A Study on The Acoustical Foundations of Music by John Backus

For this project, the book, The Acoustical Foundations of Music, by John Backus, was read and studied. The purpose of reading this book was twofold. The first was to gain a better understanding of how musical sounds are produced and transmitted to the listener. The second purpose was to decide whether or not this book would be suitable to use as a textbook in a course dealing with acoustics as it applies to music. Since it would be impractical to discus in the bounds of this paper, all that was learned concerning the subject of acoustics, the topic of discussion will center on how the material was presented and the suitability of the text for a classroom situation

The Recorder

The musical instrument known as the recorder has been used since ancient times. During the earlier periods of music history, the recorder was considered to be as important an instrument as any other, although today it is played mainly as a hobby. Most of the information gathered together in this paper concerning the recorder is the opinion of certain authors and that acquired from my own observations. It is not known how much is based on fact and how much is opinion

Connie Terry and Sally McCarty in a Joint Junior Recital

This is the program of the joint junior recital of pianist Connie Terry and organist Sally McCarty. The recital took place on October 20, 1972

Sally McCarty and Sheila Stephan in a Joint Senior Recital

This is the program for the joint senior recital of organist Sally McCarty and flutist Sheila Stephan. Rick Vasey assisted McCarty; Cannon Lamont assisted Stephan. The recital took place in Mitchell Hall Auditorium on November 13, 1973

Béla Bartók: The Uncompromising Hungarian

Years before the earliest recorded compositions by professional musicians, the common people sang, danced, and chanted lullabies, work songs, and prayers to their gods. Gradually, professional musicians and art music developed, and a distinction grew up between art music and folk music. The theory was that everything good and beautiful came from the gifted few and never from the common crowd. It never struck anyone as odd that those who expressed contempt of the people and all their works, continued to borrow all the best productions of the people, such as its finest folk melodies, dance rhythms, scales, and instruments. It has only been in the last few years that we have been able to get and accurate picture of what real folk music is. Much that has passed for folk was in reality a smoothed-out and ornamented version of the real thing. In the past few decades, some of the world\u27s finest musicians have gone into the remoter areas of their countries and have found a wealth of folk music, which is different from anything every heard from those countries, and much more beautiful. Béla Bartók, a Hungarian, is one musician who has done extensive folk music research in his own and neighboring countries. As one of the world\u27s most knowledgable ethnomusicologists, Bartók is known internationally for his researches in folk music. He is considered to be a nationalistic composer in every sense of the word. The sound, rhythms, and scales of Hungarian folk music became so much a part of him that he began to think in those terms. In the following discussion, it is shown how Bartók first became aware of this folk music, and how he used in in his compositions