ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Music
Description
The C.G. Conn instrument manufacturing company is known as one of the most successful and innovative band instrument manufacturers in the history of the United States. Many of C.G. Conn's instrument product lines have undergone significant changes throughout the company's history, especially in the brass family. The C.G. Conn tuba product lines are no exception to this company's extraordinary success, and have been significantly redesigned since the company began manufacturing these instruments in circa 1880. This research project investigates the tuba product lines that C.G. Conn manufactured between 1880 and 1940. C.G. Conn designed six different tuba product lines during this timeframe, including an unnamed tuba product line with Stölzel valves, the Wonder Valve line, the New American line, the Wonder Model line, the 20-J, and the 22-J instrumental product lines. These tuba product lines have been investigated using extant publications and patent information because the majority of C.G. Conn's internal records prior to 1970 have been lost. In addition to investigating each of C.G. Conn's early tuba product lines, this project also explores the particularly anomalous design in the top-action valve apparatus of the Conn Wonder Model tuba product line. This anomalous design was implemented in the all of C.G. Conn's top-action tuba and tuba-like product lines from circa 1890-1940. This author's measurements of period instruments and analysis of data taken from these measurements indicates that this anomalous top-action valve apparatus design utilized interchangeable parts with other front-action C.G. Conn tuba product lines.
ContributorsEarll, David Michael (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Yeo, Douglas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The study of artist transcriptions is an effective vehicle for assimilating the language and style of jazz. Pairing transcriptions with historical context provides further insight into the back story of the artists' life and method. Innovators are often the subject of published studies of this kind, but transcriptions of plunger-mute master Al Grey have been overlooked. This document fills that void, combining historical context with thirteen transcriptions of Grey's trombone features and improvisations. Selection of transcribed materials was based on an examination of historically significant solos in Al Grey's fifty-five-year career. The results are a series of open-horn and plunger solos that showcase Grey's sound, technical brilliance, and wide range of dynamics and articulation. This collection includes performances from a mix of widely available and obscure recordings, the majority coming from engagements with the Count Basie Orchestra. Methods learned from the study of Al Grey's book Plunger Techniques were vital in the realization of his work. The digital transcription software Amazing Slow Downer by Roni Music aided in deciphering some of Grey's more complicated passages and, with octave displacement, helped bring previously inaudible moments to the foreground.
ContributorsHopkins, Charles E (Author) / Pilafian, Sam (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This paper is the writing component of a project the author under took to create an entertaining program for a chamber ensemble. It discusses ways for chamber ensembles to create entertaining concert programs for today's audiences. Information was gathered by analyzing four interesting and successful groups--The Canadian Brass, Mnozil Brass, Les Trompettes de Lyon, and The Blue Man Group--and identifying common traits. These traits help facilitate the ultimate goal of making connections with audiences and include originality, comedy, choreography, memorization, continuous presentation, musical appeal, high quality presentations, and the proper personnel. These attributes were then implemented into the author's experimental group, the Omni Brass Ensemble, for testing with live audiences. Materials were used from published interviews, articles, newspapers, ensemble websites, and recordings of their performances. From the author's performances with the Omni Brass Ensemble, indications are that these findings work with live audiences.
ContributorsLee, Randolph Thomas (Author) / Hickman, David (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Pilafian, J. Samuel (Committee member) / Russell, Timothy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The ability of musicians to perform well in multiple musical styles is increasingly common and necessary. This paper profiles two trombonists who have gone well beyond the ability to function in multiple genres, and are instead considered significant artists. Tony Baker and Alex Iles were chosen to be profiled for this project because both have achieved recognition as solo artists in the genres of classical music and jazz and have performed on international stages as soloists. They also have significant ensemble experience in both classical and jazz settings and are active teachers as well. Both hold-high profile positions that have helped grow their reputations as performers: Mr. Baker as a professor at one of the largest music schools in the United States, the University of North Texas, and Mr. Iles as a highly in-demand freelance musician in Los Angeles. This paper presents interviews with both trombonists that investigate their development as musicians and soloists in both classical music and jazz. They are asked to describe the benefits and challenges of performing at a high level in both styles, and how these have affected their musical voices. Common traits found in their responses are examined, and recommendations are created for musicians seeking stylistic versatility.
ContributorsLennex, William (Author) / Pilafian, J. Samuel (Thesis advisor) / Bush, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The modern day tubist has an expanded collection of solo tuba repertoire that continues to grow in quantity and in difficulty, making it necessary to utilize all the tools available to improve musicianship and performance ability. In this capacity, the use of transcribed material serves as a vital method of cross training in order to develop skills which assist the performance of modern tuba literature. Rather than focusing on transcriptions solely to engage with musical eras that the tuba would not otherwise have access to, the tubist can use transcribed material as supplementary or even prerequisite repertoire.
This project examines a cross training style of studying transcriptions for the advancing tubist. Similar to how athletes cross train in two or more sports to improve their abilities, the tubist may cross train with transcriptions in order to improve the technical and musical skills required in modern tuba literature. Transcribed materials will be used to develop facility in the areas of technique, phrasing, and stylistic interpretation using three unique pieces of standard solo tuba repertoire; Krzysztof Penderecki’s Capriccio, the John Williams Tuba Concerto, and Anthony Plog’s Three Miniatures.
This project examines a cross training style of studying transcriptions for the advancing tubist. Similar to how athletes cross train in two or more sports to improve their abilities, the tubist may cross train with transcriptions in order to improve the technical and musical skills required in modern tuba literature. Transcribed materials will be used to develop facility in the areas of technique, phrasing, and stylistic interpretation using three unique pieces of standard solo tuba repertoire; Krzysztof Penderecki’s Capriccio, the John Williams Tuba Concerto, and Anthony Plog’s Three Miniatures.
ContributorsNetzer, Travis (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Electro-acoustic compositions throughout the twentieth-century have flourished due to the modern advancements and improvements in technology, including image based interactive software. This project aims to reveal how three composers of different backgrounds utilize the use of euphonium in combination with live interactive electronics. To this date no known works have been composed for this instrumentation.
Advancements in the development of audio software and hardware have helped to improve and rapidly evolve the inclusion of live electronics including the use of performer-triggered events, audio processing, and live electronic decision-making. These technologies can be utilized and explored in various ways. Three composers have been commissioned to each compose a new work focusing on using the timbre of the euphonium in combination with explored electronic sounds, unplanned sounds of nature and the use of the human voice. Each work is performed and examined by the author in order to further explore the electro-acoustic properties of this genre, how they communicate and interact with one another, and how the electronics interact and meld with the sound of the euphonium. Compositional elements in this project include but are not limited to the use of pre-recorded natural and “un-natural” sounds, and the manipulations of both pre-recorded and live sounds through the use of performer triggered events using visual programming languages such as Max/MSP and looping pedals.
Advancements in the development of audio software and hardware have helped to improve and rapidly evolve the inclusion of live electronics including the use of performer-triggered events, audio processing, and live electronic decision-making. These technologies can be utilized and explored in various ways. Three composers have been commissioned to each compose a new work focusing on using the timbre of the euphonium in combination with explored electronic sounds, unplanned sounds of nature and the use of the human voice. Each work is performed and examined by the author in order to further explore the electro-acoustic properties of this genre, how they communicate and interact with one another, and how the electronics interact and meld with the sound of the euphonium. Compositional elements in this project include but are not limited to the use of pre-recorded natural and “un-natural” sounds, and the manipulations of both pre-recorded and live sounds through the use of performer triggered events using visual programming languages such as Max/MSP and looping pedals.
ContributorsDuron-VanTuinen, Danielle Rae (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Vaclav Nelhybel (1919-1996) composed over 600 works, a significant number of which were never published. The trombone is included in more than 200 of Nelhybel’s compositions, some featuring the instrument in a solo role and also as a key contributor in many of his chamber and large ensemble works. The goal of this project is to bring this significant body of trombone literature into the light by examining his seventeen compositions that feature the trombone in solos and trombone ensembles; this paper also includes a select listing of other works by Nelhybel that include the trombone. The seventeen highlighted pieces include nine works for solo trombone and eight for trombone ensemble. This paper also contains background information on the composer and a brief discussion of his overall compositional history, focusing on the last thirty years of his life when he was most active as a composer and became one of the most prominent figures in the wind band movement in the United States. The central portion of the paper describes each of Nelhybel’s compositions that feature the trombone and is divided into three sections: the trombone as solo instrument in published works, an unpublished Concerto for bass trombone, and chamber works for two or more trombones alone. Discussions of key pedagogical aspects, recurring features and techniques, each piece’s difficulty level, and suggestions for performance are included for added depth.
ContributorsHaas, Garrett (Author) / Yeo, Douglas (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The purpose of this project was to provide a pedagogical resource for students and teachers that highlights selected transcriptions of former Los Angeles Philharmonic principal trombonist Ralph Sauer (b. 1944), and how those works can be used in an applied instruction setting. The compositions include Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, Debussy’s Syrinx, Pergolesi’s Sinfonia in F, Sonata in B-flat by Mozart, and Saint-Saëns The Nightingale.
The sections dealing with pedagogical concepts are presented as conversationally as possible to facilitate ease of understanding by teachers of any background and level. Educators who are not trombonists or are otherwise not wholly familiar with the presented repertoire can still able to borrow phrasing directly from the document. The musical examples enable teachers to quickly identify sections of the work that may prove useful to students. At the time of this writing, there are no commercially available recordings of the chosen pieces as they appear from the publisher. Therefore, the recording is intended to render the music exactly as it is printed in the published version, and to be as free of personal musical interpretation as possible. The works were chosen to cover a range of ability levels, from early college through the graduate level. All the included pieces are published, as of July 2019, and available for purchase online from Cherry Classics Music.
The sections dealing with pedagogical concepts are presented as conversationally as possible to facilitate ease of understanding by teachers of any background and level. Educators who are not trombonists or are otherwise not wholly familiar with the presented repertoire can still able to borrow phrasing directly from the document. The musical examples enable teachers to quickly identify sections of the work that may prove useful to students. At the time of this writing, there are no commercially available recordings of the chosen pieces as they appear from the publisher. Therefore, the recording is intended to render the music exactly as it is printed in the published version, and to be as free of personal musical interpretation as possible. The works were chosen to cover a range of ability levels, from early college through the graduate level. All the included pieces are published, as of July 2019, and available for purchase online from Cherry Classics Music.
ContributorsBledsoe, Joshua L (Author) / Humphreys, Jere T (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In undergraduate music curricula, the subjects of music theory and applied music are typically taught separately, with little connection made between them. As a result, students may compartmentalize their knowledge instead of applying it to the music they work on in the studio. This lack of connection can especially affect students studying the tuba, an instrument seldom represented in music theory textbooks and classrooms. This project proposes a way to use the applied tuba studio as a vehicle for a more integrated approach to music theory. Following a first-semester curriculum from Steven G. Laitz’s textbook, The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Tonal Theory, Analysis, and Listening, fourth edition, études from Marco Bordogni’s 43 Bel Canto Studies for Tuba and H.W. Tyrrell’s 40 Advanced Studies for B-flat Bass, two popular tuba method books, are used to illustrate concepts the student is likely to encounter in music theory classes. By showing how what is learned in class can be applied to études the student is practicing, this approach encourages the student to see music theory as a subject that is relevant to their own musical pursuits while they work to improve their performance skills.
ContributorsMargolis, Robert (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019