Composition Commons^™

Creativity And The Evolution Of Musical Ideas: Putting The Creative Principles Of Austin Kleon To Work, Dustin Schulze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

All composers internalize the musical ideas of other composers and infuse them into their own original work. But the fear of being labeled “derivative” causes most composers to shy away from talking about these influences openly and directly. In Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist, he faces the issues of influence and imitation in a deliberately self-aware fashion. The principal objective of this thesis will be to internalize the musical ideas of other composers and infuse them into an original musical work of my own, entitled Kyros. By articulating the exact way in which I am using the work …

Compositional Modeling: A Classical Imitative Pedagogy For The Modern Era, Robert Harris Jeter

Theses and Dissertations--Music

Students of composition develop two skills simultaneously: craft and creativity. Since students are more naturally inclined to focus on one of these skills over the other, finding the proper balance is an educational challenge. An effective pedagogical system for composition cultivates both of these necessary skills.

Imitation was a preferred pedagogical approach during the Classical period. In his 1848 book School of Practical Composition, Carl Czerny instructs his readers to apply the extensive rules of composition by strictly following a compositional model. Although this methodology lost favor during the nineteenth century, the imitative techniques presented by Czerny are flexible enough …