Junior Recital:Edward Corpus, Bass Benjamin Blozan, Piano

Kemp Recital Hall Sunday Noon April 20, 1997 12:00p.m

Senior Recital:Jerry Myers, Baritone Benjamin Blozan, Piano

Kemp Recital Hall Saturday Evening April 26 1997 6:30p.m

Faculty Recital: Kathleen Randles, Mezzo-Soprano Benjamin Blozan, Piano

Kemp Recital Hall Tuesday Evening November 14, 1995 8:00p.m

Herbert Howells’ A garland for De la Mare twelve songs for voice and piano: contexts for performance

Because British composer Herbert Howells (1892-1983) decided in mid-career to concentrate his creative energies upon Anglican liturgical music, his many notable contributions to secular genres are often overlooked. This is certainly the case for A Garland for de la Mare, a collection of twelve songs for voice and piano on poems by Howells' longtime friend Walter de la Mare (1873-1956), a work nearly unknown in the United States. Its posthumous publication in 1995 also contributed to its failure to enter the art song canon. The neglect suffered by this commemorative work--held in high esteem by all writers who have assessed it--is unfortunate and unwarranted. Howells and de la Mare are both ubiquitously regarded as master craftsmen in their respective disciplines. Additionally, they share a remarkable compatibility between musical and poetic languages which is vividly highlighted in the songs in Garland. The set gains additional significance by containing the only songs Howells worked on past 1934. Though early versions of several of the songs first appeared in 1919, the bulk of Howells' effort occurred much later in the mid-50s (surrounding de la Mare's death) and in the years leading up to the centenary of the poet's birth in 1973. As such, they display a confidence and economy indicative of a composer fully in possession of his creative voice. This study aims to combat Garland's obscurity by inspiring interest in informed performances of the songs therein. It begins with biographical sketches of Howells and de la Mare, situating both men with regard to their contemporaries and surrounding artistic movements. The subsequent chapter views Garland from four aspects: 1) a history of the set's complex and lengthy gestation, cross-referencing various sources to fill in the gaps found in each existing account and to resolve several inaccuracies; 2) an orientation to the poetry chosen for the set; 3) a summary of Garland's main musical features which draws attention to three key components of Howells' compositional language--Tudor-style polyphony, an evocative harmonic language often associated with impressionism, and the incorporation of native folk elements; and 4) suggested ways in which the songs might be used by voice teachers and recitalists. The document culminates in detailed discussions of each song. These discussions delve deeper into de la Mare's lyrics and highlight the musical means through which Howells conveys his refined understanding thereof. The theme of the "collective genius" formed by these two creative minds runs throughout this section. Though some the terminology encountered necessitates a musical education on the part of the reader, this reference source is aimed primarily at performers and avoids analysis of an exceedingly theoretical nature. A song collection of this artistic merit, evincing a rare level of craft and aesthetic compatibility between poet and composer deserves to be better known. This study presents a comprehensive and approachable guide to this work which intends to encourage its performance and secure its place in the body of mainstream vocal repertoire

A long-term perspective on a modern drought in the American Southeast

The depth of the 2006-9 drought in the humid, southeastern US left several metropolitan areas with only a 60-120 day water supply. To put the region's recent drought variability in a long-term perspective, a dense and diverse tree-ring network—including the first records throughout the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint river basin—is used to reconstruct drought from 1665 to 2010 CE. The network accounts for up to 58.1% of the annual variance in warm-season drought during the 20th century and captures wet eras during the middle to late 20th century. The reconstruction shows that the recent droughts are not unprecedented over the last 346 years. Indeed, droughts of extended duration occurred more frequently between 1696 and 1820. Our results indicate that the era in which local and state water supply decisions were developed and the period of instrumental data upon which it is based are amongst the wettest since at least 1665. Given continued growth and subsequent industrial, agricultural and metropolitan demand throughout the southeast, insights from paleohydroclimate records suggest that the threat of water-related conflict in the region has potential to grow more intense in the decades to come

A novel framework to study the effect of tree architectural traits on stemflow yield and its consequences for soil-water dynamics

International audienceA novel experimental approach and numerical framework are proposed to study the effect of tree architectural traits on stemflow yield and its effects on soil-water dynamics. The framework includes a data mining workflowemploying information from two experimental steps: (i) evaluation of the effect of tree aboveground architecture on stemflow yield and (ii) quantification of specific parameters for soil-water dynamics with and withoutstemflow. We studied double-funnelling (stemflow and root-induced preferential flow) under three sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.) trees growing on a slope in Scotland during the summer season and measured architecturaltraits. Stemflow yield ranged from 1.3 to 3.8% of the incident rainfall, with funnelling ratios of between 2.2 ± 2.1 and 5.2 ± 3.9. Double-funnelling to a depth of up to 400 mm beneath the soil surface occurred as matrix flow and was significantly and positively correlated with the vertical root distribution. Soil-water dynamics were distinctly different with and without stemflow. Our framework revealed that the number of tree branches, their insertion angle, leaf number, and stem basal diameter influenced stemflow yield within rainfall thresholds of 1.1 and 3.5 mm d-1. The framework also showed that stemflow yield had a negative impact on soil matric suction, while air temperature was the most influential covariate affecting soil-water dynamics, likely due to its strong correlation to evapotranspiration during the summer season. In spite of the study limitations, such as small sample size and differences between individuals, we show that the proposed framework and experimental approach can contribute to our knowledge of how stemflow generated aboveground triggers major responses in soil-water dynamics belowgroun