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A Historical And Theoretical Look At The Percussion Ensemble Work 'October Mountain' By Alan Hovhaness, Joe Willie Moore Iii

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

October Mountain (1942) is one of the standard early works written for the percussion ensemble. There has, however been little examination of the work theoretically. The primary focus of this document is to study the composer, Alan Hovhaness, the compositional structure of the piece, and to provide a guide for performance as well as a historical and theoretical reference for performers, conductors, and pedagogues in the field of percussion. My research included Hovhaness’s life, his compositional styles, and the influence of cultural identity on his compositions. This required the study of compositional techniques used by Hovhaness, particularly in his percussion …