Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Indomitable Basque: An Orchestral Work In Three Movements Inspired By The Basque Whalers Of Labrador Of The Sixteenth Century, Aiden Hartery

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Indomitable Basque is an orchestral tone poem depicting the early activities of the Basque whalers who came to the coast of Labrador during the sixteenth century. The piece specifically focuses on the interactions of an individual, Juan Martínez de Larrume, who overwintered in Red Bay, Labrador, with his crew between 1576 and 1577. The music creates soundscapes which portrays the men sailing, constructing their semi-permanent camp, hunting, and living through a Labrador winter. The piece also features three traditional Basque instruments (the txistu, the alboka, and the txalaparta). Throughout the composition, unique melodies and harmonies were created by incorporating …

Concerto For Piano Duet, Edgar R. Suski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My Concerto for Piano Duet (ca. 23 minute duration) was born out of my passion for the concerto medium and my love of piano performance. It is composed in eleven miniature movements, joined thematically by use of the 0-3-4 motive. In addition to the solo piano duettists, a number of movements include obligato soloists from various sections of the orchestra. My musical aesthetic in this composition features expressive melodies and horizontal/linear writing with a predilection for harmonic outcomes resulting from independent lines in counterpoint with each other. I chose the piano duet instead of piano solo due to lack of …

The Maker - A Multi-Media Opera In Two Acts, Aaron Lee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Maker is an electro-acoustic and multi-media opera in two acts that seeks to expand upon the use of pre-recorded audio and video in the operatic genre as well as explores musical representations of classical Greek dramatic elements in the context of a re-imagining of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Based on a libretto by Dr. Monika Lee, The Maker utilizes a harmonic system focused on managing common-tones to reinforce and augment dramatic tension. Additionally, The Maker uses concepts from classical Greek tragedies as the foundation of musical materials. In particular, it explores how the use of recurring musical motifs can be …

Transference Music: For Electric Guitar Soloist And Amplified Orchestra, Andrew Noseworthy

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Transference Music: for Electric Guitar Soloist and Amplified Orchestra is a concertante work with an approximate duration of 25 minutes. The work is inspired by my experiences as a composer-electric guitarist. Its musical parameters are constructed via the act transferring those experiences between the typically separate designations of ‘performer’ and ‘composer.’ These experiences involve aspects of style and genre, electric guitar-specific performance gestures and various timbral or textural ideas, as well as concepts of electronic sound production. These experiences are then used as the basis for the work’s form, motivic relationships and orchestration. As the electric guitar is somewhat of …

Modernizing And Diversifying Western's Audio Engineering Curriculum: First Stage, Kyle Haddad

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

This was the first stage in a much larger study designed to update the audio engineering curriculum at Western University, to reflect modern trends and to diversify beyond the UK 1970s prog rock bias of traditional curriculum. An undergraduate student was hired from within the Popular Music Studies program here at Western University to work in the studio for the summer, and to provide recommendations for change in studio design at the end fo the summer based on that work. The student worked on his own material, and engineered record sessions for a PhD candidate currently at work on a …

The Tale Of Rowan O'Shera (A Musical Drama), Emma T.L. Verdonk

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Tale of Rowan O’Shera is a musical drama for solo violin, chamber ensemble (percussion, harp, classical guitar, viola, cello, double bass), choir (including solo alto and solo tenor), and sound files. The libretto was written by the composer with the exception of the text in Angus Dei (Movement 7), which uses the traditional Latin text. This drama is divided into eight movements with each being a different step on the journey of the main character, Rowan O’Shera, who is represented by the solo violin. The narrative follows Rowan as he leaves his hometown of Dunlea (a fictional town invented …

Music For Self-Attention, Jeffrey A T Lupker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Creating an artificial intelligence aid for music composers requires a practical and modular approach that allows the composer to manipulate the technology as needed in the search for new sounds and ideas. Many existing approaches fail to capture the interest of composers as they are limited beyond their demonstrative purposes or allow minimal interaction with the composer. Score-Transformer (ST) demonstrates a practical integration of artificial intelligence to aid in the creation of new music by working seamlessly alongside any popular notation software. Furthermore, ST can be trained by the user with additional works (including their own compositions), fine-tuning it and …

Waves Of Lament, Kennedy Kimber-Johnson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Waves of Lament is a five movement cycle for solo organ with a duration of 23 minutes. This cycle is a reflection of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through its five movements, this work aims to depict the different chapters of life during a global pandemic. Waves of Lament, utilizes the sounds of the organ to explore various extra-musical themes from the pandemic. The first movement explores panic and anxiety, the second looks at isolation, and the third movement explores themes of rest and reflection. The fourth movements deals with the massive amount of loss we have all experienced throughout the …

Coloquio Entre Dos Perros, Comic Chamber Opera In Nine Scenes, Sandra Rocio Fuya-Duenas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Coloquio entre dos Perros (Dialogue between two Dogs) is a comic chamber opera for four solo voices (one mezzo-soprano, one tenor and two baritones) and mixed ensemble (oboe, viola, guitar and percussion). The libretto, written in modern American Spanish, is based on the novel by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra entitled Coloquio que pasó entre Cipión y Berganza, perros del Hospital de la Resurrección, que está en la ciudad de Valladolid fuera de la puerta del campo, a quien comúnmente llaman los perros de Mahudes. The opera is divided into nine scenes, which relate the stories from the life of …

Analysis Of The Preludium Of The Rosary Sonata No. 1 In D Minor For Violin And Basso Continuo The Annunciation By H. I. F. Von Biber: An Angelic Dialogue, Frangel Lopez Cesena

Music Research and Composition Works

When I was preparing my final undergraduate recital at the Escuela Superior de Música del Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in la Ciudad de México I was asked to add a baroque piece to my repertoire. My violin teacher, Maestro Cuauhtémoc Rivera Guzmán suggested that I look at the work of a unique Bohemian- Austrian composer, Biber. I started my research and found the Rosary Sonatas. They captured my attention not because of their rare tuning, beautiful copper engravings of the original, and unique copy of the manuscript, but for their representational clarity, something I noticed and experienced upon first …

Dreamvision Songbook: Five Songs For Mixed Ensemble, Maxwell R. Lucas Mr.

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The DREAMVISION SONGBOOK is a musical dream vision: a cycle of allegorical songs for mixed ensemble (three sopranos, guitar, violin, double bass and percussion). The text for the work consists of five original English poems written by the composer. The poems take the characteristics of the medieval rondeau, virelai and ballade as a formal departure point. The five poems depict a series of episodes that weave together a dream vision; a pilgrimage in which the dreamer encounters imagery of environmental collapse, death, decay and catastrophe, but also symbols of hope and repair.

Prufrock: A Monodrama For Baritone And Electronics, Daniel Gardner

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Prufrock is a musical dramatization of T.S. Eliot’s, The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock for solo baritone and electronics; a full performance of the work should take approximately forty (40) minutes.

The work uses text from both Eliot’s original publication and a section removed from the text called Prufrock’s Pervigilium—first published in Christopher Ricks’s Inventions of the March Hare—and superimposes a narrative onto Eliot’s monologue of a man whose internal experience differs wildly from reality. As such Prufrock emphasizes the psychodramatic elements of the original text, reflecting them through the use of “auditory illusions” (particularly those described …

Analyzing Sentiment In Twitter Tweets As A Basis For Music Creation, Jeff Lupker

Western Research Forum

Analysis of the sentiment associated with different words has long been used as a pre-compositional tool by various composers through their use of the words of poets, lyricists or writers in creating their music. While the interpretation of any given word and its relation to music might have loosely followed some implicitly accepted notions amongst composers, there was no accurate method for qualifying each word according to its sentiment in standard usage. More recent research measuring individuals’ evaluation of text has led to a quantitative ranking of words in terms of properties concerning sentiment. My current research is an attempt …

Playscapes For Piano Trio, James Lowrie

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Playscapes is a piano trio of an approximate duration of 43 minutes. It is in three movements: Playscape I, II, and III. The top range of the piano(G7-C8) is prepared in such a way that these notes become essentially a percussive effect. Playscapes explores the concept of “Musical Activity” – areas of music where simple rules are established and create a context wherein anomalies can occur. Playscape I is a series of these musical activities. In Playscape II, one musical activity goes on for a long time. In Playscape III, two musical activities alternate. In addition, a general trend towards …

...And The Songs Of Another... For Six Voices & Live Electronics, Matthew David Becker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

…and the songs of another… is a composition of five songs for six voices and live electronics. Voice is the principal tool of sound generation, and the sounds produced by voice are transformed using extended and non-conventional vocal techniques plus electronics. I hence use voice in this manner with electronics to create unique sound development in a new work.

The text in the composition is generated using phonemes through which syllabic sounds are constructed. The electronics are pre-installed modules that come with the software Max/MSP, and each of the five songs applies different processing. These modules are: a spectral harmonizer, …

Six Blake Songs, Willyn Whiting

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Six Blake Songs is a song cycle for Soprano and mixed chamber ensemble (Flute, Clarinet, Saxophone, Violin and Viola). The work sets several texts by the English poet William Blake (1757-1827), which all share the central theme of Time. Nearly all of these texts are excerpts from larger works, with the exception of the poem Ah, Sunflower, which is presented at the work’s conclusion. Discrete collections of frequencies, which are derived from either the frequency modulation of two notes or from the overtones of a single fundamental, provide the pitch content for the entire piece. In addition, many of the …

Capriccio For Mixed Ensemble And Piano, André Mcevenue

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Capriccio is a 12 minute, single movement “mini concerto” for piano and small chamber ensemble. The music is of a virtuosic and capricious nature; at times it is dance-like and rhapsodic, at others, pensive and introspective. The formal construction concerns the techniques of fragmentation and pitch symmetry. My interest in these techniques is informed from the study of works by Igor Stravinsky and Béla Bartók. Therefore, the title is reminiscent of Stravinsky’s own work, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra. In my piece, a symmetrical pitch collection is used as the main musical material. Small repeating fragments of this collection …

The Old House, Eric Swiatoschik

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Old House is a programmatic children's suite in four movements based on a short story of the same name by Hans Christian Andersen. The story is about a young boy who befriends a man who lives in an old house on his street. The narrative of the music focuses on the beginning of the story when the boy enters the house for the first time with each movement musically depicting something the boy sees. The piece utilizes straightforward programmatic elements in conjunction with Neo-Romantic harmonic and melodic content to appeal to younger audiences (children), while still maintaining the same …

The Donnelly Opera, Joshua L. Richardson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Donnelly Opera is a one-act chamber opera based on an infamous Southwestern Ontario event: the murder of the Donnelly family in 1880. The libretto was written with the consultation of various historical sources. Modern text setting practices are utilized with careful attention to the use of perfect rhymes and natural syllabic emphasis to help maximize audience comprehension. The opera uses traditional vocal archetypes of aria, recitative, and ensemble singing. The focus of the opera is the dramatic portrayal of the events that took place leading up to the second murder trial. It is written for four vocalists (soprano, mezzo-soprano, …

Job: An Oratorio For Voices And Chamber Ensemble, Kevin Gibson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Job is a dramatic oratorio consisting of twelve individual movements, with an approximate duration of twenty minutes. It is a summarization of the plot and prose contained in the biblical book of Job (English Standard Version). The events of the oratorio depict Job, a devoted and prosperous man, being tested to the limits of his faith by acts of God, who was incited first by Satan. Throughout the oratorio, the philosophical and theological elements of humanity versus divinity are represented musically by intervallic relationships. Job is written for seven principle vocalists and a narrator, accompanied by an instrumental ensemble consisting …

Audio Mastering As A Musical Competency, Matthew T. Shelvock

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this dissertation, I demonstrate that audio mastering is a musical competency by elucidating the most significant, and clearly audible, facets of this competence. In fact, the mastering process impacts traditionally valued musical aspects of records, such as timbre and dynamics. By applying the emerging creative scholarship method used within the field of music production studies, this dissertation will aid scholars seeking to hear and understand audio mastering by elucidating its core practices as musical endeavours. And, in so doing, I hope to enable increased clarity and accuracy in future scholarly discussions on the topic of audio mastering, as well …

Antoinette, An Opera In One Act, Colin Mcmahon

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Antoinette is a chamber opera in one act. It is a dramatization of the events leading to the execution of Marie Antoinette and is 30 minutes in length. The narrative of the opera was developed together with Vancouver based poet Ray Hsu, who wrote the libretto. Antoinette is intended to address modern societal issues through musical drama. These issues represent the biographical reality of the characters but are intended to resonate with modern audiences. Themes will include overconsumption, the dangers of so-called “Strong-man Politics”, mortality, and feminism. Antoinette is written for five principle vocalists (soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, baritone, bass) accompanied …

Requiem, Wendell Glick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Requiem is a five-movement work for SATB chorus and chamber orchestra and is approximately 28 minutes in duration. The text is a compilation of traditional and adapted excerpts from the Roman Missal, combined with poetry by Tamar Zehr and Psalm 67 from the King James Version of the Bible. In this work, contemporary texts are intertwined with traditional ones to explore textual and musical narratives of doubt and faith, loss and gain, death and rebirth. This document contains the full score of the work, followed by three discussion chapters. The first chapter offers a glimpse into the background of the …

Namazu, Sean Kim

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Namazu, for Orchestra is a three-movement composition for orchestra and women’s chorus inspired by various mythological accounts for the cause of earthquakes. The dissertation consists of two parts: the composition in full score and an analysis of the composition. The first movement is based on the Japanese myth and namesake for this piece, Namazu. The second and third movements refer to Greek and Norse myths, respectively. The discussion document introduces the synopses of these three myths. Additionally, the document not only outlines pre-compositional processes, including the development of a systematic approach to modifying modes and constructing harmonies, but also examines …

Ethos, William T. Nicolaou

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Ethos – meaning the characteristic spirit of a culture, era, or community as manifested in its beliefs and aspirations – is a piece that explores Greek music from the 3^rd Millennium B.C.E. to the folk tunes and dances of the 16^th century C.E. Ethos incorporates multiphonics, quarter tones, ancient tonal systems and folk scales to show the differences and similarities between ancient and folk styles. The piece also features the traditional Greek drum ‘Daouli’ and mimics ancient instruments with those in a traditional orchestra. As the piece develops, ancient musical fragments can be heard thought the orchestra, chiefly …

Two Movements For Orchestra, Jeff Lupker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Two Movements for Orchestra, is a piece of music aimed at developing the use of the process of phasing. Used extensively as a device in minimalist music, this piece explores the process when applied to a wide variety of instruments using free chromaticism. When the process is applied to instruments of contrasting timbres, the results can include: increased resonance, echo-like effects and increased rhythmic complexities. As the piece unfolds, the avoidance of any strict pulse or beat found within the first movement is replaced by a desire for rhythmic clarity within the second movement. This dichotomy is essential to showing …

The Copyright Board And Tribunals Process: Users In The Balance, Louis J. D'Alton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The wholesale adoption of copyright collective management as public policy tool has had an extraordinary impact on the information landscape. The unfettered expansion of collective rights organizations throughout the 20^th century has resulted in increased social costs and a burgeoning bureaucracy surrounding the collective use of rights.

This thesis considers the role of copyright tribunals within that process, and more importantly within a critical historical frame. While some work has been done with respect to copyright tribunals and their role in the policy process, none of it has considered the tribunals within a critical frame. This thesis considers those …

Heteroglossia: Novella For Orchestra, Andrzej J. Tereszkowski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Heteroglossia (Novella for Orchestra) explores a non-programmatic musical narrative which seeks to juxtapose Spectral, late-Romantic, and 12-tone aesthetics. The work is structured into seven distinct chapters which utilize Fibonacci numbers and tilings of the golden proportion to create the proportions of the work. The underlying conceptual foundations (and title) of the work are intrinsically related to the concepts of dialogism, polyphony (in the novel), and heteroglossia found within the literary theories of Mikhail Bakhtin. The work is also heavily influenced by theories of narratology and semiotics found in the writings of Jean-Jacques Nattiez and Jean Molino. The discussion document outlines …

Sophie, A Music Drama For Solo Soprano And Chamber Ochestra, Alondra Vega-Zaldivar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sophie is a music drama that follows a young retired theatre actress as she talks to reporters about her family and career. As the story unfolds Sophie’s life transforms from a cheerful illusion to a brutal reality where nothing is as it seems. The listener gets a first row seat to the innermost corners of the protagonist’s mind as she journeys through self awareness. The music transforms from the modal center of the Lydian scale to the more chromatic and diminished tones of the Octatonic scale. Each character’s theme undergoes alterations from the pitch center that portrays stability to the …

Amor Fati, Aaron Lee

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Amor Fati, for wind ensemble, is built upon a formal design that divides the work into harmonic regions whose durations are based on approximations of the golden ratio. The harmonies in these regions are orchestrated using techniques inspired by Spectralism as well as the electro-acoustic technique of time-variant harmonic enveloping. Klangfarben technique is used to pass sustained harmonies around the ensemble, thereby stretching the duration of individual chords. These harmonies and their progressions are derived from several juxtaposed harmonic series and, at times, resemble the gradually changing triadic progressions characteristic of some examples of Minimalism. Layered with these elements …