Date of Award

Spring 5-2018

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

Department

Music

Committee Chair

Catherine A. Rand

Committee Chair Department

Music

Committee Member 2

Joseph L. Brumbeloe

Committee Member 2 Department

Music

Committee Member 3

Jay Dean

Committee Member 3 Department

Music

Committee Member 4

Edward M. Hafer

Committee Member 4 Department

Music

Committee Member 5

James E. Standland

Committee Member 5 Department

Music

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to provide a conductor’s guide of the highest quality high school, collegiate, and professional Christian wind band literature readily available to those wind band conductors desiring to perform such works. Before this study, wind band conductors who wished to program sacred works did not have a convenient way to find such works, nor obtain pertinent information about them. The National Band Association Selective Music List was used as the source for all of the works in this conductor’s guide to help ensure the quality of the literature included; the list contains works of Grades 1-6, however, only Grades 4-5 were included in this study. Directors who are looking for quality Christian wind band literature, pertinent information on works, and program notes, will find this study extremely valuable.

The National Band Association Selective Music List contains 379 Grade 4 and 492 Grade 5 works. After listing all of the works that appear to be sacred by title and gathering additional information from online resources, publishers, distributors, and composer websites regarding works not initially included, a master database of Christian wind band works was formed. All the scores on this initial list were secured and studied by the researcher to determine if they indeed were based on a Christian melody or have a Christian theme as their inspiration. After following these steps, the final list of sacred wind band works included 38 Grade 4 and 23 Grade 5 works. The pieces were arranged alphabetically by Grade level. The following data was provided for each work: Title, composer, arranger, publisher, date of composition, length of work, instrumentation, sacred information including how the work is defined as Christian, and conducting considerations to aid the conductor in making an informed decision whether or not to program a work for his or her ensemble.

Recommendations for further research includes an expansion of this project to include Grades 1-3 and 6. This would bring the benefits of this research to bands of all performance levels. Additionally the researcher suggests the creation of a topical index that coincides with the major themes and events of the church year, and perhaps devotional materials to aid the conductor in communicating the sacred stories that inspired these works. In the future, as new Christian wind band works are included in the National Band Association Selective Music List, subsequent editions of these projects could be released perhaps every 3-5 years.

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