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Theory and Practice in the Traditional Chinese Music: Observations and Analysis (open access)

Theory and Practice in the Traditional Chinese Music: Observations and Analysis

Chinese music has one of the longest histories of development of all music cultures of the world. A system of music (theory) was formulated, in its unique way, but is differed fundamentally from its occidental counterpart. The discussion of this thesis focuses on the following two aspects: (1) the observations on those musical and non-musical factors, which had conditioned the course of development of Chinese music and (2) the analysis of selected examples to summarize the tonal structures and modal patterns, particularly, on the modal and modulatory analysis. A comparison of similarities and differences on melodic gesture between Chinese and Western tonal practice is also included in this study.
Date: December 1994
Creator: Huang, Hsun-Pin
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Fantasias of John Dowland: An Analysis (open access)

The Fantasias of John Dowland: An Analysis

In spite of an increasing interest in the analysis of Renaissance music by contemporary theorists, few analyses of lute music exist. It is hoped that this thesis will serve to open a new area of analysis to scholars of Renaissance music. Chapter I deals with the background information necessary for the analysis, including Dowland's biography, lute history, technique, and notation, and the practice of modality on the lute. An overview of Dowland's music, especially the solo lute music, ends the chapter. Chapter II traces the form and development of the fantasia and surveys Dowland's seven fantasias. In Chapters III-V, the works are divided according to mode and analyzed in terms of counterpoint, dissonance, motivic development and modality. Chapter VI provides concluding remarks.
Date: August 1986
Creator: Walker, William J. (William Jared)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Chaconne Bass as a Musical Topos in Mozart's Fantasia Music (open access)

The Chaconne Bass as a Musical Topos in Mozart's Fantasia Music

This thesis provides evidence that a particular "topos" from the high Baroque's exalted style, the so-called chaconne bass, made a profound impact on a considerable body of Mozart's compositions from the last ten years of his life in Vienna. After identifying the topos in the first chapter, a detailed study in chapter two shows how Mozart's faith in the extraordinary emotional power carried by this topos was enough for him to work it into all of the completed keyboard fantasias. Chapter three illustrates that an understanding of the chaconne bass and its unmistakable association with the fantasia style can shed new light on three of Mozart's most enigmatic compositions from his final period, K. 465, K. 491, and K. 527.
Date: August 1990
Creator: Spicer, Mark Stuart
System: The UNT Digital Library
Analysis of Nocturnal op. 70 by Benjamin Britten (open access)

Analysis of Nocturnal op. 70 by Benjamin Britten

Nocturnal op. 70 is one of the most important large-scale works written for guitar in the twentieth century. Brief biographical data and some background information on Nocturnal show how it exemplifies Britten's compositional approach. The focus of the analysis is on three structural aspects: the rhythmic, the intervallic, and the aspect of underlying pitch patterns. The rhythmic analysis discusses the distortion of rhythmic patterns by the use of compression, expansion, elisions, syncopation, and rhythmic dissonance. The pitch set analysis discusses the intervallic character of the work, identifying and correlating set types as they form networks of relationship. The reductive analysis discusses the underlying connections of focal pitches in the linear material of Nocturnal. The conclusion then correlates the results of the preceding analyses, discussing the large-scale unfolding of the form in Nocturnal.
Date: December 1986
Creator: Frackenpohl, David J. (David John)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Elements of Jazz Harmony and Analysis (open access)

The Elements of Jazz Harmony and Analysis

This study develops a method for analyzing jazz piano music, primarily focusing on the era 1935-1950. The method is based on axiomatic concepts of jazz harmony, such as the circle of fifths and root position harmonies. 7-10 motion between root and chordal seventh seems to be the driving force in jazz motion. The concept of tritone substitution leads to the idea of a harmonic level, i.e., a harmony's distance from the tonic. With this method in hand, various works of music are analyzed, illustrating that all harmonic motion can be labelled into one of three categories. The ultimate goal of this analytic method is to illustrate the fundamental harmonic line which serves as the harmonic framework from which the jazz composer builds.
Date: August 1986
Creator: Mahoney, J. Jeffrey
System: The UNT Digital Library
Scriabin: A New Theory of Harmony and Structure (open access)

Scriabin: A New Theory of Harmony and Structure

The thesis speculates upon the source of Scriabin's pitch selection in several of his atonal works, concluding that Scriabin's "principle" stems from his own "mystic chord," its inversion at the major third, and the transposition of these two chords at the tritone. These four chords share the same invariant harmonic basis, Scriabin's characteristic French-sixth sonority. The quartet of chords combine to form two nine-note scales, each containing as a subset the octatonic scale. The thesis demonstrates how Scriabin composed his works in harmonic blocks, utilizing only the notes from these scales. The thesis traces Scriabin's atonal style back to his tonal period. His fascination with tritone adjacencies and relationships is discussed, and serves to support the theory. Other harmonic and linear theories are discussed. Also, the thesis shows how Scriabin used these scales structurally in his works.
Date: December 1991
Creator: McVay, Michael (Michael Jones)
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of the Effects of Frequency Variance on Duration Perception (open access)

A Study of the Effects of Frequency Variance on Duration Perception

This study investigates the effects of frequency variance on duration perception, using musically trained subjects. In the experiment three silent duration intervals were examined (4.75, 5.00, and 5.25 seconds); each interval was preceded and followed by tone markers. The onset marker was preceded by seven discrete tones one second apart, on the frequency 174.968 Hertz. This established a pulse or an external standard time measure. The subjects made judgments as to whether the offset marker fell "before," "on," or "after," the pulse. The offset marker had a variable frequency. In the study, the direction of the frequency change, the distance of frequency change, and the mathematical intervallic relationships of the two frequencies show possible influence on duration perception.
Date: May 1980
Creator: Gay, Leslie C.
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Two-Part Framework in Selected Choral Works as a Harmonic and Stylistic Determinant (open access)

The Two-Part Framework in Selected Choral Works as a Harmonic and Stylistic Determinant

The problem with which this investigation is concerned is the determination of compositional styles in terms of manners of employing monadic and dyadic intervals in the music of the common practice period. An aspect for determining style is proposed by way of comparing the frequency of occurrence of dyads and monads in selected musical examples from the baroque, classical, and romantic periods. Chapter I is a discussion of the problem and methodology of the study. Chapters II, III, and IV present analytic comparison of examples in the baroque, classical, and romantic periods respectively. Chapter V presents a summary of the findings with references to the pedagogical applications of the two-part framework principle.
Date: May 1981
Creator: Turner, Michael W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
Seven Early Songs of Arnold Schoenberg from the Nachod Collection (open access)

Seven Early Songs of Arnold Schoenberg from the Nachod Collection

Arnold Schoenberg viewed himself as an extension of the German Romantic tradition. Schoenberg's early unpublished songs prove his indebtedness to nineteenth century music, but they also show a great deal that is strictly Schoenbergian. This paper investigates the musical elements that Schoenberg assimilated from tradition, especially from the great Lied tradition of the nineteenth century. lements that may be associated with his later works are also investigated, namely the 2rundgestalt principle, and his use of the "primal cell," a trichord set that appears in works of all his periods. This paper shows how these elements are manifested in seven early songs. These songs are from the Nachod collection, an assemblage of correspondence and early unpublished music manuscripts by Schoenberg. This collection is owned by North Texas State University.
Date: December 1980
Creator: Russom, Philip Wade
System: The UNT Digital Library
Messiaen's Influence on Post-War Serialism (open access)

Messiaen's Influence on Post-War Serialism

The objective of this paper is to show how Olivier Messiaen's Mode de valeurs et d'intensites influenced the development of postwar serialism. Written at Darmstadt in 1949, Mode de valeurs is considered the first European work to organize systematically all the major musical parameters: pitch, duration, dynamics, articulation, and register. This work was a natural step in Messiaen's growth toward complete or nearly complete systemization of musical parameters, which he had begun working towards in earlier works such as Vingt regards sur 1'Enfant-Jesus (1944), Turangalila-symphonie (1946-8), and Cantyodjaya (1949), and which he continued to experiment with in later works such as Ile de Feu II (1951) and Livre d'orgue (1951). The degree of systematic control that Messiaen successfully applied to each of the musical parameters influenced two of the most prominent post-war serial composers, Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, to further develop systematic procedures in their own works. This paper demonstrates the degree to which both Boulez' Structures Ia (1951) and Stockhausen's Kreuzspiel (1951) used Mode de valeurs as a model for the systematic organization of musical parameters.
Date: August 1984
Creator: Muncy, Thomas R.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study Of Lu-Pitch Name Signification: A Translation with Commentary (open access)

A Study Of Lu-Pitch Name Signification: A Translation with Commentary

The purpose of this thesis is to provide translation of documents on lu from two primary sources for a study of the theory of ,lu, with the main focus on the interpretation and the signification attached to each of the twelve lu-pitch names. To establish the background information of the lu-10 system, an explanation of its acoustical properties is first presented. Based on the most important and widely used tonal system in ancient China -- the san-fen-sun-i system, the illustration is provided for the process of tone generation. Methods proposed by the main theorists who engaged in the discussion of the system of lu are presented. The introduction of the concept of yin and yang in reference to the twelve lu and the signification of the lu-lu system in relation to the human and natural world will also be discussed. The main body of this study is devoted to the translation of written references on the meaning of the twelve lu. The first part is the translation of the selected passages from The Anthology of the Historical Document of Ancient Chinese Music. edited by Tsai-Ping Liang; the second part is the translation of a modern exegesis from an article written …
Date: December 1986
Creator: Tung, Anne An-Yi Lin
System: The UNT Digital Library
Tonality and Harmonic Motion in Copland's Appalachian Spring (open access)

Tonality and Harmonic Motion in Copland's Appalachian Spring

In Appalachian Spring, Aaron Copland creates a unique tonal environment. Although often considered a tonal work, it contains many non-functional progressions and techniques that belie common-practice norms. The entire first movement, and sections of other movements contain no harmonic motion, in part because tonic and dominant chords sound together as a single sonority. In other movements, harmonic motion, in part because tonic and dominant chords sound together as a single sonority. In other movements, harmonic motion is increased by shifts to third-related keys, and non-functional progressions. Also, the variations on the melody "Simple Gifts" never employ common-practice techniques. Through the free use of materials, Copland creates an individualistic example of tonality in twentieth-century music.
Date: December 1993
Creator: Rober, Russell Todd
System: The UNT Digital Library
Assimilation of Baroque and Classical Essence with Romantic Sentiment: a Structural Analysis of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Sonata in C Minor for Organ, Opus 62, No. 2 (open access)

Assimilation of Baroque and Classical Essence with Romantic Sentiment: a Structural Analysis of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy's Sonata in C Minor for Organ, Opus 62, No. 2

The purpose of this study is to examine Sonata No. 2 in detail from many analytical perspectives including melodies, rhythms, harmonic progressions, tonal plans, voice leading, and cadential patterns on macro- and micro-levels. It is believed that a more in-depth discussion of the composition from the perspective of harmony and voice leading may provide answer for the questions raised, and correct some misinterpretations in the works of certain writers. Furthermore, through analysis of Sonata No. 2. this study will show the relationship of the use of formal, stylistic, harmonic features between Mendelssohn and other composers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Date: December 1994
Creator: Chou, Kwong-Yan Godwin
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Pitch Content of Selected Piano Works of Toru Takemitsu (open access)

The Pitch Content of Selected Piano Works of Toru Takemitsu

The purpose of this study is to examine the pitch content and compositional techniques of Takemitsu's recent solo piano works, which have not been analyzed by Koozin, and to trace the evolution of his techniques in his solo piano works during his career. It also discusses how Takemitsu projects his philosophy and aesthetics of musical composition through Western musical idioms.
Date: May 1998
Creator: Fukuchi, Hidetoshi
System: The UNT Digital Library
Musical Borrowing: Referential Treatment in American Popular Music (open access)

Musical Borrowing: Referential Treatment in American Popular Music

This thesis examines the relationships between popular contemporary musical styles and classic-era art music. Analysis of pop-rock songs, and their referential treatment in art rock, classical music, and society will be examined. Pop-rock musicians borrow from the masters of the past and from each other. Rock guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen employ a virtuosic technique suggestive of Liszt and Paganini. The group Rush borrowed freely from opera seria. Frank Zappa referenced contemporary musicians as well as classical techniques. Referential treatment in popular music and the recent advancements in technology, have challenged copyright law. How these treatments and technologies affect copyright legislators and musicians will be discussed.
Date: December 1998
Creator: DiGiallonardo, Richard L. (Richard Lee)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Harmonic Organization in Aaron Copland's Piano Quartet (open access)

Harmonic Organization in Aaron Copland's Piano Quartet

This thesis presents an analysis of Copland's first major serial work, the Quartet for Piano and Strings (1950), using pitch-class set theory and tonal analytical techniques.
Date: August 1995
Creator: McGowan, James (James John)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Preferential Strategies in Elliott Carter's String Quartet No. 2 (open access)

Preferential Strategies in Elliott Carter's String Quartet No. 2

For the purposes of expressive intent, Carter developed compositional strategies that possess qualities congruent with the musical language in his Second Quartet (1959). He employed strategies including tempo modulation, triple groupings, and large-scale ratios to assemble the musical discourse and to guide the listener's perception of large-scale continuity. I label these devices collectively as "preferential strategies" because it is Carter who selects certain pre-compositional ideas that organize musical material and demarcate structural locations. Tempo modulations that organize dual meters and triple groupings that interact in transitional and transformational ways demonstrate his concern with controlling the overall time continuity through local level organization. Large-scale ratio relations between nine interlocking sections of this four movement work illustrate how Carter employs a local strategy that projects a large-scale structure. Recognizing that Carter's ultimate compositional goal prioritizes temporal processes, these proposed preferred strategies articulate a convergence of musical elements.
Date: May 1999
Creator: Crafton, Elizabeth B.
System: The UNT Digital Library
An Analysis of Dominick Argento's "Peter Quince at the Clavier": the Music and Its Relationship to the Text (open access)

An Analysis of Dominick Argento's "Peter Quince at the Clavier": the Music and Its Relationship to the Text

Dominick Argento (b. 1927) occupies an important position among American composers. This thesis discusses his 1980 choral work Peter Quince at the Clavier: Sonatina for Mixed Chorus and Piano Concertante. On the surface, the choral and piano parts of this four movement work often sound dissimilar. To create unity within this composition, Argento utilizes a small number of generative elements that govern the pitch, intervallic, and rhythmic dimensions of the composition. This thesis also discusses the relationship between the music and the text, a poem by Wallace Stevens (1879-1955).
Date: August 1990
Creator: Gonzales, Cynthia I. (Cynthia Inez)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Harry Partch: And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell on Petaluma (open access)

Harry Partch: And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell on Petaluma

Harry Partch's tuning system is an important contribution to tuning theory, and his music is original and significant. Part One of this study presents a brief biography of Partch, a discussion of his musical aesthetics (Monophony and Corporeality), and a technical summary of his tuning system. These elements are placed in historical perspective. Part Two presents a comprehensive analysis of "And on the Seventh Day Petals Fell on Petaluma," discussing the organization of formal, textural, rhythmic, linear, and tonal elements in the thirty-four "verses" of the work. Part Two concludes by showing how large-scale structure in the work is achieved through an overlay process.
Date: August 1982
Creator: Nicholl, Matthew James
System: The UNT Digital Library
Béla Bartók's "Four Dirges" for Piano, Op. 9a: A Complete Analysis (open access)

Béla Bartók's "Four Dirges" for Piano, Op. 9a: A Complete Analysis

The study of Bela Bartok's Four Dirges for piano (1909- 1910) is significant in that this period of 1908 to 1910 was particularly experimental and formative for Bartók, especially in tonal aspects of his compositional style. Furthermore, very little research and analysis has been done on these smaller works. This thesis contributes an analytical study of this early style and also shows its influence on larger mature works in subsequent years. A complete analysis on each dirge contains graphs of tonal structures and patterns constructed by Bartok within each composition. The concluding chapter summarizes overall characteristics of the dirges.
Date: August 1980
Creator: Terrell, John W.
System: The UNT Digital Library
History and Development of Theory of Lü: A Translation of Selected Chapters of Huang Ti-Pei's Perspectives of Chinese Music (open access)

History and Development of Theory of Lü: A Translation of Selected Chapters of Huang Ti-Pei's Perspectives of Chinese Music

This study first narrates on the importance of theory of lü-lü (theory of tone generation) in the history of Chinese music from the Chou Dynasty (ca. 400 B.C.) to the Chin Dynasty (ca. end of 19th century), its symbolism and ramification. The main body of this study is devoted to critical translation of Huang Ti-Pei's Perspectives of Chinese Music, particularly those sections which give chronological narratives and comparative critiques of major theories of lü-lü, in order to provide the western scholarship with documents toward understanding the evolution of tone system of Chinese music. The study concludes with a comparison of Chinese tone systems from ancient time to present, and offers comments on comparison of tone systems between the eastern and western musics.
Date: August 1985
Creator: Chen, Whey-Fen
System: The UNT Digital Library
Heroes Are Born Then Made (open access)

Heroes Are Born Then Made

Heroes Are Born Then Made is a theatre piece involving live actors on stage, and live music originating from an orchestra pit. The script and music is original. The music is meant to literally depict actions and emotions on stage whether the actors are present or not. The duration of the entire production is about two and one-half hours long. Six main actors are used with additional walk-ons. Sixteen musicians are required to make up the orchestra which is organized into a woodwind quartet, a brass trio, a string quartet, a piano, and a percussion quartet. The play is based on the author's conception of how people tend to treat each other when someone is caught at a disadvantage. Specifically it is a depiction of the conflict involved when the minor characters discover that the main character is trying to do something quite different from their definition of "normal."
Date: May 1987
Creator: Miesak, Edward
System: The UNT Digital Library
Debussy's Use of the Motive in Thematic Construction as Found in "Images I" for Piano (open access)

Debussy's Use of the Motive in Thematic Construction as Found in "Images I" for Piano

This study seeks to discover the extent and manner of Debussy's use of the motive in thematic material. A total of 40 melodic examples were analyzed in order to show their relationship to a single motive, a three-note figure having a step-leap relationship. Using eighty-four series of examples, the study shows the melodies analyzed to be 85% motive-derived. The study concludes, therefore, that Images I is a remarkably economical work, using a single three-note motive as a unifying and developmental basis.
Date: May 1977
Creator: Sheridan, John F.
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Study of Part Forms in the Selected Intermezzi (opp, 116-119) of Johannes Brahms (open access)

A Study of Part Forms in the Selected Intermezzi (opp, 116-119) of Johannes Brahms

This study is an attempt to investigate part form structures in Brahms' Intermezzi, Opp. 116-119. Chapter One deals with the stylistic perspective in Brahms' piano writing in general as compared to his late works. Chapter Two concerns three aspects: 1) structural norms in part forms which are presented in many currently available textbooks on musical forms, 2) application of selected Brahms Intermezzi to above norms, and 3) the role of cadential types in part forms. Chapter Three analyzes structural aspects of all the Brahms Intermezzi in Opp. 116-119 and comments on pieces which appear problematic in terms of structural layout. Chapter Four, deals with the relationship between different thematic types and overall formal schemes.
Date: August 1979
Creator: Yang, Byung H.
System: The UNT Digital Library