<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of auditory-motor mapping training (AMMT) on the speech output of nonverbal elementary age students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Auditory-motor mapping training facilitates the development of association between sounds and articulatory actions using intonation and bimanual drumming activities. This intervention purportedly stimulates neural networks that may be dysfunctional in persons with ASD. </p><p> Seven nonverbal children with a primary diagnosis of ASD participated in twelve 20-minute weekly sessions consisting of engagement with 15 predetermined target words through imitation, singing, and motor activity (all components of AMMT). Assessments were made at baseline, mid-point, and post AMMT intervention sessions. These probes were used to determine the effects of AMMT on expressive language abilities of speech output. A null hypothesis was tested to determine the significance of the independent variables of singing, showing visual cues, and drumming on the speech output of nonverbal children with ASD, age five through eight years (<i>p</i> &le; .05). Additionally, effects of AMMT on children's development of social communication skills also were examined at the end of each intervention session. </p><p> Results of the study revealed no significant effect of the AMMT intervention on the speech output of elementary age children with ASD from the best baseline to probe one and probe two (<i>p</i> = .424), therefore the null hypothesis that there was no significant effect of auditory-motor mapping training (AMMT) on speech output of nonverbal elementary children with ASD was retained. Additionally, a comparison of the growth of the independent &lsquo;High Five&rsquo; gesture from session one to session twelve yielded no statistical significant results (<i>p</i> > .05). The McNemar chi-square was used to compare this secondary AMMT effect from sessions two to eleven, and revealed a positive growth trend that approached a significant outcome associated with the children's social communication responses (<i> p</i> =.063).</p><p> Although significant changes in the nonverbal children's speech output were not substantiated in this study, there were areas of growth for all children in this study that were highlighted through qualitative analysis and descriptive narratives. Confounding variables that possibly affected children's speech output and social communication development were addressed. Additionally, recommendations were made for future research involving music as a vehicle for speech development for nonverbal elementary age children with ASD.</p>

<p> Expression is a prized aspect of performance, yet it goes largely un-conceptualized and sometimes partially pursued in amateur choral endeavor. This study seeks to understand what constitutes live choral performance expression, and how it materializes. The study adopted a qualitative, phenomenological research strategy to investigate the lived experience of performers. Data were collected in individual interviews with eight conductors, focus groups with 60 choristers, and rehearsal and performance observations of seven choirs. </p><p> The findings suggest that performance is meaningful to performers and audience for reasons that are not solely musical. Thus, expression is not conceptualized as solely musical. Performers regard choral music as having inherent expressive content, but for some, reification of a work is only part of performance expression. Aural beauty is cherished, but expression is not experienced exclusively auditorily. </p><p> By &ldquo;contagion,&rdquo; performers seek to communicate affectively with their audience. To this end, some employ visual presentation to embody the expressive character perceived in musical and textual features of a work. The conceptualization of performance expression as comprising aural and visual modalities aligns with the known integration of acoustic and optic percepts in human communication of emotions, and with the relative impact of gesture, tone, and word meaning on the perceiver. </p><p> Rehearsal processes for expression and the integration of vocal technique with expression are problematic, and the efficacy of performing from memory or with the score is ambiguous. Choristers consider conductor micro-corrections at the expense of macro-overview an impediment to expression, but constructivist self-learning with video feedback is found effective. Developing expression through movement, backstory, and imagery is helpful, but acting as authentic portrayal of feeling is ambivalent. Inter-ensemble musical and social synergies influence expression, especially its visual presentation. </p><p> The study concludes that choral performance expression is for performer and audience, entity and process; personal and communal; artifact-derived and performer-created; phenomenal and noumenal; physiologically perceived and emotionally construed. Amateur choirs achieve expressive performance when they engage musical, textual, and visual presentation as inter-linked modalities; engage inclusionary leadership and chorister-centered learning; and integrate musical-social synergies as components of expression.</p>

<p> The Johann Christian Bach Viola Concerto in C minor plays a significant role in the student viola repertoire. The research presented is intended to serve as a resource to teachers who are preparing viola students for the study and performance of this work. First, historical context is given and the mysterious origin of the concerto is stated and explored. Second, the skills required before approaching the piece are outlined in addition to the benefits of the study of this work. Through this project report, students and teachers will gain a better understanding of the J.C. Bach/Casadesus Viola Concerto and why it is a vital piece in the viola repertoire.</p>

This document is an indepth examination of the compositional and intellectual bonds Benjamin Britten applied to the following operas and Canticles; Albert Herring, op.39 & Canticle I, op.40/Billy Budd, op.50 & Canticle II, op.51/The Turn of the Screw, op.54 & Canticle III, op.55/Owen Wingrave, op.85 & Canticle IV, op.86/Death in Venice, op.88 & Canticle V, op.89. The striking musical and literary similarities of these works are compared to especially provide students and teachers of Britten's music with a much needed performance guide to the Canticles. The five Canticles incorporate many of the key stylistic elements found in Britten's larger works yet are often neglected due to their sophistication of texts and music. Although titled "canticles", these chamber pieces for voice(s) and various instruments share only two common features; religious themes, and expansive musical forms. Apart from these unifying traits there is substantial variety in the choice of texts and in the development of the musical elements. Furthermore, the similar thematic nature of these opera/Canticle pairs reflects the life long personal commitment Britten maintained for the moral, social and psychological concepts they espouse.

<p> This study investigated the ways in which early middle to mid-career high school band directors (minimum of five years of experience in the field) operationalize their values for music education through the many musical experiences, artistic opportunities, and educational curricular goals for their students. This study sought to investigate deeper than the operationalization of high school band director values to investigate the values themselves and their inspiration as principally drawn by participating music educators. Participants described that their current set of values for their high school band programs are forged through a variety of influences, most notably music educator identity, and the influences, inspiration, and experience imprint made during their high school and collegiate music career. Other external factors that determine the values of a high school band director are influences of collegiate and high school music educators, and socialization within the undergraduate cohort. </p><p> Data analysis found that music educator values undergo an evolution throughout the career in the classroom, especially as the music educator becomes more certain of his own system of values and music educator personhood; and distances oneself from previous exemplar teachers whose influences cast a long shadow early in one&rsquo;s career. This study found that the values of high school band directors are established and conflict against the realities and expectations of school administration, community influences, and the norms and expectations of expected common curricular practices for high school bands in a particular region. This study found that high school band director values are under strain from internalized pressures by the band directors themselves, as well as pressures that stem from the need to have one&rsquo;s work accepted by colleagues. </p><p> This study employed qualitative methodology centered by interviews of 13 research participants. The interview methodology employed was informed by the research methods of Kvale (2007), who espouses that the participant&rsquo;s everyday world should be the focus of the researcher. Elements of case study methodology were also employed to determine emergent themes, as well as compare participant responses and high school band programs across the cohort of participants. </p>

<p> Non-traditional music ensembles have emerged in public school classrooms as part of a larger effort to facilitate informal learning in school music. In this multi-instrumental case study, twenty-two member jazz ensemble composed of 10-12th grade students embarked on an aural learning activity. In this study, I examine the teaching and learning styles that emerged from the participants to gain a better understanding of informal learning practices and how they manifest in a formal learning environment. Data collection included twenty-two student surveys and one semi-structured interview of the participating teacher. In addition, video recordings of instruction, field notes, and in class memos were composed while observing the teacher and students. All data were coded using open and axial processes. The data are divided into two sections&mdash;the teacher&rsquo;s experience which highlights teaching strategies and implementation procedures and the students&rsquo; experiences which focused on affective perception, the learning process, social/communal responses, and achievement. Findings indicate that a teacher who is implementing an aural learning activity into a large ensemble setting may adopt a different teaching style in order to create an authentic informal learning experience for the students. When authentically placing informal methods into a formal learning environment, students rely more on self- and peer-teaching, which led to heightened social and communal responses. These findings are linked to this specific aural learning activity, and future research in other settings with different activities may yield alternative results. Additional research which may include sharing of new activities, experiences and teaching strategies may benefit all teachers in blending informal and formal learning practices.</p><p>

Thesis (M.M.)--Cleveland State University, 2009. / Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Dec. 15, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 52-55). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center and also available in print.

<p> George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931) was an American composer who took the classical European style of music while seeking an American style. His early symphonies and string quartets demonstrate great knowledge of the classical forms, including the ever common sonata form. In sonata form, the tonal center of the piece traditionally modulates to the dominant before shifting back to the tonic for the return of the thematic material in the recapitulation. However, Chadwick takes a different approach within a number of his early sonata forms, notably within Symphony No. 3, String Quartet No. 2 and String Quartet No. 3. Instead of keeping the recapitulation in the original key, he adds the subdominant to the recapitulation as a means to mirror the modulation that occurs the first time the thematic material is presented. However, the strategies employed in these movements are more complex than simply replacing the tonic at the beginning of the recapitulation with the subdominant. Chadwick incorporates the subdominant in various locations within the recapitulation, including both thematic zones within the recapitulation, and even the coda in the case of a sonata-rondo form. Through analyses of each movement and comparing similar examples within Chadwick's music, this thesis discusses the strategies used to incorporate the subdominant in the recapitulation and how they reflect the modulation commonly seen in the exposition.</p>

<p> The search for interesting and rewarding repertoire is a lifelong process for the modern violist. Because of the viola's belated acceptance as a solo instrument, only the occasional solo viola piece appears in the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, giving violists special incentive to embrace new sources of repertoire, including transcriptions of works for other instruments, new works by living composers, and rediscovered works by lesser-known composers. This dissertation explores another means by which violists have contributed to the concert repertoire: composing their own music. </p><p> Music written by violists with performing careers follows in a historical tradition of player-composers, especially pianist-composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Liszt, and Sergei Rachmaninov, whose intimate knowledge of their instrument resulted in beloved works of art. In order to highlight music that stems from this intersection of performance and composition, I adopted the following criteria for a violist-composer's inclusion in the project: specialization in the viola over other instruments, including the violin; professional performance career, usually in an ensemble, on recordings, or in a teaching position; particular interest in writing for the viola within the compositional oeuvre; and chronological overlap of performance and compositional undertakings. </p><p> I crafted, prepared, and performed three recital programs of music by violist-composers, selecting works that appealed to me as a performer and represented a variety of instrumentations, styles, and genres. The chosen pieces highlight themes common to violist-composers, including improvisatory gestures, exploration of tone colors, stylistic crossover from non-classical music, pedagogical goals, technical virtuosity, and chamber music for multiple violas. Featured composers are Alessandro Rolla, L. E. Casimir Ney, Lionel Tertis, Henri Casadesus, Maurice Vieux, Paul Hindemith, Rebecca Clarke, Tibor Serly, Lillian Fuchs, Paul Walther F&uuml;rst, Atar Arad, Michael Kugel, Garth Knox, Paul Coletti, Brett Dean, Kenji Bunch, Scott Slapin, and Lev Zhurbin. </p><p> The dissertation includes live recordings of the three recitals with program notes discussing the composers and their music. A list of violist-composers, including those not featured on the recital programs, appears as an appendix, providing the basis for further exploration by violists seeking engaging new concert repertoire.</p>

<p> Wil Offermans is a flutist-composer with a holistic approach to contemporary flute pedagogy. At present day, there are very few English-language publications on Offermans; thus, in comparison to his contemporaries, the broader English-speaking flute community knows very little of the Dutch flutist-composer. The purpose of this treatise is to present Offermans's pedagogical ideas as a modern day flutist-composer so that his knowledge, creativity, and unique perspective may be made available to a larger flute population. </p><p> A brief overview of the development of contemporary flute music will set the stage for the emergence of Offermans's role in the flute world. A biographical sketch of Offermans follows, along with a discussion of his teaching philosophy and four pedagogical themes that reoccur in his teaching and methods: extended techniques, interculturalism, improvisation, and body movement. Other pedagogical applications associated with these themes are discussed in addition. Finally, the concept of holism in education is explored using Offermans as an example of a holistic pedagogue.</p>