Theses and dissertations

This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students. 

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Yoga and saxophone performance: the integration of two disciplines

Description
The integration of yoga into the music curriculum has the potential of offering many immediate and life-long benefits to musicians. Yoga can help address issues such as performance anxiety and musculoskeletal problems, and enhance focus and awareness during musical practice and performance. Although the philosophy of yoga has many similarities…

The integration of yoga into the music curriculum has the potential of offering many immediate and life-long benefits to musicians. Yoga can help address issues such as performance anxiety and musculoskeletal problems, and enhance focus and awareness during musical practice and performance. Although the philosophy of yoga has many similarities to the process of learning a musical instrument, the benefits of yoga for musicians is a topic that has gained attention only recently. This document explores several ways in which the practice and philosophy of yoga can be fused with saxophone pedagogy as one way to prepare students for a healthy and successful musical career. A six-week study at Arizona State University was conducted to observe the effects of regular yoga practice on collegiate saxophone students. Nine participants attended a sixty-minute "yoga for musicians" class twice a week. Measures included pre- and post- study questionnaires as well as personal journals kept throughout the duration of the study. These self-reported results showed that yoga had positive effects on saxophone playing. It significantly increased physical comfort and positive thinking, and improved awareness of habitual patterns and breath control. Student participants responded positively to the idea of integrating such a course into the music curriculum. The integration of yoga and saxophone by qualified professionals could also be a natural part of studio class and individual instruction. Carrie Koffman, professor of saxophone at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, has established one strong model for the combination of these disciplines. Her methods and philosophy, together with the basics of Western-style hatha yoga, clinical reports on performance injuries, and qualitative data from the ASU study are explored. These inquiries form the foundation of a new model for integrating yoga practice regularly into the saxophone studio.
ContributorsAdams, Allison Dromgold (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / McAllister, Timothy (Committee member) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Standley, Eileen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012

A transcription of four viola works by York Bowen for clarinet and piano

Description
Works for clarinet in the twentieth century exist in abundance; furthermore, the number of extant works from the Classical period is substantial. However, works for solo clarinet in the late-Romantic style are lacking; most of the significant literature for clarinet is contained in orchestral works. Therefore, the purpose of this…

Works for clarinet in the twentieth century exist in abundance; furthermore, the number of extant works from the Classical period is substantial. However, works for solo clarinet in the late-Romantic style are lacking; most of the significant literature for clarinet is contained in orchestral works. Therefore, the purpose of this project is to add to the solo clarinet repertoire of the late Romantic-style through the transcription of works written originally for viola. The four works transcribed for this project are by York Bowen. Bowen was a British composer and pianist who taught at the Royal Academy of Music in England. Although his career flourished in the twentieth century, his music reflects the music of the late-Romantic style. The project includes a transcription of Bowen's Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 18 for viola and piano, Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 22 for viola and piano, Romance in D-flat for viola and piano, and Phantasy in F, Op. 54 for viola and piano. Additionally, a brief examination of Bowen's life, an overview of each piece, details regarding transcription parts, a list of changes made to the original part, and a recording of each transcription is included in the document.
ContributorsDeBoer, Andrew Caleb (Author) / Spring, Robert S (Thesis advisor) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / McAllister, Timothy (Committee member) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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A compact disk recording of five works for clarinet by Norbert Goddaer

Description
New music is often created as a product of commissions resulting in a collaborative effort between the performer and the composer. This performer-composer relationship represents an important component of the role of the artist in expanding the repertoire of the instrument. Belgian composer, Norbert Goddaer (b. 1933), has written numerous…

New music is often created as a product of commissions resulting in a collaborative effort between the performer and the composer. This performer-composer relationship represents an important component of the role of the artist in expanding the repertoire of the instrument. Belgian composer, Norbert Goddaer (b. 1933), has written numerous works for clarinet that are the result of such collaborations. Mr. Goddaer's works for clarinet are well-crafted and audience-friendly, and are thus good programming choices for students and professionals alike. His clarinet works have been performed worldwide in artist recitals, conferences for organizations such as the International Clarinet Association, The Midwest Clinic, and the Texas Music Educators Association, and have been commercially recorded and released by some of the foremost contemporary clarinet artists. These works have a great education value given the fact that they are appropriate choices for such a wide range of clarinetists. In an effort to contribute to this body of performance history, the author has produced a recording of five of Goddaer's previously unrecorded works, accompanied by a performance guide to each work. This document provides detailed performance notes with corresponding musical examples, basic formal analyses, and musical suggestions for Las Mañas, Conversations, Ballad, Duets, and Restless by Norbert Goddaer. The author has included a full transcript of an interview with Norbert Goddaer, which includes a first-person discussion of each work, and additionally includes biographical information supported by concert programs and an annotated list of all of Goddaer's works for clarinet, and a discography of his works for clarinet.
ContributorsClasen, Kevin (Author) / Spring, Robert S (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Joshua T (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / McAllister, Timothy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Exploring the Paternal Voice's Impact on the Fetus

Description

Peer-reviewed literature on the effects of sound and music on babies ranging from the prenatal period to the postnatal period, called the perinatal period moving forward, is vast. Substantial research has been directed towards the neural connections they make with sound, musical therapy, audio learning, and much more. The primary…

Peer-reviewed literature on the effects of sound and music on babies ranging from the prenatal period to the postnatal period, called the perinatal period moving forward, is vast. Substantial research has been directed towards the neural connections they make with sound, musical therapy, audio learning, and much more. The primary focus of this thesis was to review the current literature on how the father's voice affects the fetus during the perinatal period. During the preliminary research of the topic, the process faced an immediate problem as this concept had very little substantial sources. The number of relevant articles or documents with the term “father” in the title can be counted on one hand. In some cases, research that explored the father’s voice did so only as a supporting statistic or comparison to the main goal of exploring the mother’s voice. The mother’s voice has been prioritized as a research topic because of the immediate physical connection between the mother and the child throughout the entire pregnancy. The third semester of pregnancy is often a period of study since what the mother senses, says or does will somehow translate into an experience for the child’s developing brain. On the other hand, the father’s voice has been considered an environmental sound, a position justified by some researchers due to phenomena such as differing levels of fetal attention and observed “preference” of a newborn. The scarcity of research regarding the father’s voice, or the voice of a non-parental male, can be explained in several ways. These include the father’s potential absence due to work, inherited ideologies and biases against active parenting for the father, parental roles, and their unwillingness to utilize infant-directed speech and singing for psychological reasons, during the perinatal period, compared to that of the mother. Researching ways to deepen the relationship between the father and baby during the perinatal period, along with developing new biotechnologies for different kinds of evaluative tests, will help advance the subject matter of how the father’s voice impacts a baby to a larger scale.
ContributorsNguyen, Justin Dinh Huy (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis director) / Lefler, Scott (Committee member) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05