MUS Theses
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Item Confronting fate(Wichita State University, 2024-05) Ragon, Douglas; MacDonald, DavidConfronting Fate is a four-movement suite for jazz big band, which merges aspects of neoclassical power metal, progressive metal, and djent into the big band idiom. The piece is semi-programmatic, and loosely tells a story of a hero fighting against a preordained existence to make their own fate. Music in the power metal genre is known for telling epic stories, which stereotypically might be about dragons and wizards, but most universally are about personal growth, freedom, and an internal locus of control. Confronting Fate’s story comes from that tradition. Movement 1, Prophecy, opens with a Bach-esque chorale before moving into a quasi-passacaglia and fugue. Throughout the movement, baroque style chord progressions and melodies can be heard, though they are juxtaposed against a modern jazz groove reminiscent of Maria Schneider compositions such as Hang Gliding. In the story, the hero has been prophesized to succumb to a fate out of their control and resolves to fight against this fate. Movement 2, Calamity, takes influence from progressive metal and djent. Saxophones play a near continuous riff throughout the movement, which phases and weaves onto itself creating internal patterns. Trumpets and trombones contribute with segments of this riff, further adding to the chaos. Eventually, everything converges into a djent-like breakdown, where open chugging from the guitars brings the band into a heavier texture, mirroring the music of bands such as Periphery and TesseracT. In the story, the hero is now engaged in battle against their fate, though the battle is not proceeding in the hero’s favor. Movement 3, From The Deep, is a power ballad. The lead guitarist is featured, bringing a taste of Yngwie Malmsteen into the big band world. This movement offers a brief reprieve from the chaos of movement 2, though it does not last long, as the band enters to end the movement in grandiose fashion. In the story, the hero has reached their lowest point following defeat in movement 2, but they find their inner strength and rise from the depths of defeat to finish the fight. Movement 4, …Make Their Own Fate, takes influence from the power metal genre with its driving groove, chord progressions, and melodies, and bands such as Galneryus, Stratovarius, and Sonata Arctica. Inspiration is also taken from the music of final boss fights in video games such as Destiny, and themes from previous movements are brought together to provide an epic and triumphant conclusion. In the story, the hero has arrived at their final battle, and uses their learnings from previous events in the story to make their own fate and emerge victorious.Item An esthetic index of music history(Wichita State University, 1958-07) Fletcher, Gary; Buggert, Robert W. (Robert William), 1918-2021The writer feels a study of this kind is valuable as a means of achieving an accurate understanding of the history of artistic practice. This understanding in turn enables the student to evaluate ·and compare styles and periods in an intelligent and logical manner. The temporal scope of this paper prohibits an exhaustive examination of each period in music history. There are many excellent studies available to the student which cover the individual periods in a detailed and comprehensive manner. It is the particular hope of the author that this study will broaden the cultural outlook of the music student and create a desire to further richen his knowledge and understanding of music and its relationship to esthetic philosophy and the other fine arts.Item A study of alternate fingerings and positions as related to the acoustical problems of brass instruments(Wichita State University, 1958-07) Irick, Charles A.The problems with which this paper will deal will be limited to the fingerings and/or slide positions and their effect upon intonation and technique as well as a few recommendations for checking the intonation of a new instrument. Other problems relative to embouchure, inferior instruments, or selection and use of a proper mouthpiece will not be discussed as they would present too many problems which are so variable as to be confusing to the main topic.It will be the purpose of this paper to explain the uses of these valve and slide combinations, to explain their weaknesses, to show possible supplementary fingerings, to explain the evolution of our present brass wind instruments and to show some possible fingering combinations which may not ordinarily be used but which would be helpful.Item Ten selected sixteenth-century French chansons arranged for brass quartet(Wichita State University, 1958-07) Dawson, Norman E.; Buggert, Robert W. (Robert William), 1918-2021This thesis is a step in a pattern of twofold research: One, a greater understanding of early musical forms and two, an adaptation of those forms for modern usage.Item Analysis of wind instrument solo literature(Wichita State University, 1957-05) Hodges, Wendell L.