V
Gentry, Dr. David Gresham, Dr. Angelo Favis, and Dr. Paul Nolen for learning and
performing the Libby Larsen repertoire with me. Thank you also to Christine Kubiak in
the Illinois State University library for her assistance with my research and for giving me
“special” library privileges.
I would like to thank pianist Charles Tauber for his willingness and interest in
collaborating and learning new works with me (including two in this study) during my
time at Rice. Thank you also to my former teacher at The Cleveland Institute of Music,
Jeffrey Irvine for being such an influential and inspiring pedagogue, and for believing in
and supporting my career.
There are several people who helped me in the preparation stages of this
document. First and foremost, thank you to my dear friend and colleague Dr. Daphne
Gerling for her help with the Cajun folk song translations. Her support, encouragement,
and ability to relate to this process have been invaluable, and her willingness to read
sections of this paper in its early stages provided me with the confidence to continue.
Thank you also to Jeffrey Van for answering my questions about Larsen’s guitar music
via email and to Robert Levine for discussing Black Roller with me via telephone. I
appreciate all of the assistance and attention to detail from Shannon Schultze who
transcribed my interviews and prepared the musical examples.
As I completed the final stages of this degree while working in Illinois, I have
been extremely grateful to my wonderful friends in Houston including Meredith Harris,
Chrissy Kim, Raines Taylor, Lizzy Charles, Marissa Winship and Craig Hauschildt for
welcoming me back, ensuring I had a place to stay (even after the hurricane!) and being
such great hosts. Thank you also to my best friend in Illinois, Rachel Epley for giving me