Matching Items (634)
Filtering by
Description
A strong correlation exists between the effects of bullying on a singer and his or her performance anxiety. An exhaustive literature review and a survey of classical singers were used to assess this hypothesis. The survey was compiled using standard psychological and current performance anxiety questionnaires with additional questions created by the author. The data were analyzed using a Pearson Product-Moment Correlation, a regression analysis, and an Analysis of Variance.
ContributorsThilakaratne, Katherine Marie (Author) / Mills, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Kopta, Anne (Committee member) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Karoly, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The concert vocalise, a dazzling wordless vocal etude intended for performance, is largely a phenomenon of the twentieth century. Made famous by composers such as Sergei Rachmaninoff and Maurice Ravel, the concert vocalise is generally a short, non-programmatic work with a relatively simple form. In contrast, Nikolai Medtner’s two monumental Op. 41 vocalises, the Sonata-Vocalise mit einem Motto “Geweihter Platz and the Suite Vocalise, are staggering in their length and formal complexity. They are also programmatically conceived, sharing the Goethe poem “Geweihter Platz” as their inspiration.
The innovation of adding a textual element to a traditionally textless genre introduces a tantalizing new layer of complexity that demands further research and exploration. However, as with any innovation, it also offers new challenges to performers wishing to program either or both works. Current scholarship has yet to offer any kind of in-depth analysis of either work, leaving questions as to the structural and motivic elements which bind these large works together, not to mention questions related to exactly how Medtner addresses the challenge of linking specific parts of Goethe’s text to the textless portions of music. Furthermore, neither work is considered standard repertoire, and recordings and performances are limited, leaving aspiring performers in something of an informational desert.
In this paper, I endeavor to fill this informational gap for performers and scholars alike by providing them with a brief biography of Medtner, an outline of the development of the concert vocalise genre, and the background of the Goethe poem that inspired Medtner. Then my in-depth analyses reveal underlying structural, motivic, and programmatic links both within and between the works. Finally, my performer’s guide, based on the analyses and my experience performing both works, offers suggestions regarding the interpretational, ensemble, and technical challenges presented by these great works.
The innovation of adding a textual element to a traditionally textless genre introduces a tantalizing new layer of complexity that demands further research and exploration. However, as with any innovation, it also offers new challenges to performers wishing to program either or both works. Current scholarship has yet to offer any kind of in-depth analysis of either work, leaving questions as to the structural and motivic elements which bind these large works together, not to mention questions related to exactly how Medtner addresses the challenge of linking specific parts of Goethe’s text to the textless portions of music. Furthermore, neither work is considered standard repertoire, and recordings and performances are limited, leaving aspiring performers in something of an informational desert.
In this paper, I endeavor to fill this informational gap for performers and scholars alike by providing them with a brief biography of Medtner, an outline of the development of the concert vocalise genre, and the background of the Goethe poem that inspired Medtner. Then my in-depth analyses reveal underlying structural, motivic, and programmatic links both within and between the works. Finally, my performer’s guide, based on the analyses and my experience performing both works, offers suggestions regarding the interpretational, ensemble, and technical challenges presented by these great works.
ContributorsUhl, Nathan Leonard (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Carpenter, Ellon (Thesis advisor) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
ABSTRACT:
The research for this paper is intended to introduce the reader to many of the influential trumpet performers and pedagogues in East Asian countries and territories along the Western Pacific Ocean Rim, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan (R.O.C.), Thailand, and Vietnam.
Shao-Chun Tsai, the author of this research paper, finds it important for musicians to recognize that they are often influenced by other musicians in addition to their own efforts and self-discovery of who they are as artists. The author is a trumpeter and pianist from Taiwan, and would like to acknowledge the many outstanding trumpet players from Asia that have made important contributions to the discipline of trumpet playing. Unfortunately, there are very limited English resources available for the recognition of these pioneers, and as such they are often unknown to the general public and even to aspiring musicians. By gathering a collection of biographies, the author’s goal is to shed greater light on the rich trumpet playing and pedagogy heritage and influence in this region.
The research information contained within was primarily gathered through personal interviews conducted by the author in order to ensure that the most up-to-date and accurate information was collected for the project. This project studies nine regions and includes thirty-seven trumpeters deemed to be influential by the author, who has invested her best efforts to acquire the most in-depth and current facts obtainable. The author hopes that the stories behind each of these successful musicians will stimulate trumpeters of all ages and inspire them to pursue their own development and goals in music.
The research for this paper is intended to introduce the reader to many of the influential trumpet performers and pedagogues in East Asian countries and territories along the Western Pacific Ocean Rim, including China, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan (R.O.C.), Thailand, and Vietnam.
Shao-Chun Tsai, the author of this research paper, finds it important for musicians to recognize that they are often influenced by other musicians in addition to their own efforts and self-discovery of who they are as artists. The author is a trumpeter and pianist from Taiwan, and would like to acknowledge the many outstanding trumpet players from Asia that have made important contributions to the discipline of trumpet playing. Unfortunately, there are very limited English resources available for the recognition of these pioneers, and as such they are often unknown to the general public and even to aspiring musicians. By gathering a collection of biographies, the author’s goal is to shed greater light on the rich trumpet playing and pedagogy heritage and influence in this region.
The research information contained within was primarily gathered through personal interviews conducted by the author in order to ensure that the most up-to-date and accurate information was collected for the project. This project studies nine regions and includes thirty-seven trumpeters deemed to be influential by the author, who has invested her best efforts to acquire the most in-depth and current facts obtainable. The author hopes that the stories behind each of these successful musicians will stimulate trumpeters of all ages and inspire them to pursue their own development and goals in music.
ContributorsTsai, Shao-Chun (Author) / Hickman, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Swoboda, Deanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Mongolian overtone singing (höömii) and Mongolian wrestling songs (tsols) are vocal styles that evoke physical and mental strength in the vocalist through the accessing of nature. The phrase “höömii-tsol-thinking computer” conveys my end-goal while composing, performing, and researching for my original composition strong.mng. I wanted to create a work in which the computer would be informed by the performance methods and philosophies employed during Mongolian höömii and tsols.
Strong.mng is a 25-minute production for dancer, live digital illustrator, and overtone singer with a laptop computer serving as both a fixed and interactive responsive musical instrument. The music draws upon themes from höömii and tsols through the lens of virtual fieldwork, which was the research method I used to inform strong.mng. Through the composing and performing of strong.mng, I arrived at the following three-part hypothesis: firstly, the development of a robust symbiotic relationship between höömii, tsols, and today’s electronic music technology may transform the technological devices used into agents of deep ecology and bodily interconnectedness. Secondly, this transformation may metamorphose the performer into a more courageous being who is strengthened both physically and mentally by the Mongolian belief that, when performing höömii and tsols, the musician is drawn into kinship with nature. Lastly, I believe some computer music is restrained in its potential by techno-somatic discreteness as well as anthropocentrism, and that applying philosophies from höömii and tsols can help move computer music more towards a physically embodying means of sonification; one that is also akin with the natural world.
Strong.mng is a 25-minute production for dancer, live digital illustrator, and overtone singer with a laptop computer serving as both a fixed and interactive responsive musical instrument. The music draws upon themes from höömii and tsols through the lens of virtual fieldwork, which was the research method I used to inform strong.mng. Through the composing and performing of strong.mng, I arrived at the following three-part hypothesis: firstly, the development of a robust symbiotic relationship between höömii, tsols, and today’s electronic music technology may transform the technological devices used into agents of deep ecology and bodily interconnectedness. Secondly, this transformation may metamorphose the performer into a more courageous being who is strengthened both physically and mentally by the Mongolian belief that, when performing höömii and tsols, the musician is drawn into kinship with nature. Lastly, I believe some computer music is restrained in its potential by techno-somatic discreteness as well as anthropocentrism, and that applying philosophies from höömii and tsols can help move computer music more towards a physically embodying means of sonification; one that is also akin with the natural world.
ContributorsKennedy, Justin Leo (Author) / Paine, Garth (Thesis advisor) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Electro-acoustic compositions throughout the twentieth-century have flourished due to the modern advancements and improvements in technology, including image based interactive software. This project aims to reveal how three composers of different backgrounds utilize the use of euphonium in combination with live interactive electronics. To this date no known works have been composed for this instrumentation.
Advancements in the development of audio software and hardware have helped to improve and rapidly evolve the inclusion of live electronics including the use of performer-triggered events, audio processing, and live electronic decision-making. These technologies can be utilized and explored in various ways. Three composers have been commissioned to each compose a new work focusing on using the timbre of the euphonium in combination with explored electronic sounds, unplanned sounds of nature and the use of the human voice. Each work is performed and examined by the author in order to further explore the electro-acoustic properties of this genre, how they communicate and interact with one another, and how the electronics interact and meld with the sound of the euphonium. Compositional elements in this project include but are not limited to the use of pre-recorded natural and “un-natural” sounds, and the manipulations of both pre-recorded and live sounds through the use of performer triggered events using visual programming languages such as Max/MSP and looping pedals.
Advancements in the development of audio software and hardware have helped to improve and rapidly evolve the inclusion of live electronics including the use of performer-triggered events, audio processing, and live electronic decision-making. These technologies can be utilized and explored in various ways. Three composers have been commissioned to each compose a new work focusing on using the timbre of the euphonium in combination with explored electronic sounds, unplanned sounds of nature and the use of the human voice. Each work is performed and examined by the author in order to further explore the electro-acoustic properties of this genre, how they communicate and interact with one another, and how the electronics interact and meld with the sound of the euphonium. Compositional elements in this project include but are not limited to the use of pre-recorded natural and “un-natural” sounds, and the manipulations of both pre-recorded and live sounds through the use of performer triggered events using visual programming languages such as Max/MSP and looping pedals.
ContributorsDuron-VanTuinen, Danielle Rae (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
When dancers are granted agency over music, as in interactive dance systems, the actors are most often concerned with the problem of creating a staged performance for an audience. However, as is reflected by the above quote, the practice of Argentine tango social dance is most concerned with participants internal experience and their relationship to the broader tango community. In this dissertation I explore creative approaches to enrich the sense of connection, that is, the experience of oneness with a partner and complete immersion in music and dance for Argentine tango dancers by providing agency over musical activities through the use of interactive technology. Specifically, I create an interactive dance system that allows tango dancers to affect and create music via their movements in the context of social dance. The motivations for this work are multifold: 1) to intensify embodied experience of the interplay between dance and music, individual and partner, couple and community, 2) to create shared experience of the conventions of tango dance, and 3) to innovate Argentine tango social dance practice for the purposes of education and increasing musicality in dancers.
ContributorsBrown, Courtney Douglass (Author) / Paine, Garth (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Turaga, Pavan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
ABSTRACT
Korea’s first opera Chunhyang Jeon was composed by Jaemyeong Hyun in 1948. Until that time, most Korean vocal music was sung by a few native traditional artists. Inspired by their work, composer Hyun combined elements from the ancient Pansori (epic poetic forms presented by a solo singer with drum) and Western music techniques to create his opera. Hyun also used the more vernacular Hangeul (Korean alphabet) for his libretto rather than the Chinese usually heard in Korean theatrical presentations. It might be noted that in that same year (1948), the first Western opera: Verdi’s La Traviata was performed in Seoul.
This study concerns the bringing together of Korean traditional idioms (in Pansori) and Western musical ideas (harmony, orchestration, etc.) to create what is now known as Chunhyang-jeon Opera. In this regard, the author will present a brief split-analysis of the older style and the more modern musical attributes of the combined style of traditional Korean music and European style opera. It is hoped that this study might provide the basis for a future opera course and guide for both disciplines.
This study will also show that the Pansori and its subsequent operatic treatment has historical, social and artistic elements. Some similarities and differences of both forms were noted here with regard to cultural sensitivities.
While Chunhyang-ga (older form) and Chunhyang-jeon (Hyun’s modern adaptation) have some musical similarities, the latter was not composed based on the former. Chunhyang-ga consists mainly of compound meter (6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 24/8), which is at the heart of Korean traditional music, while Chunhyang-jeon uses simple meter (2/4, 3/4, 4/4).
Identical words are not often used in the two works, but their libretti are of much significance. Chunhyang-ga had been traditionally handed down with Chinese characters, whereas Chunhyang-jeon constituted its libretto with more modern Korean words which were easily understood by the audience.
Pansori have been sung with traditional singing techniques, which demonstrate the flow of the melodic line found in the images of the words (as interpreted and improvised by the solo performer), while in opera, vocal music is primarily from a set of melodic and harmonic techniques.
Korea’s first opera Chunhyang Jeon was composed by Jaemyeong Hyun in 1948. Until that time, most Korean vocal music was sung by a few native traditional artists. Inspired by their work, composer Hyun combined elements from the ancient Pansori (epic poetic forms presented by a solo singer with drum) and Western music techniques to create his opera. Hyun also used the more vernacular Hangeul (Korean alphabet) for his libretto rather than the Chinese usually heard in Korean theatrical presentations. It might be noted that in that same year (1948), the first Western opera: Verdi’s La Traviata was performed in Seoul.
This study concerns the bringing together of Korean traditional idioms (in Pansori) and Western musical ideas (harmony, orchestration, etc.) to create what is now known as Chunhyang-jeon Opera. In this regard, the author will present a brief split-analysis of the older style and the more modern musical attributes of the combined style of traditional Korean music and European style opera. It is hoped that this study might provide the basis for a future opera course and guide for both disciplines.
This study will also show that the Pansori and its subsequent operatic treatment has historical, social and artistic elements. Some similarities and differences of both forms were noted here with regard to cultural sensitivities.
While Chunhyang-ga (older form) and Chunhyang-jeon (Hyun’s modern adaptation) have some musical similarities, the latter was not composed based on the former. Chunhyang-ga consists mainly of compound meter (6/8, 9/8, 12/8, 24/8), which is at the heart of Korean traditional music, while Chunhyang-jeon uses simple meter (2/4, 3/4, 4/4).
Identical words are not often used in the two works, but their libretti are of much significance. Chunhyang-ga had been traditionally handed down with Chinese characters, whereas Chunhyang-jeon constituted its libretto with more modern Korean words which were easily understood by the audience.
Pansori have been sung with traditional singing techniques, which demonstrate the flow of the melodic line found in the images of the words (as interpreted and improvised by the solo performer), while in opera, vocal music is primarily from a set of melodic and harmonic techniques.
ContributorsShin, Jinhee (Author) / Britton, David (Thesis advisor) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This paper explores the relationship of text and music in Dies Natalis by Gerald Finzi. Many of Gerald Finzi’s compositions have been researched and analyzed, but Dies Natalis, a work for high voice and string quartet, has received limited attention. The text is by Thomas Traherne, a lesser-known English poet and theologian. The research investigates textual interpretation and an explanation or a discussion of the religious mysticism of Traherne. After a biographical discussion of the composer and the poet, this paper provides a musical analysis, including a study of thematic and harmonic relationships in the work, and an examination of word painting and text setting. To facilitate my analysis, I used the piano reduction and not the string score for this project.
ContributorsMcKee, Marcy (Author) / Mills, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Hawkins, Gordon (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The modern day tubist has an expanded collection of solo tuba repertoire that continues to grow in quantity and in difficulty, making it necessary to utilize all the tools available to improve musicianship and performance ability. In this capacity, the use of transcribed material serves as a vital method of cross training in order to develop skills which assist the performance of modern tuba literature. Rather than focusing on transcriptions solely to engage with musical eras that the tuba would not otherwise have access to, the tubist can use transcribed material as supplementary or even prerequisite repertoire.
This project examines a cross training style of studying transcriptions for the advancing tubist. Similar to how athletes cross train in two or more sports to improve their abilities, the tubist may cross train with transcriptions in order to improve the technical and musical skills required in modern tuba literature. Transcribed materials will be used to develop facility in the areas of technique, phrasing, and stylistic interpretation using three unique pieces of standard solo tuba repertoire; Krzysztof Penderecki’s Capriccio, the John Williams Tuba Concerto, and Anthony Plog’s Three Miniatures.
This project examines a cross training style of studying transcriptions for the advancing tubist. Similar to how athletes cross train in two or more sports to improve their abilities, the tubist may cross train with transcriptions in order to improve the technical and musical skills required in modern tuba literature. Transcribed materials will be used to develop facility in the areas of technique, phrasing, and stylistic interpretation using three unique pieces of standard solo tuba repertoire; Krzysztof Penderecki’s Capriccio, the John Williams Tuba Concerto, and Anthony Plog’s Three Miniatures.
ContributorsNetzer, Travis (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis advisor) / Ericson, John (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Armenian music has a rich history. It started as independent, monodic song, and succeeded in keeping its uniqueness from the influences of other countries' musical traditions. During the nineteenth century the great Armenian musicologist and composer Komitas started to travel and write down these songs from Armenian villages. Komitas, who had higher education in Western classical music, was one of the first composers to harmonize Armenian songs and sacred music using Western classical techniques. This was a milestone in the development of Armenian music. Arno Babajanian was a Soviet Armenian composer who, like Komitas, was interested in the combinations of Armenian folk and Western classical traditions. This document provides a formal and harmonic analysis of his Piano Trio in F-Sharp Minor, written in 1952. By identifying Armenian folk tunes used in his trio, I will demonstrate that Babajanian achieved interesting results by inserting exotic Armenian folk melodies, harmonies, and other elements into the Western classical sonata form. This document also points out the influence of other composers of the Soviet era on Babajanian's music. By combining Armenian folk and western classical elements in his Piano Trio, Babajanian created a piece that resonates with native Armenians and classical music lovers and deserves a place in the violin repertoire.
ContributorsTumajyan, Artur (Author) / McLin, Katherine (Thesis advisor) / Carpenter, Ellon (Committee member) / Jiang, Danwen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016