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The purpose of this study was to identify areas of agreement and disagreement between concert band music publisher difficulty grading systems and the perceptions of the band directors who program concert band music. Because no standard difficulty stratification for concert band music exists among publishers, band directors must rely on personal interpretations of diverse grading systems. This may complicate their programming and curriculum decisions. In the study, two questions were addressed: (a) Does a discrepancy exist between performance difficulty levels assigned to literature through publishers’ grading systems and concert band directors’ perceptions of this music’s difficulty level? (b) What criteria do concert band directors use to select music that is at an appropriate performance difficulty level for their concert bands? A sampling of 168 band directors from U.S. schools at the elementary through college levels completed a researcher-designed survey that focused on methods of selecting level-appropriate band literature. They reviewed excerpts from 10 published concert band pieces with a publishers’ difficulty level rated from Grade 1 (least difficult) to Grade 6 (most difficult), and offered their perceptions regarding each piece’s performance difficulty. Ratings were compared with publishers’ assigned difficulty levels. The degree of accord and discord between directors’ judgments and publishers’ grades were determined and discussed. The results of this study provide a better understanding of the relationship between publishers’ grading systems and concert band directors’ perceptions of musical difficulty levels. This understanding may assist instrumental music educators with the difficult and important task of band music selection and curriculum planning. / Music Education

Master of Music / Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance / Frank C. Tracz / The following report is a detailed analysis on the following three pieces: Suite in B-flat by Richard Strauss for woodwind chamber ensemble, Two Pieces from Lieutenant Kije by Sergei Prokofiev for brass and percussion ensemble, and a finally Down a Country Lane by Aaron Copland for concert band. The goal of the analysis is to provide rehearsal information for educational purposes. Aspects of the compositions studied include: background information on the composer and composition, a historical perspective, technical and stylistic considerations, and the musical elements. The researchers perspective on philosophy of music education is also stated as well as the importance of choosing quality literature for pedagogical needs and performance. The goal of this report is to aid future conductors in their performances of the literature and for that reason the seating charts for the ensembles, acoustical justifications, as well as rehearsal plans have been included.

O trabalho consiste na reflexão sobre a produção composicional estruturada em processos de hibridação, e a aplicação deste conceito à elaboração de uma peça para a formação instrumental de banda sinfônica, onde se promove a confluência entre gêneros e técnicas de linguagens distintas. Partindo sobre os princípios que emolduraram o conceito Third Stream de fusão entre o jazz com a música erudita, verificamos as possibilidades de ampliação dessa proposta agregando também elementos da música popular brasileira, e de acordo com os rumos tomados, conferimos alguns trabalhos que se assemelham ao dessa dissertação, no que concerne ao procedimento de hibridismo, mostrando fortes relações com as características da produção musical pós-moderna. / The work consists of the reflection about the compositional production structured on hybrid processes, and the use of this concept to the development of a piece for instrumental concert band, which promotes the confluence between genres and techniques of distinct languages. Starting with the principles that framed the Third Stream concept of the fusion between jazz and classical music, we verify the possibilities of the enlargement of this proposal aggregating elements of Brazilian music, and in accordance with the direction taken, we found some works that resemble the piece of this dissertation, in relation to hybrid procedures, showing strong relationships with the characteristics of post-modern musical production.

abstract: The purpose of this study was to collect specific data concerning the use of financial resources from extant adult community bands that are members of the Association of Concerts Bands (ACB). An adult community band is defined as an ensemble consisting primarily of amateur adult woodwind, brass, and percussion performers, the majority of whom are not satisfying school, college, or military requirements through participation. This investigation comprises two main parts: 1) a perusal of the development of adult community bands within the overall history of bands in the United States, including, when possible, financial aspects of their operations; and 2) an examination of financial trends in ACB organizations, as illustrated by survey data. An electronic survey was designed to examine six questions: 1) what are the budgets of today’s community bands, 2) how do bands compensate their staff and personnel, 3) where are bands spending their money, 4) what are their sources of income, 5) how are their current financial trends different than Peter Martin’s 1983 study on community bands, and 6) are there trends in regards to their expenses, revenues, bands’ longevity, and locations? In order to make more accurate conclusions, the author divided bands into five classes, based on their financial structure, to analyze and compare data. Five major trends were observed: 1) current adult bands are usually non-profit organizations that list monetary compensation for their conductors on their Annual Operating Budget (AOB), 2) fifty-four percent (54%) of bands with an AOB spend between $4,000 and $19,999, 3) after adjusting for inflation, monetary compensation has remained nearly the same over the last thirty-four years, 4) music is the most common expense among adult bands, and 5) since 1983, the number of bands reporting government funding as a revenue source has decreased. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2017

O trabalho consiste na reflexão sobre a produção composicional estruturada em processos de hibridação, e a aplicação deste conceito à elaboração de uma peça para a formação instrumental de banda sinfônica, onde se promove a confluência entre gêneros e técnicas de linguagens distintas. Partindo sobre os princípios que emolduraram o conceito Third Stream de fusão entre o jazz com a música erudita, verificamos as possibilidades de ampliação dessa proposta agregando também elementos da música popular brasileira, e de acordo com os rumos tomados, conferimos alguns trabalhos que se assemelham ao dessa dissertação, no que concerne ao procedimento de hibridismo, mostrando fortes relações com as características da produção musical pós-moderna. / The work consists of the reflection about the compositional production structured on hybrid processes, and the use of this concept to the development of a piece for instrumental concert band, which promotes the confluence between genres and techniques of distinct languages. Starting with the principles that framed the Third Stream concept of the fusion between jazz and classical music, we verify the possibilities of the enlargement of this proposal aggregating elements of Brazilian music, and in accordance with the direction taken, we found some works that resemble the piece of this dissertation, in relation to hybrid procedures, showing strong relationships with the characteristics of post-modern musical production.

The Luther College Concert Band has enjoyed nearly 150 years of success. International tours, regional tours, concerts, service to the college and recording projects aided the success of this small college band that retained its Lutheran, liberal arts identity. Published documents exist about the Luther College band before 1948 but no comprehensive published documents are available after that time. This essay provides a more complete history of the band since 1948 based upon archival research and interviews with Weston Noble, Fredrick Nyline and Joan deAlbuquerque. The Concert Band started as a student led activity, which set it apart from other university bands of the late nineteenth century that had military connections. The Luther band eventually became an academic area of study and performed solely for campus concerts and on tours. The band took tours to Norway and Europe long before most college bands had touring programs. Later the band toured to Japan, China and Europe and continued regional tours throughout the United States. The Concert Band conductors, particularly the tenures of Carlo Sperati, Weston Noble, Frederick Nyline and Joan deAlbuquerque, helped shape the band program and music department at Luther College. This is a study of their educational philosophies that shaped the band, and the support the program received from the college administration, students and alumni. Also included is information about the Dorian Band Festival hosted by Luther College, works commissioned by the band, a review of works programed by conductors, a listing of recordings by the Luther College Concert Band and biographical information about each conductor.

abstract: Concert band classes have been part of the schooling landscape in Canada and the United States since the early 1900’s. Nevertheless, the context in which concert band classes have been offered recently has undergone a dramatic change. Typically, concert band classes have been offered as an elective course in schools, but more recently, concert band classes in some school settings have been required, especially at the beginning level. Because of the required band class context, it can no longer be assumed students in such band classes have the same music making goals exhibited by earlier generations of students. Persistence, resilience, engagement and musical self-efficacy have been affected when choice was no longer afforded. This study was conducted to examine how goal setting strategies influenced student persistence, resilience, engagement, and musical self-efficacy within a required beginning concert band class. Framed by Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory, Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory, and Tinto’s research on persistence, a goal setting intervention was devised and offered to students taking a required grade 6 beginning band classes at an independent school in Ontario. Using a concurrent mixed method framework, quantitative and qualitative data were collected. Results from the quantitative data indicated no changes in the outcome measures. By comparison, qualitative data indicated persistence, resilience, engagement, and musical self-efficacy were influenced when using the goal setting tools. From students’ perspectives, musical self-efficacy and personal self-efficacy were realized through grade attainment, music notation fluency, rhythmic accuracy goals established on students’ weekly goal charts, and goal setting mind maps. Persistence and resilience were influenced as students overcame physical challenges through scaffolding their practice efforts by creating individualized practice regimens. Engagement was influenced through the goal setting intervention as students set goals such as performing for others—be it peers, family, or their teachers. In terms of future research and practice, cycles of action research would include expanding the goal setting intervention to include creating differentiated music making experiences alongside the traditional concert band genre, based upon principles drawn from a community music making contexts—specifically those involving collaborative music making like those experienced in Samba band ensembles. Recommendations for such experiences were shared. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2019

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This composition for Wind Ensemble (like Concert Band but usually only one player on a part) was Scott Master's Thesis for completing a Master of Music degree in Composition at Butler University. Written in 2010, the piece is a combination of styles, philosophies, and techniques, all in balance with each other. Avant-garde and traditional techniques are used; tonality and atonality vie with each other, resulting in a combination of the two; specific musical directions are balanced by a degree of choice available to each participant. “The Memory of Persistence” is about a journey. No specific personal story is presented, nor is the piece programmatic, but the progress and development of the piece could mirror many life situations and be accessible to anyone from that point of view. There is a progression from simple to complex, from innocence to maturity, that is demonstrated in the instrumentation as well as the melodic and harmonic elements. The title of the composition is an allusion to Salvador Dali’s painting called “The Persistence of Memory.” Even the font of the score’s title page is based on Dali’s own handwriting. Dali was a major player in the Surrealism movement of the twentieth century, combining classical elements of art with unusual, surprising, or even outrageous twists. “The Memory of Persistence” does the same thing in a musical setting. Yet, even without knowledge of Dali, the listener can understand the title because the piece demonstrates persistence through difficulty while retaining the memory of the past and incorporating it into current life.