The tuba-euphonium ensemble has exponentially grown as a pedagogical ensemble in collegiate studio environments. Since both the instruments and the ensemble itself are relatively nascent, many composers do not know how to write for this ensemble. Synthesizing the German musical concepts of Klangvorstellung (sound concept) and Klangfarben (sound color) alongside orchestration research such as that of Kennan and Grantham and Beauregard, this research creates a guide for how to arrange for tuba-euphonium ensembles of various sizes and configurations.

Son clave timeline rhythms are ubiquitous in video game music. The use of the tresillo and double tresillo rhythms in video game combat music are extensively documented. However, the milonga rhythm is also used in video game combat music. The milonga rhythm in particular has an historic relationship with political dissent and social combativeness. As a result, cultured listeners can subconsciously associate these rhythms with Hispanic machismo culture, aurally depicting the musical passage as combative. This project ultimately proposes a new hermeneutic lens through which to contextualize the use of these rhythms.

Schmalfeldt’s seminal 1985 research, which pioneered the Performance and Analysis sub-discipline, depicts a thoughtful dialogue between the roles of the performer and the role of the analyst. However, her research primarily accounts for a solo pianist as performer. This further research synthesizes other research from other performance and analysis researchers such as Imbrie, LeGuin, and Leong. Ultimately, this research explores the roles of the wind-instrumentalist performer and exploring the relationship of performer-performer agency (as in chamber music).

Grandin’s research revisits the learning styles discussion as theorized by Pashler et al. This research builds on Grandin’s research and posits a correlation between her concept of “visual learners” and classically-trained musicians. This research explores pedagogical tools and tricks for incorporating visualization-based learning into the music theory classroom.

This research analyzes the music of Maria Szymanowska, Frederic Chopin’s oft-uncredited Polish predecessor, and her use of chromatic harmony as a narrative device and to foreshadow the popular use of the Germanic notion of Innigkeit in (late) Romantic music.

This research analyzes the music of the video game "Stray Gods” through semiotic lenses of Orientalism and the use of ♭2̂ as a sonic signal of hotness in post-millennial pop music. Together, these semiotic lenses reveal a musically stereotypical depiction of Medusa, the serpent-headed Gorgon in Greek mythology.

This research is a Schenkerian analysis of Dream Theater’s “Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On” from their concept album “Metropolis Part 2: Scenes from a Memory" (hereafter SFAM). A voice leading reduction reveals that the song is in D major — the primary tonic key of the album — but twice fails to descend down to 1̂, subverting the tonic arrival by a leap up to 5̂. This melodic subversion is a text-expressive device with significant implications of narrative in the plot of SFAM.