Theses/Dissertations - Department of Music Theory

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/2104/4903

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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8

Theory takeaways and the connection between theory and practice.
(2023-08) Tossato, Ligia Baleki, 1995-; Maxile, Horace Joseph.
This thesis seeks to help the private piano instructor connect the teaching of repertoire with theoretical concepts. A specific aim of this project is to provide a guide for piano teachers to introduce music theory fundamentals during lessons, which I do through a series of objectives and activities I call Theory Takeaways. The main purpose of these takeaways is to help students build fluency in music theory fundamentals while learning repertoire. This type of preparation can help those who want to pursue an undergraduate degree in music to succeed on entrance exams often required by universities, in addition to preparing them for music theory at the college level. Preexisting theory method books place music theory as something apart from piano playing, creating a significant gap between music theory concepts and the repertoire being performed by the student. This project seeks to explore more correlations between piano playing and learning music theory.
Musical semiotics and color : contextual roles of color in Scriabin and Schoenberg.
(2023-08) Johnson, Maya C., 1998-; Colman, Alfredo.
Stemming from the larger topic of multimedia, this thesis examines the interrelation of music and color. Color will be explored as a metaphysical entity—beyond visual or aural connotations—as a symbol for inner reality beyond time and space. This analysis will be achieved through the primary case study of Alexander Scriabin’s symphony Prometheus: Poem of Fire (1911), as well as an in-depth overview of Arnold Schoenberg’s synesthetic music drama Die glückliche Hand (1913). With both of these case studies color takes on a unique semiotic role, applying its metaphysical potential to engender a transcendent reality. These pieces not only show potential uses of color as a symbol to demonstrate inner reality beyond time and space; they also reflect roles—in counterpoint and synthesis—illustrating the changing cultural concept of color, and, by extension, the evolution of semiotic intuition.
Personifying dynamic video game music through live performance : a rescoring of "RiME".
(2020-05-01) Lujan, Frank Daniel, 1996-; McAllister, Scott.
My central argument for this thesis is that video game music loses its adaptive functionality when performed outside of a gameplay context. My goal is to use technology to incorporate live performance into dynamic game music and create an experience that facilitates collaborative human connection. My research will culminate in a performance of originally composed music that will accompany gameplay of the video game RiME by Tequila Works. I will give an account of the last year and a half, detailing the work that was required to realize this performance. First I will talk about my use of technology. Then I will discuss my approach to the music writing process. I will also explain how these two aspects work together to create the end result. Finally, I will talk about where I want this research to go in the future and how I want to expand upon it.
"Fantasies and Delusions" : Billy Joel's turn and return to classical music.
(2018-04-17) Goh, Jie Fang, 1993-; Boyd, Jean Ann.
In 2001, the release of Fantasies and Delusions officially announced Billy Joel’s remarkable career transition from popular songwriting to classical instrumental music composition. Representing Joel’s eclectic aesthetic that transcends genre, this album features a series of ten solo piano pieces that evoke a variety of musical styles, especially those coming from the Romantic tradition. A collaborative effort with classical pianist Hyung-ki Joo, Joel has mentioned that Fantasies and Delusions is the album closest to his heart and spirit. However, compared to Joel’s popular works, it has barely received any scholarly attention. Given this gap in musicological work on the album, this thesis focuses on the album’s content, creative process, and connection with Billy Joel’s life, career, and artistic identity. Through this thesis, I argue that Fantasies and Delusions is reflective of Joel’s artistic identity as an eclectic composer, a melodist, a Romantic, and a Piano Man.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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