https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5osMYze5138

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the novel SARS-CoV-2, otherwise referred to as COVID-19, to be an international pandemic. Ensuing health regulations around the world forced the cease of international traveling, reduced domestic travel, implemented mandatory stay-at-home orders and asked many to wear face masks in public areas. Students, workers, and many in the public sphere switched from in-person interactions to online platforms, operating remotely from their respective homes. The shift to virtual platforms has since greatly impacted arts programs and professions. Whereas the nature of music and art production rely upon the collaboration between people, often in the same room, the forced shift to virtual platforms created an upheaval for artists to re-imagine their work.

Though the transition from in-person to virtual collaboration seemed abrupt and unwanted, it opened up opportunities to create new projects that otherwise may not have happened. “Cross-Disciplinary Arts Collaboration on a Virtual Platform” took advantage of the ubiquitous shift to virtual collaboration of art disciplines. This project combined poetry, music, dance and visual art to create a unique piece that might not have been possible through strictly in-person collaboration. The goal of this project was to amplify the meaning and impact of music through the addition of words (poetry), movement (dance), and visuals (artwork).

Although many of the effects of the flute’s design and mechanisms have been previously studied, the flute’s stopper remains relatively unexplored. Stoppers are traditionally made of cork, are used to seal the upper end of the headjoint tubing, and determine the overall intonation of the flute. However, new stoppers made of different types of materials have been created to serve an additional purpose: to improve various aspects of player performance. These new non-cork stoppers vary in design and material, and claim to improve players’ projection, resonance, response, and other qualities.

This research project discusses the history of the flute’s stopper and its functions, usage, and effects to improve general stopper knowledge and assist flutists interested in trying or purchasing non-cork stoppers available today. Because only three small studies have been published on the stopper’s acoustic and perceived effects to date, two single-blind experiments were conducted to determine the stoppers’ potential acoustic and perceived effects on listener and player perception. Five of the most popular stoppers available today were tested: the Bigio Stopper, Celestine Rexonator, Seidman Flute Stopper Plug, Swap-Stopper, and the traditional cork stopper.

To determine the stopper’s acoustic effects, which can be quantified, an acoustic experiment was conducted to investigate the stoppers’ effect on intensity in decibels (which correlates with perceived loudness) and spectral centroid in hertz (which correlates with perceived tonal brightness). Perception tests were conducted to examine how both players and listeners perceive the stoppers’ effects on projection, response, tone quality, and timbre. The results of these experiments will help flutists better understand the effects of the stopper and navigate the stopper-makers’ claims about non-cork stoppers available for purchase today.

ABSTRACT

The bassoon has the ability to play in varying styles across multiple genres with repertoire spanning from the early Baroque era to the present day. Popular and frequently played pieces for the bassoon, such as concerti by Vivaldi, Mozart, and Weber, are frequently performed in recital, yet the rich musical tradition and repertory of Romanian folk music is seldom performed in the recital hall. The main reason for the shortcoming of this style of music in the bassoon repertoire can be attributed to the sheer lack of prominent composers writing original works for the bassoon in Romania compared to Western Europe.

The purpose of this project is to add Romanian folk music to the bassoon repertoire by arranging and recording three pieces for bassoon and piano: Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 in A Major and Romanian Rhapsody No. 2 in D Major by George Enescu and the six-movement work Romanian Folk Dances by Béla Bartók.

Included in this project is a section covering historical information on the arranged compositions, procedures of the transcription that explain the reasoning to alterations and adjustments from the original score are also incorporated in this document. Lastly, the transcribed scores and recordings of the arrangements are included in this document.

The first women who performed in orchestral settings were harpists who were substitute or extra players specifically hired for works requiring harp, such as Gustav Mahler’s symphonies or Maurice Ravel’s La Valse (c. 1919). It was not until flutist Doriot Anthony Dwyer won the principal flute position in the BSO in 1952 that a woman was hired as a principal player of a major US orchestra. Following Dwyer’s lead, more women slowly earned their acceptance in professional orchestras. Focusing on the time period 1920-1950, three of the first pioneers who gained acceptance into American orchestras and were the first female orchestral players were flutists Doriot Anthony Dwyer, Lois Schaefer, and Frances Blaisdell. These women lived extraordinary lives and have inspired many generations of female flutists to continue in their footsteps pursuing their own orchestral and professional solo careers. One significant factor for the eventual increase of female musicians in the modern orchestra was the establishment of blind auditions. A blind audition is where a player performs behind a screen for an audition committee to preserve anonymity. Screens can be made of heavy cloth or a room divider that separates the player from the panel of orchestra members critiquing potential hires. This can often include the music director and other musicians. The screen conceals each player’s identity and allows the panel to focus their listening on how a candidate actually sounds versus how they may look and act while playing. Limiting stimuli to aural perception would help to mitigate bias or prejudice against race, gender, or age through the audition process.

This paper is the culmination of my creative project for graduation from Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. The creative portion of the project consisted of researching Québécois (or French-Canadian) composers and specifically finding music for flute and piano. I wished to find pieces that could prove valuable in expanding the standard flute repertoire. My goal with this project was to shed light on some fairly unknown and certainly under-played pieces for flute and piano by French-Canadian composers and learn those pieces for my senior recital on March 2, 2020. This summary of the research experience and the process of recital preparation is intended to be a guide for flutists who may work on these pieces in the future and musicians on any instrument who take on a similar project of introducing new pieces to their instrument’s existing repertory.