Johann Paul von Westhoff's (1656-1705) solo violin works, consisting of Suite pour le violon sans basse continue published in 1683 and Six Suites for Violin Solo in 1696, feature extensive use of multiple stops, which represents a German polyphonic style of the seventeenth-century instrumental music. However, the Six Suites had escaped the public's attention for nearly three hundred years until its rediscovery by the musicologist Peter Várnai in the late twentieth century. This project will focus on polyphonic writing featured in the solo violin works by von Westhoff. In order to fully understand the stylistic traits of this less well-known collection, a brief summary of the composer, Johann Paul Westhoff, and an overview of the historical background of his time will be included in this document. I will analyze these works, including a comparison between the works of Westhoff and those of other composers during his time, to prove that Westhoff's solo works establish multiple stops as a central factor of German violin playing of the time, and, thus, to promote Westhoff's works as a complement to the extant repertoire of unaccompanied violin music written in the Baroque era before Johann Sebastian Bach's solo violin works and Georg Philipp Telemann's twelve fantasias for violin solo. Furthermore, this project will help one to better understand the use and function of multiple stops in the German violin repertoire in the seventeenth century.

This paper discusses several compositions that use the computer screen to present music notation to performers. Three of these compositions, Law of Fives (2015), Polytera II (2016), and Terraformation (2016–17), employ strategies that allow the notation to change during the performance of the work as the product of composer-regulated algorithmic generation and performer interaction. New methodologies, implemented using Cycling74's Max software, facilitate performance of these works by allowing effective control of generation and on-screen display of notation; these include an application called VizScore, which delivers notation and conducts through it in real-time, and a development environment for real-time notation using the Bach extensions and graphical overlays around them. These tools support a concept of cartographic composition, in which a composer maps a range of potential behaviors that are mediated by human or algorithmic systems or some combination of the two. Notational variation in performance relies on computer algorithms that can both generate novel ideas and be subject to formal plans designed by the composer. This requires a broader discussion of the underlying algorithms and control mechanisms in the context of algorithmic art in general. Terraformation, for viola and computer, uses a model of the performer's physical actions to constrain the algorithmic generation of musical material displayed in on-screen notation. The resulting action-based on-screen notation system combines common practice notation with fingerboard tablature, color gradients, and abstract graphics. This hybrid model of dynamic notation puts unconventional demands on the performer; implications of this new performance practice are addressed, including behaviors, challenges, and freedoms of real-time notation.

My lecture serves as a critical examination of the Six Sonatas Op. 3, KV. 10-15 by W.A. Mozart. I will engage the variances between the first edition of Op. 3 and those by Joseph Bopp and Louis Moyse edited specifically for the flute in hopes of providing another perspective for students, performers, and pedagogues alike. This study will (1) provide background information regarding the creation of KV. 10-15, (2) include a brief analysis of each sonata, (3) compare adaptions between the first edition, according to NMA, and two modern flute transcriptions, and (4) produce two new transcriptions. My new transcriptions of Sonatas KV. 10 and 13 represent a closer interpretation to the first edition and alerts students and teachers to the differences between the editions by Joseph Bopp and Louis Moyse to that of the first and NMA editions. The goal is to stimulate performers to reappraise their approach to this particular repertoire and to encourage more authentic performances of these engaging sonatas.

Beyond the Binary explores the intersection of gender with cross-cultural identity in composer Reena Esmail's professional life and choral music. This intersection manifests in her musical style, which accesses the resonant spaces between Western and Indian classical music. I argue that it is through the convergence of Esmail's gender identity with her cross-cultural identity that her compositions challenge gender norms and break down perceived barriers between East and West, inviting her listeners into an intersectional feminist space. This project synthesizes musicological, theoretical, and ethnographic methods, and is meant as a starting point for choral musicians and scholars to consider cultural difference and its impact on choral music. What begins as a consideration of social themes within Esmail's life and work culminates in a practical musical analysis and performance practice guide to aid conductors in preparation of Esmail's music. The compositions discussed are I Rise: Women in Song (2016), Take What You Need (2016), TaReKiTa (2016), Tuttarana (2014), and This Love Between Us: Prayers for Unity (2016).

This dissertation provides comprehensive performance perspectives for the interpretation of the published keyboard toccatas by Michelangelo Rossi (ca.1602-1656) in his collection, Toccate e Correnti d'Intavolatura d'Organo e Cimbalo (c. 1634). This document consults the following sources on keyboard practice in the early-Baroque period: Girolamo Diruta's Il Transilvano Dialogo Sopra Il Vero Modo Di Sonar Organi, & Istromenti da penna (1593); Adriano Banchieri's Conclusioni nel Suono dell'Organo (1609); Costanzo Antegnati's L'Arte Organica (1608); and the prefaces to Girolamo Frescobaldi's publications Toccate e Partite d'Intavolature di Cembalo, Libro Primo (first version 1615; second version 1615, 1616, 1628; and third version 1637), and Fiori Musicali (1635). These sources provide information on most aspects of keyboard—and specifically organ—playing in the decades leading up to, and at the time of, the initial publication of Rossi's toccatas: including the toccata as genre, Italian organs from the late-Renaissance/early-Baroque, registration, tempo, pedaling, fingering, articulation, and ornamentation. In addition to the performance perspectives, this dissertation also provides a new modern edition of the ten toccatas by Michelangelo Rossi. This edition is based on the 1657 Bologna facsimile. The goal of this edition is two-fold. First to present an accurate text of the facsimile and second to adjust certain beam-groupings, spacing on the staves, and the use of accidentals in a more modern sense.

The purpose of this study was to explore adolescent self-views of singing ability through both implicit theories and self-concept meaning systems. A secondary purpose of this study was to examine these self-views specifically in the context of a choral hierarchy. Using a researcher-designed survey instrument, I gathered data from middle- and high-school students currently enrolled in a choir program organized in a hierarchical structure. I analyzed descriptive statistics of survey responses to items designed to measure implicit theories of singing ability, singing self-concept, and goal orientation. I also examined differences among participants by ensemble placement in implicit theory and self-concept scores, correlation between implicit theory and self-concept, and whether implicit theory, self-concept, goal orientation, or current enrollment could predict future enrollment decisions. In addition to these quantitative measures, I coded open-ended responses to two failure scenarios and examined participant responses by ensemble and gender. Both implicit theory and self-concept scores were higher for participants at the top of the choral hierarchy than at the bottom. Open-ended responses, however, did not align with the implicit theory scale and a number of students presented a false growth mindset. Open-ended responses also indicated that failure scenarios were likely to result in an altered view of the self and shame in placement in an ensemble at the bottom of the choral hierarchy. The means scores for participants in the middle- and high-school ensembles in both implicit theory and self-concept were significantly different, with participants in the high-school ensembles having higher scores in both constructs. Implicit theory and self-concept were significantly related, and self-concept, goal orientation, and current enrollment significantly predicted future enrollment decisions.

American composer David Kechley was profoundly impacted by a 1990 trip to the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. The composer describes the finely raked, small white stones in the midst of fifteen large rocks in the Japanese Zen garden as "planned randomness." Kechley's inaugural composition for saxophone-guitar duo, In the Dragon's Garden, reflects his experience at the Ryoan-ji Temple. The use of minimalistic compositional techniques without literal repetition in the work represents a departure from the first generation of Minimalist composers, such as LaMonte Young, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, and John Adams. An analysis of minimalistic compositional elements, combined with an interview with the commissioning ensemble, the Ryoanji Duo, provides insights into the interpretation and preparation of this complex work. Furthermore, this document contains helpful information pertinent to the saxophone-guitar duo. Details on balance and amplification, orchestration, and collaboration with the composer will supply performers and composers with essential knowledge needed to participate in this growing musical medium.

Pianists often have trouble in determining where a phrase ends, or in other words, cadence identification. This is especially true of certain cadences that can be considered either as half cadences or authentic cadences. This analytically ambiguous cadential point can result in different performance decisions, so pianists should make informed decisions about what kind of cadence it is. This study aims to investigate such cadential ambiguity shown at points of phrase boundaries by focusing on Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, first movement. I offer both possibilities (a half cadence or an authentic cadence) at the phrase ending, suggesting a performance-related strategy based on each possibility. My objective is not to support only one cadential status, but to bring up the cadential problem from the analytical perspective and to demonstrate how cadence identification affects performance results. The dissertation is divided into two parts: analysis and performance, so it relies on a combined method of analytical terminologies and performance-related musical elements. In the analysis, the terminology of William Caplin is employed. The performance part refers to several method books written by prestigious piano pedagogues. After an introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 reviews some literature on cadences. Chapter 3 specifically analyzes the first movement of Chopin's second sonata by means of Caplin's terminologies. Chapter 4 provides a performance-related method and Chapter 5 deals with a practical performance strategy.

The Peabody Conservatory commissioned Estudios De Frontera by Alejandro Viñao in 2004. Percussionist Robert Van Sice initiated the commissioning process. Estudios De Frontera is the first composition for percussion ensemble by Viñao. Viñao's Estudios is written in two movements. The first is titled Homage to Nancarrow. As the title implies the compositional processes are directly influenced by Conlon Nancarrow. The composer states: "Homage to Nancarrow is concerned with the perceptual illusion of multiple simultaneous speeds or tempi....This movement explores the type of rhythms that create the illusion that multiple independent tempi are being heard while remaining playable by musicians." The purpose of this document is to provide a rhythmic analysis describing the techniques used by Chopin, Ligeti, and Nancarrow, and demonstrating their manifestation in the first movement of Alejandro Viñao's Estudios de Frontera. The analysis provides detailed information in regards to Nancarrow's rhythmic structures including: ostinato, hemiola, isorhythm, accelerations, and implied poly-tempo. Additionally, by seeking advice from notable performers and ensembles, the areas of greatest concern are identified, and strategies towards rehearsal and performance are recommended. The performance guide is included as an appendix to the analytic body of the paper.

Das Jahr is considered Fanny Hensel's most impressive accomplishment of piano solo work. However, the only modern edition that is extant includes many additional editorial markings. By further analyzing the sections that are technically challenging or musically demanding from an interpretive standpoint, pianists wishing to perform the work will have to find workable fingerings and pedal markings to learn this piano cycle. For this reason, this dissertation will not only provide readers with an original text of Das Jahr, but also assist pianists in finding practical solutions that can help them to interpret this distinctive work successfully on the modern piano.