<p> Composer Howard Hanson played a pivotal role in both the development and promotion of American concert music in the twentieth century. Born in Wahoo, Nebraska, to Swedish immigrants, Hanson grew up surrounded by people who followed Swedish customs (including folk song and dance), yet exhibited strong feelings of American patriotism. Hanson's earliest works, left unpublished, display the influence of Swedish folk music traditions in either direct quotation or stylistic imitation. </p><p> As the winner of the first American Prix de Rome, Hanson traveled to Italy to study at the American Academy, affording him the opportunity to travel for the first time to Sweden. While in Europe Hanson wrote some of his most important compositions, including the Scandinavian-inspired First Symphony ("Nordic") and the symphonic poem <i>North and West.</i> The former pulls heavily from Swedish folk music, and the latter is autobiographical, representative of the composer's identity struggles as he explored the role his heritage should play in what he increasingly realized was Americanist music. </p><p> After he assumed the directorship of the Eastman School of Music, a position he held for forty years, Hanson's music lost explicit programmatic elements inspired by Scandinavia. Hanson wrote hundreds of articles and speeches about the importance of furthering American music, became a community leader in Rochester and on a national level, and transformed Eastman into a vital center for the promotion of American composers. His affinity for Swedish music continued to be an important factor in his compositional process, as evidenced by his Third Symphony and the popular comparison of his music to that of Jan Sibelius. Despite this association Hanson is remembered as a transformative figure in American music.</p>

<p> Music scholarship has failed to fully assess the impact of the American composer George Frederick Root beyond his work in the church, classroom, and home. Most famous for composing "The Battle Cry of Freedom" and acting as music education pioneer Lowell Mason's associate, Root's other contributions to American music are often overlooked, particularly his body of secular cantatas for amateur choirs. This paper examines the commonly relayed biography of Root, Root's place in American historiography, and the advantages of examining his own autobiography. Finally, this paper presents a case study of <i> The Haymakers</i> and its possible place in future studies of Root. By better examining his career, we see that George Frederick Root was a typical nineteenth-century American man and that he was also a composer notable for his ability to serve the musical needs of his audience. Root pioneered large-scale choral works targeted at amateur performers with his secular cantatas and, consequently, served a wider swath of American performers and listeners.</p>

<p> The six piano suites of R. Nathaniel Dett (1882-1943) constitute a substantial body of piano music that illustrates the musical development of an important, but historically neglected American musician. Dett was a seminal figure in the preservation and study of spirituals, both as a writer and choral leader, and as a great teacher and inspirer of African-American musicians in the generations that followed him. Educated at Oberlin and Eastman, he was lauded as the first American composer to fuse Negro folk music with European art music tradition. </p><p> The writing of a series of like-genre works over a composer's lifetime, reflecting stylistic changes and a deepening world view, is a special event in the history of keyboard music. Unfortunately, Dett's piano music is rarely performed except for the second of the suites, <i>In the Bottoms</i>. Although his importance to African-American musical history is generally acknowledged by musicologists, his works for piano have remained largely unexplored by performers. </p><p> Dett's eclectic pursuits included poetry, the Rosicrucian Society, and religion. This study explores the connections between the suites and other musical styles and traditions, Dett's many extra-musical interests, and his performing life. It also offers some possible explanations for the relative lack of attention received by his piano music. </p><p> This study incorporates research from readily-available sources, as well as the Nathaniel Dett archives at the Niagara Falls New York Public Library and Hampton University. The first three chapters give an overview of Dett's style and influences, as well as a description of how his musical language developed from his first suite, <i>Magnolia</i> (1912), to his last, <i> Eight Bible Vignettes</i> (1941-43), written at the end of his life. Each suite is examined individually in detail in the following six chapters. It is hoped that this work will stimulate appreciation of Dett's piano music and lead to more frequent performances. Its goal is to give to the reader the same sense of admiration and joy that the author's exploration of these works has given him.</p>

<p> This thesis investigates what Black undergraduate women understand and take away from Hip-Hop music. Highlighting their matrix of domination and recognizing their intersecting identities, this thesis shows how identity and music work together in the listening experience of Black women, thus emphasizing how they invest this music with social value. The following questions are answered in this research: What does Hip-Hop mean to Black female students at an elite university? How do these Black female students experience and perceive Hip-Hop music? A basic interpretive design with focus groups was used to execute this study. Three focus groups consisting of six to seven participants per group, totaling 19 participants, were conducted. Findings included that the background of each participant influenced what Hip-Hop means to them. Overall, Hip-Hop music was valued by participants and listened to for many reasons of sociological relevance, including its influence of political consciousness and colorism. Future studies should explore the how different demographic groups experience and perceive Hip-Hop, including how diverse educational backgrounds may influence perception.</p>

<p> When Robert Spano joined the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as music director in 2001, he brought with him a mission to change the soundscape of the American concert hall. His goal, to gradually change the public&rsquo;s perception of new music by introducing accessible works of lesser-known living American composers, led to sustained partnerships with the composers that came to be known as the Atlanta School. In this project I trace the formation of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra up to Spano&rsquo;s appointment as Music Director. I then examine Spano&rsquo;s model for commissioning new works as both an effective means of disseminating new music and an attempt to &ldquo;plug into&rdquo; the standard repertoire. Finally, I explore the notion of &ldquo;accessibility&rdquo; as it emerged in the nineteenth century to distinguish between classes of music and to show how the term is wielded in much the same way today to keep modernist ideologies in control of the canon.</p>

<p> With the success of the <i>O Brother, Where Art Thou?</i> soundtrack, T Bone Burnett spent his cultural capital on repurposing traditional American music in subsequently successful soundtracks and artistic productions, providing a spark for a 21st century cultural movement that moves beyond music. This study aims to position Burnett has a cultural catalyst by grounding his work, and those abiding by a similar ethic, in the American South. In the process, I examine what Burnett&rsquo;s soundtracks and select artistic productions communicate about contemporary Southern cultures and identities, while negotiating the ever-enigmatic generational issues of identity and authenticity. By extending the analysis to artists, producers, and cultural tastemakers who operate by a similar ethic as Burnett as well, I also address the characteristics of and spark igniting the preservationist, heritage movement in contemporary roots music, and how this music community contributes to ongoing conversations regarding contemporary Southern identity? The purpose of my study is to explore these connections, the culture in which they reside, and most specifically the role T Bone Burnett plays in a contemporary cultural movement which seeks to (re)present a traditional American music ethos in distinctly Southern terms. Furthermore, I will set the movement within the contemporary context in which such sounds, symbols, and narratives reside. Within this study, I read films, songs, soundtracks, albums, fashion, and performances, each loaded with symbols, archetypes, and themes that illuminate intersection past and present issues of identity. By weaving ethnographic interviews (with musicians, producers, and other cultural tastemakers) with cultural analysis, I investigate how relevant cultural issues are being negotiated, how complicated discussions of history, tradition, and heritage feed the ethic, and how the American South as a perceived distinct region factors in to the equation.</p>

<p> This treatise examines the life and solo vocal works of composer Margaret Allison Bonds (1913-1972). It includes a biographical outline of Bonds's family background, education, and students. Her accomplishments as a concert pianist, composer, and music educator in Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles are also described. The second half offers an overview of Bonds's solo vocal compositions. There is one chapter devoted to each of the three styles of song that she composed in her career: African-American spirituals, jazz/popular songs, and art songs. In addition, the treatise explores Bonds's relationship with the poets of the Harlem Renaissance, and her forays into the musical theatre genre. </p><p> Musical excerpts and descriptions of many of Bonds's published and unpublished solo vocal works are included. This document will be of benefit to singers, pianists, coaches, and musicologists interested in finding new repertoire with a distinctly American sound, as well as those who are seeking songs composed by American female composers, African-American composers, or art songs that include musical elements drawn from the spiritual or jazz. </p><p> Over half of Bonds's solo vocal works incorporated the poetry of Langston Hughes. The chapter entitled "The Art Songs: Poets of the Harlem Renaissance" is dedicated to the art song settings of Langston Hughes's poems and also includes one art song setting of a Count&eacute;e Cullen poem. The chapter entitled "The Art Songs" features settings of texts by Robert Frost, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Margaret Bonds, Marjorie May, Janice Lovoos, and Edmund Penney. </p><p> Appendix A of this document includes a list of Bonds's solo vocal works. It includes publication information, poet, and dates of composition. Appendix B includes seven digital photographs, including images of Margaret Bonds, Langston Hughes, William Levi Dawson, Florence Beatrice Price, Leonard Harper, Charlotte Holloman, McHenry Boatwright, and Maya Angelou. </p><p> Many of Margaret Bonds's songs were never published and are located in archival libraries and remain unknown. One purpose of this document is to expose these lesser known pieces to a larger audience, hopefully giving them a deserved place as a significant contribution to the American art song repertoire. </p>

<p>Encumbered Existence is a three-movement programmatic work for jazz orchestra that uses specific events in African-American history to capture the struggle of African- Americans and emotions provoked by these events. The first movement, ?The State of the World,? and last movement, ?Between the World and Me,? capture painful events such as the shooting of Trayvon Martin. ?Between the World and Me? uses the dates of Martin?s birth and death as set classes to guide the piece. The second movement, ?The Dream,? portrays a hopeful attitude and is inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the ?I Have a Dream? speech. Encumbered Existence is 314 measure long. Prior to the score, an analysis of the piece provides an outline of the overall structure of the work as well as illustrations of the musical quotations used throughout the piece. The compositional decisions made during the creative process are explained by highlighting individual musical moments in the piece and then examining their correlation to the work. All inspirational material is also discussed.

Re-conceptualizing American commercial music radio as a pivotal site of culture production significantly advances the sociological study of popular music and culture. This project provides a radio-centered analysis of popular music production by examining radio's role in the popular music industry at the programmer, station, market, and industry levels of analysis. Drawing on trade journalism and programmer interviews, the structural features of the radio industry, the operation of its music format system, and the work of radio programmers are systematically described. This account forms the basis for an analytical model of programming paradigms which seeks to explain variation among stations and programmers. In addition, the study uses quantitative data gathered from an original survey of radio programmers to examine how the industry structure and the adoption of programming paradigms influence music programming. The quantitative findings confirm the existence of distinct programming paradigms and their differential impact on levels of innovation and diversity in music programming. While music formats are found to constrain the music programming options of individual programmers, these parameters are negotiated differently by programmers adopting different programming paradigms. The study also reveals important distinctions between stations according to market size, and use of audience and music research data. Larger market stations rely more heavily on objective research and consequently produce more standardized music programming than those in smaller markets. The study demonstrates the importance of considering commercial music radio stations and programmers as relatively autonomous producers of popular music culture, and confirms the necessity of integrating the previously marginalized study of radio into the mainstream of popular music research.

This dissertation undertakes a comparative analysis of the musical, written, and spoken production of Sun Ra and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti with respect to the larger African Atlantic intellectual environment, situating the two artists as both shapers of an Atlantic intellectual culture as well as artists who were, in turn, shaped by that culture. Through a reading of their creative work, the dissertation argues that, even given the obvious cultural, temporal, and temperamental differences between Sun Ra and Fela, both artists' orientations toward musical composition and performance share similar preoccupations with the recitation of cultural memory and the dialogic creation of historical narratives which is called Composing the African Atlantic. In the dissertation the concept Composing the African Atlantic is proposed as a means of describing an African diasporic version of musical composition which includes many of the so-called extramusical elements of text and performance—audience participation and dialogue being key—as constitutive elements of composition such that, in their absence, the music is not fully realized. Stated in the active present tense (Composing), identified as culturally rooted (African), and formed within a broad and discursively contested space (Atlantic), Composing the African Atlantic describes the means by which composers such as Sun Ra and Fela Anikulapo-Kuti conceive of performance as an essential part of composition, enabling the musicians and audience to craft the true Text of the music through the activation of communal memory and the dialogic contestation of history. The result, in the case of both artists, is the creation of a singular compositional and performative style which maintains its connection to its core audience through the use of ritualized concert performance, the challenging of historical myths, and the performance of historical narratives which refute the Hegelian contention that Africa is "no historical part of the world." In the process, both artists assert that there is a common African cultural memory which exists throughout the African diaspora as a result, fundamentally, of the Atlantic slave trade, but which is also a living, contemporary, cosmopolitan dialectic of representation and re-presentation.