Theses and Dissertations - Department of Music (Applied & Theory)
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Browsing Theses and Dissertations - Department of Music (Applied & Theory) by Author "Adams, Jacob"
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Item Amy Beach for the new generation: the effects of increased interest in Beach’s works on the current place in the performance canon of concerto for piano and orchestra in C sharp minor, op. 45(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Schultz, Monica; Noffsinger, Jonathan S.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaAmy Beach sets an example of musical activism and dedication to her art that has inspired and illuminated her successors. Beach’s music has particular significance considering that she is arguably the most notable female American composer-pianist. Thus, her Concerto for Piano and Orchestra in C sharp minor, Op. 45, a large-scale work that encompasses a wide range of emotions and musical form, deserves a more established place in the performance canon. At its premier, Beach’s concerto received a drastically different reaction than the premier of a piano concerto by her male contemporary, Edward MacDowell. I seek to explore the relative merits of the two works and to determine if any gender bias influenced their comparative canonization. The goal for this project is to argue that the Beach concerto should gain more presence in the modern performance canon based on its compositional merits. In addition, I seek to disseminate reactions to Beach’s concerto at its premier and those elicited by her works now; to examine trends in performances within the US, such as the recent performance of the Beach concerto at the University of Georgia in January 2017; and to motivate further scholarship and performances of Beach’s concerto.Item Cello works for saxophone: a transcription experiment from Mozart to Mahler(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Harris, Timothy Garth; Noffsinger, Jonathan S.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThis project is the creation of an album featuring cello transcriptions for baritone saxophone in various chamber music settings. The four primary components of the project are the professional-quality audio recordings, the parts transcribed, the accompanying manuscript, and liner notes. Appearing on the album are Brahms’s op. 38 Cello Sonata No. 1 in E Minor, Mahler’s Piano Quartet in A Minor, a modified arrangement of Mozart’s K. 292 Sonata for Bassoon and Cello, and the final movement of Mendelssohn’s op. 66 Piano Trio in C Minor. The goal of these transcriptions and their recordings is to demonstrate my skills as a chamber musician as well as the adaptability of the baritone saxophone while learning from my own study, colleagues, and experiences how best to blend in with the other instruments in various instrumentations. Furthermore, these four convincing transcriptions can contribute to the saxophone repertoire and become useful to the overall saxophone community in both study and performance. Due to the scarcity of transcriptions from the Classic and Romantic eras, saxophonists generally have been unable to perform the repertoire of these great composers; this project allows them to do just that. The cello writing of these works employs a range playable on the baritone saxophone while avoiding a prevalence of string techniques impossible to replicate on saxophone. Brahms’s sonata is performed on saxophone and piano, Mozart’s duet on saxophone and bassoon, Mahler’s quartet on piano, violin, viola, and saxophone, while Mendelssohn’s trio includes piano, soprano saxophone, and baritone saxophone.Item Cinq études de jazz: a study of jazz and modernism(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) McMillan, Jeremey James; Chance, Kevin; University of Alabama TuscaloosaWhen Erwin Schulhoff’s Cinq Études de Jazz appeared in 1926, the major cities in the United States and Europe were witnessing a global jazz phenomenon. Paris was among the major cities and cultural centers where the spirit of jazz ventured beyond the dance hall. Although the French reception of jazz has been thoroughly documented, this study offers a unique vantage point through a close musical analysis of this work. Schulhoff was a Czech composer who used his vantage point as an outsider to witness the influence of jazz on French culture and modern art. Besides the musical analysis, this study treats Schulhoff’s Cinq Études as a documentary by examining the unfolding of developments in the arts during the seventy-year period that preceded the 1920s. By examining the concurrent emergence of the European avant-garde and jazz, along with their similar ethos as a reaction to the sociopolitical climate of the time, this document seeks to implore the reader to consider that jazz—not simply a mere influence to modernism—is itself a branch of modern art.Item Contextualizing my self-idiom: the making of terminal(University of Alabama Libraries, 2019) Levy, Aaron; Feeney, Timothy; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThis document serves as an accompanying manuscript to my improvisational percussion album, Terminal. This music comes after five years of study and performance, and is a recent demonstration of my current sound; three pieces that draw on the influences of stylistic pioneers. Improviser and scholar Mike Bullock labels this method using the term self-idiomatic music. In this concept, a musician develops a unique aesthetic by making decisions in the moment of performance, drawing on a personal vocabulary of sounds, and rules for their deployment. The music recorded on Terminal is based on a culmination of my musical life that blends elements of many genres and styles. I have been inspired by the noise of Jason Lescalleet, the deep listening and stillness of Pauline Oliveros and Morton Feldman, the harmonic clouds of Sarah Hennies, the textures and layers of AMM, the jazz-like improvisation of Anthony Braxton, and the sound installations of Olivia Block, among others. In this paper, I examine writings and compositions by these musicians, and describe how my interactions and experiences with them led me to discover my self-idiom.Item Development and application of alternate and non-traditional French Conservatory oboe techniques in the performance of traditional Chinese music(University of Alabama Libraries, 2020) Larson, Erik H.; Bailey, Mary; University of Alabama TuscaloosaScholarship in using the modern French Conservatory oboe for the performance of traditional Chinese music is limited. While many modern techniques have been developed for the performance of contemporary oboe music, most do not address the unique performance practice required to perform traditional Chinese music, and are therefore not applicable. New approaches and new techniques are required in order to realize the potential for effectively presenting Chinese music on the oboe. Recorded performances of traditional Chinese instruments, in particular the dizi, erhu, and suona, and written instructions on performance practice by noted masters of these instruments have been examined. Through careful study of these sources, new methods for producing sounds on the oboe related to these traditional instruments have been developed. These new performance techniques for the modern oboe were applied in a recording of ten traditional and folk Chinese melodies, in arrangements for solo oboe, oboe and piano, and oboe with mixed ensemble. The work represented here in no way claims to match the sensitivity of style and cultural authenticity demonstrated by masters of Chinese music. Rather, it is intended as a starting point for Western oboists to begin respectfully exploring China’s millenniums of musical heritage.Item The gorgas house bound sheet music collection: a case study of nineteenth century music in the antebellum South(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Rice, Bonnie J.; Grégoire, Jenny; Brewer, Charles E.; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThe University of Alabama’s Gorgas Family Collection includes two bound volumes of sheet music containing a total of 123 compositions, scored primarily for piano or for voice with piano accompaniment, and published in the years 1832-40. The volumes are housed on the Tuscaloosa campus in the Museum of Natural History (H2009.0004.0746 and H2009.0004.0752). My findings from an examination of the volumes in situ, recorded in this DMA document and accompanying EXCEL spreadsheet, constitute the first scholarly study of the collection. The scores were acquired by the family of John Gayle (Governor of Alabama, 1831-35). Signatures and other markings in the scores indicate that they were used primarily by his daughter Amelia, both in piano lessons at the Columbia Female Institute and for pleasure at home. Amelia brought the collection to the University of Alabama in 1878 when her husband, General Josiah Gorgas, was appointed president of the University. After failing health forced his resignation in 1879, he was named University librarian, a position Amelia assumed after his death in 1883. She is credited with increasing the University’s collection from 6,000 to 20,000 volumes; the main library bears her name and was the first University of Alabama academic building named for a woman. The importance of the positions held by both her father and husband, as well as Amelia’s role in the improvement and expansion of the University of Alabama library, have stimulated research and provided information about Amelia’s family and about her married life. Details of her childhood and adolescence are rare, perhaps in part because her mother died when Amelia was only nine. This study of the collection’s contents, physical condition, annotations in Amelia’s hand, and her likely role in the organization of the works for binding offers insight into the role of music in her social life, in piano study at the Columbia Female Institute, and perhaps in her later contributions to the University library. The findings also add to our knowledge of the genres, publication and distribution, and cost of scores found in such collections acquired and used by the young women of wealthy Southern families in the Antebellum South.Item La flûte et la femme: a study of selected chamber music for flute by Germaine Tailleferre(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Patterson, Brittney Elizabeth; Schultz, Diane Boyd; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThis document presents selections from Germaine Tailleferre’s chamber music for flute, and, through the discussion of her compositions for the flute (Forlane, Pastorale, and Concertino,) will present a performance guide with techniques that can be applied to French flute music from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This document will also discuss Tailleferre’s place among the French composers’ collective known as Les Six and her compositional influences from Erik Satie, Dadaism, and neoclassic music. The compositional ideals espoused by Les Six¬¬, including simplicity and clarity of texture, were a manifestation of a growing contempt for German culture following the Great War. This aesthetic can be seen throughout Tailleferre’s compositions and will be highlighted as a component of her flute compositions. Also considered is Tailleferre’s score written in 1957 to accompany a film by Israeli filmmaker David Perlov, titled Tante Chinoise et les autres. I will draw comparisons between the music of the score and the visual elements of the film through the use of short excerpts transcribed from the score and pictures of the artwork that comprise the film.Item The pedagogical benefits of playing violin duets: a historiography, pedagogical discussion, and annotated repertoire list(University of Alabama Libraries, 2021) Paillan, Christian; Grégoire, Jenny; University of Alabama TuscaloosaAlthough duets exist in abundance, they are less taught and performed than other chamber music subgenres, and there is limited historical study and scholarly research about them. This project will explore the didactic advantages of incorporating violin duets into the regular violin study curriculum. The manuscript will include a concise historiography of the pedagogical benefits of violin duets, a pedagogical discussion of selected works for a recital, and an annotated repertoire list of violin duets. The discussion includes pieces that represent diverse musical styles, eras, and levels of difficulty. The elementary level is represented by a selection of pieces from 44 violin duets, by Béla Bartók; 23 Stücke für eine und zwei Geigen, by Paul Hindemith; and Duetti per due violini, by Luciano Berio. For the intermediate level, the discussed works are Canonic Duo No. 3 in D major TWV 40:120, by Georg Philipp Telemann; and two arias from Don Giovanni: für zwei Flöten oder Violinen nach einer Ausgabe um 1809, arranged after the opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Finally, the advanced level is represented by Duo concertant in G Minor, Op. 57, No. 1, by Charles Auguste de Bériot; and Sonata for 2 Violins in C Major, Op. 56, by Sergey Prokofiev.Item Rodolphe Kreutzer’s 42 études: “bridging the gap” between classical and romantic violin repertoire(University of Alabama Libraries, 2018) Santos, Marcos Vinicius Miranda dos; Grégoire, Jenny; University of Alabama TuscaloosaThis DMA document presents ten new études based on the 42 Études by Rodolphe Kreutzer. Kreutzer’s Études are extremely useful to violin teachers globally, as evidenced by the fact that they have been used in many parts of the world since Kreutzer first composed them in 1796. Some modern violinists and pedagogues, such as Ivan Galamian and Max Rostal, have modified them for their own teaching purposes. In the same manner, I have expanded and modified ten of the 42 Études to enhance their pedagogical value. I accomplished this by increasing the number of technical problems addressed in each étude. This approach was taken as it is easier to learn new aspects of technique through a piece that is already familiar to the player. This document demonstrates the practical applications of these études in teaching by linking them to specific examples from the violin repertoire.