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Hearing Vvices is a four-movement instrumental work for clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The title is a reference to both the formal structure and surface features of the music. Structurally, the piece resembles a rhetorical struggle between two distinct musical personalities: the serious and the light. In each movement and across movements, this juxtaposition is evident through sudden changes in tempo, mood, and musical character. In terms of surface features, the trajectory of the piece is best described as the eventual emergence of melody from a dense web of counterpoint and rhythm where, over the course of the movements, small melodic fragments are presented and quickly swallowed up by the surrounding texture. This changes in the final movement, where three of the four instruments join in a soaring melody over a troubled accompaniment, thus illustrating the apotheosis of the preceding musical struggle. / text

This document examines the life and string pedagogical contributions of German-American violinist, composer, and pedagogue Julius Eichberg (1824-1893). Biographical information about Eichberg is presented to demonstrate his expertise in the areas of education and performance, as well as to provide some context for his compositions. As little has been written about Eichberg and his contributions to music and music education, much of the information gathered about his life and musical background was found in primary sources in the form of scrapbooks compiled by Eichberg and his daughter. These scrapbooks are housed in the Special Collections at the Boston Public Library. Three of Eichberg's intermediate-level chamber works were selected for the dual purposes of examining their pedagogical worth and editing and clarifying the fingerings and bowings for use by current string students. The American String Teachers' Association Certificate Advancement Program guidelines and the Christina Placilla/Kenneth Law String Quartet grading guidelines were used in conjunction with one another to determine the appropriate placement of the three selected Eichberg works in the extant chamber repertoire. The document includes both facsimiles of the original works transferred from microfilm and the newly edited parts.

Ribbons of Visible Air is a work of about twenty minutes duration for soprano saxophone, violin, cello, piano, one percussion, and live digital sound processing. Though the work unfolds as one continuous movement, it is conceived as being in several sections, each lasting from approximately one to four minutes. The primary ideas behind the form of Ribbons of Visible Air originate in the concerto principle (with the saxophone in the role of soloist) and variation technique; these ideas influence not only the large-scale form, but also the organization of material in respect to the different instruments and the relationship of the ensemble as a whole to the electronic processing. This composition explores a number of harmonic techniques related to the harmonic series, as well as the rhythmic possibilities inherent in multiple levels of pulsation. Of particular relevance to this work is the incorporation of extended techniques of the soprano saxophone, especially the alteration of pitch and timbre through unorthodox fingering patterns.

In its short history, Talent Education, also known as the Suzuki Method, has had a profound impact on the teaching of music to the young. However, despite continued guidance from its founder, Shinichi Suzuki, misconceptions about the method persist among both its practitioners and critics. One route to understanding of pedagogical theory is to look at its origins. To that end, this thesis makes a study of history of the method and its founder, drawing on available sources. Further investigation is carried out on the philosophy and teaching techniques. An exploration is then undertaken of the possible antecedents of Suzuki's method taking into account the prevailing ideas and practices of his cultural environment as they relate to the history, philosophy and teaching techniques of Talent Education. Findings indicate that, while Suzuki's method is clearly appropriate to contemporary society, it represents, in many of its aspects, a continuation of several beliefs and practices of traditional Japanese arts.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

Der sächsische Premierminister Graf von Brühl gründete 1735 in Warschau eine eigene Hofkapelle. Brühl engagierte 1735 zunächst sechs Musiker, unter ihnen den Kapellmeister Gottlob Harrer sowie den Cembalisten Georg Gebel, den Cellisten Müller und den Lautenisten Johann Kropffgans, alle aus Breslau. Die Brühlsche Kapelle wuchs bis 1746 auf 15 und bis 1765 gar auf 24 Mitglieder an. Da sich der Hof zwischen Dezember 1734 und August 1736 sowie dann ab 1738 aller zwei Jahre zu den polnischen Reichstagen immer mehrere Monate in Warschau aufhielt, wurden die Musiker der Brühlschen Kapelle auch an die »Kleine Polnische Capelle« ausgeliehen, wie überhaupt die Grenzziehungen zwischen beiden Orchestern nicht streng waren. Während der Aufenthalte in Sachsen waren die Musiker auf den Brühlschen Schlössern, besonders in Pförten in der Niederlausitz, tätig. Mit 26 Jahren wurde Georg Gebel als Komponist und Cembalist Mitglied der privaten Kammermusik des Grafen Brühl. Anlass und Interpreten der vorliegenden Triosonate sind nicht bekannt. Die Vermeidung von leiterfremden Tönen und die idiomatische Schreibweise deuten auf die Verwendung einer einreihigen Harfe hin. Da bisher jedoch kein Dresdner Instrumentalist nachgewiesen werden konnte, der eine solche Harfe spielte, könnte Gebel das vorliegende Werk auch für eine Liebhaberin oder einen Liebhaber des Instruments komponiert haben, um es in einem Salon in einem der Brühlschen Schlösser zum Klingen zu bringen.

Johann Gottlieb Naumann ist einer der wenigen Hofkapellmeister am kurfürstlich-sächsischen Hof, der auch aus Dresden stammt. Er wurde am 17. April 1741 in Blasewitz bei Dresden geboren. Nach einer entbehrungsreichen Jugend und frühzeitigen musikalischen Ausbildung in Italien übertrug die hochmusikalische Kurfürsten-Witwe Maria Antonia Walpurgis bereits dem 23jährigen Naumann das verantwortungsvolle Amt als Kirchen-Compositeur in einer desolaten Lage der musikalischen höfischen Kultur. Naumann hat den Text – die Arie des Arpago aus Metastasios »Ciro riconosciuto«, Wien 1736 – nochmals vertont. So sind mehrere Abschriften eines Duettes für zwei Soprane und Basso continuo in Venedig und Padua überliefert. Eine Datierung des Werkes ist ungewiss, es gibt aber zwei indirekte Hinweise auf eine mögliche Entstehungszeit. 1778 erschien die Canzonette »Ecco quel fiero istante« nach Metastasio für zwei Violinen, Sopran und Basso1, neben dem vorliegenden Werk die einzige Canzonette mit Begleitung mehrere Instrumente. Weitere Gesänge auf italienische Texte für Solostimme und ausschließlicher Klavierbegleitung gehen auf das Jahr 1769 zurück. Naumann war mit Johann Adolf Faustinus Weiss, dem Sohn von Silvius Leopold Weiss, befreundet, der seit 1763 bis zu seinem Tod 1814 als Kammerlautenist an der Dresdner Hofkapelle verpflichtet war. Er kann als Interpret infrage kommen.

D.M.A. final project--Department of Music, Stanford University, 2002. / For solo violin (1st mvmt.), 12 singers with 4-channel tape (2nd mvmt.), and solo bass with live electronics (3rd mvmt.). Words also printed as texts in pref. Includes performance notes and abstract. Sound disc contains 2-channel tape accompaniment for 2nd mvmt.

D.M.A. final project--Department of Music, Stanford University, 2003. / Pref. includes abstract and performance instructions. "Weave, for string trio, is formed of three solo pieces: Weft for violin solo, Shuttle for viola solo, and Warp for cello solo, each composed using a common structural and metrical grid, so that they may be performed simultaneously"--Leaf iv.