Music Theses and Dissertations

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

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    KALEIDOSCOPE: SELECTED MODERN DUOS FOR WOODWINDS AND PIANO BY AMERICAN COMPOSERS BETWEEN 1900-2000
    (2023) Adams-Park, Jihong; Sloan, Rita; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In the early twentieth century, there was a surge in the number of compositions written in America for woodwind and piano duos. This was a result of the demand for compositions to be written in a neoclassical style. Neoclassical style not only played a critical role in the proliferation of the American duo genre for woodwinds and piano but also facilitated the saxophone’s move into the musical mainstream as a classical concert instrument. This compositional spike in duo creation is also a result of twentieth-century musical eclecticism and should be taken as an important element in the development of American music. Influences such as modernism, folk idioms, jazz and popular music were adopted and fused with classical structures to make duo compositions more accessible to contemporary audiences. The popularity of this duo genre among American composers has been relatively steady and likely will continue to grow. Duo music for woodwinds and piano is accessible for audiences, and it is efficient for collaborations in chamber performance settings.Three recitals were prepared and presented respectively on February 28, 2022, at Gildenhorn Recital Hall of the University of Maryland, November 12, 2022, and January 21, 2023, at the Sunshine Cathedral Church in Fort Lauderdale. The first recital featured duo compositions that use innovative melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic integration between the flute and the piano. The works performed were Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 14 by Robert Muczynski (1961), Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op.23 by Lowell Liebermann (1987), Sonata for Flute and Piano by Samuel Zyman (1997), Canzone by Samuel Barber (1961), Night Soliloquy by Kent Kennan (1936), and Vocalise for Flute and Piano by Aaron Copland (1971). The second recital featured compositions for saxophone and piano: Sonata for E-flat Alto Saxophone and Piano by Paul Creston (1945), Picnic on the Marne by Ned Rorem (1983), Duo for Alto Saxophone and Piano by Walter Hartley (1964), Dittico for E-flat Alto Saxophone and Piano by Halsey Stevens (1972), and Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano by John Worley (1975). The contrast among these compositions highlighted the major compositional styles from pre-1960 post-romantic to post-1960 contemporary style. The final lecture recital presented duo compositions with jazz influences composed in the mid- and late-1900s: Sonata for Clarinet and Piano No.2 by Gary Schocker (1999), Introduction and Allegro for Oboe and Piano by Alvin Etler (1952), Sonata for Alto Saxophone and Piano, Op.29 by Robert Muczynski (1970), Sonata for Clarinet and Piano by Leonard Bernstein (1941), and Quiet and Easy from Deep Ellum Nights by Simon Sargon (1991). Recordings can be accessed in the Digital Repository (DRUM) at the University of Maryland.
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    A Blue Tin Pan: Musical, Cultural, and Personal Contexts of Jazz in the Music of Harold Arlen
    (2020) England, Sarah Jean; Warfield, Patrick R; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation explores the compositions of songwriter Harold Arlen, viewing them as musical portraits of the immigrant experience and the racial politics of the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. This approach reveals how Arlen’s upbringing in a racially diverse neighborhood in Buffalo, New York, where Jewish American immigrants and African Americans formed the core of the community, as well as his early years playing in jazz bands and his tenure at the Cotton Club, left a permanent and indelible mark on his compositional style. I trace the influence of African American popular music on his compositional approach, structure, and style. In doing so, this dissertation adds a more nuanced view to narratives about Jewish American songwriters’ use of jazz and blues in Tin Pan Alley song by demonstrating their specific application in the works of one composer. In addition to musical function, the personal and cultural implication of jazz elements in Arlen’s music are also explored.
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    Jazz Education in India: A Case Study
    (2020) Daniel, Marcus; Hewitt, Michael P; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    There are people in India who enjoy jazz. It is a complex art form that requires proper instruction. The early part of my own jazz education was done in India and I did find learning opportunities rare. I wanted to study the experience of another Indian who learns and performs jazz in India to be able to get an understanding of the status of jazz education in India. An exploratory, narrative single-case study was done of Kirtana Krishna, a jazz singer and guitarist in India. The international faculty at her institution gave her world class instruction. One of them, Steve Zerlin, was able to corroborate the facts and provide his own input. Two other jazz intuitions have opened and all three serve as primers. They have increased the quality and quantity of jazz being performed and some of their alumni are continuing their jazz studies in the US.
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    SELECTED WORKS OF COMPOSERS ASSOCIATED WITH HOWARD UNIVERSITY
    (2018) Royal, Guericke Christopher; Gekker, Paul C; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Throughout its over 100 year history, Howard University has produced and attracted many talented composers of many musical genres. Limiting this project to any one genre or focus would have lessened the overall impact of the music they created and the inspiration that has been a lauded part of the institution. The project will demonstrate the various harmonic, melodic, rhythmic and emotional contributions of the selected composers through interpretation of their music on the trumpet. Composers have been connected to the university in three general ways: as students, alumni and faculty; as commissioned artists; and through the performance of their works by notable performers associated with Howard. The pieces selected for this project exemplify a wide range of musical expressions and compositional techniques, and hopefully have been presented in a way that allows the emotional impact of each piece to resonate in a unique fashion. The selected works tended to fall into the categories of A. Trumpet and Brass Works B. Spirituals/ Meditational/ Religious Works C. Popular and Jazz Pieces D. Organ or other Instrumental Works E. Works of Historical Reference or Significance In some cases, certain pieces may be categorized across multiple categories (e.g. an organ piece based on religious material). As this was also a recording project, great care was taken during the recording process to capture as much emotional content as possible through stereo microphone techniques and the use of high quality equipment. The group of works examined and set for the CD is but one example of Howard University’s musical legacy. Additional collections of selected works of composers associated with Howard University could, and should, be created by others to further reinterpret more of this underperformed, yet highly valuable music.
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    "Jazz is Back": Alternative Jazz Venues and Gentrification in Washington, D.C.
    (2016) Jackson, Benjamin James; Rios, Fernando; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Gentrification has dramatically changed the urban landscape of Washington, D.C. Non-profit alternative jazz venues have become important sites for negotiating this complex process that is re-shaping the city. Each such venue aligns itself with one of the two primary factions of gentrification: new urban migrants or long-term residents. Westminster Presbyterian Church’s Jazz Night in Southwest fosters a community of repeat-attendees resisting social displacement. The Jazz and Cultural Society unabashedly foregrounds ties to long-term residents in highlighting a black identity and its local interconnectedness. CapitolBop’s Jazz Loft demonstrates the difficulties that come with trying to cater to a young audience, and at the same time, resist gentrification. These venues present three perspectives on gentrification and together bring light to the overlapping complexity of gentrification.
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    Ideals, Aesthetics, and Practices of Professionalization in the Tokyo Jazz Scene
    (2016) Scally, William Donawerth; Witzleben, J. Lawrence; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In the early twenty-first century, jazz has a history in Japan of approximately 100 years. In contemporary Tokyo, Japanese musicians demonstrate their right to access jazz performance through a variety of musical and extra-musical techniques. Those accepted as fully professional and authentic artists, or puro, gain a special status among their peers, setting them apart from their amateur and part-time counterparts. Drawing on three months of participant-observation in the Tokyo jazz scene, I examine this status of puro, its variable definition, the techniques used by musicians to establish themselves as credible jazz performers, and some obstacles to achieving this status. I claim two things: first, aspiring puro musicians establish themselves within a jazz tradition through musical references to African American identity and a rhetoric of jazz as universal music. Second, I claim that universalism as a core aesthetic creates additional obstacles to puro status for certain musicians in the Tokyo scene.
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    ENGINEER, PERFORMER, PRODUCER: NEGOTIATIONS OF CONSTRUCTED ELEMENTS OF SOUND AND PERFORMANCE OF A JAZZ RECORDING.
    (2011) Treager, Steve; Provine, Robert C; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This dissertation investigates the relationship between the engineer, the performer, and the producer in the creation of a jazz CD, first by laying a foundation for the need to study how a commercial recording is made, then by defining, in historical context, the development of the work of the engineer and the producer. Concepts for defining the performer are also discussed. The roles of engineer, performer, and producer are compared according to the author`s modus operandi, which is based on a thirty-year involvement in the recording industry in all of these positions. The literature review examines how physics, psychology, aesthetics, and music relate to recording processes and personnel and shows how art and science intersect and become inexorably linked during the creation of a jazz CD. An ethnographic analysis, from the time of the inception of the CD through the first two days of recording, follows the processes, procedures, and interactions between the engineer, the performers, and the producer. Problems and resolutions of session planning, studio logistics, musical goals, and personnel are discussed. Problems and resolutions during the edit sessions are also covered. With experimental data, the limits of performance acceptability of time differentials between entrances are tested. Altering improvisations through pitch and time manipulation and complete phrase alteration are considered. Because this CD was constructed, issues of perspective are at the forefront of the discussion in the mix portion of the recording process. Perspective, both left to right and front to back, sonic quality, and perceived acoustic--the room--are discussed. Finally, events create unexpected twists, and necessary changes are made to resolve these circumstances.