The Eastman Wind Ensemble is known as the pioneer ensemble of modern wind music in North America and abroad. Its founder and conductor, Frederick Fennell, was instrumental in facilitating the creation and performance of a large number of new works written for the specific instrumentation of the wind ensemble. Created in 1952, the EWE developed a new one-to-a-part instrumentation that could be varied based on the wishes of the composer. This change in instrumentation allowed for many more compositional choices when composing. The instrumentation was a dramatic shift from the densely populated ensembles that were standard in North America by 1952. The information on the EWE and Fennell is available at the Eastman School of Music’s Ruth Watanabe Archive. By comparing the repertory and instrumentation of the Eastman ensembles with other contemporary ensembles, Fennell’s revolutionary ideas are shown to be unique in the wind music community.

The brass band and wind band had similar repertoires in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with marches, dances, solos, and transcriptions written prominently for both ensembles. The repertoires diverged at the beginning of the twentieth century as brass band contests commissioned new and original works and international composers began writing serious works for wind band. In the 1970s, British composer Philip Sparke succeeded in writing music for both ensembles and subsequently began to create a shared repertoire, and other composers started contributing to this repertoire. As this repertoire has proliferated, much of it has become worthy of serious study. The purpose of the current study is to find shared scoring tendencies between three transcriptions: one written by the original composer; a second transcribed by a different composer; and a third transcribed by both the original composer and a different composer. The works selected were The Year of the Dragon by Philip Sparke (transcribed by the composer), Variations for Brass Band by Ralph Vaughan Williams (transcribed by Donald Hunsberger), and Call of the Cossacks by Peter Graham (transcribed by the composer and Mick Dowrick). There were several effective instrumentation choices the works shared, including woodwind prominence in solo and lyrical passages, double reeds substituting for small brass ensembles, and high woodwinds written one or more octaves above the original. Adapting these choices, the author created a transcription of Gypsy Dream, the second movement of Call of the Cossacks. Further, these commonalities can serve as guidelines for other transcribers to arrange brass band works for wind band and expand this shared repertoire.

In this study, I explore how school band organizational culture produces gender roles and stereotypes within a percussion section. While previous research (Abeles, 2009) records percussion as predominantly male demographically and in popular perception, such research limits itself to battery percussion, largely excluding mallet percussion. Additionally, researchers have not addressed how existing gender stereotypes influence percussionists or how such stereotypes propagate. This research, a case study, supplements existing findings by qualitatively assessing how students and directors perceive gender stereotypes’ influence the organization, and how stereotypes emerge. By using multiple data sources, I illuminate various understructures (Acker, 1990) that help enforce gender roles and stereotypes observed and described by participants. Understructures represent the unintended impact of aspects of organizational culture. The exploration of understructures helps to explain how gender patterns in percussion sections continue despite the wishes of directors and students alike. Data analysis revealed percussion as divided into two “zones:” mallet and battery percussion, wherein females predominantly play mallets. Participants associated two different skill sets with the zones. Data revealed that experiences in middle school, family tradition, and other factors directly affected what zones students occupied and what skills they had obtained. The most valued musical skills reflected masculinized ideals of marching band and battery percussion. I concluded that understructures influenced percussion students by tacitly predetermining their placement in one of two instrument-based zones. These zones embodied a hierarchized system that privileged masculine-typed battery/marching instruments. I theorized that dividing percussion into gendered zones negatively influenced the musical and academic prospects of all students. / 2019-10-23T00:00:00Z

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank C. Tracz / This document was submitted to the Graduate School of Kansas State University in partial fulfillment for the Master’s in Music degree. It contains theoretical, historical, and rehearsal analyses for the Graduate Conducting Recital of Edward Garret Stein. The recital was performed by members of the Kansas State University Symphony Band in McCain Auditorium on Wednesday, March 13, 2007. The concert was intended to be an exploration of three important and diverse chamber works for winds. Selections included Pantomime by Pierre Mercure, Tafelmusik by Godfrey Ridout, and From Chaos to the Birth of a Dancing Star by Allan Gordon Bell. Employed in this report are the analytical methods based on the Blocher/Miles Unit Study from the Teaching Music through Performance in Band series as well as the Tracz concept of macro-micro score analysis.

Master of Music / Department of Music / Frank C. Tracz / The following document is research and analysis from the comprehensive examination question based on the Graduate Conducting Recital of Chris R. VanGilder. The recital, performed by the Arkansas City High School Concert Band, was given in two parts at the Arkansas City High School Auditorium. Part one, presenting the two pieces They Led My Lord Away as arranged by Fred J. Allen and English Folk Song Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams was given on April 12th, 2007 at 7:00pm. Part two, presenting the four pieces Variation Overture by Clifton Williams, Dance of the Rose Maidens as arranged by James Truscello, Prelude and Rondo by David Holsinger and Valdres Marsj as arranged by Loras J. Schissel was given on May 15th, 2007 at 7:00pm. The document contains theoretical and historical analysis, and outlines the procedures of planning and performing the graduate conducting recital.

THE APPENDICES TO THIS THESIS ARE NOT AVAILABLE An intrinsic component of South Africa's cultural and colonial heritage resides in the country's deep-rooted tradition of professional musical units known as "service bands": military or concert bands which are an adjunct to the various arms of service of the national defence force and police services. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the demographics of these bands are as varied as those of the country itself. Yet there is a common factor shared by all service bands, whatever their sociological composition: the need to perform at what is perceived to be a professional musical level in the public eye (and ear). This requires a relatively consistent level of instrumental competency from band members, and to this end a number of evaluation systems have been implemented – and supplanted – since the late 1940s. The purpose of these evaluations is not only an endeavour to maintain acceptable standards of musical performance, but to conveniently categorise band members into four fundamental levels of instrumental proficiency for purposes of salary and, to a lesser degree, rank. Without exception, the previous systems of evaluation were deficient in one aspect or another. More specifically, they were found in the last decade to be lacking both in terms of musical consistency and, since 1994, in the ability to equitably accommodate members of the former "homelands" bands, whose previous training and experience were in the majority of cases confined to the rote learning of band parts, with an almost total lack of formal music training. In a manner that aims to be at once discursive and narrative, this thesis describes the quest for and the realisation of an equitable process of musical evaluation for South African service band members. It documents the actions taken to address the challenges inherent in that quest, the empirical research that provided a tenable answer, and describes the essentially practical stance adopted by the participating musicians and compilers. The processes leading to the new evaluation syllabus are described in some detail, and a number of specific and practical recommendations are proposed for the further amelioration of South African service bands' modus operandi. / Thesis (DMus)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Music / unrestricted

The Eastman Wind Ensemble is known as the pioneer ensemble of modern wind music in North America and abroad. Its founder and conductor, Frederick Fennell, was instrumental in facilitating the creation and performance of a large number of new works written for the specific instrumentation of the wind ensemble. Created in 1952, the EWE developed a new one-to-a-part instrumentation that could be varied based on the wishes of the composer. This change in instrumentation allowed for many more compositional choices when composing. The instrumentation was a dramatic shift from the densely populated ensembles that were standard in North America by 1952. The information on the EWE and Fennell is available at the Eastman School of Music’s Ruth Watanabe Archive. By comparing the repertory and instrumentation of the Eastman ensembles with other contemporary ensembles, Fennell’s revolutionary ideas are shown to be unique in the wind music community.

Wind bands have been recording for over one hundred years. Through advancements in both technology and process, recordings have made a monumental impact on the wind band and its repertoire. These advancements have created clarity regarding the performance practice of pieces and helped to preserve the wind band repertoire. Many early works have gained masterwork status due, in large part, to the fact that recordings have preserved them. The increase in popularity of recording and, in particular, the wind band, warrants an investigation into the various aspects of the process. Additionally, gaining insight from wind band professionals who record will help to evaluate the contributions that recording has made to the education of performers and listeners, the preservation of repertoire and the artistic enhancement of the wind band. Each chapter explores aspects of the recording process and how those aspects have shaped the wind band, its repertoire and performance practice. Information from conductors, composers and engineers provide valuable insight pertaining to the educational, historical and artistic components of the recording process. The goal of all involved in the recording process should be the pursuit of technical perfection, which does not eclipse the ultimate musical goals of the project and the integrity of the composer's intentions.

abstract: The number of compositions that use electronics alongside the wind ensemble has gradually increased in the 21st century, yet these compositions are infrequently programmed past their premieres. Explanations include lack of access to necessary resources, unfamiliarity with the repertoire, and inexperience with the technology they require. While there are other barriers to performance, this document focuses on familiarizing the repertoire and providing foundational knowledge necessary to overcome inexperience. As the number of technology-native composers, audience members, and performers continues to increase, electronics in the ensemble are likely to become more standard. Without knowledge of the technology electronics require, these works will remain inaccessible. Composers attempt to bridge the technological knowledge gap by providing technical instructions for individual pieces, but this does not help people recognize the broader concepts that make all of these works more accessible. This document guides ensemble directors and performers to an understanding of these base concepts by developing a grading system for technology difficulty, assessing pedagogical and performance issues, and providing an annotated list of works currently available for electronics and winds. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2020

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