Classical Music in America

Research on the state of classical and educational music in America shows declines and growth within its various disciplines. This article looks at what is called the good old days, concert attendance, and statistics of the musical arts from the 1970s to the present. The paper encompasses think tank organizations such as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, who brainstorm on the theme of change and opportunity in American education as well as society\u27s support of the arts. Presented are global issues, which compound the complexity of the situation, and American educators who survey the ecological change of classical music

The History of the Marimba

The author presents an international and historical history of one of the earliest melodic percussion instruments made by man. His research suggests the instrument was widespread throughout Asia and Africa, although many other regions claim it to have originated in their country. Known by many names and created from an endless array of materials, this paper reflects the marimbas evolution from the fourteenth century to present day. The writer’s research encompasses the marimbas social roles, musical functions, timbres and styles across many countries as well as its evolution into the twenty-first century

Classical Music in America

Research on the state of classical and educational music in America shows declines and growth within its various disciplines. This article looks at what is called the good old days, concert attendance, and statistics of the musical arts from the 1970s to the present. The paper encompasses think tank organizations such as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, who brainstorm on the theme of change and opportunity in American education as well as society\u27s support of the arts. Presented are global issues, which compound the complexity of the situation, and American educators who survey the ecological change of classical music

The Interpretation of Sousa

This article creates a recording anthology from four of John P. Sousa\u27s finest marches and includes The Washington Post, The Fairest of the Fair, Hands Across the Sea, and The Thunder. The titles were chosen because of their popularity as being the most recorded marches, and that they all have a common thread between them. Together, they create a unique collage of themes that when put together take on a new life. The author shows how all four compositions were assembled into a symphony titled Symphony on the Themes of Sousa written by Hollywood composer Ira Hearshen. Frederick Fennell recorded all of the works with the Tokyo Kosei Wind Ensemble of Japan October 18-19, 1995. A short list of other titles and recordings are also presented. They reflect the variety of ideas and interpretations on how a composer, conductor or ensemble can perform a single piece of music

The History of the Marimba

The author presents an international and historical history of one of the earliest melodic percussion instruments made by man. His research suggests the instrument was widespread throughout Asia and Africa, although many other regions claim it to have originated in their country. Known by many names and created from an endless array of materials, this paper reflects the marimbas evolution from the fourteenth century to present day. The writer’s research encompasses the marimbas social roles, musical functions, timbres and styles across many countries as well as its evolution into the twenty-first century

The Role of Music in Society Past, Present and Future

The author investigates the role of music in the United States from the nineteenth century forward, and how it transformed into new genres through global ideologies. The paper examines the development, social and functional roles in early American music education and envisions music’s future in an ever changing world. The article encompasses think tank organizations such as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters who have brainstormed on the theme of change and opportunity in America while asking: • Who are the existing audiences for classical music? • Who are untapped or potential audiences? • What do they need to feel welcome? • How can we deepen their appreciation of the arts? • How can our beloved art form flourish in an increasingly crowded cultural arena? These and many other questions are explored in an attempt to modernize the presentation of classical music to a wider contemporary audience. The article stimulates and provokes its readers into taking action by asking them to consider how they would engage audiences, each other, new media, schools and the community to promote the genre

Johann Sebastian Bach\u27s Wind/Brass Instruments and Scoring Techniques

Each time period has its own social, cultural and religious rules from which composers obey. Bach’s sacred and secular works walk a fine line and are hard to distinguish between, but each has been performed throughout the ages in a variety of settings. This paper investigates Bach’s: Ideologies and Scoring which include his petition of August 23, 1730, his Horn (Corno) and its many names and uses. The author details Bach’s trombone (s), how he use them and in what compositions they can be found as well as Bach’s trumpet (s), their various keys and uses including musical excerpts, ornaments and trills. This paper examines and defines what Bach would have considered to be his most important musical element and role, the art of numerical symbolism. Used by many Baroque composers, Bach used it in his fugal, cantata’s and chorale writing, which became an important part of his intellectual life. From his death bed, Bach conveyed his religious beliefs and final evangelist message through this element. Music Examples include: Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, from BWV 51, meas. 1 - 6, meas. 25 - 30 Ach, es bleibt in meiner Liebe, from BWV 77

In Search of the Wind-Band: An International Expedition

In Search of the Wind-Band: An International Expedition is a new 214 page book, exploring 16 countries. The 21st century musician and wind-band have had a long winding road. From rock & roll to jazz and classical music, this one-stop pedagogy source brings to life a detailed development of band history, its instrumentation, repertoire, function, social role, contest anomalies and industry products in all of its styles, genres and progeniture forms. Sixteen countries are explored from Europe through North and South America, providing the largest concise history (past, present and future) of instrumental bands published to date. In addition, railroad, industrial, prison, community, police, school, hospital, blind and Native American Indian bands are explored. Much of the material including the countries of Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Peru, and Russia is exclusive to this book and not published online or written about elsewhere. Chapters: 1. Overture: What Constitutes a Wind Band? - 2. Introduction to European History and Development - 3. Historical Homogeneous Wind-Bands - 4. American Wind Music - 5. Denmark Wind Music - 6. Finnish Wind Music - 7. Industry Wind Bands - 8. Ireland Wind Music - 9. Japanese Wind Music - 10. Mexican Wind Music - 11. Native American Indian Wind Music - 12. Penitentiary Wind Music - 13. Russian Wind Music - 14. Spanish Wind Music - 15-19. South American Wind Music (Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Peru) - 20. Strawberry or Bubblegum - 21. 20th Century American Wind-Band Timeline Sample readings of select chapters are available here.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/clmusic_bks/1002/thumbnail.jp

Polarized tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy at liquid He temperature in ultrahigh vacuum using an off-axis parabolic mirror

Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) combines inelastic light scattering well below the diffraction limit down to the nanometer range and scanning probe microscopy and, possibly, spectroscopy. In this way, topographic and spectroscopic as well as single- and two-particle information may simultaneously be collected. While single molecules can now be studied successfully, bulk solids are still not meaningfully accessible. It is the purpose of the work presented here to outline approaches toward this objective. We describe a home-built, liquid helium cooled, ultrahigh vacuum tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy system (LHe-UHV-TERS). The setup is based on a scanning tunneling microscope and, as an innovation, an off-axis parabolic mirror having a high numerical aperture of approximately $0.85$ and a large working distance. The system is equipped with a fast load-lock chamber, a chamber for the \textit{in situ} preparation of tips, substrates, and samples, and a TERS chamber. Base pressure and temperature in the TERS chamber were approximately $3\times 10^{-11}$~mbar and 15~K, respectively. Polarization dependent tip-enhanced Raman spectra of the vibration modes of carbon nanotubes were successfully acquired at cryogenic temperature. Enhancement factors in the range of $10^7$ were observed. The new features described here including very low pressure and temperature and the external access to the light polarizations, thus the selection rules, may pave the way towards the investigation of bulk and surface materials.Comment: 11pages,7figure

Extending the Dynamic Range of Microchannel Plate Detectors Using Charge-Integration-Based Counting

Microchannel plate (MCP) detectors provide a mechanism to produce a measureable current pulse (~0.1mA over several nanoseconds) when stimulated by a single incident particle or photon. Reductions of the device's amplification factor (i.e., gain) due to high incident particle flux can lead to significant degradation of detection system performance. Here we develop a parameterized model for the variation of MCP gain with incident flux. This model provides a framework with which to quantify the limits of high-flux MCP operation. We then compare the predictions of this model to laboratory measurements of an MCP's response to a pulsed charged particle beam. Finally, we demonstrate that through integration of the MCP output current in pulsed operation, effective count rates up to ~ 1 GHz can be achieved, more than an order of magnitude increase over conventional counting techniques used for spaceflight applications