Matching Items (71)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: Music
- Creators: Holbrook, Amy
- Status: Published
Description
I will coordinate, schedule, and lead a recording session with three separate artists each performing one song each. These artists will be fellow ASU students and close personal friends who will be involved throughout the process of their songs up until release. The recording session will be done in one day during the fall 2023 semester using the ASU Popular Music Recording Studio.
ContributorsMacluskie, Mark (Author) / Costa, Jorge (Thesis director) / Compitello, Mike (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Video conferencing applications, such as Skype, have long been used in classroom settings. Although musicians have been conducting online lessons for years, and institutions such as the Berklee School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music offer online music classes, scholarly research concerning online video conferencing music lessons is limited. Most studies of video conferencing lessons are based on subjective answers, making it difficult to yield conclusive results. As such, the only basis to evaluate the efficacy of video conferencing lessons are those from opinions. This study offers quantitative research on online video conferencing lessons. Between September and December 2017, 22 cello students from Muscatine High School received weekly private online lessons. Students filled out surveys using a Likert scale to rate these lessons and how they felt video and audio quality affected them. Students also received in-person lessons during October 23 or 24 to compare this experience to online lessons. The responses collected throughout the semester were compiled and sorted to reveal data trends. Using information derived from the data, this study concludes that online video conferencing lessons were less productive than in-person lessons but were still effective. In addition, average lesson ratings improved significantly after meeting in-person. In conclusion, this study found that online private lessons are feasible for high school students.
ContributorsPark, Yeil (Author) / Landschoot, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / Caslor, Jason (Thesis advisor) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Heinrich Heine’s collection of poems, Lyrisches Intermezzo, is well-known in music circles, largely due to Robert Schumann’s settings of sixteen of these poems in his masterwork Dichterliebe. Because of Dichterliebe’s place of importance in art song literature, many other settings of Heine’s sixty-five poems are often overlooked. Breton-born composer Joseph Guy Marie Ropartz composed Quatre Poèmes d’après l’Intermezzo d’Henri Heine in 1899, after having collaborated on a new French translation of the entire Lyrisches Intermezzo in 1890. This cycle is rarely performed, largely due to Ropartz’s relative obscurity as a composer, as the focus of his career was administration of two regional conservatories in France. The Quatre Poèmes were written fairly early in Ropartz’s life, but feature many compositional techniques that remain staples of Ropartz’s work throughout his career. It is an accessible work to many singers and audience members already familiar with Heine. The texts of the four songs are not simply translations of Heine’s original, but altered to adhere to the rules of French poetry. Examining the changes made in the text, both in language and structure, reveals information that will aid performers’ understanding of the poetry and of Ropartz’s choices in musical setting. The music of the work is greatly dependent on a single motive, an idée fixe, and considering the role of this motive in its various appearances is illuminating to the narrative arc of the cycle. This study seeks to aid potential performers and listeners of the Quatre Poèmes by expanding their understanding of the artists responsible for creating it, and by exploring the textual and musical elements that are the building blocks of this work.
ContributorsHutchinson, Taylor Grace (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / DeMaris, Brian (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
For those familiar with the name of Bohumir Kryl, he may be known simply as a cornetist who regularly utilized the extreme pedal register of his instrument. However, his life was much more complex than that. Born in 1875 near Prague, Kryl was trained by his father as a sculptor, and, for a brief stint in his childhood, he was a circus tumbler. Returning to his family vocation, he traveled with them to America and spent much of the 1890s sculpting the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument and busts on the English Hotel in Indianapolis, as well as the friezes adorning the Lew Wallace study in Crawfordsville, Indiana. In the late 1890s, he left sculpting to become a professional cornet soloist, touring with the bands of John Philip Sousa and Frederick Innes, among others. Kryl soon garnered the title of World’s Greatest Cornetist. He formed his own band in 1906 and continued to solo and conduct well into the 1930s, eventually becoming known as one of the five greatest bandmasters in the world. He stopped soloing in the 1930s, but continued to conduct various orchestras until the late 1940s, gaining notoriety for his women’s orchestra. He also became infamous in the way he chose to parent his two daughters. He was financially successful, spending a short time as a bank president in the 1920s and amassing a significant art collection over the span of his life. When he died in 1961, he was worth nearly $2,000,000. This document is the first comprehensive biography of the extraordinary life of Bohumir Kryl.
Many documents were reviewed in preparation for this biography, including thousands of newspaper articles, telegrams, and letters. Much of Kryl’s personal correspondence used for this study was acquired through the Redpath Chautauqua Collection, located in the University of Iowa Library in Iowa City. Because there are few secondary sources, this biography of Kryl is based on these primary sources, which were carefully organized, reviewed, and documented. Their wealth of information has allowed this study to offer a complete and multifaceted picture of the life and times of Bohumir Kryl.
Many documents were reviewed in preparation for this biography, including thousands of newspaper articles, telegrams, and letters. Much of Kryl’s personal correspondence used for this study was acquired through the Redpath Chautauqua Collection, located in the University of Iowa Library in Iowa City. Because there are few secondary sources, this biography of Kryl is based on these primary sources, which were carefully organized, reviewed, and documented. Their wealth of information has allowed this study to offer a complete and multifaceted picture of the life and times of Bohumir Kryl.
ContributorsHaake, Joshua Lee (Author) / Hickman, David R (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Swoboda, Deanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This document is a study of Jody Rockmaker’s Character Pieces for viola and piano (2014). The study begins with discussion of the work’s origin, then goes on to describe each of its three movements in some detail. A recording of the work with the author as violist is included.
The composer is a former violist and worked with the author on developing Character Pieces. Although the work is demanding, it was written with consideration of viola technique and the instrument’s characteristics and sound.
The composition is of approximately 15 minutes’ duration. Each movement is in a different tempo, fast-slow-fast, and with individual expression, though the pitch organization of all three movements is based on one hexachordal set. Rockmaker’s intent was to depict certain personality traits often found among violists. These attributes are evident in the titles of the movements: the Class Clown, the Mellow Fellow, and the Hipster-Intellect. The music, in addition to being intricately organized and technically suited to both instruments, also expressively portrays these character types.
The composer is a former violist and worked with the author on developing Character Pieces. Although the work is demanding, it was written with consideration of viola technique and the instrument’s characteristics and sound.
The composition is of approximately 15 minutes’ duration. Each movement is in a different tempo, fast-slow-fast, and with individual expression, though the pitch organization of all three movements is based on one hexachordal set. Rockmaker’s intent was to depict certain personality traits often found among violists. These attributes are evident in the titles of the movements: the Class Clown, the Mellow Fellow, and the Hipster-Intellect. The music, in addition to being intricately organized and technically suited to both instruments, also expressively portrays these character types.
ContributorsYoon, Hyun Sun (Author) / Buck, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Swartz, Jonathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In 2006, composer James DeMars conceived of an opera when he began setting the Aztec legend known as Nican Mopohua, the “legend of Guadalupe.” Many inherent challenges arose as DeMars began to compose his first opera. His unfamiliarity with operatic writing and production, a preference for the aural elements of opera over visual ones, inexperience with dramatic textual writing, and insecurity in his ability to have it produced, encouraged him to detour from his operatic vision altogether and instead write an oratorio. Yet, his original operatic concept revealed itself through the music and text enough to encourage him and others to believe that his oratorio, Guadalupe: Our Lady of the Roses, could be produced on the operatic stage. Despite the oratorio’s success, DeMars persisted in realizing his original operatic vision and began the arduous task of rewriting his opera in 2012. To overcome the challenges, he relied heavily on the input of an “Operatic Advisory Council.” This group of dedicated colleagues and experts in the field of opera revealed to DeMars certain essential elements of opera that were absent from the oratorio, and through the course of three years advised and instructed the composer as he transformed his oratorio into an opera – something rarely attempted in the operatic repertoire. In this document, Chapter 1 discusses the formation of the Council, its members, and the expertise they offered. Chapter 2 presents the areas of concern the Council had during the process. Chapter 3 discusses the methods by which DeMars rectified the flaws in the oratorio’s visual aspects, the vocal writing, and the dramatic elements that needed attention. It also presents musical and textual examples of the adjustments and additions DeMars made during the transition, and discusses their effect on the opera’s staging, vocal writing and drama. The changes DeMars made under the guidance of the Operatic Advisory Council ultimately resulted in an operatic version of Guadalupe, which premiered at Arizona State University in November 2015.
ContributorsPeck, Andrew David (Author) / Britton, David (Thesis advisor, Committee member) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
In an interview with the author, composer Chen Yi shared thoughts regarding her inspiration to compose the piece As in a Dream. She composed the first version in 1988 for soprano, violin, and cello. Left unpublished, this work was re-done in 1994 with the Chinese instruments zheng and pipa in place of the violin and cello. As in a Dream is a setting of two linked poems of six lines each by Qingzhao Li, one of the earliest female poets in China. Chen Yi kept the voice part the same in the two versions, but adapted the accompaniment to suit the Chinese instruments.
This study of As in a Dream focuses on the 1994 version, and especially on the first song, with a view to introducing the singer to its Chinese elements. To help performers to understand better the text of the set, a translation and transliteration of the two poems by Qingzhao Li are offered with line-by-line interpretation. An introduction to the history and characteristics of the zheng and the pipa is supported by examples of the uses of these instruments in the songs. Drawing upon information provided by Chen Yi in the interview with the author, a discussion follows of Mandarin speech tones and their effect on the melodic design of As in a Dream, with music examples. An examination of traditional Beijing Opera styles of singing, with insights provided by Rao Lan, the soprano for whom the work was written, leads to a description of the fusion vocal technique required for performance of As in a Dream and some of the rules for diction in Mandarin Chinese.
Intended as an introductory guide for the soprano contemplating performance of Chen Yi’s As in a Dream, this study also reveals the combination of Eastern and Western musical characteristics in these songs and gives examples of how the music interprets the veiled meaning of the poetry.
This study of As in a Dream focuses on the 1994 version, and especially on the first song, with a view to introducing the singer to its Chinese elements. To help performers to understand better the text of the set, a translation and transliteration of the two poems by Qingzhao Li are offered with line-by-line interpretation. An introduction to the history and characteristics of the zheng and the pipa is supported by examples of the uses of these instruments in the songs. Drawing upon information provided by Chen Yi in the interview with the author, a discussion follows of Mandarin speech tones and their effect on the melodic design of As in a Dream, with music examples. An examination of traditional Beijing Opera styles of singing, with insights provided by Rao Lan, the soprano for whom the work was written, leads to a description of the fusion vocal technique required for performance of As in a Dream and some of the rules for diction in Mandarin Chinese.
Intended as an introductory guide for the soprano contemplating performance of Chen Yi’s As in a Dream, this study also reveals the combination of Eastern and Western musical characteristics in these songs and gives examples of how the music interprets the veiled meaning of the poetry.
ContributorsIp, Hoi Lam (Author) / Britton, David (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Literature is an important source for children to learn about many aspects of life, including music, and, more specifically, the trombone as a special type of musical instrument. The project at hand seeks to encourage the introduction of the trombone to young children through books and stories in which the instrument is featured prominently. Seven such books by various authors are identified and analyzed, and a study guide for each is presented. In addition, a brief history of children’s literature and a discussion of its use in the music classroom provide context for these seven books as well as any music-themed literature. Finally, the centerpiece of this project is the creation of a new book intended for children and featuring the trombone, written and illustrated by the present author.
ContributorsRozanski, Emily Marie (Author) / Yeo, Douglas (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Swoboda, Deanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Opera education is a relatively new addition to opera companies in the United States, introducing children and adults to opera and spreading the message that operas are dramatic stories told through music. This paper focuses on the opera education group OperaTunity and its relationship with the company Arizona Opera, which is based in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. The majority of the paper consists of a history of Arizona Opera, the establishment of its Opera Education Department, and the inception and activities of OperaTunity. The information in this account comes from interviews with personnel involved with OperaTunity and from documents pertinent to the program. This study also examines the reception and success of the group in Arizona and includes examples of educational materials to provide to teachers who are introducing children and adults to opera. This account of the history and activities of OperaTunity is intended to aid future educators and opera companies in developing opera education programs.
ContributorsMiller, Rhea Ann (Author) / Holbrook, Amy (Thesis advisor) / Kopta, Anne E (Committee member) / Mills, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
This study seeks to identify the unwritten rules and standards of professional conduct followed by the music community. Its central source of information is a pair of surveys sent to professional musicians, specifically members of large instrumental ensembles across the United States. The first survey posed multiple-choice questions on topics related to personal professional standards, rehearsal and concert etiquette and protocol, and ethical obligations. The second survey followed up with consenting individual participants and requested stories and anecdotes from the respondents’ professional careers. The surveys yielded 70 responses from the initial 350 solicitations, representing 35 professional ensembles in 30 cities and 20 states, 18 different instruments, 41 principal players, and nearly 2,000 combined years of professional music experience. The findings shed light on many specific aspects of professionalism in the music community, and they demonstrate that an unwritten code of largely understood and observed expectations both exists and varies minimally throughout professional ensembles across the United States. The consummate professional musician is prompt, prepared, and observant of an array of expectations generated by the routines and hierarchies of rehearsals and concerts. Understanding the professional attributes and practices of successful ensemble members is important to aspiring musicians, and so this study is intended as a useful resource both for students and their teachers.
ContributorsHunt, Jared Timothy (Author) / Hickman, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Swoboda, Deanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016