Composition Commons^™

Composing For Guitar Orchestra: Challenges And Advantages Of Homogeneous Orchestration, Jason Noble, Steve Cowan

The 21st Century Guitar

The term orchestration tends to invoke heterogeneous combinations of instruments, especially those of the symphony orchestra. But homogeneous ensembles, comprised of combinations of the same kind of instrument, also make up an important part of the musical and music-pedagogical landscapes. As we argue in this paper, orchestrating for homogeneous ensembles is grounded in the same perceptual principles as orchestrating for heterogeneous ensembles, and may be analyzed using the same taxonomy of orchestral effects. In general, effects based on perceptual similarity between sounds are facilitated in homogeneous orchestration, while effects based on perceptual difference require greater attention to detail on the …

William Walton: The Evolution Of The Five Bagatelles, Kenneth Kam

The 21st Century Guitar

The distinguished British composer, William Walton wrote his first work involving the guitar in 1960. This is the song cycle Anon. in Love, composed for tenor Peter Pears and guitarist Julian. He wrote his only solo guitar work in 1971, Five Bagatelles, which he dedicated to the composer Malcolm Arnold, and was premiered by Bream in the same year. Walton admitted that he had never thought of writing for the guitar but was encouraged to do so by Julian Bream. This work was written hand-in-hand between Bream and Walton in Ischia, Italy, in which Bream even provided a chart which …

Making Malice Musical: Verdi’S Compositional Journey Through The Eyes Of Six Villains, Michael Chadwick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Giuseppe Verdi is a pillar of the operatic world and had a profound impact on the evolution of the art form. From a rudimentary beginning, he developed over time from a popular creator of operas in the solita forma style of 19^th century Italy into a master craftsman of combining music, text, and theatrical drama. Verdi utilized the popular compositional formal convention of solita forma to begin his career. Over time he evolved beyond its boundaries and shifted his focus to the holistic theatrical presentation of the drama. Much has been written about this evolution through analysis of Verdi’s …

Honors Capstone Composition Recital, Kayla L. Bivin

Honors Capstones

The Honors Capstone Composition Recital is an exhibition of my own musical compositions from throughout my undergraduate study. The purpose of the event was to perform original music and share it with the community. The program is completely comprised of original works for a variety of instruments and ensembles and includes five world premiere performances out of the seven pieces, totaling about 45 minutes of music. The performance was held at the NIU Recital Hall (located in the Music Building at 550 Lucinda Ave.) at 7:00 pm CST on April 16, 2023. It was available for free to the public, …

Grant Steinweg Composition Senior Recital, Andrews University

Student Degree Recitals 2022-2023

Grant Steinweg, composer Assisted by many gracious musicians from the Department of Music and the surrounding community.

“An Evening of Creativity, Collaboration, and Worship”

Creativity And Organic Songwriting: A Deconstruction Of Original Songs, Pramuk Mohanlal-Vargas

Composition/Recording Projects

Creativity and organic songwriting define uniqueness and are the building blocks of artistic self-expression. This paper consists of a deconstruction of eight original song recordings including the organic songwriting methods and creative ideas which led to the end result. The formulation of each recording is discussed in chronological order and in detail as well as influential ideas and songwriting styles of well-known contemporary artists such as Damien Rice, Passenger and Bon Iver. Along with individual and psychological approaches to songwriting, production elements are mentioned which indicate how the digital world influenced the final version of each song. This area relied …

The Influence Of Strings In Gospel And Contemporary Christian Music: The Role Of The Instrument And The Producer, Kelsei Peppars

Composition/Recording Projects

This paper will examine the use of strings (with an emphasis on the violin) in early Gospel music, contemporary Gospel music, and Contemporary Christian Music. The purpose of this research is to analyze the role of the violin and strings in these genres of music, while also analyzing the technical and melodic aspects of the instrument and music that are present within these specific genres, both historically and presently. Furthermore, the technical aspects and processes of production (writing and arranging, booking, creating, contracting, producing, and performing) will be explored and discussed. This project will Display and describe the use of …

Symphony: Tambora, Logan Purcell

Graduate Thesis Collection

Symphony: Tambora is a piece for chamber orchestra that is inspired by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora in the Lesser Sunda Islands of the Phillipines. Its three movements deal with the genesis of Mount Tambora, the magma chambers filling up and spilling over, and the series of eruptions that resulted in some of the worst climate crises in recorded history. The thesis includes a score of the work, and an accompanying analysis.

Chopin’S Piano Sonata No. 3 In B Minor Op. 58: A Structural Analysis, Maverick Harrold

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 3 in b minor Op. 58 is an incredibly important composition to the world of music. This work will uncover many of the unique facets and features of this piece as well as discover the beautiful intricacies of each of the four movements. By learning about this sonata, the reader will gain an understanding of the importance of musical structure and musical form and will gain insight into the ways of Chopin’s compositional style and of romantic piano music as a whole.

Survey Of Models For "Computer Music", Gabriel Pell

Honors Theses

The introduction of digital computers to the world of music composition provided a medium from which to write far more efficiently than the traditional means of transcription. Of course, this applies to modern notation software, but it is the way in which computers have granted the composer the ability to utilize stochastic generation, algorithmic reasoning, and later, artificial intelligence that was especially groundbreaking. To be sure, there are countless models created by composers and computer scientists that utilized every aspect of the abilities granted by the technology at the time of their creation. However, there are those few models that …

The Issue Of Communicability In Guerra-Peixe’S 1947 Solo Violin Works, Lucas Henrique Teixeira Martins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Throughout an important period of his career as a composer, César Guerra-Peixe demonstrated a preoccupation with both the issue of communicability between listeners and the musical composition, as well as avenues for expressing national identity in music. The works composed between 1944 and 1948 present several possible paths for answering these questions with the musical language of the twelve-tone style. Música no. 1 and Música no. 2 for solo violin demonstrate a search for familiarity through the use of chords created by grouping sets of pitches from the originating tone row. The simple linear motif of the movements within these …

Give The Drummer Some: A Dive Into Drum Breaks And Drum Break Production, Kyle Kaldhusdal

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper traces the history of hip-hop culture through the evolution of the drum break, the original context of drum breaks in funk and soul music, their influence on DJ culture, and the subsequent impact of drum breaks on music and music production. It follows the development of breakbeat compilations in the 1970s and 1980s, parallel to the development of turntablism and sampling techniques. It also examines in detail how copyright litigation in the 1990s shaped the development of sample-based music genres and created a niche market for originally-recorded drum breaks over the subsequent decades.

The History And Development Of Solo Tuba Repertoire, Vasilios Tidwell

Honors Theses

The tuba's solo repertoire increased in quantity and quality as a result of developments in the instrument’s design and usage. Following the invention of the tuba in 1835, instrument makers experimented with design concepts to maximize the versatility and potential of the bass brass voice. Composers explored the various uses of the instrument, eventually making the tuba part of the standard orchestral instrumentation by the mid-nineteenth century. Following the instrument's acceptance into bands and orchestras, the first solo works for tuba emerged in the late nineteenth century.

Evolving from novelty pieces accompanied by wind or brass bands, tuba solo music …

A Score Of Voices: Creating And Scoring An Original Film With A Cappella Choir, Zachary James Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Film scores typically feature large instrumental ensembles, sometimes with choir added at pivotal moments. Rarely, however, is the choir entrusted with a greater percentage of the score, and far too scores explore the sonic potential that vocal music has to offer. In fact, in a recent study of 800 films, none contained a score that was completely c. Thus, the body of unaccompanied choral film scores is practically non-existent. This curious gap in repertoire inspired me to create the documentary Downstream (2023) and score it entirely with an unaccompanied choir. The full score to this new work is contained within …

Early Instruments In 21st Century Composition And An Original Composition For Saxophones And Viols, Jacob Bitinas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Composers continually seek new timbres and sonorities to bend to their will. The early music revival of the twentieth century has resurrected dozens of instruments that have gone unutilized in contemporary composition for centuries. The historically-informed-performance movement has now evolved to a point where early instruments and period performance techniques can add extraordinary new characters to twenty-first century compositions. This thesis explores how composers effectively utilize early instruments like the viola da gamba, harpsichord, lute, and recorder in their compositions.

The document also contains interview transcripts from eight composers and performers, including Nico Muhly, Liam Byrne, Martha Bishop, David Loeb, …

Creating A Seven-Track Project In Diverse Commercial Styles, Steven Schumann

Composition/Recording Projects

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the production process for a commercial instrumental album featuring the cello as the prominent instrument. The project includes over 25 minutes of recorded material, with approximately half recorded in a home studio setting and the other half recorded in a professional studio environment. The paper covers various aspects of music production and audio technology, geared towards musicians who have received formal performance training but may lack similar education in music production.

A History Of Bass Guitar Effects Pedals: Liner Notes, David Lloyd

Composition/Recording Projects

This project examines bass effect-pedal technology and the lineage of recordings that have made use of such equipment. The timeline of bass pedal recordings and artists that used them range from modern day session players to The Beatles. A well rounded list of effects most frequently used on bass guitar include octave, fuzz/distortion, chorus, phaser, and envelope filter based processors, and this paper examines multiple songs from commercial music history that utilize one or more of these effects on bass guitar. These songs include ‘Think For Yourself’ by The Beatles, ‘For the Love of Money’ by The O’Jays, ‘Something About …

Windows Into Jazz, Nicholas T. Bilski

Composition/Recording Projects

This project is a culmination of multiple different genres of jazz music in multiple different stylistic arrangements. Each chapter tells the story of its respective piece and how that piece came into existence.

A Composer's Perspective On The Clarinet Concerto, Sarah Marze

Honors Scholar Theses

While seminal literature on concerto form analysis and compositions for clarinet and orchestra has been conducted, this undergraduate thesis is an exploration from a young composer’s perspective. My priority was discovering the breadth of what the clarinet concerto has to offer in order to learn how to place my own work as a composer into historical, cultural and aesthetic contexts.
First, I present an abridged history of the clarinet concerto. Despite this musical form being hundreds of years old, concerto composition is still relevant today because it is a display of balance; the best concerti are delicate balancing acts of …

From Story To Song: Exploring The Storytelling Potential Of Instrumental Music, Celine Darr

Honors Projects

For this project, I have composed a piece of program music with the aim of capturing scenes from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" through music. The project seeks to answer questions regarding the elements that make instrumental music "programmatic", or able to portray a story.