Date of Award

Spring 5-2014

Degree Type

Honors College Thesis

Department

Music

First Advisor

Mohamad Schuman, Jr.

Advisor Department

Music

Abstract

Since Lowell Mason introduced the idea of modern day music education, music specialists like Dr. Acton Ostling, Jr. and Dr. Frank Battisti have aided in the evolution of music education to meet the needs of our ever-changing society. Dr. Ostling and Dr. Battisti published ground breaking research regarding selection of wind band repertoire that included a list of research-based guidelines such as choosing music that has clear melodic content, contrasting rhythms, and contrasting tonal textures, among other specifications. This study focuses on the prior research conducted by Dr. Ostling and Dr. Battisti. A survey consisting of a series of questions and statements derived from the information found in Ostling’s and Battisti’s publications was sent out to randomly selected band directors in the Mississippi Public School System and Past Presidents of the American Bandmasters Association. The survey inquired about the band directors’ opinions on how to select performance repertoire for their ensembles’ concert festival evaluation in four main categories: musical demographics (composer, time period, etc.), outside influence on programming decisions (opinions of others), educational factors of music, and aesthetic values of program selections. The band directors’ survey responses were then related to past festival ratings they have received to determine if a correlational relationship exists. As a result, this study provides information pertinent to band directors’ repertoire selection processes in regards to criteria that should be considered when searching for literature that their ensembles will perform at concert festival evaluation.

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