Seth Castleton and Professor Julie Bevan, Cello Professor-School of Music The violoncello emerged as a vehicle of virtuosity starting in the latter half of the 17th Century and continued to gain prestige as a capable solo instrument throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Modern cellists are aware of the plethora of excellent romantic and modern/post-modern solo […]
EXPANDING HORIZONS IN LATE 20TH CENTURY MUSIC COMPOSITION
Todd Colemana and Professor Stephen Jones, Music Art music composition in the 20th century has been characterized by rapid development and change in theory and practice. With the resultant diversity of concurrent stylistic traits, personal philosophies on the purpose of music, harmonic languages, and aesthetic approaches, it is difficult to make any broad generalizations about composition […]
USING GENETIC ALGORITHMS TO HARMONIZE A MELODY: AN APPLICATION IN COMPUTER MUSIC
Weston Cann and Dr. David Michael Cottle, Mathematics Currently, there is a wide variety of computer applications available for aiding musicians. Most common are applications whose purpose is to help render the performance of a piece (sequencers) or help the user prepare the score of a piece. Less common are applications designed to aid the […]
A Comparative Study of Stylistic Influences of Three Twentieth-Century Piano Etudes
Karen L. Rogers and Dr. Jeffrey L. Shumway, Music Nineteenth-century composers changed the piano etude from a relatively dry technical exercise to a concert piece that explored new possibilities of technique and musicality. In the twentiethcentury, composers of the piano etude invented new ways of approaching the piano, integrated a variety of unusual artistic influences […]
The Organ Reform Movement—A Revitalization of the 17th Century North German Organ
Benjamin J. Crandall and Dr. Douglas E. Bush, Music The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries comprised the so-called “golden age” of the organ due to the remarkable instruments built then and because of the extraordinary repertoire which spawned from these organs. Reaching a pinnacle of tonal expertise and craftsmanship in the organs of Arp Schnitger (1648-1719) […]
The Development of Musical Thought
Melissa J. Clayton and Professor Jerry L. Jaccard, Music The task at hand, at the beginning of my research, was to discover the process of musical thought development in a child. Piaget’s similar research in mathematical thinking started with first discovering the content of children’s thought in mathematics, through clinical observation. Then he analyzed this content. […]
Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in Context of the Historical Requiem Tradition
Bonnie Ashby and Dr. E. Harrison Powley, Music The focus of this project has changed as I have researched and analyzed Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, studied the history of the Requiem mass, and compared other major historical Requiems. Britten=s contribution to the Requiem tradition is unique in its contemporary sound and the insertion of Wilfred […]
Understanding William Primrose: The Transcription of Technique is Memory
Noelle Rader and Dr. Claudine Bigelow I received my ORCA grant to transpose and transcribe for viola the out-of-print violin method book Technique is Memory, written by the famous violist William Primrose. BYU is home to the largest viola music archive in the world, the William Primrose International Viola Archive (PIVA). William Primrose was the […]
From Silver to Bamboo
Nicole Okeson and Dr. Kirt Saville, Music The flute is one of the oldest musical instruments in history. Flutes can be found in civilizations across the globe throughout time. While basic similarities exist between all flutes, including similar fingerings and embouchure, musical style and notation differ widely. China is one of the oldest continuous civilizations […]
The Organs of Historic LDS Tabernacles
Mark Campbell and Dr. Douglas Bush, School of Music In colonizing the intermountain west, many early Latter-day Saints would construct houses of worship at the center of their communities called “tabernacles.” The last of these structures was built in the 1950s. Many tabernacles still exist and stand as a beautiful architectural legacy of LDS pioneers. […]