Music Practice Commons^™

New Paradigms In Band Performance: An Analysis Of Three Prototypes, Scott Walker-Parker

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

This document seeks to propose new paradigms in band performance through inter-, multi-, and transdisciplinarity. Initial inspirations were drawn from performance innovations shaped by the new music theater which became popular in the 20^th century. Key concepts which were used throughout the creative, planning, logistic, rehearsal, and performance processes are analyzed in three recitals through prototypes of new paradigms in band performance. These concepts include accessibility and community, nonverbal/multimodal performance and instruction versus time, and nonverbal/multimodal communication.

The document has been organized in a manner which highlights successes and breakdowns of each process so future refinement can be made. …

Franz Schubert, Overture In The Italian Style D. 591, Transcribed For Band By Randall Snyder, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

In 1817, in response to the Italian craze sweeping Vienna, the 20yr Schubert wrote two Overtures “in the Italian Style”. In particular, the second of these, D.591, captures the spirit of Rossini. It begins with a gently portentous slow introduction. After a brief pause, the tempo increases with a sprightly melody, its dotted rhythms echoing Rossini. Another theme is introduced before the eruption of one of those famous slow-building, repetitive “Rossini crescendos.” A repeat of this music leads tp a faster tempo and the Overture’s exciting conclusion.

duration: c. 7 minutes

Instrumentation: Flute 1, Flute 2, Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet in …

Sanjo Nova, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Sanjo Nova is a reimagining of the traditional Korean solo instrumental genre that developed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It expands the number of performers to a trio, and, along with the Changgo drum, uses the violin and cello, suggesting the Haeguem and Komungo. The work follows the general slow to fast form, using aspects of traditional Changdans (rhythmic patterns). Unlike the traditional Sanjo however, this piece is an arch form, with decreasing energy in the second half, arriving at the slow Chungmori tempo at the end. Janggu should play in the folk style, using a mallet …

Abstract Visions, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

American Visions is a musical portrait of six mid-century American Abstract Expressionist painters.

Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) uses twisted, elegant lines in 'biomorphic' forms in his abstract paintings along with an overlay of colors, synthesizing Surrealism with abstraction. Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) is identified with the use of fluid shapes, abstract masses, and lyrical gestures. She used formats on which she painted, generally, simplified abstract compositions.staining into raw canvas Willem de Kooning (1904–1997) painted in a style that came to be referred to as "action painting” .The female figure is an important umage.. Mark Rothko (1903-1970) evolved to a style best known …

Saffron Paths: A Suite Of Asian Pieces, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Flute Violin Cello Harp (optional piano)

Saffron Paths traces an imaginary musical journey though the Near East and Asia with stops in Persia, India, China, Korea and Japan, blending elements of Western and Eastern musical usage. It is designed as a suite that, in addition to a complete performance, individual movements can be performed separately.

Shiraz, inspired by a poem of Hafez (1325-1388), features a heterophonic melody and additive rhythms used in Arabic and Islamic music.

Bengali Night incorporates some aspects of classical Hindustani music including the tambura drone and Raga suggested by the Lydian mode.

Chinoserie (European imitation of …

Janus Quartet, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

flute

Bb clarinet

Eb alto saxophone

bassoon

program note This trio is a reworking of music originally written for piano in 1965 when the composer was 21 yrs. old. The 2020 revision attempts to both preserve and expand the basic characteristics of the original material..

duration: c. 9:30

Transposed Score (24 pp)

Janus Trio, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

flute

Bb clarinet

bassoon

program note This trio is a reworking of music originally written for piano in 1964 when the composer was 20 yrs. old. The 2020 revision attempts to both preserve and expand the basic characteristics of the original material..

duration: c. 12 minutes

Transposed Score (20 pp)

Janus Symphony, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

instrumentation: Flute 1 (Picc.), Flute 2, Oboe 1, Oboe 2, Clarinet 1, Clarinet 2, Bassoon 1, Bassoon 2, Horn 1, Horn 2, Horn 3, Horn 4, Trumpet 1, Trumpet 2, Trombone 1, Trombone 2, Trombone 3, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion 1, Percussion 2, Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, & Double Bass

program note The first two and a half movements were written in 1965 but for various reasons remained unfinished until 2018 when I began revisited the score and finished the third movement and added a new finale. An attenpt was made to continue in the same style as the …

The Eternal Cycle, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

For Flute, Clarinet in B-flat, Violin, Cello, and Soprano.

Duration: c. 4:00

Text by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

"Veiled"

Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta 1861 and died there 1941. He published poetry in Bengali and English and was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature for creating a synthesis of East and West. An all-around genius, Tagore was a composer of over 3000 songs as well as a distinguished painter. The Eternal Cycle, like much of his work, is suffused with spiritual ideas. The music incorporates some elements of classical Indian music, such as a drone, which sounds continuously through the …

The Loon, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

For Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, & Piano

Duration: 4:00

"Elegiac"

Poem by Marjorie Saiser

Loon populations have been declining significantly throughout their core range— mostly Canada and the northern tier of the United States—over the past 20 years, due in large part to mercury poisoning, acid rain, lead, and the rise of botulism in the Great Lakes region. Common loons are endangered in Vermont, threatened in New Hampshire and Michigan, and a species of special concern in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

Interstices, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

"a small or narrow space between things or parts"

For Marimbas (2) & Vibraphones (2)

Duration c. 7:00

All performers will need hard and soft mallets; Vibraphone 2 will need bow.

Interstices features lattice-like textures with interlocking lines posited in stratified registers and syncopated rhythms suggestive of Be-bop amd Funk.

"Playful"

The Singing Conductor: Interviews On The Benefits And Limitations Of Choral Conductors And Teachers Continuing To Sing, Anne Carissa Gassmann

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

It is our duty as musicians, conductors, and teachers to continue developing our teaching and musicianship. One of the ways growth can occur is by singing regularly in ensembles outside of teaching. As one balances career and personal life, continuing to sing is a choice each must make. It is through this document that one may see the relevance of pursuing opportunities to sing, as it may inform and elevate one’s teaching and conducting. Eleven interviews were conducted with elementary, high school, and collegiate teachers and conductors, only half of them still singing in an ensemble. This document is intended …

Transcribing Astor Piazzolla's Works To Maximize Stylistic Fidelity: An Examination Of Three Saxophone Quartets With A New Transcription, Sarah L. Cosano

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Astor Piazzolla is recognized as a pivotal figure who drew tango music onto an international stage. His output of written compositions and recordings provide a reference for studying tango. Though Piazzolla adapted a collection of flute etudes in 1988, he did not write specifically for saxophone during his lifetime. Saxophonists must instead rely on transcriptions of his music. Today, tango is a widely performed idiom for saxophone quartet.

Because of its tessitura, timbral variety, and flexibility, the saxophone is uniquely suited to perform tango music. This instrument has an expansive range when altissimo is included. Its written range spans from …

Reliquary, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

"For Walter Gray"

For Viola 1 & Viola 2

Program note: Reliquary was conceived as a memorial for a friend and mentor, It is cast in three sections that trace a progression from dark to light, slow to fast. The first minimalist section explores a continuously evolving seven-note sequence. This is followd by a more animated section that references Mozart's Piano Concerto No, 17, K. 453, one of many works introduced to me by my friend. The final section, marked "Volante" (flying), completes the psychological arc of the piece with a numinous feeling of acceptance.

Duration: c. 5:45

Hegemony, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

For piano and orchestra 1973 - revised 2018

Instrumentation: Flute 1, Flute 2 - Piccolo, Flute 3 - Alto Flute, Oboe, English Horn, Bb Clarinet 1, Bb Clarinet 2 - Eb Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone - Tenor Saxophone, Bassoon 1, Bassoon 2 - Contrabassoon, Bb Trumpet, Horn, Tromsone, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion 1, Percussion 2, Percussion 3, Percussion 4, Harp, Piano Solo, Violin 1, Violin 2, Violin 3, Violin 4, Viola 1, Viola 2, Cello 1, Cello 2, Double Bass 1, Double Bass 2

Notes: This score is notated in concert pitch, all instruments sounding as written except piccolo, xylophone, …

Animè, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

For Piccolo/Flute, English Horn, Clarinet in Bb, and Bassoon

Animè (animated) is a 4 minute scherzo whose relentless 16th note moto perpetuo rhythm is interrupted only by short cadenzas by bassoon, English horn, flute, and clarinet. The wheels seem to come off towards the anarchic end with faster rhythmic subdivisions.

The work was recorded by Iwona Glinka and the Gdansk Trio.

"Animated"

This work is a revision of Logoriffic Tropes (2011).

Diversions, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Instrumentation: Flute 1 (Picc.), Flute 2, Oboe 1, Oboe 2, Bb Clarinet 1, Bb Clarinet 2, Bassoon 1, Bassoon 2, Horn 1, Horn 2, Bb Trumpet 1, Bb Trumpet 2, Trombone 1, Trombone 2, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

Duration c. 6 minutes

Program note: This music references the dual meaning of the title: - an activity that diverts or amuses or stimulates (e.g. Divertimento); - a turning aside of your course or attention or concern; "a diversion from the main highway"; "a digression into irrelevant details"; "a deflection from the goal"

Transposed score …

Legong Variations, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe, Bb Trumpet, Vibraphone, Piano

Program note: Legong Variations are comprised of over two dozen reiterations of an Javanese melody, its overall shape a modified palindrome, with variants becoming more and more dislocated, venturing further and further from the original tune before reversing the process and returning back to the initial theme. This is also reflected in the sequence of ever-increasing then descreasing tempi. Much of the ensemble writing is meant to suggest the heterophonic texture of the Indonesian Gamelan.

Duration: c. 5 minutes

(winner 2019 McMurry New Music Project)

"Redolent"

Janus Quintet, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

For Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon.

This piece opens with an intoning of a series of seven notes F F# Eb (F) E A B, each serving as the pitch center for the following set of variations, The intervals of the "theme" are used to generate vertical and horizontal sonorities. The form is a modified palindrome. The variations share similar styles with their complimentary pairings:

I - VII

II - VI

III - V

(IV)

The fourth variation is a nested palindrome standing alone without a pairing.

This quintet is a reworking of a 1967 piece for piano …

The Iconic One-Hit Wonder: The History And Reception Of Franz Biebl's Ave Maria, Matthew Oltman

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Franz Biebl’s Ave Maria is one of the most well-known small-scale choral pieces written in the latter half of the twentieth century. Since its introduction to American choirs in 1970, it has become an important part of the standard choral repertoire and is often performed perennially, especially at Christmas. It was integral to the rise in popularity of Chanticleer, the American professional male chorus, and remains closely associated with the ensemble thanks to it being recorded and published in the United States under Chanticleer’s auspices. Despite these facts, very little has been written about the composer or his iconic setting …

Pilot Study To Assess Breathing During Sight-Read Stringed Instrument Performance, Collin T. Erickson, Clark Potter Mm, Mfa, Gregory Bashford Ph.D

UCARE Research Products

For many musicians, one common occurrence during a performance is the presence of stage fright. Stage fright, though not always expressed can influence the confidence and self-esteem of a performer, and thus can affect the quality of the performance. Every day musicians are affected by stage fright, and there has been no exact solution as to how to lessen the feeling of anxiety musicians feel before performing. No data has been collected to find the correlation between the regularity of breathing and the level of stage fright that a person feels during their performance. A way to quantify regularity of …

Virtuoso Violinist Maud Powell: Enduring Champion For American Women In Professional Music, Sarah Joy Pizzichemi

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Maud Powell, the first great American virtuoso violinist, sparked a change in the spirit of the advancement of classical music throughout North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This document addresses gender inequality present in the classical music profession during Powell’s lifetime. It also explores the roles women occupied in the public and private spheres in Western art music of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. More specifically, it investigates the life of virtuoso violinist Maud Powell through her activism and interest in American women in professional music.

The document is divided into three parts. After a …

Love's Austere And Lonely Offices: An Analysis Of Tom Cipullo's America 1968, Joshua Zink

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

My study reveals how the music of Tom Cipullo’s America 1968 mirrors the theme of adversity leading to resolution as found in the poetry of Robert Hayden. This study should serve the purposes of investigating Cipullo’s music in relationship to Hayden’s poetry, and be a practical tool for anyone interested in performing these marvelous pieces. This study contains an introduction, a systematic look at each poem and song, and a conclusion reflecting upon my findings.

Advisor: William Shomos

The Evolution Of The Cello Endpin And Its Effect On Technique And Repertoire, William Braun

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

This document investigates how the concept of a lifting device has evolved into the modern endpin that is a now a standard part of the cello. The endpin has a unique history that, prior to this writing, has not yet been fully documented. The evolution of the endpin has caused significant changes to cello technique, as its use, or lack of, alters the basic posture and setup of the instrument on the cellist’s body. Written and iconographic evidence show that endpins and other lifting devices have been used throughout all eras of the cello’s history. There are many instances when …

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 …

Tracing The Development Of Vivaldi's "L' Estro Armonico" Concerto No.8 In A Minor Through J.S. Bach And Samuil Feinberg's Keyboard Transcriptions: Exploring The Possibilities Of A Modern Authentic Performance, Andreas Xenopoulos

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

This document explores the development of the Concerto No.8 in A minor from the collection L’Estro Armonico by Antonio Vivaldi (1678–1741) through the transcriptions by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) and Samuil Feinberg (1890–1962). Feinberg was a Russian and Soviet pianist, composer and piano pedagogue, highly influenced by the teaching of Franz Liszt and the principles of the new, modern ‘piano school’ during the end of the 19^th century. Biographical information about Samuil Feinberg along with the influences Franz Liszt had upon piano education in Russia and the Moscow conservatory in particular is offered. Two comprehensive comparisons between the two …

Sing Solo Pirate: Songs In The Key Of Arrr! A Literature Guide For The Singer And Vocal Pedagogue, Michael S. Tully

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

Pirates have always been mysterious figures. They came out of nowhere, attacked their victims, plundered their goods, and vanished. Reason tells us that pirates were no more than common criminals, but over the centuries, history has come to portray them as romantic and even heroic figures. This stereotype of piracy has long been a fascination of authors, poets, and composers, and it is evident in our cultural landscape.

This document examines an area of pirate literature that has been neglected, if ever discussed: the published pirate song for solo voice and piano accompaniment. Over the past two centuries many such …

A Dickson Tryprich: Hope Is The Thing With Features, There Came A Wind Like A Bugle, Blue Sea, Randall Snyder

Randall Snyder Compositions

instrumentation Flute 1 (Picc.) Flute 2 Oboe Bassoon Bb Clarinet 1 Bb Clarinet 2 Bb Clarinet 3 Bass Clarinet Alto Sa 1 Alto Sax 2 Tenor Sax Baritone Sax Soprano Alto Tenor Bass Bb Trumpet 1 Bb Trumpet 2 Horn 1 Horn 2 Trombone 1 Trombone 2 Tuba Timpani Percussion 1 Percussion 2

Mued 345: Instrumental Music Methods, Dale Bazan

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The course Instrumental Music Methods (MUED 345) is designed to provide a fundamental preparation for future music educators to teach instrumental music--both orchestral and band--to adolescents in schools. The description in the UNL Schedule of Classes describes this course as dealing with "administrative approaches, rehearsal techniques, and modern comprehensive teaching styles for the secondary instrumental teacher." I chose this course for my peer-review because preparing future instrumental music teachers is one of my primary responsibilities as the instrumental music education specialist at UNL, and this course is the primary course to prepare students for this outcome. It is therefore vital …

A Survey Of The Sacred Choral-Orchestral Works Of Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869-1941), Martin C. Cook

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Creative Work, and Performance

In the closing years of the 19th Century, when Charles Villiers Stanford, Hubert Parry and Edward Elgar were at the height of their fame and influence in British musical society Henry Walford Davies emerged as one of the most promising talents of the day, receiving commissions from the provincial music festivals of Great Britain, which were a rite of passage for emerging composers.

Between 1904 and 1929 Davies produced eleven sacred choral-orchestral works for these festivals and one further work, which were received favorably in their day but are now almost forgotten. There are five large multi movement works: The …