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The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce and provide a pedagogical guide for two etude works by Lowell Liebermann (b. 1961): Four Etudes on Songs of Brahms, Op. 88 (2004) and Four Etudes on Songs of Robert Franz, Op. 91 (2005). It includes a brief biography and observations on the compositional style of the composer; a history and development of the etude from the eighteenth century to Liebermann's time; research on Liebermann's works based on songs of other composers; and a pedagogical guide on how to approach each piece, covering four types of technical issues: articulation, phrasing, voicing of the melodic lines, and fingerings.

This project explores effective solutions for practicing orchestral excerpts, a challenge often faced by young musicians preparing for auditions. It introduces a method of adapting practice ideas and composition to facilitate a more profound understanding of fifteen orchestral excerpts. While primarily directed at horn players, the concepts and techniques explored in this study are applicable to musicians of all instruments, offering specific ideas, practice tips, and original etudes tailored to each excerpt. These etudes serve a dual purpose by addressing technical aspects of both the horn and the excerpt itself while familiarizing the musician with the standard orchestral repertoire commonly requested on audition lists. Ultimately, the goal of working with these etudes is to cultivate performance confidence and accelerate familiarity with each excerpt, thus propelling musicians towards professional employment opportunities.

One of the essential difficulties encountered while preparing a piece for a pre-professional player is defining the piece's technical challenges and doing exercises or etude studies accordingly. Based on this fact, in my thesis, I described the technical challenges of Edouard Nanny's Dragonetti A Major concerto under the headings and suggested technical studies suitable for these difficulties. The titles represented are string crossing, bow strokes, thumb position and vertical-horizontal approaches, harmonic arpeggios and horizontal playing in harmonics, intonation and shifting, and double stops. In the last step of each heading, I associate these technical studies with an excerpt from a more advanced piece than this concerto in the double bass repertoire. Accordingly, the thesis aims to define a working path for Nanny's Dragonetti A Major Double Bass Concerto and, at the same time, to be a preliminary preparation for the more technically challenging works of the repertoire.

The purpose of this research is to explore the benefits of chant music and its pedagogical applications for the individual trombonist or ensemble member. Several common method books are examined and categorized as either musical exercise or lyrical etude. Through this analysis I highlight a gap between the two method types that can be bridged through practice of chant. I support this claim through an analysis of chant characteristics that make it an ideal candidate to encourage pure sound production and connection in a performable work. Practice of chant in trombone chamber or choir ensembles will also encourage the development of skills necessary to play as a member of a group. I propose regular practice of this music will aid the ensemble in blend and balance, intonation, articulation, and slide coordination. The final chapter of the research provides the reader with a brief summary of the works refenced to promote further study as one chooses.

In this document, major, dominant and minor bebop scales are introduced and engaged through a series of etudes for C instruments, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Trombone and Bass. The methodology used is derived from a series of private lessons in which bebop scales were introduced and then engaged over chord progressions. Backing tracks are utilized and linked.

Etudes have been composed to address the primary challenges found in ten selected euphonium wind band pieces. Each work was chosen based on its frequency of occurrence in military band auditions as well as its appearance in excerpt books and journal articles. Practice drills, practice variations, and overtraining studies are the primary concepts used for composing each etude. List of selected works: (1) Roman Carnival Overture Op. 9, Hector Berlioz; (2) First Suite in E-flat for Military Band Op. 28 No. 1, Gustav Holst; (3) Barnum and Bailey's Favorite, Karl King; (4) The Melody Shop, Karl King; (5) Aegean Festival Overture, Andreas Makris arr. Albert Bader; (6) Theme and Variations Op. 43 A, Arnold Schoenberg; (7) Festive Overture Op. 96, Dmitri Shostakovich arr. Donald Hunsberger; (8) Festival Variations, Claude T. Smith; (9) The Stars and Stripes Forever, John Philip Sousa; and (10) Suite from the Ballet: Pineapple Poll, Arthur Sullivan arr. Charles Mackerras.

Claude Debussy alluded to specific influences of past French composers in comments on his late music, and in letters concerning his etudes of 1915 and in the forward to their publication he singled out both Francois Couperin and Frederic Chopin. In a 1918 essay, Debussy’s longtime friend, Robert Godet, emphasized the influence of Chopin’s etudes on those of Debussy. However, Godet did not provide analysis or explanation, and his comparison merely couples the same technical difficulties, for example, thirds, sixths, chromatic writing, and octaves, between the two composers, which are called “equivalents.” Later scholars, in comparing the two sets, have dealt mainly with issues of form, harmony, melody, voice leading, and pedaling, thus stressing contrasts more than similarities. I will show that by examining certain pianistic gestures (including figures, textures, rhythmic writing, formal elements, and affects), Godet’s pairings exhibit much more in common than previously thought. Indeed, Debussy’s etudes often grapple with a similar idea, motive, focus of difficulty, or structural quality as Chopin. In addition, both sets of etudes offer specific technical challenges that extend to the entire piano output of each composer. This makes the sets of etudes not only valuable for the performer of these composers’ music, but also valuable from a pedagogical point of view. In this document, I will present the equivalent pairs of etudes, discuss the applications of each etude’s technical issue in the composers’ other repertoire, and consider the pedagogical value of both sets of etudes.

Études was composed as a set of five interrelated movements in the followingorder: Prelude, Introduction and Fugue, Triptych, Chorale, and Response. The pieces are compositional as well as technical studies. The movements specifically explore certain styles and forms unique to organ music, and reintroduce these elements in creative ways. As in the traditional étude, each movement contains virtuosic technical studies, which are designed to enhance manual and pedal facility and prepare the performer for advanced repertoire.

Shinichi Suzuki established a highly influential and widely used method of musical instruction known as the Suzuki Method. Developed first for the violin, but now used for a variety of instruments, his method was based on his view that every child can be highly developed if he is given the proper training and learning environment. The Suzuki Method is based on repetition and constant review, and the volumes of music and instruction demonstrate a carefully graded approach to musical instruction. Suzuki wrote extensively about his techniques, but many of those ideas do not make it themselves into the Suzuki Violin School. Volume Four of Suzuki Violin School is the beginning of intermediate study and introduces new techniques such as shifting, positioning, and vibrato. Of all the volumes in the Suzuki Violin School, it is the most problematic, because the difficulty increases substantially over that of Volume Three, both in the pieces and in the techniques introduced. This document addresses this problem, and gives a plan for overcoming these difficulties. As such it will be beneficial for the teacher and student who use the Suzuki Method.

This study comprises a three-tiered interpretation of John Corigliano’s Etude Fantasy. First, the formal properties of the work are analyzed using set theory. Second, the work is analyzed using Byron Almén’s recent semiotic theory of musical narrative. Lastly, in a mode of critical reflection, the study critiques the narrative suggested by Almén’s theory and offers a revision employing the aesthetic theories of Theodor Adorno. Adorno’s aesthetics and philosophy of negative dialectics is based upon the notion of non-identity. For Adorno, both thought and music are fundamentally a movement (“Bewegung”) without coming to a false absolute. This movement precludes any achievement of static arrival or conclusion into a single, unified, positive conclusion. This study uses this notion of non-identity to critique and modify Almén’s theory of musical narrative and forms a musical narrative particular to the Etude Fantasy.

Even though Ernst von Dohnányi (1877-1960) straddles the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his Romantic compositional language remains unaffected by his twentieth century contemporaries. The present study will establish Dohnányi’s Romantic heritage by examining his Six Concert Etudes, Op. 28 according to Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics. This study is relevant because these characteristics in conjunction with these etudes have yet to be examined. This demonstration of the Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics in conjunction with these etudes offers a new contribution to the body of scholarly writing. The document is divided into three chapters and a bibliography. Chapter 1 consists of four parts: a biography, a literature survey, an account of Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics, and historical context of the etudes. The literature survey is arranged by topic: piano solos, biographies, symphonies, and Dohnányi’s music in general. An account of Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics is accomplished by summarizing the Romantic Style, identifying the traits that distinguish each parameter from preceding eras and linking Dohnányi with the Romantic Era. A brief summary of Romantic Period aesthetics precedes this account. The historical context of the etudes places Dohnányi within the trajectory of the piano literature. Chapter 2 is entitled “Dohnányi’s Romantic language in the Six Concert Etudes, Op. 28,” and examines these etudes according to Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics. The examination is ordered according to common traits and observations, citing occurrences in the etudes, but organized by the parameters of tonal and harmonic language, melody, formal design, rhythm, and texture. The examination concludes by summarizing connections among the etudes. Chapter 3 concludes the study with a summary of how Dohnányi’s compositional language places him squarely in the trajectory of Romantic composers. This summary reinforces the establishment of Dohnányi’s Romantic heritage by summarizing the Romantic Style musical parameter characteristics and examining the etudes according to these characteristics. Adviser: Mark K. Clinton

The etude has a long history in the cello repertoire, evidenced by the volume of pedagogical works in the form of etudes, exercises, studies, and concert etudes available today. The sets of 12 Caprices by Franchomme and Piatti are concert etudes which are studied and performed frequently today. Selected works of these two standard etude books have been examined and analyzed, with regard to technical issues and issues of musicality. This document focuses on the these two books, exploring the history of the cello techniques covered, explaining aspects of the music from a Schenkerian point of view, comparing the similarities and differences in technique and compositional style, and integrating aspects of performance and analysis. Professional players and students can use the information provided in this document to help in understanding the value of the two books, the evolution of cello technique in the nineteenth century, and the different compositional styles. Based on the shift in technical demands that evolved during the second half of the nineteenth century, cello players would be able to know when to study these two etudes. This document can provide the performer with a new analytical perspective, one that can enhance performance.

At one time or another, every collegiate oboe student has toted the thick, yellow Barret Oboe Method, the bible of oboe study, to his or her lesson. Surveys of teachers in the United States reveal that this is the most commonly used etude book, even though it was first published in 1850 for an oboe with key work different than our modern one. Barret's Oboe Method is part of a tradition of pedagogical materials that have been generated by oboe professors and students at the Paris Conservatory. When oboists travelled from Europe to fill positions in U.S. Orchestras in the early twentieth-century, this etude tradition was transplanted but did not grow, even though it continued in France. Because teachers in the United States lost touch with twentieth-century French etude output, these valuable studies never became a part of mainstream American pedagogy. If American teachers continue to rely heavily on the nineteenth-century etudes that were passed down to them, then potentially valuable twentieth-century etudes could be lost to future students. In order to avoid such a calamity, I have made the case for resuscitating these overlooked gems. Chapter One provides a brief history of the etude tradition in France from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century tutors cater to an amateur audience with collections of simple tunes. Nineteenth-century methods and etudes reflect a more specialized audience with their progressive nature, and demonstrate the latest mechanical developments of the oboe. Chapter Two traces the twentieth-century etudes that were produced in France but not transferred to the United States. These etudes reflect developments in twentieth-century music, and satisfy the need to equip oboists for difficult orchestral repertoire. Chapter Three ties twentieth-century French etudes to the preparation of standard orchestral excerpts. Many oboe students in the United States plan to seek orchestral jobs, and these pedagogical materials may be used to prepare them for orchestral auditions. That the most prevalent etudes in use today were written for the oboe in different stages of mechanical development is troubling, and I hope to remedy this situation by exposing other options.