Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue: The Co-Evolution of Popular and Art Music in the United States during World War II

World War II was a watershed event in twentieth century American history. All aspects of life, including music, both found roles to play in the war effort and were forever altered by the conflict. Past work on the subject of American music in World War II tends to focus heavily on the nature and impact of popular music during this time period. While this paper will review and build upon this scholarship, art music during the war will also be considered. Using two distinctly different, yet complementary, autobiographies – those of army band musician Frank Mathias and composer Gunther Schuller – the functions and impacts of both popular and art music on the American war effort will be analyzed and compared. Their stories will then be contextualized within the larger narrative of twentieth century American music, showcasing how World War II – through the increased influence of jazz – shaped the evolution of both popular and art music in the United States during the early 1940s

European Jazz: A Comparative Investigation into the Reception and Impact of Jazz in Interwar Paris and the Weimar Republic

Both Paris and the Weimar Republic were fascinated with American jazz in the interwar period. Because of jazz\u27s connection to African American culture, this fascination is linked with the themes of identity and race relations. This work will demonstrate that interwar Parisians were not always receptive of African Americans that played jazz, and that the citizens of the Weimar Republic were more aware of and interested in the African American culture that permeated jazz in the 1920s and 30s

Reexamining the Effects of Ratio Simplicity and Familiarity on Abstract Pattern Learning in Dyad Sequences

In this study, we conceptually replicated two experiments by Crespo-Bojorque and Toro (2016; Experiments 4a & 5a) in an attempt to corroborate their finding of improved performance in abstract pattern learning within sequences of conventionally consonant versus dissonant dyads. In addition, to determine whether the processing advantages for consonance that they reported were due to the ratio simplicity or the familiarity of the stimuli, we added a condition in which participants were either presented with unconventionally tuned small versus large integer-ratio dyads. Results failed to replicate Crespo-Bojorque and Toro’s (2016) original findings: Neither conventionally consonant nor unconventionally tuned small integer-ratio dyads conferred any advantage in pattern learning or generalization. However, in a post hoc analysis using a subsample of participants with no music training, there was evidence that initial pattern learning was more efficient when the patterns were embedded within familiar as opposed to unconventionally tuned dyads. This is consistent with Crespo-Bojorque and Toro’s (2016) proposition that interval familiarity may bolster abstract pattern detection. Discussion centers on the need for additional research on the impact of consonance on pattern learning, highlighting the importance of adjudicating between the effects of ratio simplicity and enculturation