Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Boston University, 1950. N.B.:Pages missing : 8, 59, 178, 179, 180, 181. Only one copy was available.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Teachers College, Columbia University. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: Jack Sacher. Dissertation Committee: Hal Abeles. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 224-243).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota, 1977. / Typescript (Photocopy). Ann Arbor, Mich. : University Microfilms International, 1977 -- 21 cm. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 365-370).

abstract: William Levi Dawson (1899-1990), director of the Tuskegee Institute Choir from 1931 to 1956, was one of the most important arrangers of Negro spirituals in the twentieth century. He is also remembered as an outstanding composer, conductor, speaker, and leader of festival choruses. His arrangements are still sung by choirs all over the world. Save a small number of dissertations and various articles, however, very little has been written about him. In fact, almost no significant writing has been undertaken utilizing the Dawson papers held at the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Books Library at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. This study utilizes that collection in examining four areas of Dawson's life: his work as a composer, his work as an arranger of Negro spirituals, his work as a choral conductor and music pedagogue, and his life as an African American man living in segregated times. Dawson is shown as a thoughtful, deliberate practitioner of his art who built his career with intention, and who, through his various activities, sought both to affirm the traditional music of his people and to transcend his era's problems with the definitions, associations, and prejudices attached to the term "race." Using a diverse selection of letters, notes, and speeches held in the archive, it is possible to develop a fuller, more nuanced portrait of Dawson. Through a thorough examination of a select few of these documents, his growth can be traced from a young composer living in Chicago, to a college choral director dealing with the realities of racial inequality in the mid-twentieth century, to a seasoned, respected elder in his field, endeavoring to pass on to others knowledge of the music he spent his life arranging and teaching. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2013

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California. / Bibliography: l. 139-149.

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.

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).

Thesis (M. Div.)--Emmanuel School of Religion, Johnson City, Tennessee, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74).