Document Type

Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Spring 2026

Degree Name

Master of Music (MM)

Department

Music

Committee Chair

Dr. T. André Feagin

Second Committee Member

Dr. Mark Samples

Third Committee Member

Dr. Jiyoun Chung

Abstract

The wind band repertoire has long been subject to rigorous scrutiny regarding its artistic legitimacy, and scholars have invested considerable effort in developing frameworks through which that legitimacy can be assessed. The most enduring of these is Acton Ostling's ten criteria of serious artistic merit, formulated in 1978 and tested across nearly half a century of subsequent scholarship. This thesis argues that JaRod Hall's Golden Horizons (2024) satisfies those criteria, through a close analysis of a single contemporary work, and what it reveals about the framework's continued analytical utility.

The methodology combines a review of the scholarship surrounding Ostling's framework, including the replications by Gilbert (1993) and Towner (2011) and the recent critiques by Umar (2017) and Frost (2024); a close analysis of Golden Horizons examining its form, harmonic architecture, motivic construction, and orchestration; and conversations with the composer, whose account of his intentions informs the analysis.

The analysis finds that Golden Horizons satisfies all ten of Ostling's criteria. Additionally, this thesis concludes that Ostling's framework remains analytically valid for evaluating contemporary wind band repertoire, and that Golden Horizons itself merits serious attention as a contribution to the contemporary wind band repertoire.

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