Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item TONES IN BLACK: A HISTORY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN BASS/BARITONES IN CLASSICAL MUSIC: IN THE ECHOES OF ANCESTORS, A PIONEER’S VOICE(2024) McIlwain-Lightfoot, VaShawn Savoy; Short, Kevin C.; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This dissertation project has three major foci: a) to trace the history of classically trained African American Bass/Baritone vocalists through performance, recordings, and narrative; b) to recognize the historical performances of African American Bass/Baritone vocal pioneers and the significant contributions they made to the accessibility of opportunities for other African Americans within these voice types; and c) to discuss how Bass/Baritone community performances can promote social connectedness and DEI in opera. In addressing these foci, the paper will emphasize how the performances of Bass/Baritone vocal artists, past and present, have a) made African Americans, in general, more acceptable to White audiences and b) changed the perceptions of White Americans about who African Americans are and what they are capable of. Methodology involved securing physical/digital historical data from newspapers, journals, and books; collecting photos, programs, and articles from the private library of a former University of Maryland professor; conducted oral history interviews of students and progeny of the first African American Baritone to sing with a major opera company in the U.S. (Todd Duncan); delivered community performances domestically and internationally as a current example of the legacy of African American classical vocal artists, specifically Bass/Baritones. This project’s accounting of historical performances can serve to recognize unknown or forgotten contemporaries and predecessors.Item TRAILBLAZERS, INNOVATORS, AND FUTURISTS: 350 YEARS OF THE SOLO VIOLIN(2024) Whitley, Christopher; Salness, David; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this dissertation is to outline a three-concert performance project, entitled Trailblazers, Innovators, and Futurists, by Christopher Whitley that examines the rich and varied repertoire of the solo violin from the seventeenth century to the present. Each concert program centers on a specific theme or topic related to the history of the solo violin repertoire. This dissertation seeks to accomplish three main objectives. The first is to demonstrate specific thematic, compositional, and artistic through lines that have their foundations in the Baroque period and continue to exist in contemporary works for violin. The second is to present three highly curated and immersive concert experiences that include multimedia, dramatic lighting, and a variety of performance practices. The third objective is to draw historical connections concerning the role of technology in the development of violin repertory, along with the role of the composer-performer in violin literature. Finally, this project will offer a contemporary approach to the programming and performance of Western art music that reflects on the potential impact of technological integration and creative plurality within the field. Each performance features four works for solo violin, two of which include an element of technology (playback track, live processing, accompanying visuals, etc.). Each performance is dedicated to a single, overarching thematic focus that links each work and includes a demonstrated historical example of a “trailblazer,” “innovator,” and “futurist.” Finally, each program features one of my own original compositions created for each concert.Item LUCID DREAMS: AN EXPLORATION IN IMMERSIVE INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING WITH AUGMENTED REALITY(2024) Lazar, Rashonda; Kachman, Misha; Theatre; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The following thesis examines my design process and discoveries while investigating one way live performance and immersive storytelling can act as a form of augmented reality, and explores whether incorporating traditional forms of augmented reality is one way to enhance a performance and builds on the narrative agency audiences experience in immersive theater. The production opened on April 8th, 2024, in the Herman Maril Gallery at the Parren J. Mitchell Art and Sociology Building at the University of Maryland.Item TONIGHT WE MAY WIN: CHALLENGING THE UNIVERSAL IN QUEER EMBODIMENT AND PERFORMANCE(2024) Steinberg, Rebecca Anne; Keefe, Maura; Dance; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)I sit in this chair how I always do, snug to the left side. I feel the warm hum of my laptop resting on my thighs. I feel the external rotation of my hips that allows my legs to casually cross with my feet cradled by the ottoman. I feel the spiral of my spine supporting a slightly forward head that looks down at the computer screen as I simultaneously sense the weight of chronic pain pooling heavy in my tired bones. I come to write words on this page through a commitment to embodiment as a state of profound possibility. As dance scholar Susan Foster suggests in her essay Choreographing History, “I am a body writing, I am a bodily writing.” I write through, with, and from embodiment. I define embodiment as a state where one has a heightened consciousness of their sensorium through acknowledged sensation. This state of awareness through sensation grounds the “self” in the body. Through this lens, embodiment is a mobilization that has the power to redefine how queerness is enacted and perceived through the medium of live performance. My dance thesis work, Tonight, we, may win, wields the social commentary of this position of audience privilege as farce. In this work, the dancers engage in what I’ve named “performing performativity.” Performing performativity makes transparent the exchange of currency between audience member and performer. Performing performativity functions in Tonight, we, may win as both a lens through which to view the performance and a performative state the dancers enact. The performers and the choreographer together have the power to enact possibility through this viable exchange. The potential of this enacted possibility is extensive, complex, nuanced, and political. It is an exchange that requires a book of its own to justly unpack. Although this is not the space for that unpacking, this is a space where I utilize my thesis choreography as a primary example where the power of possibility through embodiment is examined thoroughly through various theoretical lenses and multiple works of performance art. The epicenter of this physical and theoretical research revolves around the development and execution my thesis choreography, Tonight, we, may win, performed February 16-18, 2024 at University of Maryland, College Park. The enacted examples of a body first politic are constructed in this research through the vehicle of my choreographic work. I enact a body first politic in my work and I use the following chapters to bring in the choreographic voices of both my own work and dance makers and performers who succeed in challenging the impositions of the cisheteropartriarchy through queer embodiment. In the first chapter I provide an introduction the theoretical and chorographic groundwork of this world through the lens of queer embodied subjecthood. In Chapter 2, I use a solo work I created in 2022, titled Soft Caution, to activate choreography as feminist knowledge production through movement analysis and feminist theory. In the third chapter, I evoke failure as both a queer action and choreographic tool and argue for queerness as a technology in live performance. I bring in the choreographic works of Age & Beauty: Part 3 by Miguel Gutierrez and Black Hole by Shamel Pitts as examples of live performances that make queerness as a technology visibly tangible. In Chapter 4, I closely analyze the lyrics of “I Don’t Care Much” from the musical Cabaret through black feminism, performance studies, queer studies, and beyond to dissect the thin façade of queer apathy in its application to performance, queerness, communal grief, and more. In the final chapter, I excavate both the process and the product of my thesis choreography Tonight, we, may win. Through movement analysis and rehearsal reflections I endeavor to add depth and dimension to the ephemeral world created and left on stage during my thesis concert. This research privileges embodiment, communal care, and queerness through the vehicle of live performance to argue for the enactment of inclusive and equitable futures on the stage and beyond.Item Mi Vida, in Rhythm: Resistance and Integration of an Afro- Honduran Immigrant in The United States Through Tap Dance(2024) Lanza Ruiz, Gerson Noé; Portier, Kendra; Dance; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This article focuses on Mi Vida, in Rhythm, which premiered on October 12, 2023, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. This performance is an autobiographical account of my experience immigrating from Honduras to the United States. At the heart of this production lies the art of storytelling, brough to life through the combination of live music, dance and spoken word. The performance draws heavily from the experiences of Afro-descendant peoples in Central America and the United States. It is steeped in the cultural traditions of the Garifuna, an afro-indigenous people of Honduras, incorporating their language, dance forms of resistance, and everyday choreography. The performance aims to capture the evolution of communication tactics, identity, and coping mechanisms of Afro Latinoe/xs as we navigate the challenges of realizing the American dream.What follows are brief personal accounts that serve as guide to essential artistic discoveries that sparked my curiosity. These curiosities eventually mold my artistry in percussive dance, particularly tap dance. With that, I formally analyze specific segments in Mi Vida, in Rhythm, that serve as reservoir of knowledge for movement and sound exploration. Ultimately my scholarly research dwells in three different topics; First the term Blackness as descriptive of one's ethnicity, race, or both, and the movement practices unique to their demographic and diasporic thread. Second, the understanding of historic privileging of Eurocentric perspectives within higher education. Third, the necessity to highlight Afro-Latinoe/ experiences and dance forms within dance curriculum. The article concludes by highlighting my contributions as an artist, instructor, and creative collaborator steeped in the artistry of bodily percussion practices and the intersectionality of Black cultural terrain and immigration paranoia.Item ALTERNATIVE CHOREOGRAPHIES: IMMERSIVE PERFORMANCE AS A DECOLONIAL PEDAGOGICAL AND PERFORMANCE PRACTICE(2024) Padilla Garcia, Javier Ignacio; Fang, Adriane; Dance; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The research unfolds through a multidisciplinary lens, weaving together theoretical analysis, artistic creation, pedagogical exploration and performative interventions. Through “el bodegon de la bruja”, an interdisciplinary immersive dance theater performance, this thesis aims to explore alternative ways of understanding, learning, and expressing that are rooted in decolonial principles. The performance engages with diverse mediums and techniques to construct immersive environments that prompt participants to critically reflect on colonial histories and power structures. Through a series of performative acts and pedagogical interventions, the thesis seeks to demonstrate how immersive performance can serve as a conduit for decolonial praxis. The outcomes contribute to an evolving discourse on the potential of artistic and educational practices to actively dismantle colonial legacies. This work not only envisions alternative narratives but actively engages participants in co-creating knowledge, fostering a sense of empowerment, agency, and a deeper understanding of decolonialized perspectives.Item EXPLORING THE GUATEMALAN PIANISTIC LEGACY: REVEALING THE HIDDEN GEMS OF THE 20TH AND 21ST CENTURY(2024) Hernandez Mendoza, Francisco Alfonso; Dedova, Larissa; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the 20th and 21st centuries, the country of Guatemala produced an extraordinary amount of excellent music written for the piano. Composers Manuel Martínez-Sobral, Ricardo Castillo, Jesús Castillo, Jorge Sarmientos, and more contemporary figures such as Joaquín Marroquín, Enrique Solares, and Xavier Beteta all contributed to the evolution of piano compositions. In this performance dissertation, I will perform selected works from this legacy. I will also provide an in-depth analysis of the selected works and historical context, educational influences, and cultural exchanges that have shaped this musical tradition. The repertoire will be explored with a particular emphasis on pointing out various composer’s stylistic characteristics.The selected dissertation repertoire includes my two-piano arrangement of Jorge Sarmientos’ “Concierto para Piano No. 1 Op. 10” for its academic value and to aid in studying and performing this pivotal Guatemalan piano concerto. This DMA dissertation project includes two solo recitals and a two-piano recital, showcasing my arrangement of Sarmiento’s concerto. The written portion of the dissertation also presents the score of this arrangement. All recitals were held in the Gildenhorn Recital Hall at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland. The live audio recordings of these recitals can be found in the University of Maryland's Digital Repository.Item Resonance of Change: An Exploration of Repertoire Programming Shifts in Choral Conducting Graduate Programs in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic and George Floyd Protests(2024) Helms, Mark; Ferdinand, Jason M; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Few decisions made by a choral conductor are as important as the selection of repertoire. This study seeks to uncover the ways repertoire selection practices may have shifted in choral conducting graduate programs following two major concurrent disruptive events: the COVID-19 pandemic and the George Floyd protests. The study also seeks to fill a gap in the literature by examining repertoire trends in standard concerts on university campuses rather than in concerts occurring exclusively in festival settings (such as ACDA conferences). Complete repertoire data for four academic years (2017–2019 and 2021–2023) were collected from sixteen research universities with choral conducting graduate programs. The design of the study was guided by four major questions, which concerned: (1) the overall characteristics of the body of repertoire performed, (2) changes in the characteristics of performed repertoire between the two-year time periods studied, (3) similarities and differences in programming practices among the sixteen participating schools, and (4) whether the trends found in the present study echo those found in previous studies of repertoire trends in festival settings. The data were also analyzed with two hypotheses in mind: (1) that composer and composition diversity and representation would increase (in part in response to the George Floyd protests), and (2) that composition difficulty would generally decrease (due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic). Findings reveal high variation in the works and composers performed by the sixteen schools in the study, with few specific composers and works seeing broad performance across a majority of the schools. Demographically, performed composers were overwhelmingly White and male, though the percentage of non-White- and non-male-composed works performed at each school increased significantly between 2017–2019 and 2021–2023. It was found that much of this increase could be attributed to non-idiomatic works by Black composers, though this increase did not come at the expense of idiomatic works by the same. The data further suggest that conductors may often select a single piece to fill both race- and gender-based diversity goals. Performed compositions skewed significantly toward newly-composed works, though to what extent varied substantially between schools; the data suggest these variations are largely attributable to the programming practices of individual faculty members. A high level of variation among the schools was seen for sacred/secular status and accompaniment status. No conclusive result was found concerning the average difficulty of performed works, but English- language works were found to be inversely related to composition difficulty; the percentage of English-language works increased significantly between 2017–2019 and 2021–2023, suggesting a corresponding decrease in average difficulty.Item “CHARACTERS” IN DIVERSE WORKS FOR PIANO, 1720-1944(2024) Chan, Ham; Dedova, Larissa; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The main aim of this research project is to gain a thorough comprehension of piano music classified as “Character Pieces,” as well as music that exhibits similar musical traits but is not officially categorized as such. In a narrative context, a character is typically defined as a person depicted within a story, either through description or direct speech. In the realm of music, characters are often linked to the mood or atmosphere. Expanding on this, characters in music should assist performers and listeners in creating a musical scene through their individual imaginations. The fundamental essence of “Character Pieces” can be distilled to compositions imbued with distinctive musical qualities. While there exists no unanimous consensus regarding the precise criteria for characterizing a piece as such, there is a general consensus that compositions bearing evocative titles such as Ballade, Fantasy, Nocturne, and Mazurka are commonly regarded as character pieces. In a more scholarly context, the Harvard Dictionary of Music aptly defines the term “Character Piece” as a convenient designation encompassing a substantial body of short compositions from the 19th century, designed to express a definite mood or programmatic idea. Most of these compositions are written in ternary form, a structure that proves especially suitable for depicting two contrasting moods, such as the dramatic section A and the lyrical section B.A notable feature of the genre is its freedom from a fixed naming convention, enabling compositions to encompass a wide array of titles. This stands in stark contrast to other genres such as Sonatas and Variations, which are inherently defined by predetermined names and structural elements. However, influences on “Character Pieces” in terms of structure and musicality can be found in some of these genres. Several of these works will also be highlighted in the program. “Character pieces” can be viewed as a genre conceptualized by scholars to encompass the majority of piano music from the 19th century that may not adhere to conventional notions of “serious” music. Given the flexibility of this classification, the three planned recitals have been carefully curated to showcase music relate to this genre, spanning from works of Bach to Prokofiev composed between 1720 and 1944. Each recital will revolve around a central theme, with the initial installment titled “Fantasies and Ballades,” followed by “Humanity” in the second recital, and concluding with “Literary Inspirations” in the final recital.Item A CONDUCTOR’S GUIDE TO BÉLA BARTÓK’S CANTATA PROFANA(2024) Lofton, Nathan; Ferdinand, Jason M; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Béla Bartók composed Cantata Profana in 1930, at the height of his interwar European career. Bartók’s only major choral-orchestral work, the cantata is a synthesis of Bartók’s immersion in Eastern European folk music and his mature compositional aesthetic. Cantata Profana is a work of modest scale, approximately twenty minutes in duration, though it is also one that makes considerable musical demands of a double chorus, tenor and baritone soloists, and a full orchestra. Above all, it is a work that is considered by many prominent Bartók scholars to be among the composer’s finest creations. Despite all of this, Cantata Profana is so infrequently performed that most musicians know it only by reputation or through one of the handful of existing recordings, if they know it at all. This dissertation gathers the resources a choral conductor needs when preparing to perform Cantata Profana. These resources include a brief history of the cantata’s genesis and analyses of the work’s structure and musical elements. The dissertation examines the required performing forces, choral divisi, Hungarian diction, rehearsal strategies, and programming considerations, and provides possible solutions to these as some of the challenges inherent in the work. The last section of the dissertation considers the interpretation and meaning of the cantata. Appendices are devoted to a literal English translation and International Phonetic Alphabet transliteration of Cantata Profana’s Hungarian text; a selected performance history of the work; and an annotated discography of the available recordings. The ultimate goal of this dissertation is to make Cantata Profana a more approachable work, and to encourage more conductors, choruses, and orchestras to undertake its performance.