Composition Commons^™

Prizes, Winning, And Identity: Narrative Vocal Music Of The Pulitzer Prize, 2008–2018, Julia K. Kuhlman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This thesis considers the ways in which the Pulitzer Prize for Music shapes and is shaped by music of the moment. Since 1943, the Pulitzer Prize has marked 83 pieces as “distinguished” examples of American music. The financial rewarding of winning composers and the initiation of a reciprocal transfer of prestige and political capital, the Pulitzer’s expert juries and governing body has contributed to the preservation of a perpetually-shifting status quo. By chronicling the year-to-year shifts of administrative power dynamics in prize selections, the Pulitzer Prize has mirrored the changing American musical landscape.

Drawing on methods of reception history, archival …

Hyperscales: Analysis, Historical Uses, And Possible Applications In Contemporary Music Composition, Douglas Wayne Brown

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

This paper introduces the hyperscale, defines terminology that is new or potentially ambiguous, examines historical scales which may be a hyperscale or not (with examples when available), introduces two synthetic hyperscales created by the author, tells the story behind their creation through an analysis of an original piece by the author that uses both scales, compares the scale characteristics and composition techniques used in the piece with those of another piece written by a contemporary composer, and finally offers some concluding thoughts on the future of the hyperscale in art music. Because relatively little scholarship exists for this topic, this …

Core Curriculum For Orchestra, Andrew Thomas Aycoth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Core Curriculum draws inspiration from the idea of a sound collage that incorporates many specific pieces and techniques that I have encountered or studied during my time in music academia. Nearly everything is derived from something else, often being transformed or altered in some way. From my own private teaching of guitar lessons to analyses of 20th century art music, I tried to represent as much music as possible from these formative years. There are two main features that continue throughout the piece. The first is the repetitive rhythmic figure based on eighth notes that are out of phase, which …

Contemporary Music Notation For The Flute: A Unified Guide To Notational Symbols For Composers And Performers, Ms. Eftihia Victoria Arkoudis

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

David Cope stated: “There are two basic approaches to the study of New Music Notation: codification and comprehension […] what really needs to be done is not to keep listing the diverse ways each composer symbolizes his music or create substantially new and negating systems of notation, but to concentrate on codifying one way for future composers to symbolize their music.”^[1]

In an attempt to limit the inconsistency and complexity characterizing contemporary notation idiomatic to the flute, this paper is the first to adopt Cope’s statement and ultimately apply it in relation to the notation of non-standard extended flute …