Composition Commons^™

With Love, ; An Interdisciplinary And Intersectional Look At Why Creativity Is Essential, Theo Starr Gardner

Whittier Scholars Program

My Whittier Scholars Program self-designed major, Teaching Creativity, is a mixture of Art, Literature, and Education classes. My research and praxis classes have been focused on the ‘how?’s and 'why?’s of creativity, so it felt only right that my project should be a constructivist, generative project. The project I have been working on throughout my time at Whittier, and that has just fully come to fruition on April 11th, 2024, was a solo art gallery/open mic event entitled ‘With Love,’. With Love, was conceptually inspired by the research I’ve conducted on creativity and creative arts education over the past few …

Telling Stories Through Music—Music Without Words, Isabella Thomas

Composition/Recording Projects

This paper explores the study of listening modes associated with music with lyrics and instrumental music without words. Studies are explained in depth with explanations to current culture and society. The history of Neoclassical and Minimalist music in discussed in relevance to American culture. This background information leads into the creation of my own original compositions and how i have been inspired by life and culture around me.

Modern String Writing In Various Styles, Se Young Ko

Composition/Recording Projects

The purpose of this project was to demonstrate the use of modern string writing in various styles. The project includes over 25 minutes of recorded original compositions, four pieces written for a string quintet (with bass) and one piece written for a piano quintet. The paper is organized in two parts. The first part discusses the composers and works that influenced this album. The second part is a compositional analysis of the album and how the influences for the music were appropriately used while the artist maintained his unique musical language. A production note is provided to explain the recording/mixing …

Compositional Practices In The Accompaniment Of Celtic Trad Music, Mason Taylor

Composition/Recording Projects

n this research paper, I look at how traditional Irish folk musicians—“Trad” as it is commonly referred to by musicians in the style––approach, think of, and perform accompaniment, specifically the contrapuntal style that is common amongst mandolin and bouzouki players. Trad has evolved greatly over the years. Originally, Trad was performed without any form of accompaniment—no guitar, no piano, no cello. Many solo instruments, such as the flute and the fiddle, would play the same melody with the only harmony occurring at moments where performers would momentarily diverge from the melody with an improvised ornament. Somewhere along its varied history, …

Aardvark: A Solo Guitar Album, Jeffrey W. Buchanan

Composition/Recording Projects

In this production paper, I discuss the entire process of creating my debut solo guitar album, Aardvark. There are ten songs on the albums, eight of which are originals and two of which are arrangements of existing music for solo guitar. Each chapter focuses on a specific song and dissects all elements that went into its creation, including the composition process, the type of guitar used, theoretical analyses, and any technical roadblocks I had to overcome. Several of my influences for the music on this album include Ted Greene, Bill Evans, Francisco Tárrega, Dream Theater, and music from the video …

Indistinct Personalities: The Threads Between Modern Hip-Hop, R&B, Jazz, And Gospel Guitar And Production, Tahina A. Fiaferana

Composition/Recording Projects

As a guitarist in the world of commercial music, part of the job is to be able to play and cover as many styles and genres as possible. In a world in which the lines between genres are continually being blurred, this skill becomes even more valuable. Modern hip-hop, R&B, jazz, and gospel music are perfect examples of this. While these genres are constantly bringing new innovations to the music scene, they are also very clearly influencing and collaborating with each other. When looking at modern artists such as Robert Glasper, Tye Tribbett, H.E.R, Victoria Monet, Butcher Brown, Flying Lotus, …

Composing A Cadenza For Mozart's Violin Concerto In A Major, Gracie Hayes

Honors Projects

Historically, soloists from the Western art music tradition were expected to improvise a virtuosic passage during their performance of a concerto—that is, an extensive orchestral work featuring an instrumental soloist. These improvised passages, called cadenzas, were performed unaccompanied by the soloist during a prominent cadence and were derived from the ornamentation that occurred naturally during cadences in vocal arias. Contemporary composers write out these virtuosic passages for performers, who are rarely expected to improvise during a performance, with the exception of jazz musicians. When performing works dating from before the Romantic period, musicians are left with a dilemma. Should they …

Chaconnes, Sonatas, And Fugues, Oh My: A Study Of The Influence Of Baroque, Classical, And Romantic Musical Forms On Today's Media, Cadence A. Graves

ATU Research Symposium

As a future music educator, it is my duty to have not only understanding and knowledge of composers, music history, and compositional techniques, but to also have an appreciation, passion, and interest in what music is, where it has been, how it has changed, and where it is going now. With this research, I deepened my appreciation for the evolution of music over the course of history, expanded my understanding of how and when they came into existence, and broadened my understanding and appreciation of music that draws on those techniques today.

In the comparisons I made between compositions of …

María Grever: Influence Through Mexican Folk And Classical Romantic Techniques And Ideals In ‘A Una Ola.’, Alexandria C. Ellis

ATU Research Symposium

In the last 25 years, there has been a resurgence in Latin American ethnomusicology. This means that, while interest continues to grow, there are several gaps, especially when it comes to the contributions of women. Interestingly, some of these gaps surround the popular Mexican composer María Grever. This includes the lack of information on the variety of sources she gathered inspiration from for composition. Through analyzing Grever's compositional style, especially in the bolero ‘A Una Ola,’or ‘To a Wave,’ I will examine the relationship that Grever employs between the classical Romantic approach and Latin American techniques, especially Mexican folk. While …

Music Therapy Techniques In The Commercial Music Industry, Sarah Heath

Senior Honors Theses

Despite the fact that music is commonly described as free therapy with easily accessible content in the modern age of streaming, most people do not realize that music they already listen to contains many legitimate, psychologically tested therapy. This creative artistic research study examines the role that music therapy processes and techniques play in affecting the form, songwriting and creative processes of the modern music industry. These foundational aspects of songs elicit neurological responses, the emotional effect of which is discussed and incorporated through creative research and implementation through a creative artifact. This study explores songwriting techniques found in various …

Wallpaper Yellow, Jasmine Aust

FUSION

The short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a significant piece of American literature published in 1892. This submission intends to capture its essence musically by adapting the prevailing themes of its narrative into song. Through the use of dynamics, delivery, and diction, the song conveys the evolution of Gilman’s piece. The composition includes deliberate tonal shifts and lyrical choices to reflect the story's progression and the protagonist's descent into madness. Selective adaptation was employed, consciously omitting certain narrative elements while prioritizing key thematic events. The musical piece intends to accurately represent core themes and properly adapt …

City Boy By Judd Greenstein: A Transcription From Chamber Quintet To Full Wind Band, Emmanuel Rodriguez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this project is to create a wind band transcription of the chamber work City Boy by Judd Greenstein. Greenstein describes his own music as being “built on contrasts and juxtapositions between the jittery, competing pulses of the New York City streets where he grew up and the placid landscapes of the rural farm land he now calls home.”1 His music is also influenced by his passion for contemporary popular music genres, specifically hip-hop and rap. This duality is a major aspect of Greenstein’s musical language, which he describes as “a genre- fluid musical infrastructures that endeavors to …

Orthography, Jeremy Gill

Music & Musical Performance

The myth of Pope Gregory I taking melodic dictation from a magical singing bird is the imaginative starting point of Western musicʼs love-hate relationship with the music notation systems it later developed. This essay traces that development through Thomas Tallis and J. S. Bach to the dichotomous modern examples of Brian Ferneyhough and Arvo Pärt. In it, I suggest that Western musicʼs eventual development hinged upon that earliest desire to document and codify melodies, answering Gregoryʼs contemporary Isidore of Seville, who lamented that “unless sounds are held by the memory of man, they perish, because they cannot be written down.”

Terry Riley's "In C" For Mobile Ensemble, David B. Wetzel, Griffin Moe, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This workshop presents a mobile-friendly Web Audio application for a “technology ensemble play-along” of Terry Riley’s 1964 composition In C. Attendees will join in a reading of In C using available web-enabled devices as musical instruments. We hope to demonstrate an accessible music-technology experience that relies on face-to-face interaction within a shared space. In this all-electronic implementation, no special musical or technical expertise is required.

Accepted for presentation and publication at WAC 2024.

Concerto For Piano Duet, Edgar R. Suski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My Concerto for Piano Duet (ca. 23 minute duration) was born out of my passion for the concerto medium and my love of piano performance. It is composed in eleven miniature movements, joined thematically by use of the 0-3-4 motive. In addition to the solo piano duettists, a number of movements include obligato soloists from various sections of the orchestra. My musical aesthetic in this composition features expressive melodies and horizontal/linear writing with a predilection for harmonic outcomes resulting from independent lines in counterpoint with each other. I chose the piano duet instead of piano solo due to lack of …

Listening To The Gordon Natural Area: Field Recording As Means Of Connecting With The More Than Human World, Devin Arne

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor Devin Arne (Music Theory, History, and Composition) shares "Listening to the Gordon Natural Area: Field Recording as Means of Connecting with the More Than Human World"

In Search Of The Armorial Aesthetic: The Counter-Reform Of Ariano Suassuna And The Compositional Techniques In Clovis Pereira’S Suite Macambira, Wagner De Oliveira Duarte

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, in the wake of the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo in 1922, Brazil grappled with defining its national identity, distinct from European influences. While eminent figures such as Villa-Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri, and Francisco Mignone provided foundational narratives in this quest, the Armorial movement emerged as a unique and emblematic response to these nationalistic aspirations.

Originating from the creative vision of Ariano Suassuna, the Armorial movement, though often perceived as a regional initiative, epitomized a broader endeavor to represent Brazil's diverse cultural tapestry. Central to understanding this movement is the work …

Sculpting Time: A Performance Guide To Four Fragments Of Time By Marcus Siqueira, Luis Felipe Vargas Magdaleno De Moraes

Theses and Dissertations--Music

This dissertation investigates the musical and phenomenological aspects of Four Fragments of Time by Marcus Siqueira (b. 1974) and provides a performance guide for this work. Furthermore, this dissertation analyzes previous guitar works by the composer, seeking to understand Siqueira’s compositional idiosyncrasies and to provide context for the interpretation of Four Fragments of Time. This dissertation includes a biography of the composer, an analysis of the compositional process of Four Fragments of Time, an analysis of the recurrent idiomatic procedures in Siqueira’s guitar works, and an overview of the collaborative process between the composer and the author. Additionally, an analysis …

New Hampshire, Liam Thomas

West Chester University Master’s Theses

New Hampshire is a concept album: a recording project inspired by Robert Frost’s (1874-1963) large poetic work of the same title. After reading Frost’s lengthy first poem (also titled “New Hampshire”) I felt an immediate connection between his texts and my musical style. Frost’s “New Hampshire” features many depictions of nature and creates mystery through its colorful, sometimes vague imagery that leaves interpretive space for the imaginative reader, which, in my opinion, is the mark of a great poet. As a reflection of Frost’s text, my album contains atmospheric, ambient music drawing influence from folk, Americana, rock, jazz, with the …

Creative Technologies: A Conversation With Roy Magnuson, Roy Magnuson, Maureen Russell

Faculty Publications - Music

[In lieu of an abstract, the introduction is provided.] Today I am speaking with Roy Magnuson, Associate Professor Creative Technologies in the School of Music at Illinois State University (ISU). (see Figure 1) His music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe at venues such as the World Saxophone Congress, WASBE, CBDNA, the RED NOTE New Music Festival, and the Robb Composers’ Symposium. Magnuson is also the creator of the virtual reality composition software solsticeVR and the conducting software RibbonsVR. He is a member of ASCAP, and his music is recorded on Albany Records and NAXOS.