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Description
The integration of yoga into the music curriculum has the potential of offering many immediate and life-long benefits to musicians. Yoga can help address issues such as performance anxiety and musculoskeletal problems, and enhance focus and awareness during musical practice and performance. Although the philosophy of yoga has many similarities to the process of learning a musical instrument, the benefits of yoga for musicians is a topic that has gained attention only recently. This document explores several ways in which the practice and philosophy of yoga can be fused with saxophone pedagogy as one way to prepare students for a healthy and successful musical career. A six-week study at Arizona State University was conducted to observe the effects of regular yoga practice on collegiate saxophone students. Nine participants attended a sixty-minute "yoga for musicians" class twice a week. Measures included pre- and post- study questionnaires as well as personal journals kept throughout the duration of the study. These self-reported results showed that yoga had positive effects on saxophone playing. It significantly increased physical comfort and positive thinking, and improved awareness of habitual patterns and breath control. Student participants responded positively to the idea of integrating such a course into the music curriculum. The integration of yoga and saxophone by qualified professionals could also be a natural part of studio class and individual instruction. Carrie Koffman, professor of saxophone at The Hartt School, University of Hartford, has established one strong model for the combination of these disciplines. Her methods and philosophy, together with the basics of Western-style hatha yoga, clinical reports on performance injuries, and qualitative data from the ASU study are explored. These inquiries form the foundation of a new model for integrating yoga practice regularly into the saxophone studio.
ContributorsAdams, Allison Dromgold (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / McAllister, Timothy (Committee member) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Standley, Eileen (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
New works for the bass clarinet as a solo instrument are uncommon. In the interest of expanding the repertoire of the bass clarinet, three new works for bass clarinet were commissioned from three different composers, all with different instrumentations. The resulting works are Industrial Strength for bass clarinet and piano by Kenji Bunch; Dark Embers for two bass clarinets by Theresa Martin; and Shovelhead for bass clarinet and interactive electronics by Steven Snowden. Although all three works feature the bass clarinet, they are all very different and pose unique challenges to the performer. To accompany these pieces, and as an aid to future performers, a performance practice guide has been included with recommendations for individuals who wish to perform these works. Included in the guide are recommended fingerings, practice techniques, and possible adjustments to the bass clarinet parts designed in collaboration with the composers that make the works more technically accessible. Accompanying this guide are full scores of all three works, a recording of them performed by the author, and a chart that contains recommended altissimo fingerings.
ContributorsMiracle, Matthew (Author) / Spring, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The purpose of this thesis is to examine the events surrounding the creation of the oboe and its rapid spread throughout Europe during the mid to late seventeenth century. The first section describes similar instruments that existed for thousands of years before the invention of the oboe. The following sections examine reasons and methods for the oboe's invention, as well as possible causes of its migration from its starting place in France to other European countries, as well as many other places around the world. I conclude that the oboe was invented to suit the needs of composers in the court of Louis XIV, and that it was brought to other countries by French performers who left France for many reasons, including to escape from the authority of composer Jean-Baptiste Lully and in some cases to promote French culture in other countries.
ContributorsCook, Mary Katherine (Author) / Schuring, Martin (Thesis director) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
We endeavored to begin the process of writing a musical. We composed a total of three songs, 30 pages of script (non-consecutive) with an outline summarizing the remaining uncompleted pages, seven character summaries/analyses, and a reflection on the process and next steps, and presented them in a “Producer Pitch” format to our readers. In our paper we discuss the birth of inspiration for Girls And Boys—namely philosophical conflicts about the role of biology vs. society in gender identity and real, local events of public districts reevaluating their sex education program—as well as the challenges we experienced during the process and our intentions for continued work towards the completion of the material. In our written script we span the opening of the show to the climax through sporadically completed scenes, with the outline serving to fill in the blanks. In our music, we composed three pieces—a solo ballad, an ensemble number, and an emotional trio—that we converted into an audio file format, and performed live for a small audience. Ultimately, we seek to use the elevated drama of a musical to convince the audience that empathy is the truest, ageless, and genderless expression of humanity.
ContributorsDoering, Emilie (Co-author) / Moylan, Megan (Co-author) / Yatso, Toby (Thesis director) / Mills, Robert (Committee member) / Harper, Robert (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis explores the musical and historical aspects of two of the greatest solo works for the cello: Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 by Johann Sebastian Bach and the Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 by Zoltán Kodály. The thesis and creative project consists of a researched paper of approximately 30 pages of historical and musical analysis on both pieces and the “defense” was a recital where I performed both pieces memorized with an informed approach. Part I explores of Bach’s Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012, and Section 1 includes a biography and historical context during the period in which the sixth suite was written. Section 2 consists of an analysis of all six movements (Prelude-Allemande-Courante-Sarabande-Gavottes I and II-Gigue). The analysis explores the German dance form of the suite movements and how they are relevant to the sixth suite, as well as musical aspects that make the sixth suite unique. Part II explores Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 that has a similar structure as Part I with a Section 1 of biography and historical context during the period of the sonata, and a Section 2 analysis. Section 1 explores Kodály’s life and studies in folk music that is relevant to the Sonata, and Section 2 musical analysis with points of relevance to the Hungarian language folk song. The Sonata consists of three lengthy movements (Allegro maestoso ma appassionato-Adagio con grand espressione-Allegro vivace) and the analysis consists of formal, musical, and a few pedagogical approaches. The thesis is rounded out with a conclusion of personal reflection added during the revision process. This musical and historical analysis greatly informed my performance of these works and the “defense” recital was highly successful.
ContributorsPepper, Angelese Antoinette (Author) / Landschoot, Thomas (Thesis director) / Park, Yeil (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
De Oriendo is a project devoted to a better understanding of the word "original" as it pertains to musical composition. It began as a way for me to try to tackle a twofold fascination that has been with me for the duration of my time at ASU, though I have not always been aware of it. The first half of this fascination is an enduring interest in tracing borrowed material used by composers and other artists throughout history. It seems that almost every research project I have undertaken in the last four years has had something to do with this concept. Scholars like Winton Dean, J. Peter Burkholder, and Sigmund Spaeth have spent parts of their careers charting out the genealogy of historical compositions, uncovering reused melodies and harmonic progressions in the process; the cases of it are countless, even among the most identifiable composers and songwriters. Since there is scholarship clearly demonstrating secondhand ideas in music, it becomes problematic to assume that the word "original" simply describes something completely new, that is, something that does not use material heard or seen before. The second half is more of a personal ambition: I thought that if I truly knew what composers and critics meant when they labeled a piece or an artist as original, then I could somehow find a way to achieve this distinction in my own attempts at composition and avoid that uninteresting, derivative sound I have always feared.
ContributorsLang, Jonathan (Author) / Levy, Benjamin (Thesis director) / Mook, Richard (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (Contributor)
Created2012-12