of America. The survey yielded n = 1,050 respondents: 83.8% experienced one or more symptoms of burnout (41.3% with low efficacy; 12.4% with high emotional exhaustion; 21.3% with high cynicism; 8.8% with burnout). Ineffectiveness was positively correlated with negative religious coping. Emotional exhaustion and cynicism were positively correlated with …

A comparative analysis of the musical transcriptions of Dorothy Ashby with those of her predecessors proves that Ashby was a uniquely powerful and innovative influence on the genre of jazz harp. This dissertation begins with a summative biography of Ashby, following her education in both jazz and classical music through to her career highlights as a performer, arranger and composer. An analysis of Ashby's recordings reveals the development of her groundbreaking musical style throughout her life. This paper also examines Ashby's social activism through musical theatre, especially with regards to combating racism. Next, a brief biography of jazz harp forerunners Casper Reardon and Adele Girard precedes a comparative analysis of Reardon's "Aint' Misbehavin" with Ashby's "Soft Winds" and a comparative analysis of Girard's "Harp Boogie" with Ashby's "Blues for Mr. K." Finally, myriad examples of current musicians covering and sampling her work confirm the paramount and lasting influence of Dorothy Ashby's music.

The main purpose of this dissertation is to offer classical guitarists an additional analytical technique for interpreting and performing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. While this mode of analysis can be successfully applied to any of the instrumental works by Bach frequently transcribed and performed by guitarists, I have chosen for this study my recent transcription of the Partita in A minor for solo flute traverso, BWV 1013. With a continuo-based, harmonic realization of the Partita, I contribute to the existing guitar repertoire by offering a new transcription of this work, while demonstrating how historical concepts of rhetorical structure and aesthetics found in relevant primary source material can inspire a new approach to analysis, transcription, and performance practice. In this way, my investigations create additional perspectives for classical guitarists regarding the analysis and performance of this work, while complementing traditional harmonic analysis and subject labeling. Although it is my hope that this new transcription of the Partita will serve as an important contribution to the existing literature, the main purpose of this dissertation resides in the musico-rhetorical analytical technique and its implications on performance practice for classical guitarists.

Harry Sparnaay was a major contributor to the development of unaccompanied works for the bass clarinet and commissioned over 100 pieces for bass clarinet alone. While Sparnaay's book, The Bass Clarinet: A Personal History, includes a list of works written for him, there is minimal information available regarding most of these pieces. This project fills the information gap for this repertoire by providing publication status/score availability, performance challenges, recording history, program notes, and composer information. Each work is classified into three categories based on its publication status and recording history, providing a framework for understanding which works have entered the standard repertoire for the instrument.

The Viola Concerto No. 1 was commissioned in 2010 by Xidi Shen, a viola professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and composed the same year by Zili Li (b. 1938), a Chinese composer and violinist. For musical, cultural, and technical reasons, this little-known Chinese viola concerto strongly aroused my interest, leading me to use it as the research subject for my doctoral dissertation and to also introduce this work to Western violists. This dissertation provides a performance guide to Zili Li's Viola Concerto No. 1. By analyzing the Mongolian music topics used in the work as well as addressing its typical Mongolian-style string performance techniques, the dissertation should provide a foundation for viola players who wish to play the work but are not familiar with this specific style. In addition, I hope that it can serve as an inspiration to other string players who are playing works based on Mongolian music.

In the late 19th century, Georg Schumann (1866-1952) composed an attractive sonata for the cello that remains largely unknown today. By presenting a performer's analysis, this dissertation aims to position Georg Schumann's Sonata for Cello and Piano in E minor, Op. 19 (1898) amongst other more commonly performed sonatas of the era. This paper provides a detailed analysis of each movement of the sonata, an overview of the history and development of the cello sonata and an overview of Georg Schumann's biography leading up to the composition of his cello sonata.

Paul Tortelier's How I Play, How I Teach (1975) is an invaluable addition to the limited amount of comprehensive cello methods written during the second half of the 20th century. Although Tortelier's influence on cello performance is still being felt today, the application of his method has not been sufficiently explored. An exceptional performer and devoted pedagogue, Paul Tortelier (1914-1990) can undoubtedly be ranked among the greatest cellists of the 20th century. Influenced by Pablo Casals' (1876-1973) approach to cello playing, How I Play, How I Teach develops his views on intonation, sound production, shifting, and articulation. However, Tortelier also introduces numerous daring inventions of his own into his method. These include playing with a flattened last joint of the finger for a more expressive vibrato, "rolling the stick of the bow" while playing for a wider palette of tone colors, new pizzicato and thumb position techniques, new legato fingerings for double stops, and the "pianistic passing of the thumb," among others. Due to their highly unorthodox nature and often condensed, minimalistic explanations, many of Tortelier's ideas have failed to gain acceptance since their publication and are regularly considered to be types of extended technique, mostly applicable to contemporary music …

Like numerous other Baroque pieces, the Ciaccona attributed to Tomaso Antonio Vitali (1663-1745) was transformed in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The German violinist and composer Ferdinand David (1810-1873) was the first to edit and publish the piece. The composition became popular after being included in the second volume of his Die Hohe Schule des Violinspiels [The Advanced Method of Violin Playing] (c.1867). Since then, Vitali Ciaccona became an essential work in the violin repertoire and is often heard in concert halls. However, what many audiences hear in concerts is essentially an arrangement of the Ciaccona. Acknowledging the "double life" of the piece as both Baroque and Romantic, this dissertation examines the advantages and disadvantages of playing the Ciaccona attributed to Vitali on both the Baroque and modern violins.

Hendrik Hofmeyr is considered one of the most important and influential living composers in South Africa. His music for solo saxophone is not well-known in the classical saxophone repertoire. His four works for solo saxophone (Concerto per saxofono contralto e orchestra, Concerto per saxofono baritono e orchestra, Partita canonica, and Necromancer) are substantial and terrific repertoire for the instrument. This study is intended to inform a saxophone performer's understanding of these compositions through analysis of form, melodic, and harmonic content relevant to performance; and, demonstrate through example the conclusions determined by the analysis about apparent compositional techniques in the music.

Padre José Maurício Nunes Garcia (1767-1830) was perhaps the most prolific, revered, and successful composer in 18th and 19th century colonial and postcolonial Brazil. Padre José Maurício's favor with King Dom João VI, the Portuguese Royal Court, and a catalogue of hundreds of compositions, is validation of his success, yet there is comparatively little academic research and recognition in comparison to his European contemporaries. Padre José Maurício's employment of the trombone within his ambitious capstone, his Missa de Santa Cecília showcases his recognizable and original compositional language. The influence of two contemporaries of Padre José Maurício, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868), had an integral and clear influence on the Missa de Santa Cecília without resulting in rote imitation. Mozartian text emphasis, independent part writing, technical demand, and traditional use of the trombone for sacred or supernatural imagery were synthesized by Padre José Maurício swiftly and originally. Simultaneously, Rossinian orchestration, close scoring, limited range, subverted structural arrivals, and emulated percussive effects were personalized and employed by Padre José Maurício. His insular development and instantaneous adaptation of new orchestration and theatrical models yields trombone writing that is idiomatic, in alignment with sacred and symphonic tradition, and essential to the …

Violin repertoire composed in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries placed new demands on performers. While numerous pedagogues have written etudes and treatises analyzing traditional techniques, far fewer have thoroughly examined contemporary techniques. Many of the existing etudes and exercises inspired by contemporary violin repertoire are of a very high difficulty level and may seem unapproachable to students with little to no experience performing the music of recent decades. As a result, many violin students are unacquainted with the language of new music. This dissertation is intended to help fill a gap in the pedagogical literature by serving as a resource that familiarizes advanced students with the notation and proper execution of the non-traditional techniques commonly found in contemporary violin music. This document includes a survey of violin repertoire written since 1970, an analysis of the non-traditional techniques used most often in the works examined, methods for approaching specific technical problems that arise in them, and nine etudes originally composed by this author. The etudes focus on nine contemporary techniques, ranging from contact point variations to changing subdivisions, and are intended for study by advanced violinists interested in performing contemporary music.

This dissertation aims to address the pedagogical gap in introductory material for contemporary clarinet instruction. Through examining the most prominent contemporary methods for the clarinet, the pedagogical gap is highlighted, particularly regarding material aimed at newcomers and early undergraduate students. To address these needs, a new collection of etudes is proposed, introducing extended techniques and contemporary notation for newcomers to modern music.

Females make up the minority in professional euphonium playing and teaching roles in the USA. The purpose of this research is to unveil the reasons behind this imbalance and to discover potential impacts females experience as a minority in the field. Research methods included sending a questionnaire to professional female euphonium players and teachers to document the experiences of participants. A secondary purpose of this study is to further document the existence of past and present potential female euphonium role models. Through a discussion of possible origins of and reasons behind a perceived lack of female euphonium players, I am seeking ways to achieve greater parity by garnering a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges faced by female euphonium players.

Anthony Plog's Concerto for Flute and Wind Ensemble is a substantial but relatively unknown work from the composer's early compositional period. It deserves wider exposure and recognition in the repertoire for solo flute and wind ensemble, given its accessibility for both the soloist and the ensemble.

Jonathan Leshnoff is one today's foremost contemporary American composers. His percussion compositions are significant compositions to the percussion solo, chamber, and concerto repertoire. This study is a tonal analysis on his marimba solo, Run (2003), with comparative analyses on his percussion chamber work, …without a chance (2002), and Concerto for Two Percussionists and Orchestra (2011).

In 1964, Benjamin Britten met the multi-instrumentalist twins Zoltán and Gábor Jeney while traveling in Budapest. At their behest, Britten composed Gemini Variations: Twelve Variations and Fugue on an Epigram by Kodály, a work which exploited the brothers' abilities on multiple instruments: Zoltán on flute and piano, and Gábor on violin and piano. In foreseeing the difficulties of programming this work, Britten simultaneously arranged a version for four players: flute, violin, and four-hand piano, eliminating the need for switching instruments. Despite this arrangement, as well as a very public and highly anticipated premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1965, Gemini Variations has remained neglected by performers and scholars alike. This document serves to 1) promote a work that can justifiably be considered as part of the chamber music repertoire involving flute; 2) advocate for its musical merit and appropriateness for chamber music concerts made up of more traditional groups of players; 3) compare the two-player and four-player versions Britten wrote; and 4) explore the likely reasons why a piece by one of the most celebrated composers of the twentieth century has remained largely ignored for over fifty years.

Cristóbal Halffter, born in 1930, established himself as an important figure in Spanish avant-garde composition in the middle of the twentieth-century. As one of the prominent leaders of the Generación del 51, he helped establish modernity in music as a part of Spain's identity. His compositional style mixing tradition with the avant-garde was built on the success and breakthrough of Manuel de Falla, a composer with close ties to Halffter's family and served as a 'father figure' to the Generación del 51. This study begins with a discussion on Falla's work and reception, as he lay the groundwork for modernism in Spanish music. Further, discussion on Halffter's background and compositional periods, from his nationalist approach in the 1950s to his embrace of the avant-garde in the 1960s and beyond exemplifies Halffter's prominent role in shaping Spanish modernity. This research then sheds light on previously unexplored solo flute works Debla [Solo VI] for Flute and Studie II [Solo III] for Flute by Halffter. Provided is insight to their respective influences (the Spanish debla and the Fibonacci sequence), analysis of each work, and a discussion on their similarities and differences. By taking an informative approach prior to analysis and performance suggestions, readers …

The purpose of this study is to analyze two of Chen Yi's works that include flute. She was raised in China and later studied in the United States, leading to a compositional output notable for its combination of Eastern and Western musical elements. Her unusual early experiences, such as experiencing the Chinese Cultural Revolution, working in rural areas, studying the violin, playing the piano in the orchestra, and being influenced by Western modernists, became her musical inspirations in her later compositional career. Focusing on the composer's Three Bagatelles from China West and Woodwind Quintet No.3, this study explores how the composer links Chinese traditional folk tunes to Western compositional techniques, as well as Western flute techniques to Chinese musical styles. Since the folk tunes in the first movement, Introduction, and third movement, Miao Dances, of Woodwind Quintet No. 3 are the same as those used in the second and third bagatelles of Three Bagatelles: Nai Guo Hou and Dou Duo, both are studied, presenting how they relate to each other.

In this paper, I analyze the musical content in Federico Alvarez del Toro's marimba concerto El Espiritu de la Tierra. This dissertation represents my analysis of features I hear in the composition, and does not reflect the composer's original compositional process. Commissioned by the governor of Chiapas, the piece was composed in collaboration with internationally renowned marimba virtuoso Zeferino Nandayapa and premiered in 1984 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City at Festival Cervantino in Guanajuato. The work has not been published and has been mentioned only briefly in scholarship. Particular attention in the analysis is given to indigenous and folk idioms from the southern region of Mexico combined with post-modern compositional techniques. My primary argument within the dissertation is that I believe the piece demonstrates a respect for tradition and heritage while concurrently utilizing non-traditional and contemporary compositional techniques. Analytically, I argue that two basic shapes are used throughout the piece, and I argue that the many cultural references within the piece solidify a preoccupation with the lineage of southern Mexico.

Since the first saxophone professor at the Paris Conservatory in 1858, saxophone instruction has primarily been a male-dominated field. Numerous sources detail the experiences, lives, and influence of male post-secondary saxophone instructors. Women have made great strides in the performance and instruction of the saxophone at the post-secondary level, but sources discussing their lives and experiences are limited. Saxophone instruction at the post-secondary level in the United States began in the late 1800s. As the instrument grew in popularity through the 20th century, more and more higher education institutions began incorporating the saxophone as an instrument for primary study. This increased the need for saxophone professors in the United States. In 1994, Elizabeth Zinn Ervin, became the first woman full professor. This was 40 years after the the first man, Larry Teal, held this rank. As of 2023, 15 women have achieved the rank of full professor. This document is intended to highlight several women saxophone instructors throughout the history of the instrument, and detail the thoughts and experiences of women saxophonists who have achieved the rank of full professor in the United States.

This document aims to add diversity to advanced violin repertoire being taught and performed. Specifically, this project revives late German Romantic composer Robert Kahn (1865-1951) and argues for his violin sonatas to be included in standard violin repertoire due to their immense pedagogical wealth. Kahn was a prolific composer and left behind a large collection of pieces including twenty-five chamber works, the majority involving string instruments. Yet Kahn is rarely performed and hardly known to modern violinists. His works embody the late Romantic style in their expression, harmony, form, and drama and deserve renewed recognition. This document narrows its focus to Kahn's Violin Sonata No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 5 and provides an extensive pedagogical guide for violinists. The guide includes chapters on both collaborative and technical challenges that exist within this piece. The collaborative chapter offers guidance and suggested rehearsal techniques for both instruments regarding balance challenges throughout the first movement. The technical chapter provides exercises for violinists on how to approach several difficult passages within the first and third movements. This project includes an interview conducted by the author with Julia Bushkova and Arsentiy Kharitonov, the first artists to record all three Kahn Sonatas. The transcript of …