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Description
In order to cope with the decreasing availability of symphony jobs and collegiate faculty positions, many musicians are starting to pursue less traditional career paths. Also, to combat declining audiences, musicians are exploring ways to cultivate new and enthusiastic listeners through relevant and engaging performances. Due to these challenges, many community-based chamber music ensembles have been formed throughout the United States. These groups not only focus on performing classical music, but serve the needs of their communities as well. The problem, however, is that many musicians have not learned the business skills necessary to create these career opportunities. In this document I discuss the steps ensembles must take to develop sustainable careers. I first analyze how groups build a strong foundation through getting to know their communities and creating core values. I then discuss branding and marketing so ensembles can develop a public image and learn how to publicize themselves. This is followed by an investigation of how ensembles make and organize their money. I then examine the ways groups ensure long-lasting relationships with their communities and within the ensemble. I end by presenting three case studies of professional ensembles to show how groups create and maintain successful careers. Ensembles must develop entrepreneurship skills in addition to cultivating their artistry. These business concepts are crucial to the longevity of chamber groups. Through interviews of successful ensemble members and my own personal experiences in the Tetra String Quartet, I provide a guide for musicians to use when creating a community-based ensemble.
ContributorsDalbey, Jenna (Author) / Landschoot, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Spring, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
American Primitive is a composition written for wind ensemble with an instrumentation of flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba, piano, and percussion. The piece is approximately twelve minutes in duration and was written September - December 2013. American Primitive is absolute music (i.e. it does not follow a specific narrative) comprising blocks of distinct, contrasting gestures which bookend a central region of delicate textural layering and minimal gestural contrast. Though three gestures (a descending interval followed by a smaller ascending interval, a dynamic swell, and a chordal "chop") were consciously employed throughout, it is the first gesture of the three that creates a sense of unification and overall coherence to the work. Additionally, the work challenges listeners' expectations of traditional wind ensemble music by featuring the trumpet as a quasi-soloist whose material is predominately inspired by transcriptions of jazz solos. This jazz-inspired material is at times mimicked and further developed by the ensemble, also often in a soloistic manner while the trumpet maintains its role throughout. This interplay of dialogue between the "soloists" and the "ensemble" further skews listeners' conceptions of traditional wind ensemble music by featuring almost every instrument in the ensemble. Though the term "American Primitive" is usually associated with the "naïve art" movement, it bears no association to the music presented in this work. Instead, the term refers to the author's own compositional attitudes, education, and aesthetic interests.
ContributorsJandreau, Joshua (Composer) / Rockmaker, Jody D (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Rodney I (Committee member) / Demars, James R (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This project is a practical annotated bibliography of original works for oboe trio with the specific instrumentation of two oboes and English horn. Presenting descriptions of 116 readily available oboe trios, this project is intended to promote awareness, accessibility, and performance of compositions within this genre.
The annotated bibliography focuses exclusively on original, published works for two oboes and English horn. Unpublished works, arrangements, works that are out of print and not available through interlibrary loan, or works that feature slightly altered instrumentation are not included.
Entries in this annotated bibliography are listed alphabetically by the last name of the composer. Each entry includes the dates of the composer and a brief biography, followed by the title of the work, composition date, commission, and dedication of the piece. Also included are the names of publishers, the length of the entire piece in minutes and seconds, and an incipit of the first one to eight measures for each movement of the work.
In addition to providing a comprehensive and detailed bibliography of oboe trios, this document traces the history of the oboe trio and includes biographical sketches of each composer cited, allowing readers to place the genre of oboe trios and each individual composition into its historical context. Four appendices at the end include a list of trios arranged alphabetically by composer's last name, chronologically by the date of composition, and by country of origin and a list of publications of Ludwig van Beethoven's oboe trios from the 1940s and earlier.
The annotated bibliography focuses exclusively on original, published works for two oboes and English horn. Unpublished works, arrangements, works that are out of print and not available through interlibrary loan, or works that feature slightly altered instrumentation are not included.
Entries in this annotated bibliography are listed alphabetically by the last name of the composer. Each entry includes the dates of the composer and a brief biography, followed by the title of the work, composition date, commission, and dedication of the piece. Also included are the names of publishers, the length of the entire piece in minutes and seconds, and an incipit of the first one to eight measures for each movement of the work.
In addition to providing a comprehensive and detailed bibliography of oboe trios, this document traces the history of the oboe trio and includes biographical sketches of each composer cited, allowing readers to place the genre of oboe trios and each individual composition into its historical context. Four appendices at the end include a list of trios arranged alphabetically by composer's last name, chronologically by the date of composition, and by country of origin and a list of publications of Ludwig van Beethoven's oboe trios from the 1940s and earlier.
ContributorsSassaman, Melissa Ann (Author) / Schuring, Martin (Thesis advisor) / Buck, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
ContributorsPagano, Caio, 1940- (Performer) / Mechetti, Fabio (Conductor) / Buck, Elizabeth (Performer) / Schuring, Martin (Performer) / Spring, Robert (Performer) / Rodrigues, Christiano (Performer) / Landschoot, Thomas (Performer) / Rotaru, Catalin (Performer) / Avanti Festival Orchestra (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2018-03-02
Description
The quality of user interface designs largely depends on the aptitude of the designer. The ability to generate mental abstract models and characterize a target user audience helps greatly when conceiving a design. The dry cleaning point-of-sale industry lacks quality user interface designs. These impaired interfaces were compared with textbook design techniques to discover how applicable published interface design concepts are in practice. Four variations of a software package were deployed to end users. Each variation contained different design techniques. Surveyed users responded positively to interface design practices that were consistent and easy to learn. This followed textbook expectations. Users however responded poorly to customization options, an important feature according to textbook material. The study made conservative changes to the four interface variations provided to end-users. A more liberal approach may have yielded additional results.
ContributorsSmith, Andrew David (Author) / Nakamura, Mutsumi (Thesis director) / Gottesman, Aaron (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
ContributorsSchuring, Martin (Performer) / Stromberg, Eric (Performer) / Campbell, Andrew (Pianist) (Performer) / ASU Library. Music Library (Publisher)
Created2018-08-19
ContributorsDe La Cruz, Nathaniel (Performer) / LoGiudice, Rosa (Contributor) / Tallino, Michael (Performer) / McKinch, Riley (Performer) / Li, Yuhui (Performer) / Armenta, Tyler (Contributor) / Gonzalez, David (Performer) / Jones, Tarin (Performer) / Ryall, Blake (Performer) / Senseman, Stephen (Performer)
Created2018-10-10
Description
Over the course of computing history there have been many ways for humans to pass information to computers. These different input types, at first, tended to be used one or two at a time for the users interfacing with computers. As time has progressed towards the present, however, many devices are beginning to make use of multiple different input types, and will likely continue to do so. With this happening, users need to be able to interact with single applications through a variety of ways without having to change the design or suffer a loss of functionality. This is important because having only one user interface, UI, across all input types is makes it easier for the user to learn and keeps all interactions consistent across the application. Some of the main input types in use today are touch screens, mice, microphones, and keyboards; all seen in Figure 1 below. Current design methods tend to focus on how well the users are able to learn and use a computing system. It is good to focus on those aspects, but it is important to address the issues that come along with using different input types, or in this case, multiple input types. UI design for touch screens, mice, microphones, and keyboards each requires satisfying a different set of needs. Due to this trend in single devices being used in many different input configurations, a "fully functional" UI design will need to address the needs of multiple input configurations. In this work, clashing concerns are described for the primary input sources for computers and suggests methodologies and techniques for designing a single UI that is reasonable for all of the input configurations.
ContributorsJohnson, David Bradley (Author) / Calliss, Debra (Thesis director) / Wilkerson, Kelly (Committee member) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
I analyzed a non-profit's educational content website called SolarSPELL and proposed to redesign its interface. SolarSPELL is a solar-powered, offline site that can be accessed without wifi. It looks and behaves exactly like a real website. SolarSPELL is used by children and community members in developing countries across the world, including Africa and the Pacific Islands. The original site was not intuitive or easy to use, which deterred users with low technical literacy, lowering its effectiveness and defeating its purpose of providing educational materials to schools in the community, because users were less likely to use it to access educational content. The website was not responsive, meaning that it did not resize well to fit tablet and mobile devices. I redesigned the site's UX based on user feedback and expert advice to create wireframes that improved the site's layout and user flow to make it more intuitive. I pulled user comments from past surveys on the site and designed solutions to each of the user's complaints. I implemented a filter system and a universal search bar to improve the process of finding specific pieces of content. I designed prototypes using Adobe Illustrator to create the visual side of the interface. I designed my wireframes and prototypes with responsiveness in mind, creating versions for desktop, mobile and tablet. I also illustrated banners for the East Africa and Native American versions of the site, featuring landscape and wildlife from the respective regions. This interface redesign will be coded into a working site and distributed to communities around the world.
ContributorsThielen, Bethany Meishal (Author) / Hosman, Laura (Thesis director) / Ralston, Laurel (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
The repertoire for guitar and piano duo is small in comparison with other chamber music instrumentation; therefore, it is important to broaden this repertoire. In addition to creating original compositions, arrangements of existing works contribute to this expansion.
This project focuses on an arrangement of Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), a work originally conceived for cello ensemble with a minimum of eight cellos. In order to contextualize the proposed arrangement, this study contains a brief historical listing of the repertoire for guitar and piano duo and of the guitar works by Villa-Lobos. Also, it includes a description of the Bachianas Brasileiras series and a discussion of the arranging methodology that shows how the original musical ideas of the composer were adapted using techniques that are idiomatic to the guitar and piano. The full arrangement is included in Appendix A.
This project focuses on an arrangement of Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1 by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959), a work originally conceived for cello ensemble with a minimum of eight cellos. In order to contextualize the proposed arrangement, this study contains a brief historical listing of the repertoire for guitar and piano duo and of the guitar works by Villa-Lobos. Also, it includes a description of the Bachianas Brasileiras series and a discussion of the arranging methodology that shows how the original musical ideas of the composer were adapted using techniques that are idiomatic to the guitar and piano. The full arrangement is included in Appendix A.
ContributorsFigueiredo Bartoloni, Fabio (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Suzuki, Kotoka (Committee member) / Landschoot, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016