This thesis proposes a methodology for understanding the form of a Baroque prelude, particularly the preludes to the Six Suites for Unaccompanied Violoncello written by Johann Sebastian Bach. Four musical dimensions, tonal structure, motive, texture, and the potential implications of a piece’s genre, parse the preludes in different ways. As the features of these musical dimensions undergo either an evolution or a dramatic change over the course of each prelude, they each suggest a different form. Points of change in each dimension delineate segments in the music. When aligned, these changes create significant formal junctures and suggest an overall form for the movement. Analysis of the interplay among the musical dimensions clarifies the form of each piece and suggests formal norms for the prelude as a genre.

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Foreword to Aria Da Capo The libretto of the opera is a verbatim setting of Edna St. Vincent Millay's one act play "Aria da Capo." World events, especially World War II and the current Korean War influenced the choice of this timely, yet timeless play. Miss Millay's death occurred during the composition of the opera. She never knew, therefore, of the composition or performance of her play as an opera. The form of the opera is that of the "da capo" aria. he form, of course, was determined by the play which ends exactly as it started. Thematic material consists mainly of two themes: the opening theme or Scene I (Pierrot and Columbine's scene) and the opening theme of Scene II (the Shepherd's scene). All of the significant motivic material used in Scene I is derived from the opening theme of that scene. In the shepherd's scene, material derived from both of the above mentioned themes is used. The musical style of the two scenes is intentionally contrasting. In Pierrot and Columbine's scene an attempt was made to express their characters by means of a pseudo-popular music style which is rhythmic and lively but has no real depth of emotional feeling. In the shepherd's scene an attempt was made to express their changing characters by means of a very simple style eventually evolving into a more complex style. In order to make the score more easily understood all the orchestrated parts are written in concert. For the same reason all directions to the musicians are given in English instead of the usual Italian. The opera was produced under the direction of Dr. Lucas Underwood. Thomas Haynes, musical assistant to Dr. Underwood, deserves special recognition, not only for his excellent job of conducting the opera, but also for designing the set and staging the opera and for his untiring efforts in rehearsing the cast and the orchestra.

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The great novelist and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832) arguably made his most significant contribution to the artistic world with his literary masterpiece Faust I. Goethe’s love of music and melody is evident throughout all of Faust, particularly in the expressive poetry of the character of Gretchen, whose meaningful words gave inspiration to a variety of musical manifestations, especially in German Lied. This document serves as a performance guide for vocalists. It provides vital information on the setting and arrangement of the poetry within the musical settings, the background and significance of the composer and his works, and the organization of the music. The examination of each piece will involve assessment of musical phrasing, tessitura, and overall vocal complexity in eight German Lieder settings of Gretchen’s soliloquy “Ach neige, du Schmerzenreiche” from Goethe’s Faust. The suggestions within the investigations are based on examination of pedagogical practices as well as personal experience and discoveries made while singing and performing these pieces. Through an investigation of each piece, the singer will be able to attain a successful understanding of the framework and approach to the music and poetry, and thereby achieve awareness of accurate performance practice. This document examines in order of composition, the settings by Bettina von Arnim, Franz Schubert (including the completed fragment as arranged by Benjamin Britten), Conrad Kreutzer, Bernhard Klein, Johann Loewe, Robert Schumann, Hugo Wolf, and Fredric Joseph Kroll. Because this document serves to investigate only German Lieder settings, it will not examine the choral works of Hans Pfitzner, Antoni Radziwill, Julius Röntgen, Giuseppe Verdi’s Italian setting “Deh, pietoso, oh Addolorata,” nor Richard Wagner’s Melodram. This document will also very briefly discuss the lost and inaccessible settings of Gretchen’s prayer, including those of Carl Debrois van Bruyck, Edmund von Freyhold, Moritz Hauptmann, Justus Lecerf, Leopold Lenz, Louis Schlottmann, and Hans Sommer.

Researchers in the field of composition studies have frequently made allusions to musicians when they’ve discussed the role of practice in gaining skill. In doing so, however, they’ve risked making speculative rather than testable claims and separating composition studies from recent insights on practice from other disciplines such as education and music psychology. These fields, I argue, offer testable frameworks with which composition instructors and scholars can teach and study writing practice. Such frameworks are necessary because composition researchers need to supplement qualitative studies of writers and writing with quantitative data to generate replicable tests of teaching methods that may benefit practicing writers. This thesis draws on prior research in composition studies to illustrate the context of its central argument. It then breaks down some of the key assertions about practice that support this context before introducing frameworks from other disciplines that will allow composition researchers to replicate studies of effective writing practice instruction in the first-year college writing classroom. These frameworks or models of practice instruction include self-regulated strategy development and practice sessions conceived as stages of error and mistake management. Supplementing these models are descriptions of a few key activities built on these frameworks for students to practice writing in and outside the classroom. Students need more than instruction in crafting better writing products to become more effective revisers and more expert writers. They also need explicit instruction that teaches them how to engage effectively in repeated, structured practice that imparts the tools they learn to solve writing problems with staying power and flexibility. This instruction is about more than handy tips or exercises; it’s about changing students’ and teachers’ assumptions about writing’s purpose outside the classroom.

Many collegiate saxophone performance degree programs are overwhelmingly classical, adopting from other performance programs in the Western music tradition. However, there is a growing number of saxophone compositions that are “crossover” in nature. Crossover is a term used to describe the fusion of popular music styles in a classical setting. There is also evidence that collegiate music education as a whole is moving towards a more diverse curriculum, which emphasizes ethnomusicology. Due to this trend in composition and education, it is becoming increasingly important that saxophonists have the training of both classical and jazz disciplines. The problem is that while many colleges have saxophone majors, there is a strong divide between classical and jazz education. This leaves students in a Bachelor of Music in Saxophone Performance degree track without the ability to accurately perform crossover music or have the opportunity to perform jazz and other genres of music. The purpose of this study is to develop a crossover degree in saxophone performance by highlighting aspects of crossover saxophone repertoire and reviewing current university degree catalogs. The research in this study is meant to diagnose omissions in performance degree programs as far as crossover development and to create a new degree track for saxophonists in an effort to promote diverse performance ability.

Studien syftar till att undersöka fiollärares upplevelse av fiolelevers motivation samt hur olika former av motivation determinerar motivation till att öva mer och att fortsätta spela. Detta görs med forskningsfrågorna: Hur upplever fiollärare att de befrämjar elevernas motivation att öva fiol? Hur anser fiollärare få sina elever motiverade att vilja fortsätta spela fiol? Studiens teoretiska utgångspunkt är Self determination theory och dess syn på motivation och övning. Den forskningsmetod som används är semistrukturerad intervju och det är tre fiollärare som intervjuats. Intervjuerna har transkriberats och bearbetats med tematisk analys. Hur informanterna erfar motivation och deras arbetssätt har belysts och sedan ställts bredvid varandra och jämförts. Studiens resultat utgörs av de svar som informanterna gett. Resultatet är uppdelat i tre huvudteman: Lärarens möte med eleven, Lärarens syn på sin roll att stimulera elever att öva och Miljöns betydelse för elevens motivation. I det avslutande kapitlet i studien diskuteras resultatets teman i relation till studiens tidigare forskning, vetenskapliga utgångspunkt och teoretiska perspektiv. / The aim of the study is to explore and compare the ways in which violin pupils experience motivation and how different forms of motivation determinates motivation to practice and to continue playing the violin. The study has two research questions: How do violin teachers experience that they promote student´s motivation to practice violin? How do violin teachers think their students are motivated to continue playing the violin? The theoretical foundation is Self Determination Theory concerning motivation and practicing. The research method is semistructured interviews and three violin teachers have been interviewed. The interviews were transcribed and processed using thematic analysis and the results presents the phenomenon of motivation. The results are divided into three themes: The teachers encounter with the pupil, The teachers view of how to stimulate pupils to practice and The environments effect on the motivation of the pupil. The result is discussed in relation to former research and the theoretical perspectives of the study in the final chapter of the study.

The purpose of this study is to make an attempt to apply in the elementary grades of the public schools the principle of shaped notes with the purpose of fostering sight reading.

World War I (1914-1918) brought with it unimaginable disaster and destruction, reshaping the world and its culture forever. Out of the ashes of this unparalleled conflict came numerous triumphs of art, fueled by the surrounding conditions and personal expressions of their artists. English composer, Dr. Cyril Bradley Rootham (1875-1938) set a powerful and haunting poem from the poet Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) titled "For the Fallen” from a larger collection of his poetry called The Winnowing Fan. The poem was published in The Times on September 21, 1914, just seven weeks after the war began. This monograph seeks to bring to light this glorious and overlooked choral/orchestral work at a time of a centennial anniversary for World War I, bringing even more relevance to the subject matter. Another focus of this document is to highlight the musical accessibility of this work and provide resources that function as a platform for performance. A brief background of the composition, the poem, and the poet will assist in giving context to the setting. This document will also cover specific details regarding musical analysis, textual interpretations, and performance practice concepts.