School of Music

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Of fire and rain.
(2006-09-28T21:34:35Z) Murphy, Joanna.; McAllister, Scott.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Of Fire and Rain is an eleven-minute work for full orchestra. Through its musical materials it explores the idea of two contrasting elements, fire and water, as symbols. Conflict, balance, suffering, and healing are among the themes underlying this pairing, and the piece addresses these ideas both structurally and in the materials themselves. The piece is composed of five major sections. The first is a slow introduction which provides much of the motivic and harmonic material for the rest of the piece. The second section contains material expressing the idea of fire. This music is fast, accented, rhythmic, and dissonant, building to a large climax. Following is a section representing water, or rain. Its material is slow, sustained, consonant, and harmonically static. More fire material comes next and it builds to the largest climax of the piece. The work ends with a condensed statement of the water music, fading into the trio of swelling ocean drums which conclude the piece.
Scenes From the City
(2006-12-05T22:36:36Z) Allen, Seth; McAllister, Scott.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Scenes From The City is a one-movement orchestral work approximately ten and a half minutes in duration. The work was inspired by a weekend trip to New York City in January of 2005. It is a programmatic piece, with obvious attempts to paint an aural picture of different Scenes, experiences, locations, moods, and sounds from one weekend in New York City. The piece is written as an overture and employs rounded binary form (ABA). The order of Scenes represented in the piece is: riding a train into Penn Station, seeing the size of the buildings, Ground Zero, leaving Ground Zero, and finally, leaving the city.
Paul Simon's Graceland and its social and political statements on apartheid in South Africa.
(2007-01-11T22:37:46Z) Greer, Jonathan David.; Boyd, Jean Ann.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Paul Simon's Graceland album is one of the most controversial rock-and-roll albums in history because of its strong connection with South Africa during the apartheid. Simon's interest in South African music led him to record the album, which became a collaboration between South African popular music and American rock-and-roll music. Through the album, Simon makes a social statement, but because of the political issues within South Africa during the release of Graceland, many believe the album also makes a political statement. Graceland not only makes the strong social statement Simon intended, but also provides an important political statement on apartheid in South Africa.
Reworking of musical material and the reinterpretation of musical drama: Luciano Berio's Sequenza X (1984) and Kol Od [Chemins VI] (1996).
(2007-02-14T21:46:31Z) Harbuziuk, David.; Bennighof, James M.; McKinney, Timothy R., 1956-; Lai, Eric C.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Luciano Berio wrote a series of pieces entitled Chemins for soloist and ensemble. Each chemins contains one entire solo line from one of his sequenzas for solo instruments. Numerous similarities and differences between Sequenza X and Kol Od [Chemins VI] cause the "musical drama" present in the sequenza to be variously preserved or altered in the chemins.
Comparative repression: examples of musical repression by Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.
(2007-02-14T21:50:05Z) Maine, Rachel J.; Boyd, Jean Ann.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
This thesis examines acts of musical repression conducted in Germany, Russia, and China under the governments of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. These countries and their repressive periods are compared in several different ways: the historical condition of these countries immediately prior to the repressive periods, the political philosophies of the leaders, the repressive methodology, and various examples of accepted and rejected music. Also, this study limits itself to a particular time span for each country. The evidence from Germany comes from the Nazi period (1933-1945), the repressive period in Russia is limited to "The Great Terror" (1935-1941), and the period in China focuses on the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Musically, examples are selected to represent accepted and rejected music, and many of the pieces are compoitsion that either began as political works or provoked strong political responses. The overall goal of such a comparison is the formation of a viewpoint that sees all of this music in its larger context, as music of repressions, and in its individual context, as music from each specific culture.
Functions of film music and sound within a genre: the revenge western.
(2007-02-14T21:53:22Z) Timmons, Lena G.; Boyd, Jean Ann.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
The music of two scenes from four revenge westerns made between 1956 and 2001 is analyzed for generic similarities possibly shared between the films. The thesis looks at how four directors and composers set similar dramatic moments to music and how each film treats elements of sound during these moments. Though the plots shared by these films are similar their usage of music and sound at two shared moments (a tragic offense and the moment of revenge or rescue) is remarkably different. The flexibility of the genre itself is discussed as well as unique aspects of each film's director and composer. Despite the differences, each film displays adherence to and detraction from principles of film music set forth by the Classical Hollywood Cinema prevalent between the 1930s and 1950s.
!MPACT.
(2008-06-10T21:27:49Z) Johansen, Ben.; McAllister, Scott.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
!MPACT is an eighteen-minute percussion concerto for solo percussion, saxophone quartet, brass quartet, and string quartet. The original composition, written by Ben Johansen, was commissioned by Todd Meehan, Director of Percussion Studies at the Baylor University School of Music. The work is a collage, and at times a barrage, of inspired ideas that demand constant attention from the listener. In order to make the piece approachable and understandable, it has been structured and organized by the arch form (ABCBA). The premiere of !MPACT was performed by Baylor University musicians and conducted by Colin McKenzie, Assistant Director of Bands at Baylor University.
A discussion of the choral music of Samuel Barber.
(2008-08-25T16:25:35Z) Berg, Michael W.; Boyd, Jean Ann.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Within the world of music history, choral music seems to drop off of the map with the end of the Baroque era, and only a handful of major works, such as masses and oratorios, are typically studied in an academic setting. As a result, many exquisite pieces are often largely neglected in many music history courses and textbooks, and it is my firm belief that such a neglect is to our detriment. With that in mind, I have undertaken a study of the published choral music of Samuel Barber (1910-1981). In this thesis, I undertake a study of Barber’s music by observing stylistic techniques in his choral music, particularly those techniques that remain consistent throughout his choral works.
The blending of African-American and European aesthetics in the guitar performance of British blues from 1965 to 1967.
(2010-02-02T19:55:50Z) Kelly, Patrick T. (Patrick Thomas), 1965-; Boyd, Jean Ann.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
British blues guitarists emerging in the mid-1960s incorporated a musical vocabulary which borrowed heavily from recordings of the modern blues' African-American, postwar originators. Crucial differences in the way the British interpreted this material in their own recorded performances are reflective of deeply embedded aesthetics unique to their European musical heritage and cultural experience. Through the detailed analysis of transcribed performances by British guitarists in comparison to performances by the African-American guitarists they sought to emulate, the syntactical elements of these differences are observable. Using this comparative methodology, this study gathers evidence of the blending of European and African-American aesthetics in sample British blues guitar performances from 1965 to 1967. Placing this musical evidence into context amid the cultural and ideological currents affecting Great Britain during the mid-1960s offers insight to the societal and philosophical forces shaping this influential strand of blues development.
Spark for wind ensemble.
(2010-06-23T12:16:24Z) Barrett, Jonathan Winter.; McAllister, Scott.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Spark for Wind Ensemble is an attempt to compose an accessible and exciting piece of concert music for the wind ensemble that possesses a depth and richness rarely achieved within the medium’s repertoire. The idea of a spark is expressed in various ways throughout the music, such as: electrical sparks and the starting of an engine, information travelling around the world at the speed of light, the energy within living things and the Universe, and a realization of personal truth and the nature of human existence. The piece carries many messages pertaining to the wonders and dangers associated with technology and the power it grants Humanity.
Memory, identity, and farce in carnival mirrors : a director's approach to David Lindsay-Abaire's "Fuddy Meers".
(2010-06-23T12:18:59Z) Buck, Daniel Andrew.; Toten Beard, Deanna M., 1969-; Theatre Arts.; Baylor University. Dept. of Theatre Arts.
American playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s central subject of interest is a world turned upside down by hardship and pain. Although commonly labeled a dark farce, Lindsay-Abaire’s 1999 play, Fuddy Meers, is haunted by the spirit of medieval folk festivals in its grotesque imagery and subversive laughter. This thesis offers an examination of the social function of laughter in Fuddy Meers and its generic influences. The study details the biography of the playwright, examines his body of work, and offers a complete analysis of the play. It also follows the production process of the Baylor University Theater 2009 staging of the play from conception to performance.
Musical process and the structuring of riffs in Metallica.
(2010-06-23T12:26:00Z) Van Valkenburg, Aaron.; McKinney, Timothy R., 1956-; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
This study focuses on the 1980s thrash metal music of Metallica. It analyzes the harmonic and melodic nature of Metallica's riffs and examines how musical processes help shape the formal structures of these riffs. Drawing upon Robert Hopkins's and Wallace Berry's ideas of progression, recession, and stasis as fundamental musical processes, this study explores how certain musical elements define these processes both individually and in combination within this repertoire. The study culminates in the analysis of riff structure in comparison with classical phrase models including the sentence and period.
The impact of visual-music interaction on music perception : the influence of agreement and disagreement.
(2010-10-08T16:23:17Z) Moore, Jordan, 1985-; Bartlette, Christopher; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Previous audiovisual cognition research has focused primarily on music's impact on visual perception. The goals of this study are to explore the impact of visuals on the perception of affective and acoustical qualities of music, and to develop a method for discussing the mood interactions of film and music. Text music and visual music analyses demonstrate two types of interactions: agreement and disagreement of moods. In an empirical investigation, participants were presented interactions in music and visual clips: agreeing music and visual, disagreeing music and visual, and music without visual. Participants were asked to rate acoustical properties using scales and adjective choice tasks. The results demonstrated an impact of visual mood on music perception: when in agreement, the mood was retained; when in disagreement, the visual's mood influenced the music's perception. The conclusions are applied to Cohen's associationist congruence model by describing a new communication pathway between music and visual in film music perception.
An investigation of pedagogical methods for increasing the perceived relevance of music theory courses to undergraduate music students.
(2011-09-14) Ripley, Angela N.; McKinney, Timothy R., 1956-; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
This thesis investigates three pedagogical avenues toward increasing the perceived relevance of music theory to undergraduate music students. These avenues include exploring the relation of analysis to performance, the use of questions that stimulate critical thinking by allowing multiple analytical interpretations, and the incorporation of a variety of types of assignments and musical genres into the music theory curriculum. In addition to surveying a wide range of literature on these topics, this thesis presents a three-fold assignment that addresses aspects of all three avenues.
Composers as spiritual mediators : Henryk Górecki and John Luther Adams.
(2012-08-08) Cooper, S. Grant (Steven Grant); Boyd, Jean Ann.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
This thesis considers how composers act as agents of spiritual mediation. It examines two individuals of divergent philosophical and cultural perspectives. Henryk Górecki and John Luther Adams responded to twentieth-century crises with two signature works that reflect a desire to remediate the suppression of spiritual forces. Górecki’s Miserere, opus 44 is a plea for reconciliation prompted by the abuse of Poland’s Solidarity movement, and is examined as a product of political and religious oppression in the composer’s nation, and as an invocation of Roman Catholic traditions that relate to its biblical text. John Luther Adams’s In the White Silence, a defense of wilderness places in Alaska, is examined as an outgrowth of environmental activism that resulted in a musical idiom based on ecological principles. The object of this study is to illuminate the role of composers as mediators between corporeal and incorporeal forces, manifesting the spiritual exigencies of mankind.
The public invitation and "Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6".
(2012-11-29) Snider, Emily R.; Music, David W., 1949-; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of traditional evangelical worship is the widespread practice of the "invitation" near the close of the worship service. A significant element of that invitation is the accompanying hymn, one that emphasizes the need for conversion and spiritual renewal. This thesis addresses the origin and early evolution of the public invitation, and more specifically, the hymns that have been used by evangelicals for this part of their worship. Hymns from Gospel Hymns Nos. 1 to 6, the most popular hymnal among evangelicals in the nineteenth century, are analyzed and discussed along five primary categories: 1) metaphors and imagery, 2) scriptural allusions, 3) overarching themes, 4) hymn forms, and 5) fundamental theological themes. Finally, hymns of three recently published Baptist hymnals, those belonging to what is presently the largest evangelical group, are evaluated and compared along similar lines to determine the nature of the contemporary hymn of invitation.
For such a time as this : classical music and 9/11.
(2012-11-29) Phillips, Ariana S.; Boyd, Jean Ann.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
This thesis takes as a foundational principle the conviction that music is a vital component of the process of mourning. From this foundation, I focus on three of classical music's responses to 9/11: John Adams' On the Transmigration of Souls, John Corigliano's One Sweet Morning, and Steve Reich’s WTC 9/11. The first chapter sets up analytical paradigms for the use of music in expressions of mourning, while the second applies those paradigms to music of the past. The third chapter discusses the compositional histories of each contemporary work, and chapter four analyzes structural characteristics that augment their expressive qualities. Chapter five focuses on the relationships between each work and memory, as well as the messages those entail. Aspects of reception history, including performance records and critical responses, form the basis of the sixth chapter, while chapter seven argues for these works' importance in the ongoing process of mourning 9/11.
Ecstatic Utterances explained : a companion to Ecstatic Utterances.
(2013-05-15) Simmons, Jim (James D.); McAllister, Scott.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
This paper provides technical and philosophical insight into the composition Ecstatic Utterances. Three distinguishing approaches feature in this thesis: strands, and their accompanying theory; harmonic crescendo and a limited aleatory passage. Of greatest importance amongst these three is the concept of a strand, and the possibilities obtaining therein; possibilities which have crystallized in the writer’s musical and verbal expression, providing methods for both composition and analysis. While these methods remain in need of development, important strides have already been taken: a detailed analysis of portions of Ecstatic Utterances and a brief theoretical foundation titled “A Beginning to the Discussion of Strands as a Form of Musical Expression: A Conceptual Glossary.” Both documents were developed simultaneously in an attempt to be systematic. All work is original unless otherwise cited.
Voices of the soul.
(2013-09-16) Herryman, Ivette.; McAllister, Scott.; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
Voices of the Soul is a composition for orchestra and mezzo-soprano that comprises two movements. It uses texts by the Argentinian writer and poet Alfonsina Storni. Two contrasting ideas are illustrated in the piece, derived from the imagery of the poem. The first movement is about longings, which although different for every person, are part of us as human beings. It is a song for those who suffer through longings as they wait. The second movement is about the desire to grow, to evolve into a more complete person. It is a song of hope, a calling to move forward.
A history of music ministry at the United States Air Force Academy Chapel with an emphasis on Protestant worship, 1954-1984.
(2013-09-16) Lassitter, John A.; York, Terry W.; Music, David W., 1949-; Music.; Baylor University. School of Music.
The primary objective of the United States Air Force Academy is to produce quality leaders that serve as officers in the United States Air Force. Many programs at the Academy help accomplish this goal, one of which is the Chapel Music Program. This paper will explore the musical institutions at the Academy by researching and studying the work of various music directors including James Roger Boyd, Edmund L. Ladouceur, and Joseph M. Galema, the music of the worship services, and related concerts at the United Sates Air Force Academy Chapel from 1954-1984. Primary sources used in research for this project include worship bulletins, concert programs, newspaper articles, and interviews. Further, records of music performed at the Academy including hymns used in worship services, repertoire from the various choirs, and organ recitals have been catalogued from surviving sources and appear in the appendices of this paper.

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