Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Music / Frederick Burrack / The purpose of this study examined high school band directors and college music educators’ attitudes in regard to implementing curricula requirements for music teacher training programs in jazz education, as well as personal and professional characteristics to current and past jazz cultures in music education. In addition, high school band directors and college music educators were also asked to evaluate specific teaching skills and competencies necessary for preparing music education students to teach jazz as an essential part of their teaching responsibilities in Kansas’ schools. Primary participants in this study included high school band directors (N=175) randomly selected from each of the six districts based upon geographical location in Kansas: (1) Northeast, (2) North-central, (3) Northwest, (4) Southeast, (5) Southcentral, and (6) Southwest, and college music educators (N=50) from eight Kansas institutions that were members of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), and offer degrees in music education. The survey in this study used modified questions and statements that focused on teaching instead of performance as highlighted in an existing research instrument by Walter Barr (1974), “The Jazz Studies Curriculum.” Data compared between both studies revealed similar findings. A descriptive method of research was used and designed to provide structured responses. The survey was divided into five sections, included frequencies, rating scales, mean scores, yes-no questions and 3-point Likert type questions. Data collected from this study described the following: background characteristics, teaching skills and experiences, competencies for music education majors, and jazz education as it relates to teacher preparation in Kansas. Results from this study indicated that high school band directors and college music educators agreed that the current music education programs in Kansas were not preparing music education majors to teach jazz in the public schools. Respondents were asked to provide opinions related to jazz and jazz course requirements for music education majors graduating and applying for teacher certification. Respondents were also asked to provide statistical information regarding the prioritization of courses in jazz pedagogy, jazz ensemble, jazz history, jazz theory, jazz keyboard and jazz improvisation with regards to essential skills and competencies needed for public school teaching. Tables were utilized to show statistical data and comparisons. Implications from this study included the need for more teacher preparation in jazz education.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / Frederick Burrack / The purpose of this study was to discover the reasons that led high-achieving high school orchestra musicians to discontinue formal participation in collegiate orchestra class. Using narrative analysis, the researcher examined the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influenced the student’s decision to not participate in orchestra. The researcher also sought to understand if and how these former high school musicians continued to make music on their own. Three current university students and their high school orchestra teachers were purposefully selected for the study. Data were collected through email queries, surveys, and personal interviews. Upon completion of the interview, the researcher summarized each interview into a narrative and shared it with the participant via email for member checking. Each participant was asked to provide feedback for the narrative and return it to the researcher. The researcher used Riessman’s (2008) adaptation of William Labov’s structural coding to analyze the data. Using Robichaux’s (2003) expansion of Labov’s coding, the researcher was able to establish a structural analysis of the narrative that reinforced the thematic analysis. The researcher coded each participant’s narrative along with that of his or her high school orchestra teacher. Coding was supported by NVivo software. Fact-checking of responses from the initial survey along with answers from the participants’ narrative and that of their high school director’s narrative allowed for a more robust and reliable narrative analysis. Definitive answers were not be sought or expected, but rather the collection of data led to a greater understanding and illustration of why the research participants chose to end their participation in orchestra rehearsals on the collegiate level. The participants offered diverse reasons for why they chose not to continue participating in college on the university level. Their reasons are described within six categories of intrinsic and extrinsic factors: (a) persistence; (b) self-concept of musical ability; (c) motivation for music; (d) parental musicianship and support; (e) director influence; and (f) socioeconomic status. Each participant could not name a single, defining factor that led him or her to discontinue participation in orchestra as each of the identified factors weighed differently for each person.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frederick Burrack / This report gives a detailed description and analysis of two method books used for beginning orchestra classes; Essential Elements for Strings by Michael Allen, Robert Gillespie, and Pamela Tellejohn Hayes, and Strings Basics by Terry Shade and Jeremy Woolstenhulme. Olathe School District #233 in Olathe, Kansas is doing research to decide whether to continue using their current method book, Essential Elements, or switching to a different method book, String Basics, for the 2014-2015 school year. Book 1 from each series is analyzed by looking at the order of concepts taught, how the concepts are introduced, how the book is laid out, illustrations, accompaniment CDs, the teacher’s manual, and additional resources offered by the publishers. The books are then compared and critiqued before a personal recommendation is given on which book would be more beneficial to the students of Olathe.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank C. Tracz / This report contains research and analysis of beginning band compositions studied, rehearsed, and performed by the Haysville Public Schools, combined beginning band students on May 18th, 2009, at 7 p.m., in Haysville, Kansas. The repertoire included Let’s Go Band II, by Albert Ahronheim, arranged by Andrew Balent, Midnight Mission, by Brian Balmages, and Bugler’s Dream by Leo Arnaud, arranged by Paul Lavender. The report contains criteria for selecting quality beginning band literature, lesson plans for specific pieces analyzed, history, musical elements, stylistic elements and technical information regarding those pieces. A philosophy of general education and music education is presented and is the basis of all planning, implementation of the chosen works. Biographical information of the composers and arrangers for performed pieces are included. In addition to the performed pieces, America the Beautiful, by Samuel A Ward, arranged by John Higgins is also analyzed using the same criteria and elements mentioned above.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank C. Tracz / This report contains lesson plans, historical information and a theoretical analysis of the literature performed in the Spring Concert of the Sedan Jr./Sr. High Concert Band under the direction of Roselyn Sweaney. The recital was held on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 in the “New Gym” of the Sedan Jr./Sr. High School. The recital featured performances by the following ensembles: 5th Grade String Ensemble, 5th Grade Band, 6th Grade Band, 5th & 6th Grade Bands joined for 2 selections, Jr./Sr. High Concert Band. The 5th Grade String Ensemble played Lightly Row, This Old Man, French Folk Song, Bingo and The William Tell Overture. The 5th Grade Band played Downtown Blues, Sounds of Beale Street, Barbara Ann and Hard Rock Blues and the 6th Grade Band played Brave New World, Sir Lancelot, Percussion On Parade and Surprise Symphony. The 5th & 6th Grade Bands joined together to play Soul Swinger. The Jr./Sr. High Concert Band performed Crestwood by Nancy Seward, Shaker Variants by Elliot Del Borgo, Rock ‘N’ Roll Explosion! arranged by Jerry Nowak, America, The Beautiful arranged by Dale Casteel, Miss Liberty March by Karl King, arranged by James Swearingen. Lauren Miller also performed a trumpet solo, Aria by George Golterman. Lauren had received a “I” for her trumpet solo at State Music Festival. The concert was directed by Mrs. Rosie Sweaney and by ½ time teacher, Miss Trish Roudybush. This was Miss Roudybush’s first year of teaching, following her student teaching and implementation of the string program at Sedan during the 2007-08 school year.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank C. Tracz / This document is based on the preparation, rehearsal, and performance of selected pieces for the Graduate Conducting Recital of Dara C. Jochum. The pieces examined in the theoretical and historical analysis for this report are Old Churches by Michael Colgrass, Little Suite for Band by Clare Grundman, This Is My Father’s World by Franklin L. Sheppard with hymn setting by Fred J. Allen, and Prelude and Primal Danse by Ed Huckeby. This document also contains rehearsal plans and procedures for the preparation of the literature. The recital was performed on March 7, 2008 in Hart Recital Hall on the campus of the University of Central Missouri, and was performed by the members of the Leeton High School Concert Band as well as guest performers from the University of Central Missouri Wind Ensemble.

Percy Grainger collected English folk song only for a short period between 1905 and 1909 as part of the revival of interest in all things English among antiquarians, folklorists, and nationalists. Grainger’s publication of his transcriptions and analysis in the Journal of the Folk Song Society in 1908 is considered one of the most insightful and groundbreaking examinations of English folk song of its time, far removed from the dilettante activities of many other collectors. His article was, however, harshly criticized by the Editorial Committee of the Journal, and Grainger subsequently never again published any significant transcriptions of English folk music. Grainger’s English folk song transcriptions have received their fair share of attention from ethnomusicologists. Thus far, however, no one has examined the connections between this aspect of his musical activities and his modernist philosophy of music. I contend that Grainger’s article contains the seeds of what would eventually become his mature, though never fully realized, musical aesthetic, and that it was this aesthetic that allowed him to examine English folk song in a manner never before imagined by other collectors. This dissertation follows the thread of his aesthetic throughout his numerous musical interests in order to demonstrate the potency of his philosophy as manifest in his examination of folk song in the Journal. To this end, I bring to bear a wide range of critical methodologies, including those of ethnomusicology, aesthetics, and critical theory. Grainger never spelled out with any clarity the fundamental tenets of his aesthetic, but I believe that such an aesthetic can be reconstructed through a broad examination of his writings and his music. Grainger shares his role in this dissertation with many other characters including Benjamin Britten, Evald Tang Kristensen, Cecil Sharp, Bela Bartok, Ferruccio Busoni, and even Jacques Derrida, often even ceding his place in the spotlight to them. This is, however, a crucial occurrence, for as my examination demonstrates, this fully realized version of his aesthetic means that Grainger emerges as a far more important and revolutionary thinker in the history of music than he has thus far been considered.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank Tracz / This document was submitted to the Graduate School of Kansas State University as a partial requirement for the Master's in Music degree. It contains theoretical, historical, and rehearsal analyses for Sonata No. 13 by Giovanni Gabrieli as arranged for brass octet by Glenn Smith, movements II. Andante and III. Minuet & Trio from Serenade No. 12 in c minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as edited by Frederick Fennell, and Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo by Sir Malcolm Arnold as arranged for full symphonic band by John P. Paynter. Prelude, Siciliano and Rondo was performed by the Kansas State University Wind Ensemble on February 15, 2012 in McCain Auditorium on the Kansas State University campus. Sonata No. 13 was performed by members of the Kansas State University Brass Ensemble on April 18th, 2012 in McCain Auditorium. There was no formal performance or rehearsal for Serenade No. 12 in c minor. The analytical methods employed in this report include the Unit Study approach used in the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band book series and the Tracz method of macro-micro-macro graphical score analysis.

Symphonic Engagement is a longitudinal study spanning six years, investigating the reasons and benefits for, and the impact on twelve urban public school students who decided to use their free time to participate and be engaged in extra-curricular activities in string orchestras. Literature and research inform us that the arts can play a significant role in the curriculum, inside and outside school, and this study discusses: the connection of the music curriculum to students’ future lives after secondary school graduation; the place of music education in the curriculum; music in our society; music and the brain; the effect of after-school programs on student engagement; and the pedagogy of arts education. Case study is the qualitative methodology used in this research. Data comes from interviews, field notes, and questionnaires that explore and interrogate the issues surrounding music education. Twelve young participants, from different gender, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds, were interviewed about their lived experiences and involvement with string orchestras, and on the ways in which these experiences have affected them as students and as members of society. The analysis of the data reveals connections between the author’s arts experiences in the public school system, and those of the twelve students interviewed. The teacher-student relationship, equity, family influence, and technology are discussed as factors that can strengthen programs for youth, by deepening engagement in school experiences. This study explores why some teachers and students choose to participate or become engaged in extra-curricular activities and examines the impact on educational communities, on the future direction of string education, and on the relationship of the teaching/learning experience.

Symphonic Engagement is a longitudinal study spanning six years, investigating the reasons and benefits for, and the impact on twelve urban public school students who decided to use their free time to participate and be engaged in extra-curricular activities in string orchestras. Literature and research inform us that the arts can play a significant role in the curriculum, inside and outside school, and this study discusses: the connection of the music curriculum to students’ future lives after secondary school graduation; the place of music education in the curriculum; music in our society; music and the brain; the effect of after-school programs on student engagement; and the pedagogy of arts education. Case study is the qualitative methodology used in this research. Data comes from interviews, field notes, and questionnaires that explore and interrogate the issues surrounding music education. Twelve young participants, from different gender, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds, were interviewed about their lived experiences and involvement with string orchestras, and on the ways in which these experiences have affected them as students and as members of society. The analysis of the data reveals connections between the author’s arts experiences in the public school system, and those of the twelve students interviewed. The teacher-student relationship, equity, family influence, and technology are discussed as factors that can strengthen programs for youth, by deepening engagement in school experiences. This study explores why some teachers and students choose to participate or become engaged in extra-curricular activities and examines the impact on educational communities, on the future direction of string education, and on the relationship of the teaching/learning experience.