Composition Commons^™

Creating And Marketing Your Demo Cd, Daniel Rager

Dan Rager

A "one stop book" used in ALL genres of music today and is a required text for many college and university music business courses.

A complete guide on how to create successful DEMO's along with the tools of the trade on getting published, Record deals, Funding, obtaining Copyrights, Contracts, Press Kits, Band business, Touring and much more.

This book is an insightfully direct and informational text without the fluff of other musical books on the subject. It shows the MAZE and money flow of the music business and has a listing of 680 Publishing companies and 125 Record labels for …

First Flight, Alisha Symington

Student Composition Recitals

In early September I had the opportunity to travel to Florida by airplane for a friend's wedding. Flying is a form of transportation I have always been most drawn towards: the excitement of finding the right gate in the airport, the rattling take off, and the breathtaking clouds. Fortunately, I have had many opportunities in my lifetime to fulfill my enjoyment of this thrill. As I sat on the plane, I attempted without success to remember the first time I flew in an airplane. I started to think what it would feel like to experience this for the first time. …

Emergence, Michael Carbaugh

Student Composition Recitals

Emergence was one of the first pieces I wrote when I came to Cedarville. It was a significant step in my learning experience as I employed different writing styles and scales. The name Emergence came about as I was listening to the finished piece. At first, the piece seems triumphant and glad, but then it retreats into a piercing dark for a time. However, the triumphant tune returns in the end, brighter than before. The piece reminded me of a walk a dark place. The dark portion reminded me of cautious steps through mysterious, eerie circumstances, but the ending signifies …

Whole-Tone Sax, Joshua Drake

Student Composition Recitals

Whole-tone Sax is my very first composition for alto saxophone. I came up with the opening theme while experimenting with the whole-tone scale, hence the title. Although the piece begins with a lively excursion into the whole-tone landscape, I quickly depart from it and began transposing my theme into more familiar diatonic (major and minor) scales. This was very necessary as the whole-tone scale can quickly become monotonous if you're not careful and exceptionally creative. The second movement is much calmer and peaceful in contrast to the first. Again, I chose to stay away from the confines of the whole-tone …

Suite From Know Me, Sean Kisch

Student Composition Recitals

This piece acts as a preview for the show Know Me, a dance-theatre show I created with my older sister Haley, who is currently studying dance at Anderson University in Indiana. The show is loosely based on the parable of the Good Samaritan, and it combines many styles of dance, including ballet, modern, jazz, swing, and tango. The show will be performed at Cedarville on January 18, 2015, and in Anderson on January 24, 2015. In this suite, you will hear many of the main themes, each of which represents a specific character or place. Even though you will …

What If..., Calvin D. Hitchcock

Student Composition Recitals

My enigmatic title presages the sinuous gestures found in the music. I invite you to consider the various forms of ambiguity implicit in the score as you experience this work with little foreknowledge of its terrain.

Chrysalis, Sean Kisch

Student Composition Recitals

I owe a great deal of thanks to both the clarinetists and Dr. Curlette for putting a great deal of time into this piece. Chrysalis is quite challenging, both technically (because of the complex rhythms and counter-rhythms) and musically (because of the unique harmonic language). The idea behind Chrysalis is that the tiny phrases, syncopations, and runs would create the picture of a thousand tiny little pieces being changed and rearranged, much like how God transforms a caterpillar into a butterfly. Also like a caterpillar, near the end of the piece, the quartet goes through a transformation as well, as …

Heavy Droplets In The Light Rain, Michael Carbaugh

Student Composition Recitals

Heavy Droplets in Light Rain is a Bach-inspired, fast-paced violin solo. It’s a piece filled with minimalistic changes. Listen for the heavy droplets, the changing notes, among the light rain (the repeated patterns).

Aesthetics In Culture, Dan Rager

Dan Rager

This article examines the role of aesthetics in art, music, non-art objects, and activities in daily life. It shows that recognition is vital to our understanding of art and art-objects and sometimes creates conflicts which ask, what does one do with art? The question becomes more confusing when we think about non-art objects and activities which concern our everyday experiences from eating, clothing, cleaning and dealing with life's natural elements. The author points out that Western cultures have a distinct artworld that is usually limited for special occasions set aside for that purpose. He suggests that aesthetics in culture is …

Bridge To A Millennium, Daniel Rager

Dan Rager

1) Sedona (D. Rager) 2) As Torrents in Summer (Elgar/D. Rager) 3) Percussive Soundscapes - 4 mvts, percussion septet (D. Rager) 4) Ever Endeavor (D. Rager) 5) Bridge to a Millennium - Symphony No. 1 (D. Rager)

Problem-Solving Pedagogy: A Foundation For Restructuring, Updating, And Improving Undergraduate Theory And Musicianship Curricula, Michael T. Simonelli

Masters Theses

The goal of this thesis is to provide the ideological and practical foundation for an improved approach to undergraduate theory and musicianship pedagogy. I will discuss the structure of conventional theory programs and explore problems inherent to traditional curriculum design. Problem-solving pedagogy, an approach rooted in creative composition and improvisation, will be presented as a complement to traditional theory pedagogy. Balancing problem-solving pedagogy with a more traditional pedagogical approach will provide a practical foundation for improving undergraduate theory and musicianship curricula.

Syntagma Musicum Ii: De Organographia, Parts Iii – V With Index, Michael Praetorius, Quentin Faulkner Trans. & Ed.

Zea E-Books Collection

Michael Praetorius (1571–1621) achieved distinction as a practicing musician: as organist and Kapellmeister at Wolfenbüttel, Dresden and Magdeburg, and (in his later years) by incessant travel to fulfill commissions at various central German courts. Amid his travels Praetorius found time to publish an impressive series of collections of musical compositions, in all more than a thousand works. Praetorius’s three-volume Syntagma musicum (Musical Encyclopedia) belongs to the last years of his life. Volume I, Musicae artis analecta (1614/15, in Latin), treats principles and practices of religious music, from a decidedly Lutheran perspective. Volume II, De organographia (1619, in German) deals with …

Gesture-Sensing Technology For The Bow: A Relevant And Accessible Digital Interface For String Instruments, Zachary Boyt

Masters Theses

Technological advances in powerful, miniaturized electronics have created a growing potential to continue the evolution of string instruments through an accessible digital interface. Although many new types of instruments and controllers have explored this goal, gesture-sensing technology, when paired with the expressive nature of the bow, has provided the most eligible solution towards bridging technology and tradition. Through a selective showcase of technical development, artistic application, and future possibilities, this thesis traces the evolution of gesturesensing bow technology as an accessible digital interface in string instrument performance.

Augmentation Of Delusion, Christopher Lynn Adams

Masters Theses

Augmentation of Delusion is a single-movement piece for chamber orchestra composed by Chris L. Adams. The piece was originally written for a four-person percussion ensemble in 2013 and orchestrated in 2014. This document will analyze the major musical elements of form, harmony, melody, rhythm and meter, and genre of the piece, as well as compare and contrast these variables with other composers’ works.

Music theory terminology and figures will be applied in this document as follows:

1. Set theory functions will be expressed as:
a. Normal order indicated by brackets – [2367]
b. Prime form indicated by parentheses – (0145) …

Creating A Potentially Popular Hit Song, Susan Noh

Senior Theses

From as far back as I can remember I have always loved music. Not just listening to it but also creating it. I had my first piano lesson at the age of 4, my first violin at 6 years old, my dad’s guitar in my hand at 13, and apparently I sang since I was able to form sounds. My dream as a child was to be a famous singer, but I never truly pursued it. As I grew older, I acquired new dreams, but deep down, I have never stopped wanting to be a singer. I have fulfilled part …

Alexander Glazunov And His Violin Concerto: History, Biography, And Performance Perspective, Gregory Glessner

Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate

Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov, who was born on August 10, 1865, was a highly influential musician and composer in the early 20th century. Despite living well into the 20th century, he adhered to the compositional techniques and ideals of the 19th century. Glazunov generally wrote in a highly romantic style throughout his life, and never gave in to the stylistic pressures of the early 20th century. He worked prolifically in many genres, including symphonies, concertos, tone poems, string quartets, and ballets; however, he wrote relatively little vocal music, and no opera. Glazunov was also a proficient conductor and an excellent pianist. …

Vocal Synthesis And Deep Listening, Chelsea A. Bruno

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My composition, Maitreya, combines vocal synthesis techniques with the theoretical concept of Deep Listening. This essay discusses developments in vocal synthesis and digital signal processing (DSP) software that can be performed in real-time and contributed to my composition. Deep Listening involves meditative practices to make one more aware of sounds that are both audible and inaudible. The composition utilizes recordings of male and female voices that recite poetry, chant, and are phase-vocoded.

The composition also features various DSP techniques, and a custom-built modular synthesizer. The composition has three sections that were compiled and edited in Ableton Live 8.2.2.

Flow, Tommy Bravos

Compositions

Flow was composed in the Spring of 2014 and premiered in it’s entirety during the April Student Composition Concert here at Illinois Wesleyan University. I composed the piece during an emotionally tumultuous time, and it represents many events that were occurring cyclically in my life at the time. The emotional events that directly inspired Flow were like opposite sides of a coin: one being relationships attempting to grow and the other being relationships gradually turning sour, needing to be left behind. These ideas are represented by the piece revolving around the recurring motive, showing how these events constantly wove in …

Dolce Stil Novo, Timothy W. Mcdunn

Compositions

Dolce Stil Novo is a slightly unconventional kind of tone poem. As the title suggests, the main inspiration for the piece is the poetry of Dante Alighieri, especially that subset of it which belongs to his so-called "Sweet New Style." While the three successive intermezzi are tied only obliquely to this subject, the first and final movements make direct reference to Dante's Sweet New Style as found in the Vita Nuova, an autobiographical compilation of prose and verse. In this way, the piece is a reflection on Dante's writings from two perspectives: that of the author (in the first and …

Composing After The Italian Manner: The English Cantata 1700-1710, Jennifer Cable

Music Faculty Publications

In this chapter, I will examine examples from several of the earliest eighteenth-century English cantatas written after the Italian style and in direct response to the growing popularity of Italian vocal music in England.³ The early English cantatas of three composers-John Eccles, Daniel Purcell, and Johann Christoph Pepusch-portend how each would fare in the new musical century, when the compositional ideals of an earlier era were foresaken as the focus on Italian vocal music, the 'talk of the town', broadened in scope and sharpened in intensity.

Requiem: All That's Left Is Noise, Danielle R. Dobkin

Senior Projects Spring 2014

Danielle R. Dobkin

Artist Statement

May 2014

Requiem: All That’s Left if Noise

Requiem: All That’s Left is Noise is a personal interpretation of the traditional Latin liturgy of the Western Church’s Requiem Mass- a composition meant to be the carrier for the soul, on it’s journey to paradise. The requiem is comprised of 7 movements: Introit, Kyrie (Lord have Mercy), Dies Irae (Day of Wrath), Lycrimosa (Day of Weeping), Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy), Lux Aeterna (Eternal Light), and the Libera Me (Deliver Me). These seven movements sonically replicate the range of human emotion, ending on the soul’s delivery in …

Formal Properties As The Basis For Value In Music, Thomas B. Yee

Global Tides

This paper defends the thesis that value in a piece of music is based in its formal properties rather than its non-formal properties. Two arguments are presented to support this conclusion. The first argument shows that if value in music is to be objective, then it must be grounded in a piece's formal properties rather than its non-formal properties. In the second argument, a number of alternate possibilities for grounding value in music are considered and shown to miss the mark or be inadequate. Finally, a number of possible objections against the arguments and conclusion are considered and possible responses …