Composition Commons^™

Surfaces, Rob Funkhouser

Graduate Thesis Collection

Surfaces is a work for two percussionists in four movements. It uses a variety of small percussion instruments, keyboard percussion, and two specially built kalimbas. This document contains both the score and an analysis of the piece that covers instrument choice, performance practice, form and compositional techniques employed

Blacklight Symphony No. 1, William J. Cook

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This symphony written, rehearsed and premiered by William Cook in Spring of 2016 at the Composer's Showcase. The full score, video of the premiere, and his reflection of the events are all attached.

William Cook worked on Blacklight Symphony No. 1 from 2014 - 2016. Ultimately, it can be said that he tried to impress all, though none feigned to understand him, and he is pleased, upon reflection, that he gave the project his all.

The Influence Of Jazz Elements In Don Freund's Sky Scrapings For Alto Saxophone And Piano, Wade Howles

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

Jazz influence surfaces within traditional repertoire for the saxophone more often than other instruments. This is due to the saxophone’s close association with the jazz idiom. Of particular interest is the use of jazz elements in Don Freund’s Sky Scrapings for alto saxophone and piano. Often, while studying a jazz-influenced work, students and professors alike may not recognize the importance of these elements appropriately. Because of this, their performance loses a portion of the stylistic nuance the composer intended while writing the work. This lack of recognition and loss of stylistic nuance is commonly due to a lack of …

Structure & Simulation: Growth And Evolution In Generative Music, Dane Filipczak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes a series of original interactive computer music compositions that are structured around simulations of natural phenomena. The relationship between simulation and music composition is considered and found to be a likely site of high creative potential due to both domains’ concern with process and becoming as opposed to static artifacts. The medium of the web application is considered as an ideal site for contemporary musical experimentation and a portrait is given of the current affordances and constraints of browser-based applications. Five musical systems are described within the context of their simulation and design techniques and some reflections …

Relevant Versus Extraneous Music In Multimedia Instruction: A Study Of The Coherence Principle, Jonathan Gunnell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the inclusion of nonessential music in an instructional multimedia presentation affected learners’ ability to recall information in retention, cued-retention, and transfer cognitive measures. This study tested the coherence principle of multimedia learning which holds that the addition of nonessential content that is not relevant to the instruction is detrimental to learning. This study tested this principle by analyzing differences across three groups; a control group which included no additional music, a group including bland music selected at random, and a group including music that has been intentionally designed to align with …

Transcending The Keyboard: The Development Of Non-Traditional Piano Techniques, Brian Hinkley

Music: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

The First Three Guitar Sonatas Of David Del Puerto, Jeremy Andrew Bass

Theses and Dissertations--Music

David del Puerto’s first three sonatas for solo guitar are large-scale, multi-movement works in a style that is at once strongly guitaristic, and highly refined with regard to harmony, melody, rhythm, and form. Del Puerto completed all three sonatas in 2015, a considerable milestone for a composer who had never before published works in this form for solo guitar. The sonatas represent a consolidation of the composer's recent style: the synthesis of modal, pandiatonic, and twelve-tone harmony; references to folkloric, popular, and classical musics; and a lucid, immediate approach to both surface rhythm and larger formal structures.

Since the development …

Sketches Of A Life, Alexander D. Morris

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Sketches of a Life is a work for a small chamber ensemble and depicts small sections of an unidentified person's life. It is scored for 13 instruments and runs eight minutes in length. The piece itself is supplementary to this project, which is largely a descriptive and theoretical analysis of the work. The analysis and score are submitted as PDFs. A link to the recording is included in the appendix.

Accretion And Acrylics: Composition Portfolio With Commentary, Patrick Egan

Doctoral

This portfolio consists of nine compositions and an accompanying commentary on each of the pieces. The earlier compositions represent the exploration of preoccupations with canon, counterpoint, and rhythmically-charged, pulsating mobiles. This led to the further research elements incorporating the development of rhythmic motifs and their proliferation, culminating in static sonic canvases, slowing the rate of harmonic change. Investigative research into the various gradations applied to amplitude levels, first explored in my electronic music and then applied in the form of dynamics in my acoustic writing, represents another highly-featured process in this thesis. The opening chapters chart the processes of the …

A Case Study Of The Cellists And Treatise Authors: Johann Georg Christoph Schetky (1737-1824), Joseph Reinagle (1752-1825) And John Gunn (C.1765-1823): The Development Of The Cello In Provincial Britain, Margaret Doris

Doctoral

This dissertation provides an investigation of British provincial cello playing in the lateeighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries through a comprehensive examination of the biographical histories and the pedagogical outputs of the cellists and cello treatise authors, Johann Georg Christoph Schetky (1737–1824), Joseph Reinagle (1752–1825) and John Gunn (c.1765–1823). Through re-evaluation and analysis of the biographical profiles of Schetky, Reinagle and Gunn, in combination with a contextual review of their cello treatises, a provincial trend in British cello treatise authorship has been revealed. Schetky was principal cellist with the Edinburgh Musical Society [EMS], whilst Reinagle was principal cellist of the Oxford Musical …

The Genesis: A Symphonic Work And Analysis, Max Keller

Faculty Publications

The biblical account of creation found in the Book of Genesis is known to billions around the world through its proclamation by multiple religions and numerous denominations. As such it is embedded in many cultures, especially that of the Western civilization and art. This article contains all but two of the movements, three and six, of Max Keller’s analysis of his multi-movement symphonic work The Genesis. The work sought to be a musical expression of the creation narrative found in the Book of Genesis, with direct correlations to the original Hebrew text. As such, the analysis takes an in-depth look …

Performance Examples, Compositions (Improvisation Vehicles) And Transcriptions Vol Ii, Michael Nielsen

Doctoral

No abstract provided.

Theft! A History Of Music, Keith Aoki, James Boyle, Jennifer Jenkins

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bonding Theatre And Chemistry: An Educational Exploration, Matthew Gurniak

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This paper analyzes the educational aspects of theatre and music and the impact that they have on an audience. The goal was to begin a new conversation about science and theatre and how the two can learn and gain unique insight from each other. To examine how these two antithetical fields can interact, I composed a new, innovative musical that tells the love story between two professors through the use of concepts from general chemistry. The results and responses from the performance of the play were overwhelmingly positive from members of both disciplines. They have inspired continued interest in this …

American Spring, Sam Mullooly, Tom Mullooly

CrissCross

Composer's Notes

I composed American Spring during the 2015-2016 school year, my final year as an undergraduate at Illinois Wesleyan University, in connection with the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. This opera takes place mostly in April 1865, the year Richmond burned and Lincoln died, and deals with America’s feelings of pride and shame in war. The opera’s main character is Varina Davis, the wife of confederate President Jefferson Davis. Varina offers the 1860’s Southern perspective on slavery and the war, one glossed over in most readings of our history because it is so obviously repugnant …

Ex Nihilo: An Inquiry Into The Nature Of Musical Creation, David Orvek

Capstone Research Projects

As of late there has been much interest in the creative process of musical composition. Most studies to date have taken the form of quantitative and/or psychological analyses performed upon composers by researchers who are not themselves composers. In contrast, this project takes a more philosophical and historical approach in that it takes time to reflect upon the context and manner in which music has been composed throughout history. Additionally, this study offers a more personal perspective as it draws information from the author’s own compositional process–as recorded in a composition journal–as well as the thoughts and reflections of composers …

Music And Words: Connecting The Love Of Music With Language, Eileen P. Kennedy, Raymond Torres- Santos

Publications and Research

Children from different cultures have a natural affinity for rhymes, rhythm and music. Imagine if students were able, from the beginning of their education and experiences with academic writing and literacy, to access their unconscious and original selves from which to create their writing. The study of music can help to access this aware, inventive side that can enhance anyone’s writing. As an early childhood writing teacher and a composition teacher, we draw on our experiences with young children with words and music. We examine the relationship between music and words in an effort to bring the primitive drive of …

Indigiana, Elizabeth A. Knox

Graduate Thesis Collection

Indigiana, for orchestra and audio soundscape, is dedicated to the 2016 bicentennial celebration of the State of Indiana. The title is derived from the words, ‘Indiana,’ ‘Digital,’ and ‘Indigenous.’ Its programmatic style is based on the natural landscape and my reflections on four Indiana state parks. In addition to the state's bicentennial honor, Indiana celebrated its 100^th anniversary of the purchase of its first two recreational facilities, McCormick's Creek and Turkey Run State Park.² To honor the state and my family’s longstanding heritage as Hoosiers, I used the natural landscape and environmental sounds of four Indiana state parks …

Mexica Music, Tizoc E. Ramirez-Marquez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper explores the society of Mexica, or the Aztecs, and some of the instruments that were produced in the civilization and used in today’s compositions. The history and their creation mythology will also be deliberated for those individuals who do not know this information of the culture. In the history, the subjects of the Mexica constructing a giant city in a lake to the conquest that was lead by Hernan Cortez will be discussed. The creation story will also exhibit the ideology of the Mexica and how their culture is sustained before the conquest. In the music section, the …

An Introduction To Serbian Piano Music: Musical And Cultural Influences On Three Selected Composers, Jelena Djukic

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

Serbia is a country that has survived many political and religious conflicts. Perhaps the best way to describe Serbian culture and tradition would be a country whose inhabitants struggled for many years, yet managed to incorporate the best elements of its conquerors’ cultures. Serbian musical identity is an amalgam of local and international influences and styles.

Different foreign authorities occupied this country for centuries. The Danube River was the main border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, located in the north, and the Turkish Ottoman Empire, situated south of the Danube. The Austro-Hungarian influences on Serbian music are most evident in piano …