Despite a quickly growing repertoire list for the brass quintet, the music of the early Argentine tango has remained relatively neglected by brass quintet arrangers and performers. With the goal of bringing a neglected art form to the brass quintet repertoire, three arrangements based on early twentieth century Argentine tango songs are presented here: "Elegante Papirusa" by Tito Roccatagliata, "A La Gran Muñeca" by Jesús Ventura, and "La Cotorrita" by Samuel Castriota. The arrangements follow the style of three early recordings produced by The Victor Talking Machine in 1920 and 1922, as performed by two authentic Argentine orquesta típicas: Orquesta Típica Select and Orquesta Típica Fresedo. A brief history of the style and instrumental evolution of tango music from its influences and origins up until 1920 is discussed, followed by a detailed account of the musicians and circumstances involved in the three early recordings. An explanation of the issues encountered by the author in adapting the early tango style to the brass quintet setting is discussed, along with the solutions realized in order to make the project successful and practical for a moderately advanced brass quintet. The full brass quintet scores are provided as part of the Appendix.

Research in fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in performance has included CD recording projects, commissions of new pieces, as well as papers on existing pieces that push the performer beyond traditional playing by incorporating extended techniques, multimedia, technology, or movement. This study attempts to synthesize these ideas by commissioning a new work for clarinet and electronics that can be performed alone, combined with movement, or with an interactive video accompaniment. Primary work for this project has been the audio recording, music video, and live dance performance of the new work, entitled Agents of Espionage, which can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAZ20kCb0Qg or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94- C7wWTeKs&context;=C4063fdcADvjVQa1PpcFPv1fBtuWcqgV638q_BRacH7 XWR-xy1B7A=. The entirety of the project, including creating the music, video, audio recordings, and dance was completed on a limited budget of under $500USD, using all student performers and creators. The accompanying written document outlines the various steps for completing each portion of the project, interviews with the artists involved, including Zachary Bramble, composer; Jason Mills, videographer; and Jacquelyn Achord, choreographer; and an analysis of the music from the performer's perspective. This paper should convey ideas about how future undertakings of this sort are possible. This work has been greatly inspired by Martin Fröst and his collaboration with Fredrik Hogberg on the piece The Invisible Duet.

Department chairs or school directors, as the bridge between administration and faculty, and closely associated with the teaching and learning at the heart of the institution, hold very important roles in the departments or schools they oversee. Many chairs and department administrators in music schools and departments are selected from the faculty of the department and asked to serve as the chief administrator. They assume a set of duties that, to that point, have been beyond the purview of their academic training and professional experience--particularly for those with training in the performance disciplines. While usually successful as teachers, these new chairs and department heads face a difficult transition into administrative work because the skills required for an effective administrator are very different from those necessary to be an effective teacher.

The purpose of this research was to ascertain the knowledge and skills that would be most practical for individuals aspiring to administrative or leadership roles in schools or departments of music, and to design a doctoral cognate that would supply that knowledge. The author reviewed the available research into administrative training for individuals pursuing administrative work in schools and departments of music. Interviews were then conducted with current or former music administrators from across the United States, inquiring about their experiences as administrators, any administrative training they received, and the types of things they wished they had known when first working in an administrative capacity. The author used this information to make recommendations concerning the creation of a doctoral cognate in administration for graduate students preparing to become music faculty so that they are equipped to undertake administrative responsibilities.

The resulting cognate area consists of four courses: a course in finance, budgeting, and development; a course on organizational structure and behavior; a course on management and leadership theory; and a practicum or independent study in administration, in which students spend time observing and shadowing their department administrator(s) to apply the principles learned in the previous three courses.

Composers and performers alike are pushing the limits of expression with an ever-expanding sonic palette. There has also been a great expansion of saxophone repertoire over the past few decades. This has lead to an increasing number of advanced pieces incorporating saxophone extended techniques. As younger saxophonists discover these compositions, they too become inspired to implement these techniques in their own playing. There is a need for broader selections of introductory to intermediate compositions with saxophone extended techniques. It is the goal of this project to expand this repertoire for pre-college and early-college saxophonists. These target-level saxophonists are those who have already begun their studies in extended techniques. Three commissioned composers have contributed pieces for this target level of saxophonist with the purpose of bridging the gap between first attempts of extended techniques and the advanced pieces that already exist. Saxophonists who have the standard techniques to perform compositions such as Sonata for E-flat Alto Saxophone and Piano by Paul Creston will be suited to approach these compositions. In addition to the compositions, the author has composed short warm up exercises, utilizing selected extended techniques. A professional recording of the resulting compositions and exercises are also included. The enclosed document will provide a performer's analysis to help instructors of potential performers navigate the extended techniques and provide insight on other challenging aspects of the compositions. It is not the intention of the following document to teach the individual techniques.

This project is a practical annotated bibliography of original works for oboe trio with the specific instrumentation of two oboes and English horn. Presenting descriptions of 116 readily available oboe trios, this project is intended to promote awareness, accessibility, and performance of compositions within this genre.

The annotated bibliography focuses exclusively on original, published works for two oboes and English horn. Unpublished works, arrangements, works that are out of print and not available through interlibrary loan, or works that feature slightly altered instrumentation are not included.

Entries in this annotated bibliography are listed alphabetically by the last name of the composer. Each entry includes the dates of the composer and a brief biography, followed by the title of the work, composition date, commission, and dedication of the piece. Also included are the names of publishers, the length of the entire piece in minutes and seconds, and an incipit of the first one to eight measures for each movement of the work.

In addition to providing a comprehensive and detailed bibliography of oboe trios, this document traces the history of the oboe trio and includes biographical sketches of each composer cited, allowing readers to place the genre of oboe trios and each individual composition into its historical context. Four appendices at the end include a list of trios arranged alphabetically by composer's last name, chronologically by the date of composition, and by country of origin and a list of publications of Ludwig van Beethoven's oboe trios from the 1940s and earlier.

Students afflicted with music performance anxiety (MPA) can greatly benefit from guidance and mentorship from a music teacher with whom they have established trust, however there exists a knowledge gap between the development and manifestations of MPA, and how it can be overcome in order to prepare the student for success as a performer. It is my purpose with this guide to inform musicians, including students and teachers, about MPA, common coping methods, and outside resources where pedagogues, students, and even professionals can find further guidance. This document is designed to aid music students and teachers in their individual research on the topic. The first section provides necessary background information on MPA and concepts of gender, identity, and personality. A discussion of the results of an experimental protocol that surveyed double reed musicians about their experiences with performance anxiety comprises the second section. An annotated bibliography, listing other resources including self-help books, personal accounts, and scientific studies, is contained in the final section of this guide. Because of the relative absence of research done on the correlation between MPA and specific identity traits including personality, self-image, and gender, it was necessary to incorporate more generalized sources relating to the topic. The annotations offer a more comprehensive approach to understanding and overcoming MPA. This work is not meant to be all-inclusive; rather, its purpose is to act as a basic guide.

The purpose of this project was to create a beginner-level oboe method book that provides equal attention to both the instrumental and musical concepts necessary for a beginner oboist. The existing literature for beginning oboe students focuses on two specific settings: full band classrooms, where students are playing and learning the instruments together, and private lesson settings, where one or a group of oboe students are focused on learning to play the oboe. Books written for band settings typically focus on teaching the students how to function as a part of the band, with extensive coverage of musical concepts; conversely, books for private lessons often assume a basic level of musical knowledge by the student, and focus heavily on how to play the instrument. This project provides the basis for a new book that combines these elements into a document that both band and private instructors would be able to use.

I began my project by collecting all of the extant beginner-level method books for the oboe, dividing them into those for band settings and those for lesson settings. I then created a detailed survey to analyze each book's contents so that in the new book I might address any and all shortcomings in the existing literature. I then distilled the results of this survey into charts, so that any teacher could look at the contents of each book and see how said book fits within the results. Once this was finished, I created an outline for the new method book, listing the contents of the front material, lessons, and back material. My outline sequences the musical and instrumental material together, providing students with all of information necessary to become a successful beginning oboist. I stopped short of selecting music or creating the book's layout, but my goal is to publish the completed book within the next year.

Technological advancements in computers and audio software and hardware devices in the twenty-first century have led to the expansion of possibilities for music composition, including works for acoustic instruments and live electronics. Electroacoustic composition is rapidly and continually evolving, and much that has been written about compositional techniques for percussion and live electronics is becoming outdated. Live electronics include performer-triggered events, audio processing, electronic responses to various inputs, and electronic decision-making during live performances. These techniques can be employed in a variety of ways. This project sheds light on how modern composers of different musical and cultural backgrounds reimagine the use of percussion through the lens of new technologies.

Through the commission, examination, and recording of three new works for solo percussion and live electronics, the author seeks to further explore and highlight electroacoustic compositional techniques for solo percussion. A specific compositional element to be included in these commissioned works is the activation or manipulation of the acoustic properties of percussion instruments by electronic components. The three artists who contributed works are percussionist-composer Jeremy Muller, composer and multimedia artist Jordan Munson, and composer, sound artist, and performer Garth Paine. The creativity demonstrated in their previous works made them desirable candidates for this project. Each of them approached their composition in different ways. In Hysteresis, Muller utilizes a loudspeaker underneath a vibraphone to expand the sound palette of the instrument with microtonal electronic sounds that match the instrument’s timbre. In Where Light Escapes You, Jordan Munson layers various electronic sounds with the vibraphone to create a slowly evolving texture that also incorporates a bass drum and the buzzing of snare drums. In Resonant Textures, Paine spatializes vibraphone, cymbal, and electronic sounds to create a meditative and immersive listening experience. Ultimately, each of the three composers implemented distinctive compositional and performance tools to create new works that provide a glimpse into the future of percussion music.

This project includes a recording and performance guide for three newly commissioned pieces for the clarinet. The first piece, shimmer, was written by Grant Jahn and is for B-flat clarinet and electronics. The second piece, Paragon, is for B-flat clarinet and piano and was composed by Dr. Theresa Martin. The third and final piece, Duality in the Eye of a Bovine, was written by Kurt Mehlenbacher and is for B-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, and piano. In addition to the performance guide, this document also includes background information and program notes for the compositions, as well as composer biographical information, a list of other works featuring the clarinet by each composer, and transcripts of composer and performer interviews. This document is accompanied by a recording of the three pieces.

Throughout western clarinet art music, there are not only a large number of great performers and classical works, but also a valuable body of literature that has laid a solid foundation for clarinet development and global dispersion. By contrast, Chinese clarinet literature is lacking in quantity and global distribution. However, this is the first comprehensive study that discloses the mysterious mask of China’s clarinet art.

This study does not merely discuss the Chinese clarinet history, but it also introduces important historical events that influenced the development of the Chinese clarinet industry (excluding manufacturing), including Chinese military bands, clarinet music, pedagogy, clarinet figures, and its future direction.

In the conclusion of this paper, the author discusses the deficiency of the Chinese clarinet industry and makes suggestions for solving problems with clarinet players practicing more technique rather than focusing on musicianship, educators’ lack of concentration on teaching and academic research, and the shortage of Chinese clarinet works. Additionally, the author appeals to Chinese clarinet players to actively participate in international activities and the Chinese government to increase incentives to introduce high-level Chinese talents overseas to help make China a better country in any field.