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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
Vaclav Nelhybel (1919-1996) composed over 600 works, a significant number of which were never published. The trombone is included in more than 200 of Nelhybel’s compositions, some featuring the instrument in a solo role and also as a key contributor in many of his chamber and large ensemble works. The goal of this project is to bring this significant body of trombone literature into the light by examining his seventeen compositions that feature the trombone in solos and trombone ensembles; this paper also includes a select listing of other works by Nelhybel that include the trombone. The seventeen highlighted pieces include nine works for solo trombone and eight for trombone ensemble. This paper also contains background information on the composer and a brief discussion of his overall compositional history, focusing on the last thirty years of his life when he was most active as a composer and became one of the most prominent figures in the wind band movement in the United States. The central portion of the paper describes each of Nelhybel’s compositions that feature the trombone and is divided into three sections: the trombone as solo instrument in published works, an unpublished Concerto for bass trombone, and chamber works for two or more trombones alone. Discussions of key pedagogical aspects, recurring features and techniques, each piece’s difficulty level, and suggestions for performance are included for added depth.
ContributorsHaas, Garrett (Author) / Yeo, Douglas (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The purpose of this project was to provide a pedagogical resource for students and teachers that highlights selected transcriptions of former Los Angeles Philharmonic principal trombonist Ralph Sauer (b. 1944), and how those works can be used in an applied instruction setting. The compositions include Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, Debussy’s Syrinx, Pergolesi’s Sinfonia in F, Sonata in B-flat by Mozart, and Saint-Saëns The Nightingale.
The sections dealing with pedagogical concepts are presented as conversationally as possible to facilitate ease of understanding by teachers of any background and level. Educators who are not trombonists or are otherwise not wholly familiar with the presented repertoire can still able to borrow phrasing directly from the document. The musical examples enable teachers to quickly identify sections of the work that may prove useful to students. At the time of this writing, there are no commercially available recordings of the chosen pieces as they appear from the publisher. Therefore, the recording is intended to render the music exactly as it is printed in the published version, and to be as free of personal musical interpretation as possible. The works were chosen to cover a range of ability levels, from early college through the graduate level. All the included pieces are published, as of July 2019, and available for purchase online from Cherry Classics Music.
The sections dealing with pedagogical concepts are presented as conversationally as possible to facilitate ease of understanding by teachers of any background and level. Educators who are not trombonists or are otherwise not wholly familiar with the presented repertoire can still able to borrow phrasing directly from the document. The musical examples enable teachers to quickly identify sections of the work that may prove useful to students. At the time of this writing, there are no commercially available recordings of the chosen pieces as they appear from the publisher. Therefore, the recording is intended to render the music exactly as it is printed in the published version, and to be as free of personal musical interpretation as possible. The works were chosen to cover a range of ability levels, from early college through the graduate level. All the included pieces are published, as of July 2019, and available for purchase online from Cherry Classics Music.
ContributorsBledsoe, Joshua L (Author) / Humphreys, Jere T (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
When one thinks of the great German Romantic organs of Ladegast, Walcker,
Schulze, and Sauer, visions of the large colossus organs of the cathedrals of Merseburg,
Schwerin, and Berlin come to mind. These instruments were rich in power but also in
timbre and dynamic contrasts, able to crescendo from barely audible to thundering and
back. On the other hand, their eighteenth-century predecessors in the Southern and
Central German regions of Baden-Württemburg, Bavaria, Thuringia, and Saxony showed
a softer side characterized by few reeds and mixtures, generally small size, and gentle
voicing and winding. However, many of the traits found in these earlier instruments,
including an abundance of 8’ registers, a focus on color rather than contrapuntal clarity,
tierce mixtures, and a relatively low proportion of mixtures and reeds to foundation stops
are carried over to the early Romantic organs.
Especially interesting are the transitional instruments around the turn of the
nineteenth century. The end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth, the
time between the death of J. S. Bach in 1750 and E. F. Walcker’s construction of the
Paulskirche organ in Frankfurt in 1833, often appears as a sort of “Dark Ages” for the
organ in which little happened to advance the organ into the new century. Modern
scholarship has largely overlooked these instruments. However, the Central and Southern
German states were among the few areas that saw a continuation of organ building
through the economic and political disaster resulting from the Napoleonic Wars, the
secularization of many institutions including the grand abbeys of Swabia, and a rapid
change in musical aesthetic toward the symphonic and the virtuosic.
In this document, I examine organs of the Southern and Central German territories
of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Thuringia, and Saxony. I focus on organs that show
development from the late Baroque to the early Romantic Period, culminating in the
organs of Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in Baden-Württemberg and Friedrich Ladegast in
Thuringia. These little-known transition instruments provide intriguing insight into the
genesis of the famous German Romantic organs, giants in stature and sound.
Schulze, and Sauer, visions of the large colossus organs of the cathedrals of Merseburg,
Schwerin, and Berlin come to mind. These instruments were rich in power but also in
timbre and dynamic contrasts, able to crescendo from barely audible to thundering and
back. On the other hand, their eighteenth-century predecessors in the Southern and
Central German regions of Baden-Württemburg, Bavaria, Thuringia, and Saxony showed
a softer side characterized by few reeds and mixtures, generally small size, and gentle
voicing and winding. However, many of the traits found in these earlier instruments,
including an abundance of 8’ registers, a focus on color rather than contrapuntal clarity,
tierce mixtures, and a relatively low proportion of mixtures and reeds to foundation stops
are carried over to the early Romantic organs.
Especially interesting are the transitional instruments around the turn of the
nineteenth century. The end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth, the
time between the death of J. S. Bach in 1750 and E. F. Walcker’s construction of the
Paulskirche organ in Frankfurt in 1833, often appears as a sort of “Dark Ages” for the
organ in which little happened to advance the organ into the new century. Modern
scholarship has largely overlooked these instruments. However, the Central and Southern
German states were among the few areas that saw a continuation of organ building
through the economic and political disaster resulting from the Napoleonic Wars, the
secularization of many institutions including the grand abbeys of Swabia, and a rapid
change in musical aesthetic toward the symphonic and the virtuosic.
In this document, I examine organs of the Southern and Central German territories
of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Thuringia, and Saxony. I focus on organs that show
development from the late Baroque to the early Romantic Period, culminating in the
organs of Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in Baden-Württemberg and Friedrich Ladegast in
Thuringia. These little-known transition instruments provide intriguing insight into the
genesis of the famous German Romantic organs, giants in stature and sound.
ContributorsBurns, Brandon Lee (Author) / Marshall, Kimberly A (Thesis advisor) / Ryan, Russell R (Thesis advisor) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Beginning around the 1820s, the refinement of the piano mechanism increased the expressiveness of the instrument’s sonority and further attracted the composers’ attention and curiosity about the instrument. Concentration on piano music became a trend for composers between the mid to late nineteenth century. During this period, the massive output of music for piano and extremely developed keyboard techniques resulted in classical composers searching for fresh ideas. Starting in the twentieth century, composers became increasingly interested in music outside the classical world and new interpretations of meter, harmony, and form. As early as the 1910s, composers included tone clusters generated at keyboard and soon afterwards, began “playing” the internal components of the piano including strings. Concurrently, they blended different styles within a piece according to their cultural and educational background. A prime example of this compositional trend is the classically-trained Turkish pianist-composer Fazil Say (b. 1970). His ability as a pianist reflects his strong classical training as well as a stylistic freedom partly derived from jazz. Say’s inspiration is also drawn from his Turkish heritage, as traditional folk elements have helped to shape his compositions. Representing Say’s education, passion, and ethnic background, the three elements of classical, jazz, and folk music have become his primary devices within his solo piano compositions.
This brief investigation of Say’s life to date and his piano works offers an insight into the correlation between the multi-cultural environments in which he has lived and the formation of his styles. Chapter one, the summary of his life and educational background, illustrates the fact that the three facets within his piano compositions are strongly rooted in his exposure to different environments. The second chapter presents a clear overview of the development of Say’s compositional idiom and a deeper look at selected piano compositions: his transcription of J. S. Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 582, Three Ballads, Black Earth, Alla Turca Jazz, and Paganini Jazz. The goal is to provide current and future pianists with insight into the expressive performance of one composer’s extremely successful hybridization of classical, jazz, and Turkish folk music.
This brief investigation of Say’s life to date and his piano works offers an insight into the correlation between the multi-cultural environments in which he has lived and the formation of his styles. Chapter one, the summary of his life and educational background, illustrates the fact that the three facets within his piano compositions are strongly rooted in his exposure to different environments. The second chapter presents a clear overview of the development of Say’s compositional idiom and a deeper look at selected piano compositions: his transcription of J. S. Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 582, Three Ballads, Black Earth, Alla Turca Jazz, and Paganini Jazz. The goal is to provide current and future pianists with insight into the expressive performance of one composer’s extremely successful hybridization of classical, jazz, and Turkish folk music.
ContributorsChen, Yen-Wei (Author) / Meir, Baruch (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Hamilton, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Collaborative piano education tends to discuss techniques of collaboration as primarily a musical skill. However, common understanding within the field regarding a collaborative pianist’s ability to work with others offers another aspect to this assumption. It goes without saying that pianists’ interpersonal skills largely affect with whom they will work, and how efficaciously pianists and their partners will work together. Correspondingly, how pianists work with others can directly affect the success or failure of the musical collaboration.
The first intention of this paper is to explain why interpersonal skills are integral to the creation of quality musical outcomes and so-called musical togetherness; it specifies interpersonal aspects innate and unique to a pianist’s experience. Next, this paper defines two crucial components of collaboration – empathy and active listening – and discusses how pianists can build these skills into their personal practice and rehearsal. It continues with an examination of the interpersonal implications of studio arrangement, body language, and verbal language from a pianist’s perspective. This paper concludes with ideas for how to test for these skills during the collaborative piano audition process, a class syllabus showing how these skills can be incorporated into the collaborative piano curriculum, and suggestions for further research about interpersonal aspects of collaboration.
The first intention of this paper is to explain why interpersonal skills are integral to the creation of quality musical outcomes and so-called musical togetherness; it specifies interpersonal aspects innate and unique to a pianist’s experience. Next, this paper defines two crucial components of collaboration – empathy and active listening – and discusses how pianists can build these skills into their personal practice and rehearsal. It continues with an examination of the interpersonal implications of studio arrangement, body language, and verbal language from a pianist’s perspective. This paper concludes with ideas for how to test for these skills during the collaborative piano audition process, a class syllabus showing how these skills can be incorporated into the collaborative piano curriculum, and suggestions for further research about interpersonal aspects of collaboration.
ContributorsCota, Mary Strobel (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Jiang, Danwen (Committee member) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In 1568, Vincenzo Galilei published the first edition of Fronimo as a guide to the art of intabulating vocal music for the lute. A second edition was released in 1584 in which Galilei presents “26 Ricercari” to demonstrate the sound of each Glarean mode. These short works provide a methodical approach to experiencing the Renaissance modes through his beautiful writing for the lute.
This research project focuses on the “26 Ricercari” and explores the challenges of transcribing and arranging Renaissance lute tablatures to be played on the guitar. Topics such as making decisions for voicings, fingerings, tactus reductions, and formatting are examined. Historically-informed playing suggestions such as articulations, lute techniques, and tempo are also included.
Many lute and vihuela works, like the ricercari, have not yet been transcribed. The ricerari tablatures are idiomatic and instantly playable for guitarists who are familiar with different forms of tablature, but most classical guitarists today are familiar only with modern staff notation. Because of this, Galilei’s works have been wrongfully neglected.
My project presents the first guitar edition of these works, along with the documentation of my methodology, and serves as an aid to others for transcribing lute tablatures.
This research project focuses on the “26 Ricercari” and explores the challenges of transcribing and arranging Renaissance lute tablatures to be played on the guitar. Topics such as making decisions for voicings, fingerings, tactus reductions, and formatting are examined. Historically-informed playing suggestions such as articulations, lute techniques, and tempo are also included.
Many lute and vihuela works, like the ricercari, have not yet been transcribed. The ricerari tablatures are idiomatic and instantly playable for guitarists who are familiar with different forms of tablature, but most classical guitarists today are familiar only with modern staff notation. Because of this, Galilei’s works have been wrongfully neglected.
My project presents the first guitar edition of these works, along with the documentation of my methodology, and serves as an aid to others for transcribing lute tablatures.
ContributorsOeth, John (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
This research project will focus on two poems by the Korean poet So-wol Kim (1902-1934). His poems are admired throughout Korea and are often set by Korean art song composers. This paper will examine four art song settings by composers Sung-tae Kim (1910-2012) and Soon-nam Kim (1917-1986) of two poems by So-wol Kim: “Azalea” and “Wildflowers of the Mountains.” The discussion will examine in detail the varied interpretations and expressions of the texts by each composer. To be clear, the translations of the poems investigated in this paper are poetic renderings and are not meant for performance purposes.
ContributorsSeo, Juhee (Author) / Mills, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Transcriptions and arrangements of works originally written for other instruments have greatly expanded the guitar’s repertoire. This project focuses on a new arrangement of the Suite in A Minor by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665–1729), which originally was composed for harpsichord. The author chose this work because the repertoire for the guitar is critically lacking in examples of French Baroque harpsichord music and also of works by female composers. The suite includes an unmeasured harpsichord prelude––a genre that, to the author’s knowledge, has not been arranged for the modern six-string guitar. This project also contains a brief account of Jacquet de la Guerre’s life, discusses the genre of unmeasured harpsichord preludes, and provides an overview of compositional aspects of the suite. Furthermore, it includes the arrangement methodology, which shows the process of creating an idiomatic arrangement from harpsichord to solo guitar while trying to preserve the integrity of the original work. A summary of the changes in the current arrangement is presented in Appendix B.
ContributorsSewell, David (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Rotaru, Catalin (Committee member) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
In undergraduate music curricula, the subjects of music theory and applied music are typically taught separately, with little connection made between them. As a result, students may compartmentalize their knowledge instead of applying it to the music they work on in the studio. This lack of connection can especially affect students studying the tuba, an instrument seldom represented in music theory textbooks and classrooms. This project proposes a way to use the applied tuba studio as a vehicle for a more integrated approach to music theory. Following a first-semester curriculum from Steven G. Laitz’s textbook, The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Tonal Theory, Analysis, and Listening, fourth edition, études from Marco Bordogni’s 43 Bel Canto Studies for Tuba and H.W. Tyrrell’s 40 Advanced Studies for B-flat Bass, two popular tuba method books, are used to illustrate concepts the student is likely to encounter in music theory classes. By showing how what is learned in class can be applied to études the student is practicing, this approach encourages the student to see music theory as a subject that is relevant to their own musical pursuits while they work to improve their performance skills.
ContributorsMargolis, Robert (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This dissertation presents a multifaceted examination of the complex sociopolitical contexts of contemporary popular and classical music in Russia. By attending to the competing expectations of Russian creators, government officials, impresarios, critics, and listeners, it examines how contemporary musical artists have navigated the shifting nationalistic and popular moods of the past two decades.
I argue that popular music artists Olga Kormukhina and Polina Gagarina, composer Rodion Shchedrin, and the Mariinsky Theater have transformed the works of past artists, including Viktor Tsoi and Nikolai Leskov, updating them according to a popular demand for patriotic works that the Russian state has cultivated through its media outlets and official pronouncements on cultural policy. Other rock musicians (Konstantin Kinchev and the band Bi-2) have also transformed their political identities to match the present-day demands and expectations of either Russian officialdom or their particular Russian audiences. With the exception of Bi-2 (an ambiguous counterexample), all of these transformations have led to greater associations with nationalistic sentiments or fervent support for state agendas in the contemporary geopolitical arena.
Exploring the wide variety of styles and genres in this dissertation required a methodological versatility involving archival research, reception history, the analysis of musical scores and sound recordings, an examination of prose and poetic texts, and close study of visual imagery in music videos and onstage. The approach to reception history is the most groundbreaking, for it considers a wide range of digital sources, including blogs and social media comment threads, and makes use of language partner apps to augment the pool of informants, allowing conversation with Russians living outside the limited geographical range (St. Petersburg and Moscow) considered by previous studies. This holistic approach to contemporary reception history helps us to better understand how Russian audiences from diverse regions perceive these ongoing transformations.
I argue that popular music artists Olga Kormukhina and Polina Gagarina, composer Rodion Shchedrin, and the Mariinsky Theater have transformed the works of past artists, including Viktor Tsoi and Nikolai Leskov, updating them according to a popular demand for patriotic works that the Russian state has cultivated through its media outlets and official pronouncements on cultural policy. Other rock musicians (Konstantin Kinchev and the band Bi-2) have also transformed their political identities to match the present-day demands and expectations of either Russian officialdom or their particular Russian audiences. With the exception of Bi-2 (an ambiguous counterexample), all of these transformations have led to greater associations with nationalistic sentiments or fervent support for state agendas in the contemporary geopolitical arena.
Exploring the wide variety of styles and genres in this dissertation required a methodological versatility involving archival research, reception history, the analysis of musical scores and sound recordings, an examination of prose and poetic texts, and close study of visual imagery in music videos and onstage. The approach to reception history is the most groundbreaking, for it considers a wide range of digital sources, including blogs and social media comment threads, and makes use of language partner apps to augment the pool of informants, allowing conversation with Russians living outside the limited geographical range (St. Petersburg and Moscow) considered by previous studies. This holistic approach to contemporary reception history helps us to better understand how Russian audiences from diverse regions perceive these ongoing transformations.
ContributorsHillen, Shaun Patrick (Author) / Schmelz, Peter J. (Thesis advisor) / Manchester, Laurie (Committee member) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020