2021 CCA Mentored Research Projects

---

In this creative work, I wanted to involve myself in the Black Lives Matter movement and perform a creative interpretation of the feelings I embrace. The protests and speeches and other creative works done by the community like music, art, design and dance has shown how they view the issues that pertain to racism. With all the hidden history of black Americans during slavery, segregation, and heinous crimes against people with dark skin, is hard to process. Taking it all in can give the longing question, Why? Taking a stand together can end racism in this country and form a type of unification that we have never seen before. I was grateful to be a part of the marches and protests amongst COVID in summer 2020. This community has come together to make sure we are noticed in accordance to Black Lives Matter. This is how I wanted to display my voice in the movement in my peaceful protest called "Enough."

Watch Taylor's Project Introduction and Performance, "Enough" (YouTube)

Supporting content: Mentor's Statement (PDF)

“What does an anthem for the 21st Century sound like in today’s multicultural environment?” Jessie Montgomery’s Banner, a work written for solo string quartet and string orchestra, was commissioned by the Sphinx Organization as a tribute for the 200th anniversary of the National Anthem of the United States. Banner includes many tunes from different cultural backgrounds such as National Anthems and folk songs. This music portrays how each culture continues to embrace their own roots while enriching the American cultural landscape. The performance of the piece creates the perfect scenario where all cultures interact exalting the values of liberty and justice for all. This work was performed for the very first time on campus in February 2021. The creative process encountered many challenges for the quartet. These challenges include the acoustical issues related to the COVID-19 protocols (the spacing of six feet) and difficulties with the contemporary style of compositional writing. The Montani Quartet worked with the West Virginia University Symphony Orchestra (WVUSO) for this concert. With the help of the WVUSO conductor, Dr. Mitchell Arnold, and our chamber coach, Dr. Erin Ellis, the ensemble was able to reach our performance goals: collaboration and communication. This performance was also the representation of Montani’s own reality: a multicultural ensemble with members from three different countries working together to find their own voice while communicating the composer’s message.

Watch The Montani Quartet's Project Introduction (YouTube)

Supporting Content: Mentor's Statement (PDF) | Symphony Orchestra Concert Recording (YouTube)

---

All that persists of Goldmark’s output in the repertoire today is his A minor violin concerto. Both performers and critics have often made overarching statements about this concerto, which hasn’t recently enjoyed the popularity of some of its romantic cousins. This has allowed such statements to go broadly unexamined. Phillip Huscher, in program notes for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, invokes Goldmark’s love for Mendelssohn. The liner notes for Vera Tsu’s 1996 Naxos release claim that this work is a “development of the musical language of Mendelssohn,” suggestive of his “idiom,” and that it exists “firmly in [Mendelssohn’s] tradition.” Mendelssohn certainly was a titanic cultural figure during the formative years of Goldmark's career, however, study of Goldmark’s concerto and memoir indicates less of a great Mendelssohnian influence and more of a wide-ranging network of inspirations in the compositional process. Despite the presence of Mendelssohn-like “turns of phrase,” similar key area/figuration combinations, even quotes, these are present from various sources, and the alleged Mendelssohnian characteristics appear in arguably less convincing ways than the influences of composers whom Goldmark knew, worked with, and admired. Among them, Liszt, Brahms, and Wagner. With such a thick layer of attribution looming over Goldmark in the public consciousness, the task at hand is to elucidate his influences, and not expect that the listener distinguish such influence by “private intuitions, but from a study of [the] musical imagery.” We must examine the “expressive vocabulary” used by Goldmark and seek out the origin of its several contents.

Watch Nathanial's Project Introduction (YouTube)

Supporting Content: Mentor's Statement (PDF) | Read "Goldmark, Passim" (PDF) | Watch "Goldmark, Passim" Performance (YouTube)

---

The primary focus of my research was an exploration of the material of concrete as a sculptural medium. My first use of concrete was primarily utilitarian, using it as a base for a sculpture. This first experiment piqued my curiosity and led me to pursue the material further. I became interested in concrete for its color, texture, weight, and versatility, as well as the associations with its traditional uses in construction and urban development. Throughout my experimentation, I discovered more reasons to appreciate concrete as a medium. I found that I particularly enjoyed the process of removing the molds from the cast concrete. It was such an act of discovery to take apart, tear, or break away the form from around the concrete to see what had resulted inside. I was often shocked at the detail and sheen that was left on the surface of the concrete. In other instances, the concrete would crumble, crack, or have holes from trapped air. Either result I found interesting. The concrete was simply acting as itself, with the effects of any variables in the production process, allowing the imperfections and anomalies to happen. From there, I took the resulting pieces of concrete, simple blocks, casts of consumable products, experiments in texture, and I considered their formal qualities, their surfaces, and possible societal associations, and I responded by combining and arranging the pieces into various sculptural works that reflect or complement their individual attributes.

Images: Larder, Larder, Stack, Intersection

Watch Molly's Project Introduction (YouTube)

Supporting Content: Mentor's Statement (PDF)

---

During the Italian Renaissance, courtesans used their musical talents to attract wealthy and powerful men to whom they functioned as escorts. Though little is known about her life and work, this presentation shows how Barbara Salutati, unlike other courtesans of her time, used her musical talents to her advantage by inspiring the creative output and everyday life of one of her most famous patrons, Niccolò Machiavelli. Public performances were not common for women during the Renaissance, but Salutati still took the stage often and under Machiavelli’s direction. But though courtesans like Salutati and a public figure like Machiavelli often had reputations that marked them as deceitful, immoral, and dangerous, these individuals curated their public images to be an antidote to such deceitful ills. To create an acceptable image for Salutati in the public eye, Machiavelli, and a commissioned artist, Domenico Puligo, blended aspects of Salutati’s career and appearance with the most visible markers of Christianity – even going so far as to compare her to Christianity’s most idealized woman, the Virgin Mary. This transformation was enacted within the framework of Machiavelli’s own views on religion in society: while he saw religion as a man-made system of beliefs, he found the moral behaviors encouraged by religion to be necessary elements of a well-ordered society. This project reveals how Salutati’s social and musical image, as the product of a collaborative creation between a courtesan and her high-profile client, both conformed to and challenged the narrative of the Italian Renaissance courtesan.

Watch Micah's Project Introduction (YouTube)

Supporting Content:

Ri Ra: An Album of Flute Works Combining Western Classical and Middle Eastern Aesthetics

by Dustin White, MM, School of Music

Faculty Mentor: Nina Assimakopoulos

Recording, June 16, 2020 - February 26, 2021

Virtual performances of three of the seven works (including one world premiere) have occurred during live-streamed WVU flute studio recitals in the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters. However, none of the recordings appearing on the album have been presented yet due to contractual agreements between the composers, record label, and artist and the fact that the album is in post-production at the time of this application.

Abstract

Suite of New American Dances: I. Landy

by Anthony Panebianco, MM, School of Music

Faculty Mentor: Yu-Chun Chien

Research/Composition, September 2020 - March 2021

Abstract

The Memorization, Preparation, and Performance of Piano Music: Cognitive Foundations and Current Neuro-Music Research

by Amy Simpson, DMA, School of Music

Faculty Mentor: Peter Amstutz

Research Paper, May 1, 2020 - February 23, 2021

Abstract