Matching Items (17)
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- All Subjects: Music History
- Creators: Norton, Kay
- Creators: Koonce, Frank
- Status: Published
Description
Johann Sebastian Bach's violin Sonata I in G minor, BWV 1001, is a significant and widely performed work that exists in numerous editions and also as transcriptions or arrangements for various other instruments, including the guitar. A pedagogical guitar performance edition of this sonata, however, has yet to be published. Therefore, the core of my project is a transcription and pedagogical edition of this work for guitar. The transcription is supported by an analysis, performance and pedagogical practice guide, and a recording. The analysis and graphing of phrase structures illuminate Bach's use of compositional devices and the architectural function of the work's harmonic gravities. They are intended to guide performers in their assessment of the surface ornamentation and suggest a reduction toward its fundamental purpose. The end result is a clarification of the piece through the organization of phrase structures and the prioritization of harmonic tensions and resolutions. The compiling process is intended to assist the performer in "seeing the forest from the trees." Based on markings from Bach's original autograph score, the transcription considers fingering ease on the guitar that is critical to render the music to a functional and practical level. The goal is to preserve the composer's indications to the highest degree possible while still adhering to the technical confines that allow for actual execution on the guitar. The performance guide provides suggestions for articulation, phrasing, ornamentation, and other interpretive decisions. Considering the limitations of the guitar, the author's suggestions are grounded in various concepts of historically informed performance, and also relate to today's early-music sensibilities. The pedagogical practice guide demonstrates procedures to break down and assimilate the musical material as applied toward the various elements of guitar technique and practice. The CD recording is intended to demonstrate the transcription and the connection to the concepts discussed. It is hoped that this pedagogical edition will provide a rational that serves to support technical decisions within the transcription and generate meaningful interpretive realizations based on principles of historically informed performance.
ContributorsFelice, Joseph Philip (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Swartz, Jonathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Historically, music and the experiences of deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals have been intertwined in one manner or another. However, music has never ignited as much hope for the “improvement” of the Deaf experience as during the American oralist movement (ca. 1880-1960) which prioritized lip-reading and speaking over the use of sign language. While it is acknowledged that the oralist movement failed to provide the best possible education to many American DHH students and devastated many within the Deaf community, music scholars have continued to cite publications by oralist educators as rationales for the continued development of music programs for DHH students.
This document is an attempt to reframe the role of music during the American oralist movement with a historical account of ways music was recruited as a tool for teaching vocal articulation at schools for the deaf from 1900 to 1960. During this time period, music was recruited simply as a utility to overcome disability and as an aid for assimilating into the hearing world rather than as the rich experiential phenomenon it could have been for the DHH community. My goal is to add this important caveat to the received history of early institutional music education for DHH students. Primary sources include articles published between 1900 and 1956 in The Volta Review, a journal founded by the oralist leader Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922).
This document is an attempt to reframe the role of music during the American oralist movement with a historical account of ways music was recruited as a tool for teaching vocal articulation at schools for the deaf from 1900 to 1960. During this time period, music was recruited simply as a utility to overcome disability and as an aid for assimilating into the hearing world rather than as the rich experiential phenomenon it could have been for the DHH community. My goal is to add this important caveat to the received history of early institutional music education for DHH students. Primary sources include articles published between 1900 and 1956 in The Volta Review, a journal founded by the oralist leader Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922).
ContributorsLloyd, Abby Lynn (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Wells, Christopher (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Tres Tangos para Duo de Contrabajos (Three Tangos for Double Bass Duet) is a three-movement set written by Andrés Martín and commissioned by Darren Cueva specifically for this document and accompanying performance project. This piece blends tango with Western art music in a style often referred to as “nuevo tango” (new tango) which was popularized by Astor Piazzolla. This research paper will serve as a performance aid for those wishing to present tango idioms on the double bass in addition to a more detailed guide to performing Tres Tangos by Martín.
To give context to performers, this survey begins with a brief history of the tango and the life and stylistic developments of Astor Piazzolla. Various music and dance styles that contributed to early tango include, milonga, habanera, and tango andalúz. The resulting tango was popularized as a music and dance style in the early twentieth century. Astor Piazzolla brought the tango to the concert hall after studying composition with acclaimed professor Nadia Boulanger. His new tango style merged traditional tango, classical composition, and jazz music, which he was exposed to after his family moved from Argentina to New York.
Tres Tangos was modeled after the style of Piazzolla. Characteristic articulation and improvised techniques are a fundamental aspect of the tango sound; a successful performance will depend on the musician’s ability to create these sounds. A detailed description of the most common elements is provided as well as suggestions for creating them on the double bass. Finally, I have compiled a specific performance guide for Tres Tangos. This guide includes rhythmic, articulation, fingering, and notational considerations, to assist in the performance of this piece.
To give context to performers, this survey begins with a brief history of the tango and the life and stylistic developments of Astor Piazzolla. Various music and dance styles that contributed to early tango include, milonga, habanera, and tango andalúz. The resulting tango was popularized as a music and dance style in the early twentieth century. Astor Piazzolla brought the tango to the concert hall after studying composition with acclaimed professor Nadia Boulanger. His new tango style merged traditional tango, classical composition, and jazz music, which he was exposed to after his family moved from Argentina to New York.
Tres Tangos was modeled after the style of Piazzolla. Characteristic articulation and improvised techniques are a fundamental aspect of the tango sound; a successful performance will depend on the musician’s ability to create these sounds. A detailed description of the most common elements is provided as well as suggestions for creating them on the double bass. Finally, I have compiled a specific performance guide for Tres Tangos. This guide includes rhythmic, articulation, fingering, and notational considerations, to assist in the performance of this piece.
ContributorsCueva, Darren (Author) / Rotaru, Catalin (Thesis advisor) / Koonce, Frank (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
After the passing of the Homestead Act in 1862, a large wave of immigrants arrived in Dakota Territory, most of them during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Two of the largest immigrant populations in the Dakotas were the Norwegians and Germans who had spent approximately the last hundred years living in isolated rural colonies in Russia, referred to as Germans from Russia or russlanddeutschen. This document examines the role of music in the lives of these ethnic groups from the 1862 to 1930, and includes the discussion of sacred music, especially hymns, secular music such as folk songs and dance music, and music’s place in the rural one-room schools that their children attended.
ContributorsGross, Kelsey (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Mills, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Ruth Gipps was an English composer, performer, and conductor whose unique experiences and opinions shaped her compositional output and the musical world around her. Gipps was a conflicted individual throughout her life, facing challenges as an outsider in almost every area of her professional life: child prodigy turned adult musician, outspoken conservative English composer positioned against a new international style, and woman in a male-dominated space as an orchestral performer and conductor. Perhaps as a result of her many struggles, she developed internal dissonances between her beliefs, her words, and her actions. These inner conflicts, manifesting in her musical voice as well as her work as a conductor, greatly impacted her career and oeuvre. Despite her inner turmoil, Gipps was always passionately and unapologetically expressive of her personality and beliefs, refusing to compromise or change her behavior even when it negatively impacted her reputation and opportunities. It was this intensity and dedication that enabled her to positively impact musicians in her life, whom she deeply cared about, and to communicate with performers and listeners of her compositions. This document reviews the literature about Gipps, which includes two books by Jill Halstead as well as several dissertations. Information from these sources directly addressing Gipps as well as other pertinent literature is used to explore the disconnects and conflicts that characterized Gipps’s life and music. A discussion of four of Gipps’s oboe family works, Kensington Gardens Suite, op. 2 (1938), The Piper of Dreams, op. 12b (1940), Oboe Concerto in D minor, op. 20 (1941), and Threnody, op. 74 (1990), relates these impactful conflicts to Gipps’s unique musical voice and her contributions to oboe repertoire.
ContributorsDeMouy, Laura Anne (Author) / Schuring, Martin (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Buck, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The American sublime aesthetic, discussed frequently in literature and art of the United States, is equally manifest in the nation’s symphonic music as a concurrent and complementary aesthetic. The musical application of the American sublime supports and enriches current scholarship on American musical identity, nationality, and the American symphonic enterprise. I suggest that the American sublime forms an integral part of nineteenth-century American music and is key to understanding the symphony as a genre in the United States. I discuss American symphonic works by Anthony Philip Heinrich, George Frederick Bristow, William Henry Fry, Dennison Wheelock, and Florence Beatrice Price, aided by an analytical tool which I developed, to illuminate my appraisal of the nineteenth-century American symphonic enterprise. Their compositions contribute meaningfully to the complex history of identity formation for both American composers and the nation. In focusing on these incorporations of the sublime by white composers and composers of color from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, my research demonstrates how the American sublime expanded and transformed to better accommodate the country’s diverse citizenry, despite the marginalization of some.
The nineteenth-century trans-Atlantic dialogue between Americans and their European contemporaries sustained a “distinctly cosmopolitan cultural ethos,” a phenomenon also described by Douglas Shadle as “one of the most vibrant intercultural exchanges in all of Western music history.” This dialogue shaped the cultural formation of identity for many American composers throughout the century and provided the foundation for a symphonic repertoire, which became internationally recognized for the first time as “American.” In this cosmopolitan environment, the Americanization of the sublime aided in the rebranding of long-established European artistic expressions like the symphony, while perpetuating the idealization of the nation’s geography, its people, and its beliefs. Perhaps most importantly, the American sublime supported the widely held belief in American exceptionalism and manifest destiny. The applicability of the American sublime to various genres made it a useful tool to assert autonomy and individuality in forms such as the symphony. For this reason, a revaluation of American symphonic music and its relation to the American sublime amplifies the significance of this repertoire.
The nineteenth-century trans-Atlantic dialogue between Americans and their European contemporaries sustained a “distinctly cosmopolitan cultural ethos,” a phenomenon also described by Douglas Shadle as “one of the most vibrant intercultural exchanges in all of Western music history.” This dialogue shaped the cultural formation of identity for many American composers throughout the century and provided the foundation for a symphonic repertoire, which became internationally recognized for the first time as “American.” In this cosmopolitan environment, the Americanization of the sublime aided in the rebranding of long-established European artistic expressions like the symphony, while perpetuating the idealization of the nation’s geography, its people, and its beliefs. Perhaps most importantly, the American sublime supported the widely held belief in American exceptionalism and manifest destiny. The applicability of the American sublime to various genres made it a useful tool to assert autonomy and individuality in forms such as the symphony. For this reason, a revaluation of American symphonic music and its relation to the American sublime amplifies the significance of this repertoire.
ContributorsHicks, Glen Wayne (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Shadle, Douglas W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
The close relationship between mathematics and music has been well documented in Western cultures since at least the time of the ancient Greeks. While many connections have been made between math and music over the centuries, it seems that many modern researchers have attempted to create interdisciplinary bridges between these disciplines by using mathematical principles to explain several essential aspects of music: harmony, melody, form, and rhythm. Using these established connections, in addition to several of my own, I have created an undergraduate level survey of Western music course for a population of mathematically inclined students. This approach makes music history comprehensible, relevant, and engaging to my target demographic.
The course is organized into three units. The first unit begins with the music of Ancient Greece and Early Christianity and concludes with music of the Renaissance (roughly 1300-1600). The second unit will cover what classical musicians call the “common practice period” (roughly 1600-1900). This span of time covers three musical eras – Baroque, Classical, and Romantic. The final unit will cover the 20th century up to the present. During this course, I introduce the students to Western music using examples, concepts, terminology, and methodology derived from the world of mathematics. These include Pythagorean mathematics, geometry, simple algebra and fractions, the golden mean, the Fibonacci sequence, matrices, set theory, and many more. I have written the chapters as scripts for an online version of the class. The writing style in the chapters is therefore informal and contrasts with the tone of the other parts of the thesis.
The course is organized into three units. The first unit begins with the music of Ancient Greece and Early Christianity and concludes with music of the Renaissance (roughly 1300-1600). The second unit will cover what classical musicians call the “common practice period” (roughly 1600-1900). This span of time covers three musical eras – Baroque, Classical, and Romantic. The final unit will cover the 20th century up to the present. During this course, I introduce the students to Western music using examples, concepts, terminology, and methodology derived from the world of mathematics. These include Pythagorean mathematics, geometry, simple algebra and fractions, the golden mean, the Fibonacci sequence, matrices, set theory, and many more. I have written the chapters as scripts for an online version of the class. The writing style in the chapters is therefore informal and contrasts with the tone of the other parts of the thesis.
ContributorsCueva, Darren Luis (Author) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Wells, Christopher (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (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
It is no secret that the Soviet Union silenced the voices of many artists, but pieces of this history are still emerging—including the story of Ukraine's first female composer to achieve professional renown: Stefania Turkevych (1898-1977). Although the quantity and quality of Turkevych's compositional output should have established her as a major international figure, most of her work remains unpublished. Turkevych is absent from both Grove Music and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG Online). There is a clear need for English-language biographical materials about Turkevych and for publication of her works.
This document represents the first critical edition of Turkevych’s three-act chamber opera, Серце Оксани (The Heart of Oksana), commissioned in 1969 for the 100th anniversary of the creation of Canada’s Province of Manitoba (and its subsequent settlement by members of the Ukrainian diasporic community). The score is prefaced by brief introductions to both Turkevych and Серце Оксани as well as an explanation of editorial procedure and a critical report.
Lost Soviet-era voices carry particular social and political weight as present-day Ukraine reclaims an identity that moves beyond reductive “Russian vs. European” dichotomies, and solidifying that identity seems even more urgent against the backdrop of the current Donbass War (2013-present). This project represents the first step in a much longer-term effort to unearth and share Turkevych’s story and overlooked contributions as a composer, teacher, and lifelong advocate of Ukraine’s language and culture.
This document represents the first critical edition of Turkevych’s three-act chamber opera, Серце Оксани (The Heart of Oksana), commissioned in 1969 for the 100th anniversary of the creation of Canada’s Province of Manitoba (and its subsequent settlement by members of the Ukrainian diasporic community). The score is prefaced by brief introductions to both Turkevych and Серце Оксани as well as an explanation of editorial procedure and a critical report.
Lost Soviet-era voices carry particular social and political weight as present-day Ukraine reclaims an identity that moves beyond reductive “Russian vs. European” dichotomies, and solidifying that identity seems even more urgent against the backdrop of the current Donbass War (2013-present). This project represents the first step in a much longer-term effort to unearth and share Turkevych’s story and overlooked contributions as a composer, teacher, and lifelong advocate of Ukraine’s language and culture.
ContributorsGlenn, Erica (Author) / Schildkret, David (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / DeMaris, Brian (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