DRUM Community: College of Arts & Humanities

The Many Faces of Paul Hindemith

2013-04-10T02:37:50Z

Title: The Many Faces of Paul Hindemith Authors: WANG, SZU-YING Abstract: The purpose of this project is to present selected violin pieces by Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) against a backdrop of the diverse styles and traditions that he integrated in his music.

\nFor this dissertation project, selected violin sonatas by Hindemith were performed in three recitals alongside pieces by other German and Austro-German composers. These recitals were also recorded for archival purposes.

\nThe first recital, performed with pianist David Ballena on December 10, 2005, in Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland, College Park, included Violin Sonata Op.11, No. 1 (1918) by Paul Hindemith, Sonatina in D Major, Op. 137 (1816) by Franz Schubert, and Sonata in E-flat Major, Op.18 (1887) by Richard Strauss. The second recital, performed with pianist David Ballena on May 9, 2006, in Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland, included Sonata in E Minor, KV 304 (1778) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonata in E (1935) by Paul Hindemith, Romance for Violin and Orchestra No.1 in G Major (1800-1802) by Ludwig Van Beethoven, and Sonata for Violin and Piano in A minor, Op. 105 (1851) by Robert Schumann. The third recital, performed with David Ballena and Kai-Ching Chang on November 10, 2006 in Ulrich Recital Hall at the University of Maryland, included Violin Sonata Op.12 No.1 in D Major (1798) by Ludwig Van Beethoven, Sonata for Violin and Harpsichord No.4 in C Minor BWV 1017 (1720) by J.S. Bach, and Violin Sonata Op.11 No.2 (1918) by Paul Hindemith.

\nFor each of my dissertation recitals, I picked a piece by Hindemith as the core of the program then picked pieces by other composers that have similar key, similar texture, same number of movements or similar feeling to complete my\nprogram. Although his pieces used some classical methods of composition, he added his own distinct style: extension of chromaticism; his prominent use of interval of the fourth; his chromatic alteration of diatonic scale degrees; and his non-traditional cadences. Hindemith left behind a legacy of multi-dimensional, and innovative music\ncapable of expressing both the old and the new aesthetics.

A Dialogue on Human Rights: America's Policy Makers and the Soviet Dissident Movements, 1956-1976

2013-04-10T02:36:49Z

Title: A Dialogue on Human Rights: America's Policy Makers and the Soviet Dissident Movements, 1956-1976 Authors: Finch, Robert James Abstract: Through the 1950s and 1960s, American news correspondents working in Moscow had come to befriend many of the Soviet dissidents. This friendship was realized in the American press, where there was an explosion of news coverage on the dissidents. Through this news coverage, American interest groups and politicians became interested in the plight of the Soviet dissidents and began to demand that their government make human rights an essential part of its foreign policy. American politicians challenged the Nixon administration's policy of détente by seeking to link trade with the Soviet Union to its human rights practices. By 1976, the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe were established to monitor the Soviet government's compliance with the human rights provisions of the Helsinki Final Act. This represented the first time Soviet dissidents and American politicians directly communicated on issues related to human rights.

Pre-task planning time and working memory as predictors of accuracy, fluency, and complexity

2013-04-05T02:32:43Z

Title: Pre-task planning time and working memory as predictors of accuracy, fluency, and complexity Authors: Nielson, Katharine Brown Abstract: Working memory, which accounts for the ability to process information in the face of interference, is critical to second language acquisition (SLA) and use. The interaction of working memory capacity (WMC) with specific pedagogical interventions is a logical place for empirical SLA research, both to examine the cognitive processes underpinning second language performance and to identify instructional treatments that may differentiate learners based on their WMC. A good candidate for such an examination is planning time, a pedagogical intervention that has been the subject of extensive empirical research, which has, thus far, been largely unrelated to WMC. The study undertaken here considers WMC along with two different types of pre-task planning time (guided and unguided) as predictors of the accuracy, fluency, and complexity of learners' discourse. Ninety-two intermediate ESL students from seven classes at a community college participated in this study by completing two different working memory span tasks as well as two different "there-and-then" oral story-telling tasks. The treatment condition of the story-telling tasks was manipulated so that learners' performance could be considered in terms of provision of pre-task planning (± planning), type of planning (guided vs. unguided), and order of planning (planning first or planning second). The results demonstrate that the relationship among type of planning time, order of planning time, and WMC is complex. Task order had a clear effect on learners' production, regardless of the provision of planning time. When learners began the series of story-telling tasks under the + planning condition, their output on the subsequent, unplanned task varied according to whether they had first received guided or unguided planning time. In addition, guided planning time and unguided planning time also have very different effects on learners' production, with guided planning time promoting a focus on accuracy at the expense of complexity and unguided planning time fostering fluency. Finally, this study indicates that task conditions can affect learners with high and low WMC in different ways. Learners with high WMC are more likely to comply with complex story-telling instructions, improving their focus on grammatical form at the expense of fluency, whereas learners with low WMC are more likely to improve their fluency as a result of task repetition, regardless of the task conditions.

J. EDGAR HOOVER AND THE RHETORICAL RISE OF THE FBI: THE PUBLIC CAMPAIGNS AGAINST VERMIN, THE FIFTH COLUMN, AND RED FASCISM.

2013-04-05T02:32:33Z

Title: J. EDGAR HOOVER AND THE RHETORICAL RISE OF THE FBI: THE PUBLIC CAMPAIGNS AGAINST VERMIN, THE FIFTH COLUMN, AND RED FASCISM. Authors: Underhill, Stephen Michael Abstract: This project examines J. Edgar Hoover's rhetorical leadership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman administrations (1933-1953). Hoover launched and sustained a concerted domestic propaganda program that helped enhance his own political power and invented the FBI as a central force in domestic and international matters. In the process, he re-envisioned conceptions of U.S. citizenship by promoting notions of idealized citizenship. Hoover entered law enforcement and U.S. politics during the early decades of the twentieth century--a time of increased use of public campaigns sponsored by the U.S. government and presidential administrations to alter public opinion on important policy matters. This period witnessed, for example, the country's experimentation with domestic propaganda during World War I. While the Soviet Union and Germany used disease, vermin, parasite, and body metaphors to organize their own domestic propaganda campaigns in the following decades, Hoover used these same metaphors to advance the need to purify America and exterminate its social pariah. Through his public campaigns against vermin (1933-1939), the Fifth Column (1939-1945), and Red Fascism (1945-1953), Hoover constructed a reality in which corruption and subversion were immutable elements of democratic life. Increasingly, Hoover's tactics of threat and intimidation began to mimic the tactics of threat practiced by America's enemies, moving the country closer to what many at the time called a police state. Hoover's coupling of propaganda and coercive tactics ultimately helped him to rapidly expand the FBI and undermine his superiors and counterparts in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. Whereas Roosevelt benefited politically from building up a secret police force, Truman inherited a cunning FBI director eager to use his power to expand and exploit the rhetorical presidency during the Red Scare.