Composition Commons^™

An Analysis Of Western Art Music Arrangements For Steel Pan Chamber Ensemble, Ian Meiman

Dissertations

This dissertation is an analysis of western art music arrangements for steel pan chamber ensembles. Specifically, this dissertation will analyze how certain arrangers have adapted western art music for steel pan chamber ensemble while discussing the possible methods the arranger used to create this adaptation. The analysis will observe the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, and other significant alterations made in the steel pan chamber arrangement, and discuss any changes made, whether due to the adaptation of the instruments or otherwise, from the original works. The dissertation will also include a brief historical discussion on western art music’s influence of early steel …

Villa-Lobos's Compositional Techniques And Treatment Of Folk Melodies In Cirandas For Piano, Gustavo Schafaschek

Dissertations

Despite his significance as the most important Latin American composer of the twentieth century, serious analytical studies on the music of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos are still few and far between. Recent scholarship has started to demystify the figure of Villa-Lobos as an intuitive composer with no technique, revealing an artist that strove to develop an idiosyncratic musical language. The present document aims to contribute to this new trend in Villa-Lobos’s scholarship by analyzing pieces from the piano cycle Cirandas, W220, considered one of the most important works from the composer’s mature style. Each of the sixteen pieces …

A Discussion Of Shiguang Cui’S Piano Concerto No. 2, Focusing On A Stylistic Analysis And Traditional Chinese Musical Elements, Yuting Ji

Dissertations

Shiguang Cui (崔世光) (b. 1948) is a Chinese composer and pianist. To celebrate the 2008 Summer Olympic Games held in Beijing, his work Concerto for Ten Concert Grand Pianos and Orchestra was commissioned by the Dean of the National Center for the Performing Arts, Mr. Ping Chen. Ten internationally-renowned pianists were invited to give the world premiere on August 19, 2008. The pianists were Claude Frank, Phillippe Entremont, Vladimir Feltsman, Louis Lortie, Yunyi Qin (秦云轶), Shikun Liu (刘诗昆), Lang Lang (郎朗), Cyprien Katsaris, Guillermo Gonzalez, and Sha Chen (陈萨).¹

This piece was originally conceived as Concerto for Ten Concert …

An Annotated Bibliography And Performance Commentary Of The Works For Concert Band And Wind Orchestra By Composers Awarded The Pulitzer Prize In Music 1993-2015, And A List Of Their Works For Chamber Wind Ensemble, Stephen Andrew Hunter

Dissertations

The purpose of this document is to assemble into one resource the concert band, wind orchestra, and chamber wind ensemble compositions of the 23 composers who were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music between 1993 and 2015. The Pulitzer Prize in Music is given annually to an American composer in recognition of distinguished achievement in composition of a work that received its premiere during the previous year. Timothy Mahr completed this study on composers who received the Prize from 1943 to 1992. This is a continuation and replication of that study, following Mahr’s procedures.

A brief biographical sketch will be …

A Jamaican Voice: The Choral Music Of Noel Dexter, Desmond A. Moulton

Dissertations

As we approach the twenty-first century, the world generally is moving away from the dominance of the European aesthetic towards a world music that owes much to the musical resources of the African-American tradition. Jamaica’s social and philosophical music belong mainly to that tradition, which includes the use of rhythms, and timbral and melodic resources that exist independently of harmony. Already in this century, Jamaicans have created two totally new music - Nyabinghi, which performs a philosophical function and Reggae, which performs a social function. The choral music of Noel Dexter is important because it is uniquely Jamaican/Caribbean in its …

Joseph Kreines: A Biographical Sketch, An Analysis Of American Song Set For Band And A Descriptive Catalogue Of His Original Compositions And Transcriptions For Wind Band, Paul Eugene Weikle Jr.

Dissertations

Joseph Kreines is a well-respected composer, conductor and educator who has maintained an illustrious musical career in Florida and elsewhere. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Kreines came to Florida in the 1960s as the Associate Conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra. Other professional conducting appointments with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, The Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra and appointments as the conductor of the Florida Symphony Orchestra Youth Symphony, Pinellas Youth Symphony Orchestra and Brevard Youth Symphony Orchestra proved to be the launching of a successful free-lance career as guest conductor for hundreds of Secondary programs in Florida and elsewhere including band, orchestra …

An Analysis And An Historical Contextualization Of Frank Ticheli’S “Cajun Folk Songs”, Jody Anthony Besse

Dissertations

This document was constructed using a qualitative research approach to discuss and illuminate the various compositional techniques used by Frank Ticheli in his composition Cajun Folk Songs. The content will include a biographical background of Mr. Ticheli, documentation related to the Cajun Culture and Cajun Music, an analysis of Ticheli’s composition Cajun Folk Songs, and valuable information related to the rehearsal and performance of this work. The intent of the study is to shed light on the relevant aspects pertinent to the musical interpretation of the selected work for the conductor, the performer, and the listener.

A Performance Project With An Historical And Analytical Perspective On The Concerto For Alto Saxophone And Orchestra, Op. 31 By Peter Jona Korn, Brian Sanford Ransom

Dissertations

Peter Jona Korn (1922-1998) is not a name immediately recognized in American music circles, yet during the 1940s and '50s he led a successful career as an American composer. His Saxophone Concerto - composed in 1956 for the virtuoso Sigurd Rascher, and revised by Korn in 1982 - is an important contribution to the saxophone repertoire.

Many composers, including Glazounov, Ibert, and Larsson, wrote concertos for Sigurd Rascher. These works, once considered highly virtuosic, are now studied and performed by college level saxophonists. The original version of Korn's Concerto, among the most technically demanding works, has remained in obscurity for …

Four Twentieth-Century Mass Ordinary Settings Surveyed Using The Dictates Of The Motu Proprio Of 1903 As A Stylistic Guide, Jonathan Candler Kilgore

Dissertations

In the first half of the twentieth century, major attempts at reform were occurring in music written for the Catholic Church. At the heart of this reform was the 1903 Motu Proprio of Pope St. Pius X. This document sought to bring clarity and focus to sacred music through limitation, as well as causing sacred music composers to make changes in their compositional methods. While still being modern, music had to conform to certain rules and regulations in order to be functional within the Catholic liturgy. The document also provided a great deal of detailed information regarding day-to-day occurrences within …

A Comparison Of Two Distinctive Jazz Trombone Artists, David Steinmeyer And Curtis Fuller, Eddie Lee Elsey Jr.

Dissertations

This dissertation discusses two jazz trombonists, David Steinmeyer and Curtis Fuller. Six solos performed by these two artists are analyzed for the purpose of studying and comparing their individual styles of playing. Each solo is analyzed melodically, harmonically, and rhythmically with musical excerpts from each solo included to provide emphasis on a particular area.

This dissertation also includes comparisons of overall styles, full transcriptions of each solo, discographies for both artists, and brief biographical sketches of each artist. Although the artists play in different styles, they still share similar philosophies in approaching the performance of playing jazz trombone.