Music Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2796

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    The Pedagogical Legacy of Johann Nepomuk Hummel
    (2006-08-07) Hulbert, Jarl; Davis, Shelley; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837), a student of Mozart and Haydn, and colleague of Beethoven, made a spectacular ascent from child-prodigy to pianist-superstar. A composer with considerable output, he garnered enormous recognition as piano virtuoso and teacher. Acclaimed for his dazzling, beautifully clean, and elegant legato playing, his superb pedagogical skills made him a much sought after and highly paid teacher. This dissertation examines Hummel's eminent role as piano pedagogue reassessing his legacy. Furthering previous research (e.g. Karl Benyovszky, Marion Barnum, Joel Sachs) with newly consulted archival material, this study focuses on the impact of Hummel on his students. Part One deals with Hummel's biography and his seminal piano treatise, Ausführliche theoretisch-practische Anweisung zum Piano-Forte-Spiel, vom ersten Elementar-Unterrichte an, bis zur vollkommensten Ausbildung, 1828 (published in German, English, French, and Italian). Part Two discusses Hummel, the pedagogue; the impact on his star-students, notably Adolph Henselt, Ferdinand Hiller, and Sigismond Thalberg; his influence on musicians such as Chopin and Mendelssohn; and the spreading of his method throughout Europe and the US. Part Three deals with the precipitous decline of Hummel's reputation, particularly after severe attacks by Robert Schumann. His recent resurgence as a musician of note is exemplified in a case study of the changes in the appreciation of the Septet in D Minor, one of Hummel's most celebrated compositions. The Postlude assesses Hummel's role as a teacher by also addressing his "hidden" presence. For example, core elements of his method inform the pedagogy of Isabelle Vengarova, a teacher of Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein. Her piano instruction is indebted to Hummel, revealing the far-reaching influence of his pedagogical legacy. The appendices address important aspects, for example, Hummel's indirect impact in the US through Charles Zeuner. Hummel's pedagogical legacy is divulged here in its significance of impact. Renewed interest is needed in a musician of eminence who suffered much bias and neglect and deserves a full reevaluation.
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    Music Education in Prince George's County, Maryland, From 1950 to 1992: An Oral History Account of Three Prominent Music Educators and Their Times
    (2004-11-23) Moore, Judy Williams; McCarthy, Marie; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation documents the professional lives of three prominent music educators in Prince George's County, MarylandLeRoy Battle, Maurice Allison, and Dorothy Pickardwhose careers from 1950 to 1992 spanned the period of school desegregation and its aftermath. The professional lives of Battle, Allison, and Pickard, their philosophies of teaching, and the instructional strategies they used in building music programs of distinction are examined employing methods of oral history. The interviews of twenty-three other Prince George's County professionals, including a county executive, a superintendent, county teachers, and county administrators, combine with testimony of the three music educators in creating the fabric of this historical dissertation. Set in Prince George's County, scene of dramatic societal change between 1950 and 1992, county educational, cultural, societal, and political processes are explored to gain understanding of the lives and times of Battle, Allison, and Pickard. Although the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling ended the era of "separate-but-equal" schooling in the United States, it was not until December 29, 1972, that a countywide system of busing of students was ordered in Prince George's County to enforce racial balance in schools. Busing altered the racial distribution in county schools and was thought by many to have precipitated "white flight" of Prince George's residents to surrounding jurisdictions. Remaining county residents voted to limit taxes for county services, creating a financial burden for the schools, the police, and the county government. Subsequently, the white-to-black ratio in the county and the schools altered. Through advocacy efforts of teachers, concerned residents, and students, the elective programs in Prince George's County Public Schools were twice spared from elimination, in 1982 and again in 1991. Music education remains an active part of the Prince George's County School curriculum due in part to the work of Battle, Allison, and Pickard, music educators who displayed creativity in the face of adversity. They set an example for other educators of how to produce, maintain, and support quality-performing groups in music education.
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    THE MUSICAL CURRICULUM (1864) AND THE NEW MUSICAL CURRICULUM (1872): GEORGE FREDERICK ROOT'S INTEGRATED PEDAGOGICAL APPROACH TO MUSIC EDUCATION
    (2004-04-30) Ruviella-Knorr, Jeanne Louise; Eliot, John; Music
    George Frederick Root (1820-1895) was widely known for his pedagogical approach to the teaching of music. He authored or composed more than seventy works of considerable length for use in classrooms, colleges, normal institutes, churches, and the concert hall. George Root was a student and friend of Lowell Mason, and in 1839, became one of Mason's teaching assistants in the public schools of Boston. From 1845-1855, he taught at academies and colleges in the New York City area. In 1853, Root organized and directed the first three-month music normal institute in New York City. Root was greatly influenced by Pestalozzi (1746-1827) whose principles became the foundation for Root's pedagogy. Root believed that music instruction should be available to all. His music and methods of teaching were published in numerous instructional manuals and were dispersed to thousands of teachers who attended his normal institutes during an approximate forty-year period. The purpose of this dissertation is three-fold: (1) to compare the integrated pedagogical approach of Root's two instructional manuals for private instruction, The Musical Curriculum (1864) and The New Musical Curriculum (1872), with other manuals of the period; (2) to compare Root's pedagogy in his manuals for private instruction with that found in his manuals for group instruction; and (3) to compare Root's integrated pedagogical approach with that found in current theory and musicianship texts. Root's two editions of The Musical Curriculum (1864 and 1872) are unique works of the period which integrate the study of theory, harmony, and sight-singing with piano and vocal training. His teaching method is comprehensive and progressive. Expressive and artistic performance is encouraged. The student is expected to think perceptively, engage in self-assessment, and develop creativity. These principles are also promoted in today's National Standards for the Fine Arts (2000). A survey of current texts reveals that pedagogical approaches promoted in today's music classroom differ from those presented in Root's instructional manuals. The Musical Curriculum (1864) and The New Musical Curriculum (1872) could serve as models for new integrative curricula, programs, and texts in twenty-first century music classrooms.