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- All Subjects: Choral music
- All Subjects: Music Education
- All Subjects: Choral
- Creators: Schildkret, David
- Status: Published
Description
William Levi Dawson (1899-1990), director of the Tuskegee Institute Choir from 1931 to 1956, was one of the most important arrangers of Negro spirituals in the twentieth century. He is also remembered as an outstanding composer, conductor, speaker, and leader of festival choruses. His arrangements are still sung by choirs all over the world. Save a small number of dissertations and various articles, however, very little has been written about him. In fact, almost no significant writing has been undertaken utilizing the Dawson papers held at the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Books Library at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. This study utilizes that collection in examining four areas of Dawson's life: his work as a composer, his work as an arranger of Negro spirituals, his work as a choral conductor and music pedagogue, and his life as an African American man living in segregated times. Dawson is shown as a thoughtful, deliberate practitioner of his art who built his career with intention, and who, through his various activities, sought both to affirm the traditional music of his people and to transcend his era's problems with the definitions, associations, and prejudices attached to the term "race." Using a diverse selection of letters, notes, and speeches held in the archive, it is possible to develop a fuller, more nuanced portrait of Dawson. Through a thorough examination of a select few of these documents, his growth can be traced from a young composer living in Chicago, to a college choral director dealing with the realities of racial inequality in the mid-twentieth century, to a seasoned, respected elder in his field, endeavoring to pass on to others knowledge of the music he spent his life arranging and teaching.
ContributorsHuff, Vernon Edward (Author) / Schildkret, David (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The purpose of this study was to investigate the attitudes, preferences, and practices of Arizona high school choral directors towards sight-singing skills, and student success in group sight-singing evaluations, the teaching of sight singing including preference for a specific sight-singing system, and the instructional practices employed in daily rehearsals. High school choral directors from the state of Arizona (N = 86) completed an online researcher-designed questionnaire that gathered demographic information as well as information regarding directors' attitudes towards sight-singing instruction, which exercises are used for sight-singing instruction, and directors' self-perceived ability not only to sight sing but also to teach sight singing. Independent variables such as teaching experience, level of education, the system they were trained to use as a student, the system they currently use in the classroom, their self-perceived ability to sight sing, their self-perceived ability to teach sight singing, their choir's sight-singing rating at festival, and their daily instructional practices (as measured by minutes per week of sight-singing instruction) were used to investigate potential differences in attitudinal responses. Multivariate analyses of variance were conducted to investigate potential differences in responses according to various independent variables. Significant differences were found in responses to statements of the importance of sight-singing instruction according to level of teaching experience and time spent on sight-singing instruction in the classroom. No significant differences were found for statements of directors' attitudes toward sight-singing instruction according to level of education or prior training. Results indicate that Arizona high school directors are a seasoned and highly education group of professionals who understand and believe strongly that sight-singing instruction should be a part of their choral music rehearsals. These directors use a variety of systems and resources to teach sight-singing and all dedicate time to sight-singing each week in their rehearsals. Despite the overwhelming support for teaching sight-singing in daily choral rehearsals, there is a lack of participation in choral adjudication festivals where group sight singing is assessed. Further research is suggested to investigate the lack of participation of Arizona high school choral teachers in the group sight-singing component of the state choral adjudication festivals.
ContributorsFarenga, Justine (Author) / Sullivan, Jill (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Scmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The performance of Charles Ives's art songs can be challenging to even the most experienced singers, but to beginning singers, they may be even more so, due to such twentieth-century aspects as polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatoric elements, and quarter tones. However, Ives used previously existing material, often familiar hymn tunes, as the foundation for many of his art songs. If beginning students first are exposed to this borrowed material, such as a simple hymn tune, which should be well within even the most experienced singer's comfort range, they can then learn this tune first, as a more simplistic reference point, and then focus on how Ives altered the tunes, rather then having to learn what seems like an entirely new melody. In this way, Ives's art songs can become more accessible to less-experienced singers. This paper outlines a method for researching and learning the borrowed materials in Ives's songs that utilize them, and reviews materials already commonly used by voice teachers to help beginning students learn their music. By combining this method, which focuses on the borrowed materials, with standard practices teachers can then help their beginning students more easily learn and perform Ives's art songs. Four songs, from the set "Four Hymn Tune Settings" by Charles Ives are used to illustrate this method.
ContributorsRuhleder, Kathleen (Author) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Carpenter, Ellon (Committee member) / May, Judy (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This work explores the blurring and eradication of boundaries – whether the boundaries are musical, social, cultural, linguistical, or political. I wanted to create a work that would explore the boundaries of my own dual identities, such as Mexican or American, or masculine or feminine, and that of my varied interests, such as popular, jazz, and European art music. After half a year of work, Sueño-Vibrant is the dazzling, whirlwind of a result (“vibrant” is pronounced just as it is in English).
I worked with poet Marco Piña because we share many similarities in our artistic philosophies, owing to our mutual identities as bilingual Chicanxs. Considering the poems themselves, for me, “Bastardized Spanglish Translations” reveals an individual recovering from the end of a romantic relationship, whereas “Night Song” is about the self-discovery of one’s identity. By pairing these two poems, I create a polarity between the texts themselves, to highlight that the shaping of identity is both an internal and external process.
In the cantata, we travel from the mourning and mysterious “Do My Eyes Lie” to the Mexican folk-styled “Ya me voy;” the arduous and painful “Ban Me From Balancing;” the indie- and jazz-inspired “Soon I’ll Be Home;” the introspective choral work “Night Song;” and the dissonant and disoriented “This Song Keeps Skipping.” I complete the work with “Adiós, Amor,” where these seemingly disparate feelings, genres, ideas, and identities are tied together and explored to fruition through a variety of styles and genres, from the salsa, to the opera chorus. With this work, I invite audiences to consider their own identities and those of others, and to embrace the social dissonances that happen both within us and around us.
I worked with poet Marco Piña because we share many similarities in our artistic philosophies, owing to our mutual identities as bilingual Chicanxs. Considering the poems themselves, for me, “Bastardized Spanglish Translations” reveals an individual recovering from the end of a romantic relationship, whereas “Night Song” is about the self-discovery of one’s identity. By pairing these two poems, I create a polarity between the texts themselves, to highlight that the shaping of identity is both an internal and external process.
In the cantata, we travel from the mourning and mysterious “Do My Eyes Lie” to the Mexican folk-styled “Ya me voy;” the arduous and painful “Ban Me From Balancing;” the indie- and jazz-inspired “Soon I’ll Be Home;” the introspective choral work “Night Song;” and the dissonant and disoriented “This Song Keeps Skipping.” I complete the work with “Adiós, Amor,” where these seemingly disparate feelings, genres, ideas, and identities are tied together and explored to fruition through a variety of styles and genres, from the salsa, to the opera chorus. With this work, I invite audiences to consider their own identities and those of others, and to embrace the social dissonances that happen both within us and around us.
ContributorsRodriguez, Kristian Silviano (Author) / Rockmaker, Jody (Thesis advisor) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Wells, Christopher (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
ABSTRACT In this study, I used a qualitative approach to explore the music teacher role identities of six beginning music teachers prior to, during, and after their student teaching experience. Data collection included participant-observation, interviews, and e-mail communication. Specifically, I looked at what each of these beginning music teachers discussed when describing themselves in the role of music teacher. These participants' music teacher role identities appeared to focus on four main components, while also remaining unique from one another. Those four components were: musical selves, instructional selves, professional selves, and ideological selves. Further, the participants' role identities appeared to change from the period prior to student teaching through student teaching to the time after their student teaching experience. Based on data gleaned from the participants in this study, I created my own definition of music teacher role identity. This study's findings suggest further research using a longitudinal approach to explore the role identities of music teachers at various stages of their careers.
ContributorsPaise, Michele Paynter (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret (Thesis advisor) / Stauffer, Sandra L (Committee member) / Bush, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill M (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
ABSTRACT The Orpheus Male Chorus of Phoenix occupies and maintains an historical place in the musical and civic history of the City of Phoenix and the State of Arizona. Organized in November, 1929, the Orpheus Male Chorus of Phoenix (OMC) is the only performing arts organization in Phoenix that can claim eighty-one years of continuous performance. The chorus gained popularity locally, nationally, and internationally in its first five decades. The breadth of the chorus's recognition began to decline in the latter part of the 20th century, but the chorus still retains a loyal following of audience members. This study focuses on the first fifty years of the OMC, especially the period from 1946 to 1979, the years the chorus was under the direction of Ralph Hess. Through his leadership the group's popularity and recognition reached a peak, thanks largely to his emphasis on civic responsibility, ties to service organizations, and musical ability and showmanship. No scholarly publications exist regarding this organization. Several boxes of memorabilia housed in the Arizona Historical Society Museum in Tempe, Arizona, serve as the primary source of material for this study. Concert programs supply information about concert repertoire, advertising, and chorus history. Newspaper articles from local and international press offer reviews, announcements, and media perceptions of the chorus. Information illustrating the abundant civic engagement of the OMC appears in proclamations and awards from local, state, national, and international personalities. This objective information helps propel the story forward, as do the personal letters and stories contained within the collection. Because many documents from the latter part of the 1970s are missing, the primary source information becomes more anecdotal and subjective. This study illustrates some of the ways in which the OMC went beyond mere survival to occupy a significant place in the musical life of Phoenix. Engagement in civic and social functions and support for non-profit organizations established the chorus as more than just a musical ensemble. Their pursuit under Hess of "Cultural Citizenship" earned them international recognition as civic leaders and ambassadors of goodwill.
ContributorsButler, Robert C (Author) / Schildkret, David (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Doan, Jerry (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
The English Renaissance anthem Christ rising again is a valuable addition to the study of sacred English music during the first one hundred years of the English Reformation (c. 1530s-c.1630s) and provides insight into the theological and musical perspective of English reformers, humanists, and composers. The text of Christ rising again is the only anthem text that was set by the following prominent composers active during the English Reformation: John Sheppard (c.1515-1563), Christopher Tye (c.1505-1573), Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585), William Byrd (c.1540-1623), and Thomas Tomkins (1572-1656), as well as an unfinished setting by Thomas Weelkes (c.1576-1623) as well as complete settings by less prominent English composers. The anthem's text and musical settings are analyzed in terms of their place within the liturgical services of the Church of England, context within the ceremonies surrounding the Easter sepulchre, theological interpretation of the scriptural passages that comprise the anthem's text by Renaissance humanists and theologians, and performance forces available to composers. This study found that the anthem was an integral part of the Easter sepulchre procession during the first English version of the Easter Matins service found in the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. Its function later changed as the sepulchre procession was eliminated from the 1552 revised version of the Book of Common Prayer and the anthem was moved to later within the Easter Morning Prayer service. Analysis of various commentaries and interpretations by contemporary theologians and humanists who influenced the English Reformation is provided to demonstrate the interpretation and meaning associated with specific musical settings by various composers. Finally, an examination of Renaissance English performing forces is provided, particularly centered on the institutions of the Chapel Royal and Lincoln Cathedral, both significant institutions that employed prominent English composers during the examined era.
ContributorsOlsen, Ryan Allen (Author) / Gentry, Gregory (Thesis advisor) / Saucier, Catherine (Thesis advisor) / Doan, Jerry (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Scmidt, Marg (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
ContributorsMyers, Nathan De' Shon (Conductor) / Schildkret, David (Conductor) / Barrett Choir (Performer) / Concert Choir (Performer) / Gospel Choir (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2022-10-21
ContributorsMyers, Nathan De' Shon (Conductor) / Murphy, Teresa (Conductor) / Schildkret, David (Conductor) / Gospel Choir (Performer) / Canticum Bassum (Performer) / Sol Singers (Performer) / Barrett Choir (Performer) / Concert Choir (Performer) / Choral Union (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2021-12-03
ContributorsSchildkret, David (Conductor) / Concert Choir (Performer) / Choral Union (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2022-02-27