Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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Item THE CATALOG OF AMERICAN WIND SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA COMMISSIONS UNDER ROBERT AUSTIN BOUDREAU FROM 1957 TO 2019(2024) Jopek, Bradley Stephen; Votta, Michael; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The American Wind Symphony Orchestra (AWSO) commissioned over 400 works from 1957 to 2019 under the direction of Robert Austin Boudreau with the C. F. Peters Corporation publishing about 200 works. In 2022, Boudreau donated the AWSO works to the University of Maryland Bands and were cataloged by the author of this dissertation with the assistance of Jeffrey Renshaw’s book The American Wind Symphony Commissioning Project: A Descriptive Catalog of Published Editions, 1957-1991 which catalogs 159 works. Discoveries were made to include 255 AWSO works not included in Renshaw’s book.This dissertation is divided into three parts. The first (Chapters 1 and 2) focuses on the history of AWSO, its commissioning project and general programming practices, funding and operations, and the key individuals who created and developed the ensemble over its 62-year history. The second part (Chapter 3) catalogs 255 AWSO works listing the instrumentation, important musical characteristics, program notes, and research resources. It is also intended to act as a supplement to Renshaw’s book for wind band and orchestra conductors searching for wind repertoire. The third part (Chapters 4-6) examines the potential limitations and marketability of the AWSO works as well as future research.Item Powerful Structures: The Wind Music of Ida Gotkovsky in Theory and Practice(2019) Wacyk, David Michael; Votta, Michael; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Ida Gotkovsky is a French composer whose style has emerged as a unique voice in the wind repertoire of the late twentieth century, while retaining stylistic traits of earlier French composers. As a product of the Paris Conservatory (where she was also a professor), she is part of a heritage that reaches back to Debussy and Ravel, and more significantly to her teachers Olivier Messiaen and Nadia Boulanger. Having published more than twenty-two works for wind orchestra, Gotkovsky’s output for the medium has been continuous and impressive in scope. Her work represents bridges twentieth century French musical styles such as impressionism, modernism, and the avant-garde. Her music has codified these styles into a cohesive voice throughout her career. This style relies on traditional instrumentations to present distinctive arrangements of color, shape, and form. Despite her pedigree and widespread recognition of her works in Europe during the last quarter of the twentieth century, Gotkovsky’s music remains generally unknown to American conductors, due in part, to a lack of detailed scholarship or analysis of her life and work. The purpose of this writing is to explore Gotkovsky’s work, and to discover points of connection between her and her French musical heritage, specifically Olivier Messiaen. Using all available resources, this paper provides a more thorough portrait of the composer’s career and music than heretofore. Focusing on her works for wind orchestra, this writing explores Gotkovsky’s education and inspiration, provides an analysis of her overall compositional style, and a detailed analysis of her monumental work, Concerto pour grand orchestra d’harmonie.Item Augmenting the Orchestral Rehearsal: A Principles-Based Approach to the Orchestral Training of Undergraduate Strings(2019) Lu, Tiffany; Maclary, Edward; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Orchestral rehearsals in college focus exclusively on preparing concert programs. Drawing from the experiences of undergraduate string players and orchestral directors, I argue that this approach is educationally suboptimal because it fails to maximize the college orchestral rehearsal time as an educational space, forgoing the development of long-term skills in favor of learning repertoire. I design, write, and test some examples of a new curricular model which utilizes excerpts from across the orchestral repertoire to teach towards specific themes in orchestral string playing. I identify themes which are more advanced than the basic string techniques featured in other curricular precedents, and which are fundamental to orchestral playing in particular: orchestral dynamics, bow distribution, bouncing bow strokes, special “orchestral” techniques, and the constitution of a string section. I organize information about these topics in a structured way and use excerpts as examples that fit within a broader framework.Item Fragments: A concerto for violin and orchestra(2013) Nowakowski, Mark W.; Wilson, Mark E; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Mark Nowakowski Dissertation Abstract Fragments: A Concerto for Violin and Orchestra Fragments, a concerto for violin and orchestra, was composed in fulfillment of the dissertation requirements for the DMA in Composition degree at the University of Maryland. It is a 22'30 minute long work dedicated to the violinist Emily Ondracek Peterson. The work is scored for violin soloist, two flutes, one oboe, two Bb clarinets (with the second doubling on bass clarinet), two bassoons, four horns in F, two trombones, timpani, three percussionists, piano (doubling celesta), and full strings (with divisi in movements one and three.) The work is composed in two main sections divided by a substantial interlude, though the movements are labeled 1-2-3. (Movements one and two are played with only a slight pause between them, while the gong that ends movement one is still ringing.) The interlude or second movement acts as an interlude or island of repose between the larger first and third movements. The musical material for the beginning of the first movement is drawn conceptually from the sound of wind chimes, with the violin solo emerging slowly from the undulating diatonic wash that results. The resulting joyful music in this "A" section is not allowed to develop fully, instead being curtailed prematurely only to be revisited near the end of the work. A short transition and cadenza section lead us into the more linear, dark, and increasingly aggressive material of the "B" section that remains until the end of the first movement. The meditative second movement contains a comparatively simpler music underscored by a single pulsating "B", repeated in the harp and assorted instruments every three beats. The third movement picks up with the "B" material from the end of the first movement, developing it into a short dance-like section which moves between the whimsical and the aggressive. This section fades away, leaving the violin exposed for a second small cadenza. As the cadenza material concludes, a transformed version of the opening "A" material emerges, this time being allowed to develop fully into a joyful and vibrant finale.Item Above the Horizon, for orchestra(2011) Jaskot, Matthew Joseph; Wilson, Mark E; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Above the Horizon is a two-movement composition for orchestra of roughly sixteen and a half minutes. The piece explores a variety of musical characteristics that have been important in my recent work, including the textural difference between active and static music. In this piece, I try to find various ways of superimposing these seemingly contrasting ideals. For example, a section of music that is not driven by pulse or harmonic change and is therefore static may be animated by active musical gestures such as tremolandi, trills or repetitions of single pitches. This technique helps to provide a constant sense of energy even within the slower, more reflective sections. Another important characteristic involves using timbre changes to transform single pitches and/or larger harmonic units. The orchestral medium, with its broad spectrum of colors, was a logical choice for this aesthetic consideration. The first movement, Cloud Formations, considers how the registral placement of pitch affects the resulting sound of similar harmonies, mainly through the opposition of open-spaced harmonies and cluster chords. The piece can be divided into three main formal sections, the first of which slowly unfolds the primary harmonic material, an openly spaced five-pitch chord that expands in a wedge-shaped motion. The second section shifts the focus to clusters, concentrating the pitch material into narrower but densely packed registral bands. The third section combines ideas from the previous two and leads to a forceful orchestral tutti before a short coda ends the movement. The second movement, Fireworks, consists of an energetic sound world that is motivated by the initial brass chords. The reiteration of these chords leads to the first of three main formal sections, where an underlying sixteenth note pulse that is irregularly accented provides a background for multiple layers of music. A contrasting second section lacks a regular pulse, is more chromatic and focuses on high and low registral extremes. The final section begins with a single trill-like figure before forceful repetitions of dense harmonies, rushing scalar gestures and repeated yet staggered pitch patterns provide the material for the end of the piece.Item The Interloping Beguiler: for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra(2009) Leupold II, John Kenneth; Fry, James H; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Interloping Beguiler is an nineteen-minute concerto in four movements for bass clarinet solo and orchestra. The title refers to the role of the solo instrument, which continually thrusts itself into the affairs of the orchestra, deceiving and diverting the members of the orchestra away from their task of performing a "serious" orchestral composition. The bass clarinet portrays a comical, cartoon-like character whose awkward, and sometimes goofy, interjections cause chaos. Attempts are made by various members of the orchestra, especially the horns, to regain control of the work, but the bass clarinet always succeeds in its distracting antics. By the final movement of the composition, the bass clarinet has propelled the work into a cartoon-like landscape of quickly changing textures, dissonant intervals, and overlapping themes. The first movement, Introduction, sets the serious tone of the music to follow, or so it would seem. The entrance of the bass clarinet immediately changes this texture with its out-of-rhythm alternations between high and low pitches. This gesture provides a glimpse into the personality of the bass clarinet, an instrument here to mislead the members of the orchestra. Deception truly begins in the second movement, The Interloping Initiates. The bass clarinet starts the movement with a driving theme and is immediately supported by the orchestra. As the movement progresses, the bass clarinet quickly begins altering the theme, making it more playful and cartoonish. A struggle ensues between the horns and the bass clarinet, with the bass clarinet catapulting the piece into a latin-inspired section. The struggle continues through to the end of the movement. The third movement, Calm, is exactly what the title suggests. A sectional form distinguishes this movement from the second movement. Throughout Calm, the bass clarinet behaves with decorum, except for very large melodic leaps. The seed of anarchy planted by the bass clarinet in the second movement comes to fruition in the final movement, The Beguiling Builds. Here, the bass clarinet sends the work into chaos with sections recalling Looney Tunes cartoons, Hollywood western music, and children's folk songs.Item 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.