Browsing by Author "Brown, Dr. Kellie"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Eight Melodies for Children
    (2021-04-16) Nickens, Michael; Thomas, Dr. Theodore; Brown, Dr. Kellie; Nickens, Michael; Brown, Kellie D.
    Before the development of written music notation, musicians transmitted both sacred and secular songs through an oral tradition. But even after a reliable notation system emerged, the practice of passing down songs in a less formal way persisted. A significant part of the sacred repertoire from ancient times to today involves the singing of scripture. This is an especially useful medium for teaching Bible stories and doctrine to children. My project consists of revising and transcribing a collection of children’s scripture songs collected by Milligan professor Dr. Ted Thomas so that they are useful and relevant for children's ministry today. This research project explores the challenges of transcribing orally transmitted songs into a standardized format, as well as the complexities of copyright law. In addition to preparing a written songbook for use in children’s ministry, this project includes the use of two of the tunes as the foundation for two newly composed works, one for piano and one for string quartet.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Planetary Music: The Depiction of the Cosmos in Concert and Film Repertoire
    (2024-04-24) Kavanaugh, Esther; Brown, Dr. Kellie
    Since ancient times, certain philosophers, scientists, and musicians have sought to unravel the mysterious relationship between music and the cosmos. This research paper presents a selected chronological survey of the relationship between music and celestial, interstellar, and otherworldly themes. It examines the many ways that composers depict these themes through their choices of instrumentation, harmonic structure, and symbolism. The Ancient Greeks explored a theory called musica mundana, which held that the mathematical relationship between celestial bodies such as the sun, moon, and stars could create harmony. During the Middle Ages, Boethius and Hildegard von Bingen also examined this theory and further expanded ideas about music, science, and the cosmos. Later, the experimental spirit of the Twentieth Century fostered an exponential growth in composers depicting celestial themes through music in new and unique ways. The Planets, a multi-movement programmatic work written between 1914-1917 by Gustav Holst, serves as a quintessential example of a musical work in the concert repertoire that draws direct inspiration from space. The popularity of science fiction films throughout the Twentieth Century also presented exciting opportunities for composers to create scores to accompany stories of strange encounters with extraterrestrial life and space exploration. The musical language of three films are examined in detail: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951); 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968); and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). The film score analysis demonstrates that music plays a crucial role in the storytelling of these films through use of unique instrumentation, chromatic and dissonant harmonic tension, and as metaphor.