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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
- Creators: Norton, Kay
Description
During the nineteenth century, it was common for pianists to publish their own editions of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. They did this to demonstrate their understanding of the pieces. Towards the end of the century, musicians focused their attention on critical editions in an effort to reproduce the composer’s original intention. Unfortunately, this caused interpretive editions such as those created in the nineteenth century to fade from attention. This research focuses on situating these interpretive editions within the greater discourse surrounding the editorial development of Beethoven’s piano sonatas. The study opens with the critical reception of Beethoven, his Sonata in C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 2, also known as the “Moonlight” Sonata, the organology of the nineteenth-century fortepianos and the editorial practices of subsequent editions of the piece. It also contextualizes the aesthetic and performance practice of nineteenth-century piano playing. I go on to analyze and demonstrate how the performance practices conveyed in the modern Henle edition (1976) differ from those in selected earlier interpretive editions. I will conclude with an assessment of the ways in which nineteenth-century performance practices were reflected by contemporary editions.
This study compares the First edition (1802) and seven selected editions of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata by Ignaz Moscheles (1814), Carl Czerny (1846), Franz Liszt (1857), Louis Köhler (1869), Hugo Riemann (1885), Sigmund Lebert and Hans von Bülow (1896), and Carl Krebs (1898) with the Henle edition. It covers the tempo, rubato, articulations, phrasing, dynamics, fingerings, pedaling, ornamentation, note-stem and beaming, pitch, and rhythm. I evaluate these editorial changes and performance practice to determine that, compared to modern practice, the 19th century fostered a tendency of applying rubato, longer slurs, diverse articulations, and expanded dynamic range. Furthermore, the instructions of fingerings, pedaling and ornamentation became more detailed towards the end of the century.
This study compares the First edition (1802) and seven selected editions of Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata by Ignaz Moscheles (1814), Carl Czerny (1846), Franz Liszt (1857), Louis Köhler (1869), Hugo Riemann (1885), Sigmund Lebert and Hans von Bülow (1896), and Carl Krebs (1898) with the Henle edition. It covers the tempo, rubato, articulations, phrasing, dynamics, fingerings, pedaling, ornamentation, note-stem and beaming, pitch, and rhythm. I evaluate these editorial changes and performance practice to determine that, compared to modern practice, the 19th century fostered a tendency of applying rubato, longer slurs, diverse articulations, and expanded dynamic range. Furthermore, the instructions of fingerings, pedaling and ornamentation became more detailed towards the end of the century.
ContributorsLi, King Yue (Author) / Meir, Baruch (Thesis advisor) / Hamilton, Robert (Committee member) / Marshall, Kimberly (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Although many of the effects of the flute’s design and mechanisms have been previously studied, the flute’s stopper remains relatively unexplored. Stoppers are traditionally made of cork, are used to seal the upper end of the headjoint tubing, and determine the overall intonation of the flute. However, new stoppers made of different types of materials have been created to serve an additional purpose: to improve various aspects of player performance. These new non-cork stoppers vary in design and material, and claim to improve players’ projection, resonance, response, and other qualities.
This research project discusses the history of the flute’s stopper and its functions, usage, and effects to improve general stopper knowledge and assist flutists interested in trying or purchasing non-cork stoppers available today. Because only three small studies have been published on the stopper’s acoustic and perceived effects to date, two single-blind experiments were conducted to determine the stoppers’ potential acoustic and perceived effects on listener and player perception. Five of the most popular stoppers available today were tested: the Bigio Stopper, Celestine Rexonator, Seidman Flute Stopper Plug, Swap-Stopper, and the traditional cork stopper.
To determine the stopper’s acoustic effects, which can be quantified, an acoustic experiment was conducted to investigate the stoppers’ effect on intensity in decibels (which correlates with perceived loudness) and spectral centroid in hertz (which correlates with perceived tonal brightness). Perception tests were conducted to examine how both players and listeners perceive the stoppers’ effects on projection, response, tone quality, and timbre. The results of these experiments will help flutists better understand the effects of the stopper and navigate the stopper-makers’ claims about non-cork stoppers available for purchase today.
This research project discusses the history of the flute’s stopper and its functions, usage, and effects to improve general stopper knowledge and assist flutists interested in trying or purchasing non-cork stoppers available today. Because only three small studies have been published on the stopper’s acoustic and perceived effects to date, two single-blind experiments were conducted to determine the stoppers’ potential acoustic and perceived effects on listener and player perception. Five of the most popular stoppers available today were tested: the Bigio Stopper, Celestine Rexonator, Seidman Flute Stopper Plug, Swap-Stopper, and the traditional cork stopper.
To determine the stopper’s acoustic effects, which can be quantified, an acoustic experiment was conducted to investigate the stoppers’ effect on intensity in decibels (which correlates with perceived loudness) and spectral centroid in hertz (which correlates with perceived tonal brightness). Perception tests were conducted to examine how both players and listeners perceive the stoppers’ effects on projection, response, tone quality, and timbre. The results of these experiments will help flutists better understand the effects of the stopper and navigate the stopper-makers’ claims about non-cork stoppers available for purchase today.
ContributorsHoeckley, Stephanie (Author) / Buck, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
For decades, music educators have discussed the need to expand the standard choral canon to address disparities across student demographics in collegiate choral programs. These conversations have proved insufficient, because they do not address the systemic and structural issues that are the main cause for the racial and gender disparities within various areas of choral music. To address how structural oppression has found its way into collegiate choral music, I have studied how the discourse, or language, found on several collegiate choral music program public websites upholds two main power structures within collegiate choral music: the white racial frame and settler colonialist thought. Through a fictionalized narrative based on my personal music education experiences called “Decolonizing Kiki: A Socratic Dialogue,” I provide a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of language found on current American collegiate choral program websites. The narrative analysis intentionally centered my body and marginalized identities in order to illustrate the need to reflect upon the impact of language in choral music education. In addition to addressing the white racial frame and colonialist knowledge systems and practices in the discourse of collegiate choral music, this document departs from a typical Western approach to educational research. The narrative analysis also serves as a personal educational currere, which has helped me affirm my cultural and ethnic identities, ground my teaching philosophy, and further reconceptualize the future of choral music education
ContributorsSteiner, Kiernan Marlene (Author) / Schildkret, David (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Thompson, Jason (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Traditional jazz refers specifically to iterations of New Orleans style jazz since its beginnings in the early 20th century. It has been labelled "Dixieland," "Classic Jazz," "New Orleans jazz," "Trad," or "Our Kind of Music (OKOM)" among other names. As a scholar-performer, I learned this style of music in my undergraduate studies in Provo, Utah and later taught it as a graduate student in Phoenix, Arizona. This research grows out of the challenges I encountered mediating between the academic institution, the non-academic tradition, and student needs. Combining musicological methods such as historiography and artifact analysis with reflexive ethnography and performance pedagogy more typical of other disciplines, I consider how educators might represent traditional jazz in a more culturally responsible way. To begin, I reference historical newspapers and oral histories to show how the labels of “Dixieland” and “traditional jazz” have evolved over time and taken on a variety of associations. Specifically, I note how the word “Dixieland” is problematic for the ways it reinforces nostalgic fantasies of the “old south” and prevents African Americans from participating without the oppressive and offensive stereotypes created by white minstrel entertainers. I then consider how prominent figures have established their authority to speak for traditional jazz by looking at several pedagogical artifacts for the style of traditional jazz drumming. I highlight how each of these artifacts’ authors present the subject and color their audience’s view of traditional jazz. Having analyzed these methods of genre definition, I discuss the tenuous place of traditional jazz within university jazz programs and its potential futures through interviews I conducted with jazz educators. These interviews focus on teaching traditional jazz within the academy and the potential for the jazz ensemble as a site of scholar-performer interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, following models of reflexive ethnography established by ethnomusicologists leading world music ensembles, I analyze my own experience teaching traditional jazz ensembles. My synthesis of methods from musicology, ethnomusicology, music education, and jazz performance departments serves as an important bridge between these disciplines, and in turn, improves jazz instruction, offers insight into genre definition, and illuminates how institutional structures shape the subject.
ContributorsWiggins, Zachary Thomas (Author) / Wells, Christi Jay (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Lu Pei (b. 1956) is a celebrated Chinese American composer who currently serves as a composition professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. His work is known for its varied use of Chinese folk tunes. He lived in the United States a long time, which cultivated within him abundant Western musical influences. The sound of multi-ethnic elements is greatly reflected in his own music. Writing an opera has always been his ultimate dream as a composer, and after many years of work, the opera The Third of March was completed and premiered in 2018 in Guangxi. It has received wide acclaim and has been a favorite of younger listeners. Lu Pei aims to bring young people to modern music and the Chinese opera, not only using traditional Chinese musical elements, but also adopts “reinvented” modern Western musical styles, giving a new identity to the Chinese opera is the main foci of The Third of March.
To prepare for my performer’s guide to The Third of March, I will discuss Lu Pei’s inspirations from the Guangxi Song Fairs, and the music and culture of the Zhuang people surrounding the date in the Chinese lunar calendar, March Third. For Westerners unfamiliar with Lu Pei’s music, I will briefly introduce the compositional blending of Western and Chinese musical styles with a section about Chinese composers active in the United States, Chen Yi (b. 1953), and Tan Dun (b. 1957). I will also include a brief outline of the history of Chinese opera development, and Lu Pei’s compositional concepts and the background of the opera The Third of March will be discussed.
My performer’s guide, the primary focus of this project, will begin by stressing Lu Pei’s adoption of different Chinese folk songs and Western compositional elements. These techniques clearly gave the piece a unique stylistic identity. I will give a brief overview of the Chinese language diction in International Phonetic Alphabet. Finally, the qualities of the main arias in the opera, and some of the Chinese operatic techniques for singers, and their special effects, will be explored.
To prepare for my performer’s guide to The Third of March, I will discuss Lu Pei’s inspirations from the Guangxi Song Fairs, and the music and culture of the Zhuang people surrounding the date in the Chinese lunar calendar, March Third. For Westerners unfamiliar with Lu Pei’s music, I will briefly introduce the compositional blending of Western and Chinese musical styles with a section about Chinese composers active in the United States, Chen Yi (b. 1953), and Tan Dun (b. 1957). I will also include a brief outline of the history of Chinese opera development, and Lu Pei’s compositional concepts and the background of the opera The Third of March will be discussed.
My performer’s guide, the primary focus of this project, will begin by stressing Lu Pei’s adoption of different Chinese folk songs and Western compositional elements. These techniques clearly gave the piece a unique stylistic identity. I will give a brief overview of the Chinese language diction in International Phonetic Alphabet. Finally, the qualities of the main arias in the opera, and some of the Chinese operatic techniques for singers, and their special effects, will be explored.
ContributorsBan, Banlingyu (Author) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
ABSTRACT
Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) was a prolific composer whose musical works, which encompassed eight symphonies, four overtures, an opera, dozens of sonatas, eight string quartets, solo piano works, and nearly 130 songs for solo voice or vocal quartet, were performed in the foremost concert halls in Berlin and across Germany. She studied with lauded teachers: Carl Loewe (1796-1869), Adolph Bernhard Marx (1795-1866), and Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802-1872). Her talent was applauded by audiences and critics wrote favorably, despite their reservations about women composers. However, even with this unusual pedigree, Mayer’s works nearly disappeared from concert stages after her death. How did this happen? This study aims to answer this question and will delve into Emilie Mayer’s life and works in context with the prejudices against female composers at the time, in order to determine how those biases have shaped the classical canon. Included is an in-depth stylistic analysis of Mayer’s surviving seven Lieder, along-side comparisons to similar works of other composers. In addition, appendices present Mayer’s remaining Lieder in a new, modernized edition, with selected songs transposed for better accessibility for lower voices. Relative lack of female representation in modern-day concert halls and music history books correlates to previous misconceptions of female composers. Studying the works of Emilie Mayer will support her addition to the classical repertoire, help correct the male-gendered canon that persists, and help modern female composers realize their history is not confined to a footnote.
Emilie Mayer (1812-1883) was a prolific composer whose musical works, which encompassed eight symphonies, four overtures, an opera, dozens of sonatas, eight string quartets, solo piano works, and nearly 130 songs for solo voice or vocal quartet, were performed in the foremost concert halls in Berlin and across Germany. She studied with lauded teachers: Carl Loewe (1796-1869), Adolph Bernhard Marx (1795-1866), and Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802-1872). Her talent was applauded by audiences and critics wrote favorably, despite their reservations about women composers. However, even with this unusual pedigree, Mayer’s works nearly disappeared from concert stages after her death. How did this happen? This study aims to answer this question and will delve into Emilie Mayer’s life and works in context with the prejudices against female composers at the time, in order to determine how those biases have shaped the classical canon. Included is an in-depth stylistic analysis of Mayer’s surviving seven Lieder, along-side comparisons to similar works of other composers. In addition, appendices present Mayer’s remaining Lieder in a new, modernized edition, with selected songs transposed for better accessibility for lower voices. Relative lack of female representation in modern-day concert halls and music history books correlates to previous misconceptions of female composers. Studying the works of Emilie Mayer will support her addition to the classical repertoire, help correct the male-gendered canon that persists, and help modern female composers realize their history is not confined to a footnote.
ContributorsSadownik, Stephanie Beth (Author) / Weiss, Stephanie (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020