DOCSLIB.ORG

“An Anatomy of Modernism”: Marion Rous and “What Next in Music?”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
“An Anatomy of Modernism”: Marion Rous and “What Next in Music?” "An Anatomy of Modernism": Marion Rous and "What Next in Music?" Item Type text; Electronic Thesis Authors Skoronski, Benjamin Patrick Citation Skoronski, Benjamin Patrick. (2021). "An Anatomy of Modernism": Marion Rous and "What Next in Music?" (Master's thesis, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA). Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 01/10/2021 07:40:08 Item License http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/660260 “AN ANATOMY OF MODERNISM”: MARION ROUS AND “WHAT NEXT IN MUSIC?” by Benjamin Patrick Skoronski _____________________ Copyright © Benjamin Patrick Skoronski 2021 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the FRED FOX SCHOOL OF MUSIC In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTER OF MUSIC In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2021 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Master’s Committee, we certify that we have read the thesis prepared by: Benjamin Patrick Skoronski titled: and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the thesis requirement for the Master’s Degree. Matthew S Mugmon _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________May 12, 2021 Matthew S Mugmon _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________May 12, 2021 Jay Rosenblatt John T. Brobeck _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________May 12, 2021 John T. Brobeck Final approval and acceptance of this thesis is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the thesis to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this thesis prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the Master’s requirement. Matthew S Mugmon _________________________________________________________________ Date: ____________May 12, 2021 Matthew S Mugmon T hesis Committee Chair Fred Fox School of Music 3 Acknowledgements I can no other answer make but thanks, And thanks, and ever thanks. — Twelfth Night A master’s thesis is the work of not one, but rather many. I am deeply grateful to all that have helped, guided, and assisted me in the writing of this thesis. My first and perhaps heartiest thanks must be extended to Dr. Matthew Mugmon for his careful advisement. Whether he gave an insightful suggestion of further research, or a deft rewording of a phrase, or an unequivocal disagreement with my analysis — all was as appreciated as it was necessary. To Dr. John Brobeck I owe a debt of gratitude for his endless patience, as well as his open and honest approach to constructive criticism. I do not know that there is anyone with a more attentive eye for detail than Dr. Jay Rosenblatt, at least as far as Chicago Turabian citations go. But I am indebted to him not only for this, but also his overall wisdom, accessibility, and genuine kindness. The considerable challenges of virtual learning and the COVID-19 pandemic were rendered bearable in large part due to his quiet and consistent support. My friends and colleagues have also earned my gratitude, in some cases even equal to that which I extend to my professors. Sydney Streightiff was my first friend at Arizona, and every one of the numerous hours that we spent over tea was a blessing. Tad Biggs consistently challenged me to broaden my research, helping me intellectually through his unique scholarly profile and emotionally via his pug Roxanne. I am grateful to Melisa Karić for continuing our long talks over coffee even in a virtual format, and for being open to discussing topics from the mundane to the profound. Jessica Licker and David Eltz, academics from other disciplines, never cease to inspire me with their brilliance. Of course, I cannot neglect to thank my favorite 4 percussionists in the entire world, John Spero and Sam Wetzel; I miss you both regularly. Finally, Laura Keim has demonstrated impressive patience throughout all of my impassioned monologues regarding my research; I am grateful not only for this patience, but also for her unconditional support throughout a challenging year. I am likewise thankful to my family members for their support, including and especially my parents James and Wendy; I love you, and I hope to make you proud. My brother Nathan is one of the most extraordinary people that I have ever had the honor to meet, a man entirely without malice whose thoughtful, caring positivity is extended to all. A most sincere and special thanks must be extended to my uncle Patrick, my aunt Suzanne, and my cousin Lydia, who have done so much for me personally throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and the writing of this thesis. By any standard, your generosity is limitless and your capacity for good boundless. While the debt that I owe to you is one that I cannot repay, I offer to you this labor or love. No list of acknowledgements is complete, and I am unable to include everyone that has helped me personally and academically in the writing of this thesis. Regardless, you all have my love and gratitude. In no particular order, I also wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to Dr. Maria Asteriadou, Pam Brayton, Dr. Peter Isaacson, Al and Donna Keim, Grant Knox, Katie McGrath, Sara Miranda, Joshua Nichols, Dr. Karin Nolan, Eric Papa, Nathan Payne, Dr. R. Todd Rober, Thomas Skoronski, William and Dolores Skoronski, Manujinda Wathugala, and Peyton Wilson. Thank you, to all named and unnamed here, who have challenged me to be a better scholar and human being. 5 To Patrick, Suzanne, and Lydia Manley 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... 8 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... 9 INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 1: ORIGINS OF “WHAT NEXT IN MUSIC?” TO THE 1919 BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF MUSIC CLUBS ..................... 21 “What Next in Music?”: An Overview ..................................................................................... 23 “What Next in Music?” at the Peabody Institute ...................................................................... 26 “What Next in Music?” at Rollins College ............................................................................... 30 Marion Rous and the Music Appreciation Movement .............................................................. 32 The Florida State Federation of Music Clubs and Susan Dyer ................................................. 40 The 1919 Biennial Convention of the National Federation of Music Clubs ............................. 42 CHAPTER 2: NATIONWIDE TOURING, 1919–1922 .......................................................... 46 1919–1920 Season..................................................................................................................... 48 The Philadelphia Music Club ................................................................................................ 49 The Beginning of 1920 .......................................................................................................... 52 April Tour of Chattanooga, Cleveland, and Louisville ......................................................... 56 1920–1921 Season..................................................................................................................... 61 Midwest Tour, March – April ................................................................................................ 64 7 1921–1922 Season..................................................................................................................... 67 Northeast Tour, March – April .............................................................................................. 69 The Death and Legacy of Susan Dyer ....................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 3: THE 1924 NEW YORK DEBUT AND BEYOND .......................................... 74 George Pullen Jackson and “Southern Musicians” ................................................................... 77 The New York Debut: January 11, 1924, at Aeolian Hall ........................................................ 81 “What Next in Music?” After Aeolian Hall .............................................................................. 87 Final Presentations .................................................................................................................... 96 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................... 101 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 105 8 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Flyer for “Concerning Programme Music” at the Milwaukee Art Institute, 1921. Collection of the author .......................................................................................................... 66 Figure 3.1: Flyer for “What Next in Music?” at Aeolian Hall, c. 1924. Collection of
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Global Music Theory: Issues, Possibilities, and Fundamental Concepts
    Chapter 1 Global Music Theory: Issues, Possibilities, and Fundamental Concepts Global Musicianship: Imperative and Dilemma This book does not purport to constitute a theory for all music. It is not a work of ethnomusicology. Nor is it a study in natural science or mathematics, though it does draw on basic ideas from those disciplines, especially from acoustics and human perceptual theory. Those looking for validation of the concepts and methods in this book by means of formal proofs will likely be disappointed. Rather, this is a book by a musician for musicians, one that attempts to address an increasingly pressing problem in an age of what might be called “global musicianship”: how to offer a practical approach to analytical understanding that might be useful for a very wide variety of musics, and which is at the same time manageable for the purposes of music education, especially at the collegiate level. In the remarkable introduction to his book Analytical Studies in World Music, composer, theorist and ethnomusicologist Michael Tenzer astutely notes that: In coming years it is conceivable that we will want a world music theory … [and] it would have to be an umbrella set of practical concepts for teaching … The purpose of such a theory would be in the first place to start making sense of our complex cross-cultural musical selves and perceptions. We are often told of the world’s vast and rapid changes but rarely advised on how to make sense of them as musicians. A world music theory would be a response to economic and cultural transformation making it desirable for musicians to acquire competence not just passively hearing, but contemplating and integrating any music.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards a Definition of 'Music'
    E:\M55\COURSES\musdef.fm 02-03-29 Towards a definition of ‘Music’ Taken from provisional course text ‘A Short Prehistory of Popular Music’ Philip Tagg, Institute of Popular Music, University of Liverpool, February-March 2002 What is ‘music’? ‘Music’: a culturally specific concept Although no society of which we have any knowledge has ever been without what we call music, the concept of music is by no means universal. Many cultures have no word equivalent to what we seem to mean by it. For example, the Tiv nation of West Africa and the Ewe of Togo and Eastern Ghana do not seem to have had much need to single out music as something needing a special word of its own any more than we Brits seem to be in need of three different words for the basic types of snow, each of which the Inuktitut language refines conceptually into several sub- categories.1 To be fair, it should be said that the Ewe do actually use the English word ‘music’, but only as an untranslated loan word to denote foreign phenomena like singing hymns or the sounds issuing from a cassette player or the radio. The music (in our sense of the word) they make themselves in traditional village life has no equivalent in the Ewe language. ‘Vù really means ‘drum’ and há is the word for club or association. A vù há is the club you belong to in the village. You could belong to a club with fast or slow drums, de- pending on your character and family.
    [Show full text]
  • Noise in Music Or Music in Noise? a Short Discussion on the Incorporation of “Other” Sounds in Music Making
    University of Alberta Noise in Music or Music in Noise? A Short Discussion on the Incorporation of “Other” Sounds in Music Making Essay Submitted as part of the Music History exam of the Qualifying Exams, for the degree of Doctor in Music Composition Faculty of Arts Department of Music by Nicolás Alejandro Mariano Arnáez Edmonton, Alberta January 2017 “We affirm that the world’s magnificence has been enriched by a new beauty: the beauty of speed. A racing car whose hood is adorned with great pipes, like serpents of explosive breath— a roaring car that seems to ride on grapeshot is more beautiful than the Victory of Samothrace.” (Marinetti 1909) Introduction When a physical source produces periodic or aperiodic vibrations in the air within a certain frequency, and there are human ears near by, they receive a meaning assigned by our brain. When we have the necessity of verbalize the sonic image produced by those vibrations, we need to choose a word available in our language that best describes what we felt sonically. Words associated with this practice of describing what we perceive are commonly “sound”, “noise”, “music”, “tone”, and such. The question is, what does make us to choose within one word or another? Many inquiries will arise if we analyze our selection. For example, if we say “that is music” we may be implying that music is not tone, or noise, or even sound! Personally speaking, I find a deep and intimate sensation of peace when hearing the sound of water moving in a natural environment, it generates that specific feeling on my human brain and body.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding Music Past and Present
    Understanding Music Past and Present N. Alan Clark, PhD Thomas Heflin, DMA Jeffrey Kluball, EdD Elizabeth Kramer, PhD Understanding Music Past and Present N. Alan Clark, PhD Thomas Heflin, DMA Jeffrey Kluball, EdD Elizabeth Kramer, PhD Dahlonega, GA Understanding Music: Past and Present is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribu- tion-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This license allows you to remix, tweak, and build upon this work, even commercially, as long as you credit this original source for the creation and license the new creation under identical terms. If you reuse this content elsewhere, in order to comply with the attribution requirements of the license please attribute the original source to the University System of Georgia. NOTE: The above copyright license which University System of Georgia uses for their original content does not extend to or include content which was accessed and incorpo- rated, and which is licensed under various other CC Licenses, such as ND licenses. Nor does it extend to or include any Special Permissions which were granted to us by the rightsholders for our use of their content. Image Disclaimer: All images and figures in this book are believed to be (after a rea- sonable investigation) either public domain or carry a compatible Creative Commons license. If you are the copyright owner of images in this book and you have not authorized the use of your work under these terms, please contact the University of North Georgia Press at [email protected] to have the content removed. ISBN: 978-1-940771-33-5 Produced by: University System of Georgia Published by: University of North Georgia Press Dahlonega, Georgia Cover Design and Layout Design: Corey Parson For more information, please visit http://ung.edu/university-press Or email [email protected] TABLE OF C ONTENTS MUSIC FUNDAMENTALS 1 N.
    [Show full text]
  • Introductory Notes to the Semiotics of Music
    E:\M55\COURSES\SEMIO\Semiotug.fm 2012-09-29 01:55 Introductory notes to the Semiotics of Music by Philip Tagg —— Versio n 3: Liverpool/Brisbane, July 1999 THIS DOCUMENT (1999) IS OUT OF DATE. IT HAS BEEN REPLACED BY various chapters in ‘MUSIC’S MEANINGS’ (2012) http://tagg/mmmsp/NonMusoInfo.htm PLEASE USE ‘MUSIC’S MEANINGS, NOT THIS FILE. Introduction to version 3 This text was part of an ongoing project to produce a textbook in the semiotics of music. Although this text was used by music students, it was also written with students from other humanities and social science disciplines in mind. For this reason, the text con- tains no musical notation and uses a minimum of unexplained musicological terminol- ogy. Since this text never constituted a final version, it should be understood that many as- pects of the topic are left undiscussed here. There are also no joins between certain sec- tions and the last few pages are no more than notes and diagrams that require further explanation not contained within these pages. Please also note that references and the bibliography are incomplete. Readers are advised that relevant chapters in Music’s Meanings are more up to date, more reliable, more thorough, more substantial than this document. Why bother about music semiotics? The average citizen of the Western world hears three-and-a-half hours of music a day and spends an average of $75 a year on music. These figures include babies, pensioners and the deaf, so those belonging to other population groups are liable to spend even more time and money with music.
    [Show full text]
  • The Italians of the South Village
    The Italians of the South Village Report by: Mary Elizabeth Brown, Ph.D. Edited by: Rafaele Fierro, Ph.D. Commissioned by: the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation 232 E. 11th Street, New York, NY 10003 ♦ 212‐475‐9585 ♦ www.gvshp.org Funded by: The J.M. Kaplan Fund Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation 232 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10003 212‐475‐9585 212‐475‐9582 Fax www.gvshp.org [email protected] Board of Trustees: Mary Ann Arisman, President Arthur Levin, Vice President Linda Yowell, Vice President Katherine Schoonover, Secretary/Treasurer John Bacon Penelope Bareau Meredith Bergmann Elizabeth Ely Jo Hamilton Thomas Harney Leslie S. Mason Ruth McCoy Florent Morellet Peter Mullan Andrew S. Paul Cynthia Penney Jonathan Russo Judith Stonehill Arbie Thalacker Fred Wistow F. Anthony Zunino III Staff: Andrew Berman, Executive Director Melissa Baldock, Director of Preservation and Research Sheryl Woodruff, Director of Operations Drew Durniak, Director of Administration Kailin Husayko, Program Associate Cover Photo: Marjory Collins photograph, 1943. “Italian‐Americans leaving the church of Our Lady of Pompeii at Bleecker and Carmine Streets, on New Year’s Day.” Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Reproduction Number LC‐USW3‐013065‐E) The Italians of the South Village Report by: Mary Elizabeth Brown, Ph.D. Edited by: Rafaele Fierro, Ph.D. Commissioned by: the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation 232 E. 11th Street, New York, NY 10003 ♦ 212‐475‐9585 ♦ www.gvshp.org Funded by: The J.M. Kaplan Fund Published October, 2007, by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation Foreword In the 2000 census, more New York City and State residents listed Italy as their country of ancestry than any other, and more of the estimated 5.3 million Italians who immigrated to the United States over the last two centuries came through New York City than any other port of entry.
    [Show full text]
  • Music As Evidence for a Creator
    Running Head: MUSIC AS EVIDENCE 1 Music as Evidence for a Creator Andrew Foster A Senior Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation in the Honors Program Liberty University Spring 2019 MUSIC AS EVIDENCE 2 Acceptance of Senior Honors Thesis This Senior Honors Thesis is accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation from the Honors Program of Liberty University. ______________________________ Stephen Muller, D. Min, Ph.D. (ABD) Thesis Chair ______________________________ Jay Ware, M.M. Committee Member ______________________________ Robert Van Engen, Ph.D. Committee Member ______________________________ Marilyn Gadomski, Ph.D. Honors Assistant Director ______________________________ Date MUSIC AS EVIDENCE 3 Abstract Throughout history, mankind has made music. While music is artistic, it is also scientific and informed by natural occurrences within the physical world. Mathematical relationships between frequencies, the harmonic series, the materials necessary to build musical instruments, and naturally measured time provide bases for the musical elements of pitch, timbre, and rhythm. Though scientific discovery can inform the practice of music, the origin of music cannot be explained through scientific or evolutionary means because music is not a necessity for survival. The fact that music does exist and has natural bases suggests that music is designed, and its elements were placed in the physical world by a Creator who is beyond that which is physical. MUSIC AS EVIDENCE 4 Music as Evidence for a Creator Introduction There are many differences among people of the world, but music is a cultural aspect that they all have in common because it is made by all people. Despite differing interpretations, music is not the result of mere chance.
    [Show full text]
  • “Words About Wen-Chung: Concentric Connections” Thoughts After His Passing … by Roger Reynolds
    “Words About Wen-chung: Concentric Connections” Thoughts after his passing … by Roger Reynolds Chou Wen-chung and I first encountered one another in the early 1960s, in the office of Walter Hinrichsen, the imperious, gruff, and larger-than-life Founder and President of the C. F. Peters Corporation in New York. There was that immediate, inter-personal “recogni- tion” that happens only occasionally as we pass through our days. Shortly after that first encounter, Wen-chung and Yi-an were present with Karen and me for a gathering at the apartment of oboist and publisher, Josef Marx, in Manhattan. It was an *evening that, in memory, celebrated the presence of Edgard Varèse. We were seated with the Chous along an informal perimeter that was forming itself from a haphazard mixture of informal sur- faces. Karen offered him her folding chair. He gravely demurred, saying that he “could not sit while a lady stands.” As it turned out, quite serendipitously, Wen-chung and I had just composed pieces for flute and piano that implicated our partners. His was Cursive (Yi-an, pianist), mine, Mosaic (Karen, flutist). Both had recently been published by Peters. Subsequently, the four of us met often in New York and elsewhere for various events, sometimes – as at a memorable American Composers Orchestra concert in Carnegie Hall – as a result of our work appear- ing on the same concert programs. We would go with them on impromptu outings that generously embraced friends and family members, discovering various unfamiliar and intriguing locations in Manhattan (uptown, downtown) and enjoying Wen-chung’s inci- sive, sometimes uproarious observations – often admiring a feature that others had missed, sometimes sharply and decisively nailing instances in which the elevated ideals that guid- ed him had not been paid their due attention.
    [Show full text]
  • Space and Time in Music
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OpenSIUC SPACE AND TIIME IN MUSIC BY M, WHITCOMB HFSS I SCHOPENHAUER described music as externalized will, and the world-weary philosopher had just enough truth in his con- ception to prove the point to his own complete satisfaction. It is true that music is something like thought (or will) stripped of con- tent since through this medium it is possible to express the law'S of the fiist forms of consciousness. The interaction of space and time is given in every phase of existence, but unity, harmony,, and rhythm, the three essentials of art in any form, are seldom present in the right jiroportions in ever3'day occurences. Unit}', harmony and rhythm are the fundamental principles of all the arts because they are inherent in the categories of sense. They cannot be dissociated ultimately in any art, but the difficulty of analysis into these elements is greater in music than it is in the static arts of painting, sculpture, and arcliitecture. The unity of music is melody, a dynamic principle. I\Ime. de Stael once spoke of architecture as "frozen music". Tb.c combination of melody, harmony, and rhythm into definite forms is what the word "niusic" means. Melody is the succession of harmonious tones governed by rhythm. Rhythm is the harmon- ious repetition in metric units of fixed sound relations. It is not always realized that harmony may mean not only counterpoint where the— \alue of each tone is enhanced by the ensemble in a new creation "out of three sounds ..
    [Show full text]
  • On Defining Music (Forthcoming the Monist)
    On Defining Music (forthcoming The Monist) Music is ancient, pan-cultural, and, given the spontaneous emergence of song in children, virtually universal. Moreover, we can immediately and almost infallibly recognize it, even where it comes from a culture that is foreign to us. Though I may be unable to predict how such music will continue or to recognize errors, and though it may sound strange to me, I can be in no doubt that it is music I am hearing. I say "almost infallibly" because there are marginal cases and a few possibilities for error. Some musical-sounding things are not music: infant- directed speech,1 tone languages,2 and "sing-song" linguistic accents, as in Welsh. In addition, some patterned sounds might be mistaken for music: these include sound art,3 sounds that are not humanly made, such as the nightly rice field frog chorus, and sounds that are not primarily intended to have the aural character they have, such as incidental auditory effects in the factory making crystal glasses. In this paper I reflect on the enterprise of defining music. Although I critically review some proposed definitions in order to show the difficulties inherent in the task, I do not offer a counter definition. Instead, I consider four strategies that might be adopted by the would-be definer. I argue that none of these alone can succeed, though, in combination, they might. 1 Infant-directed speech, or "motherese", is a highly inflected, repetitive mode of speech used universally by caregivers to communicate with babies. 2 In tone languages, which are found mainly in eastern Asia, the relative pitch of a syllable or word affects its meaning.
    [Show full text]
  • Inside Greenwich Village: a New York City Neighborhood, 1898-1918 Gerald W
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst University of Massachusetts rP ess Books University of Massachusetts rP ess 2001 Inside Greenwich Village: A New York City Neighborhood, 1898-1918 Gerald W. McFarland Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/umpress_books Part of the History Commons, and the Race and Ethnicity Commons Recommended Citation McFarland, Gerald W., "Inside Greenwich Village: A New York City Neighborhood, 1898-1918" (2001). University of Massachusetts Press Books. 3. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/umpress_books/3 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Massachusetts rP ess at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Massachusetts rP ess Books by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Inside Greenwich Village This page intentionally left blank Inside Greenwich Village A NEW YORK CITY NEIGHBORHOOD, 1898–1918 Gerald W. McFarland University of Massachusetts Press amherst Copyright ᭧ 2001 by University of Massachusetts Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America LC 00-054393 ISBN 1–55849-299–2 Designed by Jack Harrison Set in Janson Text with Mistral display by Graphic Composition, Inc. Printed and bound by Sheridan Books, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McFarland, Gerald W., 1938– Inside Greenwich Village : a New York City neighborhood, 1898–1918 / Gerald W. McFarland. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 1–55849-299–2 (alk. paper) 1. Greenwich Village (New York, N.Y.)—History—20th century. 2. Greenwich Village (New York, N.Y.)—Social conditions—20th century.
    [Show full text]
  • A Foundational Approach to Core Music Instruction in Undergraduate Music Theory Based on Common Universal Principles
    A FOUNDATIONAL APPROACH TO CORE MUSIC INSTRUCTION IN UNDERGRADUATE MUSIC THEORY BASED ON COMMON UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLES Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Christy Jo Talbott, B.A., B.S., M.M. The Ohio State University 2008 Dissertation Committee: Gregory M. Proctor, Ph.D., Advisor Approved by Burdette Green, Ph.D. Daniel Avorgbedor, Ph.D. __________________________ Advisor Music Graduate Program Copyright by Christy Jo Talbott 2008 ABSTRACT Music is a large subject with many diverse subcategories (Pop, Classical, Reggae, Jazz, and so on). Each subcategory, classified as a genre for its unique qualities, should relate in some way to that broader subject. These unique properties, however, do not negate all possible relationships among the genres. That these subcategories fit under a “music” label implies that they contain commonalities that transcend their differences. If there is, then, a set of commonalities for this abstract concept of music, then an examination of musics from diverse cultures should illuminate this fact. This “set of commonalities” for a real subject called music should not be limited to the Germanic tradition of the 16th-18th century or to Parisian art song of the 19th but, instead, is open to a world repertoire unbounded by era or nation. Every culture has invented a music of its own. The task here is to show that, from a variety of sources, a basic set of elements is common across cultures. In addition, those elements do not distinguish one category from another but, instead, collectively suggest a set of common principles.
    [Show full text]