A manuscript of a symphony kept on the bookshelves of a library is like a great painting hidden away in a museum where no one can see it. Music needs to be performed to be appreciated and embedded into a culture. The work of a composer must be made accurately easily accessible to musicians and the public for the work to be widely disseminated. This critical edition marks an effort in this direction to shed light on a major work of Mexican composer José Francisco Vásquez Cano (1896-1961).José F. Vásquez was one of the most prolific Mexican composers and accomplished conductors in the first half of the 20th century, yet there is little widespread knowledge about his life and works. This critical edition of the first movement of Symphony No. 2 (1929) will create a path to further performances and recordings, so that future generations in Mexico and abroad can acquire a wider appreciation of this composer’s role in the wider Mexican cultural heritage. This edition aims to show with transparency every critical decision made based on the score’s manuscript and presently available set of instrumental parts. Due to the continued efforts of José J. Vásquez (the composer’s son) to promote the recovery and performance of his father’s music, I have had access to a black and white scan of the full score’s manuscript, and high-definition color scans of 29 parts for each instrument, allowing me to accurately pinpoint possible errata in the manuscript. The critical commentary along with the digitized score aim to offer future conductors and performers access and insight into this important work by an invaluable composer.

In the early part of 2020, musicians faced an unprecedented challenge. A novel coronavirus emerged, spreading throughout the world and creating a pandemic. To control the spread of this virus, local governing officials suspended large gatherings in public spaces, which meant that all live music performances were cancelled for the foreseeable future. As a response to these cancellations, many musicians turned to live streaming, sharing transmissions of live performances over the internet. However, as life under COVID-19-related restrictions continued, the internet quickly became oversaturated with live stream music performances. This led musicians to discover innovative ways to adapt their creative practices for virtual settings. Through the process of commissioning, premiering, and recording new works, this research project explores how music practitioners can create music that is designed specifically for the imposed restrictions on the performing arts that accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. To complete this project, I commissioned new works for clarinet and bass clarinet intended for performance under shelter-in-place conditions. The pieces included in this project are Two Flights for B-Flat Clarinet by Bill Clay (2020), 8 Months by Jessi Harvey (2020), R....v...rs....m oooiiiiii by Gabo Champagne (2021) and Od-ieu by Kim Farris-Manning (2021). I presented these works in two virtual formats: (1) I staged a virtual concert of their premieres from my home studio space, and (2) released studio-quality recordings of them paired with extra-musical video footage. This document offers an account of the virtual concert, a description of the process of the video production component, and performance guides for each commissioned piece. An audio/video recording of the virtual concert is included as a supplemental media file to this document, as are all music videos.

Clarinet articulation is a process that uses the tongue to create an interruption in sound production either by contacting the reed or disrupting the air stream. This process occurs inside the mouth and is hidden from direct view. As a result, various solutions were developed in clarinet pedagogy to address the issue of teaching with no visual feedback. Clarinet pedagogy literature consists of language that makes it possible for other clarinetists to discuss, teach, and research various aspects of clarinet playing. The interdisciplinary application of theoretical concepts in linguistics and how they map onto the language of clarinet pedagogy offers a new perspective for understanding the teaching methods used for articulation. To provide insight into the relationship of language and clarinet pedagogy, an overview of several linguistic theories and concepts, such as Peircean semiotics, metalanguages, discursive strategies, and articulatory phonetics, is presented. Additionally, a brief explanation of articulation techniques (single, multiple, flutter, and slap articulation) and commonly used teaching strategies is outlined. The language used in clarinet pedagogy literature from resources by prominent clarinet pedagogues, such as the works of John Anderson, Joshua Gardner, Michèle Gingras, Eric C. Hansen, Howard Klug, Phillip Rehfeldt, Thomas Ridenour, Heather Roche, Robert Spring, and Rachel Yoder, is surveyed. Pedagogical insights from a linguistic analysis are used to create resources for teaching and/or correcting articulation. Since the interdisciplinary application of linguistics and clarinet pedagogy is an underexplored topic, this research also aims to serve as a basis for further interdisciplinary studies.

Forget You’re Female focuses on stories of women pursuing engineering degrees and women in the field of engineering. The main character, Samantha (Sam), comes from a family of engineers and is unsure whether she wants to study engineering in college. In Opening-Decision, a university admissions counselor insists that Sam enters the engineering program. Sam expresses excitement for the degree in Engineer. However, she faces discrimination and microaggressions in First Class and Peers. These experiences lead her to seek a professor’s advice in Forget You’re Female. Jack’s Song explores the moment when a male student discovers overt sexism in a public part of the engineering building. Finally, in Graduation, Sam completes the degree and reflects on her experiences and potential longevity in the engineering field. There are some staging instructions written into the score, however, lighting instructions are the only required element. Extras and props are optional but help convey the scene of each song. Projecting relevant footage or written descriptors is recommended in place of extras and props. If no extras are available, then spoken lines (male) need to be recorded and played back as indicated in the score.

Concert bands as we know them today started in the nineteenth century. The repertoire at that time consisted primarily of orchestral transcriptions penned almost exclusively by people who identified as white male. In the twentieth century, even as the creation of original works for concert band became common place, the rate of compositions written by someone other than a white male was minimal. Composers from other communities were seldom played or introduced into the canon. Today, the instances of concerts including only white male composers are increasingly rare. Diverse and innovative programming have become much more the norm and the opportunities for composers from underrepresented communities have never been greater. This project describes the commissioning and recording process of six new compositions for concert band from composers of traditionally underrepresented communities and backgrounds. And since several of the pieces are playable by public school bands, it also includes a pedagogically-based performance guide for each work.

The original scope of this project was to have several conducting experiences and written records about the conductor’s experiences. Due to COVID-19, the focus of the paper has shifted to documenting the preparation, rehearsal, and performance "Recombobulation" (2016) by Theresa Martin. Using the templates found in the "Teaching Music Through Performance in Band" book series as a model, combined with the author’s personal narrative of their experience, this paper aims to serve as a resource for both people considering programming this piece of music as well as early career conductors who strive to improve their craft.

This study summarizes survey responses on perceived challenges by conductors who a) identify as female, b) are not citizens of the United States, c) are currently living in the United States, and d) are working in professional positions in the field of orchestral conducting. The goal of the survey was to query the concept of “double minority” (female and non-native to the United States) and to gain insight into the conductors’ self-perceptions and perceived challenges they encounter during their employment and career advancement in the United States.

The survey covered four main areas: educational background, immigration status, the employing orchestra or organization’s budget, and conductors’ challenges and perceptions. Considering the sensitivity of the topic and following best practices of human subjects’ research, participant identities were coded with letters.

Participants expressed more certainty about the issues and challenges concerning how they were perceived as females than as immigrants. There was insufficient data to correlate the budget of the orchestra with the willingness of the institution to be a visa sponsor.

This study’s findings suggest that there are areas that should be further explored such as: the effect a conductor’s nationality has on their career and reception in the United States; how potential motherhood affects the conductors’ careers; organizations’ willingness and ability to hire immigrants, offer sponsorship, and assist the artist in the transition out of the student visa status; and the perceptions and experiences of being an immigrant conductor in the United States.

The number of compositions that use electronics alongside the wind ensemble has gradually increased in the 21st century, yet these compositions are infrequently programmed past their premieres. Explanations include lack of access to necessary resources, unfamiliarity with the repertoire, and inexperience with the technology they require. While there are other barriers to performance, this document focuses on familiarizing the repertoire and providing foundational knowledge necessary to overcome inexperience.

As the number of technology-native composers, audience members, and performers continues to increase, electronics in the ensemble are likely to become more standard. Without knowledge of the technology electronics require, these works will remain inaccessible. Composers attempt to bridge the technological knowledge gap by providing technical instructions for individual pieces, but this does not help people recognize the broader concepts that make all of these works more accessible. This document guides ensemble directors and performers to an understanding of these base concepts by developing a grading system for technology difficulty, assessing pedagogical and performance issues, and providing an annotated list of works currently available for electronics and winds.

Research indicates that women hold far fewer positions as collegiate band directors than do their male counterparts; however, since the 1993–1994 academic year, there have been no updated statistics describing the sex ratio of women who are college band directors. As the wind band profession is putting more effort into diversity initiatives and women are becoming more accepted as conductors, an examination of current sex (female and male) representation of band directors seemed timely and necessary. The purpose of this study was to provide updated data. Using the College Music Society Directory of Music Faculties in Colleges and Universities, U.S. and Canada 2017–2018, the author of the present study looked at the sex of college band directors listed and discovered that only 11.3 percent of all college band director positions in the United States were held by women. Furthermore, only 13.4 percent of bands selected to perform at the Midwest Clinic were led by women in the ten occurrences of the conference between 2009 and 2018, and only 5.3 percent of bands selected to perform at the Collegiate Band Directors National Association at the fourteen national conferences held between 1993 and 2019 had women as their head conductors. Clearly, sex parity does not yet exist among university band directors. With the publication of more current percentages of the representation of women as band directors that this study provides, research investigating why this phenomenon continues and advocacy to change the status quo is highly recommended.

In the early summer of 2018, I found myself driving back to Arizona from a friend’s graduation ceremony in southern Colorado. It was the middle of the day as I wound through the mountains. The drive was peaceful and smooth, with a warm sun and a pleasantly empty road keeping me company. The thick trees and rural farmland I drove past seemed like something from a movie, trying to further convince me that life here moved at a pace somewhat slower than what I was accustomed to. I approached a sign that read “Wolf’s Creek Pass,” and recalled my mother telling me to fully appreciate the beauty of it as I drove through; this was one of her favorite places to hike and explore with her dad when she was young, and she wanted me to experience the same beauty that she had often marveled at. I had driven through here a few days earlier and enjoyed the views as much as I could. On the way back, I decided that I would add to the experience by listening to an album I had recently discovered, Béla Fleck’s Ten from Little Worlds, a smaller sampling of his full 3-disc Little Worlds.
It was this moment that served as the inspiration for my creative thesis project. I was fascinated by the interplay between the music and the scenery around me; on top of appreciating the related moods that both facets evoked, it seemed at times as if certain transitions between sections and tracks in the album were mirrored by small changes or disruptions in the general scenery. While it was interesting enough to observe the natural similarities that seemed to exist simply by chance, I was eager to explore the idea of taking a specific stretch of scenery and composing a piece of music that complemented and interacted with it.