ETDs

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.

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Performance Guide: Henry Cowell’s Three Irish Legends and Six Ings, and John Cage’s The Perilous Night

Description
This research will explore the compositional approaches of Henry Cowell and John Cage to reveal piano techniques for the practice and performance of selected works. The discussion will focus on Henry Cowell’s Three Irish Legends and Six Ings, as well as John Cage’s The Perilous Night. An important contribution of…

This research will explore the compositional approaches of Henry Cowell and John Cage to reveal piano techniques for the practice and performance of selected works. The discussion will focus on Henry Cowell’s Three Irish Legends and Six Ings, as well as John Cage’s The Perilous Night. An important contribution of Cowell was to further the use of tone clusters, applied in his Three Irish Legends by playing directly with the forearm, fists, and palm. Cowell’s Six Ings employ rhythmic experimentation, particularly in the first, second, and sixth pieces. He also uses tone color to portray specific programmatic features. John Cage greatly advanced the prepared piano from its earliest beginnings, as evidenced significantly in The Perilous Night. The present study will include advice on piano preparation, along with performance challenges and solutions.
ContributorsLiu, Xuan (Author) / Hamilton, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020

Pacific Suite: A Work in Four Movements for Solo Piano

Description
Pacific Suite (2016) is a four-movement work for solo piano composed by the author of this paper, Holly Kordahl, that incorporates elements of several musical idioms, including Impressionism, tintinnabuli (as in the music of Arvo Pärt), post-modernism, minimalism and improvisation. This Doctorate of Musical Arts project consists of a descriptive…

Pacific Suite (2016) is a four-movement work for solo piano composed by the author of this paper, Holly Kordahl, that incorporates elements of several musical idioms, including Impressionism, tintinnabuli (as in the music of Arvo Pärt), post-modernism, minimalism and improvisation. This Doctorate of Musical Arts project consists of a descriptive paper, analysis, score and recording. The piece features varying levels of performer independence and improvisation along with notated music. Each movement is named after a different environment of the Pacific Ocean: Great Barrier Reef, Mariana Trench, Sunlit Zone, and Bikini Atoll.

Pacific Suite is engaging to mature pianists and accessible to students. The score of Pacific Suite is a blank canvas in some ways; almost all dynamics, tempi, pedaling, and fingerings are to be determined by the performer. The first movement, Great Barrier Reef, presents different musical vignettes. The second movement, Mariana Trench, requires the performer to improvise extensively while following provided instructions. The third movement, Sunlit Zone, asks the performer to improvise on a theme of Debussy. The final movement, Bikini Atoll, illustrates events of nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll in the 1940s.
ContributorsKordahl, Holly (Author) / Meir, Baruch (Thesis advisor) / Bolanos, Gabriel (Committee member) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Hamilton, Robert (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Jaime Mendoza-Nava and His Song Cycle País de sombra

Description

Jaime Mendoza-Nava (1925-2005) was an important Bolivian composer. In addition to writing music for the concert stage, he worked as a composer of film music in Los Angeles during the second half of the twentieth century. His life and work remain greatly unstudied, with the majority of his compositions existing…

Jaime Mendoza-Nava (1925-2005) was an important Bolivian composer. In addition to writing music for the concert stage, he worked as a composer of film music in Los Angeles during the second half of the twentieth century. His life and work remain greatly unstudied, with the majority of his compositions existing only in manuscript form. The present study surveys the available biographical information on the composer and supplements it with new data collected through interviews with the composer’s family. The information presented here focuses on the composer’s American period as well as his personality traits. The study also examines the development of musical nationalism in Bolivia and other important aspects of Bolivian culture and society, thus creating a historical context through which key influences on the composer are identified. This historical and cultural information also contributes to an examination of Mendoza-Nava’s song cycle País de sombra (1988). A close study of this work reveals Mendoza-Nava’s sensitive setting of the poetry of Ricardo Jaimes Freyre (1868-1933) and his musical references to his Bolivian heritage. A recording of the song cycle by soprano Andrea Ramos and the current author and an edited copy of the musical score conclude the study.
ContributorsSakuma, Masaru (Author) / Ryan, Russell (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
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Symphonies at the Johanneskirche: The Organ Sonatas of Hans Fährmann

Description
The organ sonatas of Hans Fährmann are some of the fullest realizations of the orchestral potential of the pipe organ. These works fill a crucial gap in the existing canonic organ repertoire; they allow the organist to engage with the late German Romantic symphonic works of Brahms, Mahler, and Strauss.…

The organ sonatas of Hans Fährmann are some of the fullest realizations of the orchestral potential of the pipe organ. These works fill a crucial gap in the existing canonic organ repertoire; they allow the organist to engage with the late German Romantic symphonic works of Brahms, Mahler, and Strauss. There is relatively little remaining documentary evidence about Fährmann’s life. This paper provides a biography summarizing what is known about the composer and situates his work historically. Turn-of-the-century Dresden, the so-called “El Dorado on the Elbe,” provided an environment where musical conservatism and radical progressivism lived uneasily side-by-side. The evolution of the German Romantic organ and the organ sonata paved the way for Fährmann’s important contributions to the genre. Fährmann’s own musical language situates him between the organ tradition and broader trends in 19th-century German composition, especially Richard Wagner.Although there is little information on the performance practice of Fährmann’s music, it is possible to derive ideas from German Romantic conducting practices. The study compares the rhythmic interpretive decisions of conductors contemporary to Fährmann with organ-playing in the Straube tradition. The symphonic performance tradition is a better source for organists interpreting Fährmann because of the stylistic similarities between his organ sonatas and the orchestral repertoire, as opposed to the approach of the Straube school, which was at that time laying the foundation for and engaging with the Orgelbeewgung. To elucidate the registration of Fährmann’s organ sonatas, the author investigates contemporary practices and specification of the Johanneskirche instrument on which Fährmann spent most of his time. The study concludes with an analysis of his First Sonata, demonstrating the composer’s craftsmanship and creation of a narrative arch across the form.
ContributorsHalbert, Nicholas (Author) / Marshall, Kimberly (Thesis advisor) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Reymore, Lindsey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
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Interpreting and Applying Research-Based Learning Strategies for Musical Practice

Description
The practice strategies that musicians employ can be made more effective by leveraging existing research about memory and learning. Musicians often use strategies that feel intuitive, such as massed practice and rote repetition, but that research has proven ineffective. When they do employ strategies that are effective, such as varied…

The practice strategies that musicians employ can be made more effective by leveraging existing research about memory and learning. Musicians often use strategies that feel intuitive, such as massed practice and rote repetition, but that research has proven ineffective. When they do employ strategies that are effective, such as varied practice and chunking, they often do not understand the reasons why they are effective and therefore cannot use the principles behind effective learning to generate new approaches when faced with an unfamiliar challenge or learning plateau. In this paper, I propose that, through developing knowledge of the research surrounding learning and memory, musicians can acquire insight into the learning process and develop the ability to self-generate effective practice strategies that address issues specific to their own practice. As a result, they can avoid common learning pitfalls and gain greater confidence in their ability to approach learning complicated skills and taking on big projects. This paper examines and distills recent research of effective learning into an in-depth and practical document for use by musicians. Additionally, this document interprets and applies existing research-based learning strategies—such as retrieval practice, spaced repetition, varied practice, interleaved practice, and chunking—to musical practice through the lens of contemporary percussion repertoire. Readers of this work will develop an in-depth understanding of memory and learning and be able to apply that information practically and immediately in their own practice.
ContributorsKirk, Anthony (Author) / Compitello, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Bolanos, Gabriel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024