<p> Though primarily associated with white Southerners, bluegrass music is actually the product of over three hundred years of black and white musical interaction that occurred in the American Southeast. This document begins by reviewing the first complete definition of bluegrass music written by Mayne Smith. It then proceeds to explore the history of cross cultural exchanges in the South, particularly in the Appalachian Mountains, that began when the first slaves were brought to the New World. In the South, these interactions created the folk music that would eventually develop into country music and later bluegrass in the twentieth century. Black musical styles also directly influenced the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, especially through his contact with the blues musician Arnold Shultz. The banjo playing of Earl Scruggs, an essential element of bluegrass, also owes a significant debt to African-American banjo styles found in Scruggs's native region of North Carolina.</p>

<p> This project report analyzes the content of line construction and development in founding bebop instrumental solos, and then compares them to bebop vocal solos. Performers examined include Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, and Chet Baker. Attention will be paid to harmonic content, vocal technique, syllable selection, and consideration given to language synthesis principals. This paper is intended as an impetus for further study of method improvements for developing vocalists' line construction through the study and incorporation of bebop-era instrumental transcriptions.</p>

Thesis (PH.D.)--Syracuse University, 2003. / "Publication number AAT 3113240." Includes bibliographical references (p. 468-507).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-93).

Music printing in the United States between 1825 and 1900 was in a constant state of change as older techniques improved and new processes were invented. Beginning with techniques and traditions that had originated in Europe, music printers in America were challenged by the continuous problem of efficiently and economically creating ways of transferring a music image to the printed page. This study examines the music printing techniques, equipment, and presses of the period, as well as the progression from music type to engraved plate and lithograph stone. A study of the techniques of altering music printing plates helps explain the differences occurring in prints from the same edition and will help further our understanding of this important aspect of music historiography.

Why is it that "Steal Away" is better known than "Jesus on the Waterside?" This question can only be answered by examining the history of how Spirituals were brought to the attention of audiences beyond the plantation. Negro Spirituals began as a folk music tradition and were later developed into concert music for performance. Along the way, this genre was described, notated, catalogued, studied, and arranged by individuals from various ideological perspectives, which led to the following questions and debates: 1. Can African Americans produce beautiful music? 2. Why do African Americans sing? 3. Are African Americans content to await freedom in Heaven? 4. Are the Spirituals original compositions or imitations of European music? 5. Are the Spirituals a source of dignity or shame? 6. What can contemporary society learn from the message of the Spirituals? 7. How should the Spirituals be performed? The debates that most directly affected the canon of Spirituals are the final three questions, which originated among African Americans after emancipation and were especially influential at freedmen schools in the South, where the tradition of singing Spirituals as concert music was established.

Society’s progression through the digital streaming age has created a music licensing landscape of grave concern to all stakeholders in the industry. These drastic changes have occurred under an outdated legal framework. This paper will recommend a comprehensive reform to our copyright law to uphold the intentions of copyright in the modern, digital age of today. By looking at the history of copyright and its evolution, one can assess how Congress has been tasked with establishing a fair market value for music by promoting the public interest and fairly compensating copyright owners. This will lead to an evaluation and comparison of those methods used to determine fair market value for creative works that will be the basis of the recommendation used to modernize copyright law. This recommendation will comprehensively provide for equitable treatment for all parties in the streaming age through its totality, additional reforms, and alternative ideas. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection