Articulation is an element of musical performance that affects the attack, sustain, and the decay of each sound. Musical articulation facilitates the degree of clarity between successive notes and it is one of the most important elements of musical expression. Many believe that the expressive capabilities of percussion instruments, when it comes to musical articulation, are limited. Because the characteristic attack for most percussion instruments is sharp and clear, followed by a quick decay, the common misconception is that percussionists have little or no control over articulation. While the ability of percussionists to affect the sustain and decay of a sound is by all accounts limited, the ability of percussionists to change the attack of a sound with different implements is virtually limitless. In addition, where percussion articulation is limited, there are many techniques that allow performers to match articulation with other instruments. Still, percussion articulation is often a topic of little concern to many musicians. The problem is not that this issue has been completely ignored, but rather that a vast number of contradictory and conflicting viewpoints still permeate pedagogical methods and literature. This is most certainly the case with the marimba, where a review of method books reveals …

In recent years, a large part of the erhu's repertoire has been arranged for performance on the violin and vice versa. Given the difficulties involved in transcribing the music of plucked or woodwind instruments for the violin, the erhu has been the most popular choice for transcribing Chinese music for the violin. However, the erhu and violin are radically dissimilar instruments based on different principles. Pipa music is an essential part of traditional Chinese music from as early as 202 BCE, and the instrument's repertoire represents a large portion of East Asian music aesthetics, and this context should be considered to successfully transcribe pipa music for violin. This dissertation talks briefly about Chinese music history and its categories and also focuses on the history and development of the pipa as well as its repertoire categories to provide context for the following musical examples. I use existing transcription examples from different categories of pipa music as an avenue to discuss how to transcribe pipa music for the violin. Even though the violin has some limitations for use as a plucked instrument, the instrument can still make use of several different kinds of techniques in order to play the music in a …

Frederick Thurston was a prominent British clarinet performer and teacher in the first half of the 20th century. Due to the brevity of his life and the impact of two world wars, Thurston's legacy is often overlooked among clarinetists in the United States. Thurston's playing inspired 19 composers to write 22 solo and chamber works for him, none of which he personally commissioned. The purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive biography of Thurston's career as clarinet performer and teacher with a complete bibliography of compositions written for him. With biographical knowledge and access to the few extant recordings of Thurston's playing, clarinetists may gain a fuller understanding of Thurston's ideal clarinet sound and musical ideas. These resources are necessary in order to recognize the qualities about his playing that inspired composers to write for him and to perform these works with the composers' inspiration in mind. Despite the vast list of works written for and dedicated to Thurston, clarinet players in the United States are not familiar with many of these works, and available resources do not include a complete listing. Much of this repertoire remains unexplored and unrecorded yet is suitable for intermediate to advanced level …

David Baldwin has been the trumpet professor at the University of Minnesota since 1974. His most celebrated accomplishment is his recording of the Charlier 36 Etudes de Transcendantes and the Marcel Bitsch Vingt Etudes. In addition to this recording Baldwin has made recordings of etude books by Small, St. Jacome, Arban, Caffarelli, Smith, and the 32 Etudes de Perfectionnement also by Charlier. The quality of performance on all of these makes them excellent reference recordings. The back cover of the Etudes 32 de Perfectionnement reveals that the two-CD album, with a total run time of 115:35, was recorded over a span of four days. Endurance is a topic that all brass players confront. Baldwin wrote an etude book titled Lips of Steel that also contains two previously published articles on the topic of endurance. His ideas on endurance reveal a unique approach. This study analyzes the pedagogical concepts in those articles and in Lips of Steel. In addition to his recording projects, Baldwin has had many successful students. Thomas Rolfs and Lynn Erickson are both members of full-time professional orchestras. Larry Griffin, Scott Hagarty, and many others built their careers as professors of trumpet. An investigation of Baldwin's influence on …

In this project I identify the pedagogical techniques, philosophy and legacy of Raymond Crisara. I examine how his pedagogical philosophy led to Crisara's personal success as a teacher and to his students' success in their performing and teaching careers. In much the same way that Ernest Williams's legacy has been passed on to his students, Crisara's legacy is now being handed down. I have examined Crisara's pedagogical concepts and philosophy through the eyes of four former students: Dr. Todd Hastings (Professor, Pittsburg State University), Billy Hunter (Principal Trumpet, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), Dr. Gary Mortenson (Dean of the School of Music, Baylor University) and Keith Winking (Professor, Texas State University) as well as from transcripts of interviews Crisara gave. Crisara extended and modified William's pedagogy through the use of a multitude of étude methods. This modification and Crisara's experience as a leading New York freelance musician greatly influenced the teaching and success of the four subjects I interviewed. While these teachers have adopted Crisara's pedagogy and philosophy largely unchanged, I found that they modified his pedagogy slightly through the use of added teaching materials never used in Crisara's career or teaching studio.

Written in 1999, Concerto Piccolino is a part of the Composer's Guild of New Jersey Vibraphone Commission, which contains a collection of twelve soli written exclusively for vibraphone. Concerto Piccolino presents vibrant opportunities for both performer and listener to experience the compositional world of Milton Babbitt. With its limited register, ability to control duration and create extreme dynamics, the vibraphone serves as an appropriate vehicle for Babbitt's multi-dimensional style. The intent of this study is to first situate this work into Babbitt's compositional output as well as referencing Babbitt's other works for solo percussion. Next, an investigation into the background structure will provide a recommended analytical framework. Included is a performance guide for how these structures should be realized via surface materials throughout the interpretive and internalization stages of the work. Examining a recommended progression from analysis through performance will demonstrate Concerto Piccolino's significance and proper place in the standard repertoire of percussion. The study concludes with discussing connections to pedagogy and how the importance of Babbitt's work, as well as other composers of serious music, is vital to the forward progress of music performance.

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.

This dissertation serves as an analysis and performance guide for No-Re I for Flute Solo (2018) by Gyu-Bong Yi (이규봉), a work that combines Korean elements and Western compositional techniques. The modern flute, developed in the mid-nineteenth century with the Boehm's Schema, has pushed the boundaries of the instrument through experimentation with new techniques, leading to numerous contemporary works presenting unique challenges for flutists. No-Re I includes passages with various extended techniques and unique combinations, requiring specific solutions to overcome the challenges they present. For example, this dissertation offers specific fingering diagrams and descriptions for executing the double trills used in No-Re I. Additionally, certain notations used by the composer may have limitations in projection or clarity, and this dissertation elucidates the composer's intent based on an interview and provides solutions for these limitations. This research also discusses the fusion of Korean and other East-Asian aesthetics with Western musical language including the works of Isang Yun (1917–1995), a Korean-born musical pioneer, who had a successful career as a composer and educator, especially elaborating on his unique compositional technique, the Haupttöne, which is based on tonal centers influenced by East-Asian philosophy, Korean folk music, and its unique characteristic of ornamenting the …

This study assessed music educators' health literacy, musician health literacy, and intentions to teach the health-related Fine Arts TEKS in ensembles. An online survey was developed using the integrated behavior model, Newest Vital Sign (NVS), and Musician Health Literacy Questionnaire (MHL-Q19). Texas music educators who taught secondary band, choir, or orchestra were recruited via email and social media. Results: This survey yielded N = 207 respondents, with 43%, 29%, 14.5%, and 13.5% teaching band, choir, orchestra, and multiple ensembles, respectively. Most participants (67.6%) demonstrated adequate health literacy by answering at least four items correctly on the NVS. Attitude (p =.47) and personal agency (p =.30) were significant predictors of behavioral intention, while perceived norm was not (R2 =.484). Including NVS total score and MHL-Q19 total score in the model showed that while both factors improved the model (ΔR2=.038), only NVS total score was significant (p =.26) in predicting behavioral intention. Music educators in this study had adequate health literacy, which may contribute to their intentions to teach health concepts in ensembles. However, future efforts to improve these intentions should focus on bolstering perceived norms and personal agency by providing music educators with opportunities to take charge of implementing these concepts …

Chen Qigang (b. 1951) is one of today's most representative and prolific Chinese composers. His works are regarded as setting a standard of excellence among Chinese composers in the twenty-first century. Like many Chinese composers of his generation, Chen combines in his works the traits of both Chinese traditional music and Western musical language. La joie de la souffrance (The Joy of Suffering) for violin and orchestra, composed for the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition in 2016–17, is one of his mature works that not only represents one of the great achievements of fusing Chinese and Western musical languages, but is also a major addition to the venerable tradition of Chinese concertos. By analyzing La joie de la souffrance as the nexus of old and new, East and West, I hope to provide not only insight into a valuable work of the twentieth-century violin concerto repertoire, but also a glimpse into some of the musical influences of a Chinese composer working in France in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. By extension, I hope to shed light on some of the factors, trends, and developments that have influenced Chinese composers in the early twenty-first century.

This dissertation is an examination of Divertimento for Solo Trombone and Wind Band by renowned wind band composer and conductor Jack Stamp. The result of this study is the illumination of a 21st-century composition for solo trombone and band that is made accessible for future performers, accomplished by constructing original musical exercises that are influenced by current trombone pedagogical materials that have either been edited, annotated or created by current performers and pedagogues such as Joseph Alessi, Brad Edwards and Michael Mulcahy. The piece also incorporates 20th -century American wind band influences. The careful selection of pedagogical materials serves the purpose of making this challenging solo accessible for the advanced academic trombonist and can serve as a template for surveying advanced literature of the present and future. Additionally, the pedagogical materials selected for use in this dissertation were considered based on their value in the present academic trombone repertory. Thus, this performance guide reflects on the validity of the modern trombone pedagogical literature to guide a performer's study, interpretation, and performance of a 21st-century work for solo trombone.

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 …

Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises (SOVTEs) have been a topic of research and interest among voice specialists for over three decades. An SOVTE is "any exercise in which the vocal tract is made partially closed at or near the lips." When this kind of occlusion occurs there are numerous consequences that follow, but of primary interest is a beneficial change of impedance. These beneficial changes are still being studied, but efficiency in phonation, as well as a shift in the configuration of the vocal folds during phonation are two significant findings thus far. Efficiency in vocal production is paramount to a performer's vocal health. Therefore, a dissipating impedance or a hindering reactance would be undesirable. Research over the last three decades has largely addressed the degree of reactive inertance possible through such impedance and its health benefits on the speaking and singing voice. The performing arts health aspects of these benefits are increasingly relevant to professional voice users. Although research on SOVTEs has become plentiful and widely available to voice teachers, it is unknown how or if this population is digesting the current performing arts health research and implementing it within their vocal instruction. Understanding the extent to which SOVTE science …

Antonio María Valencia (1902-1952) was one of the leading Colombian composers, pianists, and educators of his generation. His Dúo en forma de sonata (1926) for violin and piano serves as an early example of the composer's aesthetic. According to the programmatic description he sent to his mother, the Dúo depicts Valencia's "indelible impressions" of his homeland. Through structural and harmonic analysis, I examine the piece in relation to the composer's informal programmatic description. The analysis argues that the work poetically re-creates the landscape of Valencia's birthplace region through an international language, devoid of Colombian folk rhythms and melodies. Valencia proposes a different perspective on Colombian music as an alternative to the use of folk-based music elements that were predominant to Colombian music during his lifetime.

Pierre-Philippe Bauzin (1933-2005) was a skilled keyboard performer, improviser, and composer. By way of his close personal friendship with renowned saxophonist Jean-Marie Londeix, Bauzin began dedicating, composing, and often times performing music for saxophone with Londeix, beginning in 1959. The results of this friendship produced eleven original works for saxophone with diverse instrumentation, ranging from solo compositions to large ensembles. Due to Bauzin's preference for improvising the piano accompaniments of his music on each performance, however, a majority of his compositions were thought to be incomplete or lost. This study surveys Bauzin's complete opus for saxophone by way of both his published works, and the author's rediscovery of the manuscripts to these previously assumed lost compositions for saxophone. The pieces studied are Sonata no. 1 (1959), Poème (1960), Cinq Pièces Breves en Forme de Musique (1960), Esquisses (1967), Divertimento (1968), and Quatuor no. 1 (1962). In addition, chapter 8 provides information regarding other compositions for saxophone by Bauzin that did not survive in their completed form. The survey of each work contains information pertaining to creation, performances of significance in saxophone history, and compositional techniques present within each work that can be used to identify the components of Bauzin's unique …

The modern piccolo trumpet is required by professional trumpet players for the performance of solo repertoire, chamber music, orchestra, and wind band. Students in universities around the world study the piccolo trumpet in preparation for professional careers, but relatively few pedagogical tools exist to specifically focus on the nuanced techniques of the instrument such as articulation, range, and sound production. The purpose of this project is to create a pedagogical guide that can serve as a method for students learning the modern piccolo trumpet.

Johannes Möller's 2014 composition Shenandoah Fantasy for Two Guitars, is a theme and variations on the American folksong Oh Shenandoah and is the composer's only work dedicated to American music. An informed performance of this work requires biographical information. Since no scholarly work on this composer is currently available, this paper includes Möller's biographical information, compositional background and performance suggestions. This information was acquired through a recorded video interview with the composer that covered his early education as a guitarist and composer, his formal conservatory training, career accomplishments, influences that informed the piece, and suggestions for performance practice. The insight gained through this interview reveals its main influences as the Romantic Fantasy, American Minimalism, Keith Jarret's harmonization of Oh Shenandoah, American country and bluegrass music, and the sounds of American folk instruments. These are the subjects of the body of this paper. In addition to an overview of some scholarly writing on the styles which influence the piece, some solutions are offered at the end of the paper to aid in the performance of difficult passages. The intent of these solutions is to make the piece easier for the left and right hand, without sacrificing those musical elements that represent …

The purpose of this document is to examine the effects of learning music similarly to the way humans learn language to answer the following questions: (1) what are the correlations between language learning and music learning? and (2) how can the ideals of language learning be used to maximize the effectiveness of the music learning process? To achieve this, the stages of language acquisition is examined alongside Edwin Gordon's skill learning sequence to draw comparisons between the music and language learning processes. Examined materials include common beginning band method books and trumpet-specific materials. Common problems public school educators face, as well as solutions to those difficulties are addressed. The solutions are concepts inspired by the language learning process that can be utilized to maximize the learning at both the beginning and advanced stages of learning. A beginner level piece ("Lyra" from Trumpet Stars by H.A. Vandercook) and an advanced level piece ("Danse" from Incantation, Threne, and Danse by Alfred Desenclos) are examined thouroughly with these ideals in mind. In order to maximize results of the music learning process, incorporation of language acquisition ideals is necessary not only at the beginning of one's musical journey, but also into the later years …

This dissertation aims to examine the motivic voice leading of the first two movements of Korngold's Violin Concerto, Op. 35 to illuminate the interwoven motives within the underlying structures of the movements. The analysis principally concentrates on two main motives: the motivic tritone and rising-third motives. Moreover, the analysis of Korngold's motivic writing further investigates the semantics that are evoked by the technical aspects. With his exceptional ability to interconnect music to narratives both in operas and films, Korngold never ceased to express the recurring themes of love and revival also in his instrumental music. It is noteworthy that he borrowed only the "love themes" from his film scores for the first two movements of the violin concerto. The violin concerto was the first work written after Korngold returned to absolute music after a decade of composing for films to ensure his and his family's survival during the war. After the Anschluss, during his exile in California as a Jewish refugee, Korngold's love for his homeland Austria, his philanthropic concern for humanity, and longing for peace became his primary focus; these concerns are reflected in his Violin Concerto through his use of specific motives. By researching the historical and biographical …

Many classically-trained clarinetists do not know how to use their performance skills and life experiences to create financially sustainable and artistically fulfilling musical opportunities. Music careers have traditionally included teaching positions in academia and performance positions in professional ensembles. Because of the limited number of jobs in these two areas, clarinetists, and classical musicians in general, often turn to work that provides financial security but may lack artistic fulfillment. The proposed solution to this situation is for musicians to create "portfolio careers," which is defined in this document as a combination of multiple part-time jobs to create full-time work. The purpose of this document was to examine best practices in creating and sustaining a portfolio career through the specific lens of seven clarinetists who have shown themselves to be successful performers and entrepreneurs. Results showed that the best practices include: 1) turn ideas into actions, even if the idea is still in the prototype stage, 2) build and utilize a network of successful and supportive people, 3) say "yes" to opportunities, and 4) find creative work outside the field of music that inspires music-related work.

Prokofiev had a specific approach to the modernist aesthetic that is worthy of a special study from a new perspective: eclecticism. There are two distinguishable views on his achievement in modern music. One is the Western version, which sees his eclectic approach as not innovative enough in comparison with modern composers such as Stravinsky. The other view is from the traditional Soviet approach, which holds Prokofiev in the highest esteem. These sources largely ignore Prokofiev's Paris and American periods. Such an oversimplification is likely to have reflected political circumstance. Neither the Western view nor the Soviet view provides a satisfying interpretation of Prokofiev's musical style. Therefore, understanding his eclectic approach is important to challenge and redefine our notion of Prokofiev's musical aesthetic. This dissertation examines Prokofiev's eclectic approach in his Violin Concerto in G minor with a combination of historical research and historically informed style analysis. The historical research is mainly based upon current interpretations of Prokofiev's musical style. The two contrasting views (Western and Soviet) on Prokofiev's contributions to modern music are equally lacking in objectivity due to their entrenchment in political rhetoric. Therefore, to have a more precise interpretation of Prokofiev's concerto, historically informed analysis is used to …

The French tuba was a much-needed addition to the brasswind musical instrument family, adding depth, projection and a unique color to French orchestral literature. Its ancestors the serpent and ophicleide both lacked the tonal stability and sonic power to adequately present the bass wind role in a robust orchestra. Through the efforts of its developer and patent-holder Adolphe Sax, the French tuba made converts among players and composers, effectively creating its own niche in music history. Musical tastes change however, and the French tuba has been largely supplanted by tubists using instruments twice its size. Since French composers composed specifically with the distinct timbre of the French tuba in mind, this unique and characteristic musical entity deserves a resurgence in performances of French orchestral repertoire.

This document focuses on background and performance practice of various musical styles encountered in Paquito D'Rivera's The Cape Cod Files. More specifically, the musical styles examined include: boogie-woogie, Argentine milonga, classical and popular Cuban music, American twelve-bar blues, contemporary atonal music, and Cuban danzón. A brief biography of Paquito D'Rivera is included to establish context of the composer's musical background. Each chapter examines one of the four movements and the musical styles found within that movement. A brief history of each musical style is provided to inform appropriate performance practice decisions.