Composition Commons^™

Void: For Orchestra, Jared Aragon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In astronomy, a void is an area in outer space which contains no galaxies. These are vast expanses of darkness and emptiness. This orchestral piece, simply titled void, attempts to describe such an area through various musical methods: long sustained notes depicting the huge distances away from galaxies, wide distances between upper voices and lower voices creating a sense of void between musical elements, and close distances and tight harmonies to recreate the sense of confusion and uncertainty that may be experienced in an area of emptiness.

Smoke & Mirrors, Justin R. Pecot

Music

No abstract provided.

Project Llama: Making A Cappella Arranging Easier, Jason Lu

Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies

This project was intended to improve the current state of a cappella arranging. It explains the problems with current tools and explores other options.

Guy Woolfenden: A Composer's Musical Dna, James A. Dreiling

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

Guy Woolfenden is a British composer who has made a name for himself in England as the composer of over 150 scores for the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as music for numerous ballet and opera companies. In addition, he has composed fifteen pieces for wind band and eleven pieces for various wind chamber ensembles. While his wind music is well known throughout England, his name and his music are not as well known throughout the rest of the world. Those few conductors outside of England who are aware of his work tend to know only one or two of …

Flaher For Wind Ensemble, Benjamin W. Lee

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Music compositions are vehicles of communication. Organized music ensembles in schools allow for students to share in the process of music-making and extramusical expression within the curriculum. As of late, school districts have made a push in mental health awareness and suicide prevention within professional development seminars. This project views the music classroom as an important, open environment for such pressing social subjects. In such, my composition—Flaher (pronounced “flare”)—pays homage to a friend, Anthony Flaherty, who committed suicide (keeping his namesake in the work’s title). Flaher is an accessible piece for high school or college band that directors can …

Searching For Modeling Of Stravinsky's Petroushka In Poulenc's Rapsodie Nègre: Poulenc's Use Of Popular Forms And Techniques In His Earliest Work, Jeremy Rover

Senior Theses

Why does the view that French composer Francis Poulenc was a musical hack and a fraud continue to be discussed today? To get to the bottom of this, we need to look at the evidence available and find proof to back up these claims. In the predominant research on Poulenc, many scholars mention musical themes and quotations linked to other composers, but most of these claims aren’t backed up with specific examples or score studies. Therefore, in this paper I attempt to trace the “crime” to its source by showing Poulenc’s possible borrowing of harmonies, thematic material, styles, and rhythms …

Cephalophore : A Chamber Opera., Chris Kincaid

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cephalophore is a one-act opera Commissioned and premiered by the Thompson Street Opera Company. The libretto is inspired by the story of St. Denis, who was martyred around 250 AD in what is modern-day Paris. Denis was sent to re- Christianize the city of Lutetia, Gaul by Pope Fabian, after a wave of persecutions by the hand of the Roman Emperor Decius had all but dissolved the once vibrant Christian community. His growing number of conversions alarmed the nobility, particularly Laertia, wife of Lubrius. Laertia’s tragic past makes her husband’s conversion unbearable, and the story centers on her manic attempt …

Stars For Large Orchestra., Matt Wetmore 1989-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

STARS is a work for full orchestra depicting four of the known stars in our galaxy. Each movement is a character piece musically illustrating a particular star by a separate pitch collection: the first movement, Sol, depicts our very own sun rising in the morning sky, blooming slowly from the lowest register to the highest, and uses elements of the pentatonic pitch collection to do so. The second movement, Sirius, shows the fun, playful, and unpredictable side of the titular dog star, also the brightest star in our night sky. Here, a version of the diatonic set that freely and …

Adarna : For Flute & Orchestra., Jabez Co

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ADARNA is a fantastical work inspired by the Filipino folk tale “Ibong Adarna.” This Filipino story centers on the elegant and magical Adarna bird, whose songs are so soothing that they can lure people to sleep and whose powers can cure all ailments. The quest for the bird begins when King Don Fernando falls ill, and the only cure for his poor health is the Adarna’s birdsong. The first movement “of soothing songs…” is a depiction of a diamond tree, which is said to be the Adarna bird’s natural habitat. Metallic sounds are accompanied by eerie sustained notes to portray …

Dess(O)Us Paris : For Viola And Chamber Orchestra., Justin Giarrusso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Les Catacombes and Notre Dame de Paris: two places that hold my most vivid memories of Paris, but these two places are also inextricably related. Notre Dame de Paris was built from limestone extracted from mines beneath Paris–mines that eventually became the ossuaries known today as the Catacombes. In depleting stone from the ground, cavernous and cathedrallike spaces were created beneath Paris while a cathedral rose toward the heavens on the Île de la Cité. In a way, two cathedrals were built: one a negative image of the other above. Dess(o)us Paris captures the duality of these opposite cathedrals, with …

Werner Jaegerhuber’S Messe Sur Les Airs Vodouesques Or Messe Folklorique Haïtienne: A Performance Edition, Canes Nicolas

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

Originally written for solo soprano with choir and organ, Werner Jaegerhuber completed this work in 1953, and his close friend and artistic collaborator, Louis Maximilien, commissioned it for the sesquicentennial of Haiti’s independence on January 1, 1954. However, since there are no published scores or even a reliable manuscript of this piece, what has been kept in the archives of the Société de recherche et de diffusion de la musique Haïtienne in Montreal, Canada are two dissimilar scores by unknown sources. One is the choral and organ version, which was made by a professional copyist in the 1950’s (judging by …

Of Seasons Have I Sung, Charlie Leftridge

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

This cantata is comprised of seven movements: versus i. the willows (SATB double choir, SSAA antiphonal soli and string quartet); versus ii. we once were (SA and string quartet); versus iii. when at night I see the sky (tenor solo and string quartet); versus iv. of seasons have I sung (unaccompanied SSAATTBB choir); versus v. if you should ask me (soprano solo and string quartet); versus vi. I once was (TB and string quartet); versus vii. in paradisum (SATB double choir, SSAA antiphonal soli and string quartet). The text set to music is the original poetry of the composer. This …

Northsong, Neal Endicott

Masters Theses

Northsong is a 20 minute tone poem for Wind Ensemble based on the landscapes of northern Michigan and my own personal and musical background. The piece takes its name from a melody that I composed during my undergrad while recovering from back surgery in Traverse City. Unable to actually play any of my instruments, I started composing for the first Mme. In addition to a number of jazz and saxophone quartet arrangements, I wrote a short melody that reflected my mood while I was stuck inside during a snowstorm. I titled the melody Northsong, but didn’t know what to do …

Twisted Blue, Jessica Rudman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Twisted Blue was written for clarinetist Dan Liptak to perform with the Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra conducted by Erberk Eryilmaz. The title comes from the bluesy progression that forms the basis of the second movement, which was in fact composed first in a few frantic fall afternoons. The opening movement followed, and then the finale.

Analysis Of Compositional Techniques From Composing Daily, Monthly Or With A Variable Time Frame Over The Last Twenty-Five Years, Herbert Midgley

Bright Ideas Conference

No abstract provided.

Movement I. "Lo" From Four Moons For Brass Quartet, Gregory V. Goeden

Compositions

"lo" is the introductory movement of a four-part suite, entitled Four Moons for Brass Quartet. As suggested by the title, the four movements of the work were modeled after a specific set of astronomical entities, the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. These celestial satellites provided inspiration for this work in a number of different ways. Scientific observations and measurements for each moon, such as diameter, mass, density and composition, provided melodic and harmonic ideas through a 20th century musical process that is commonly referred to as "pitch set theory." The visual and physical qualities of each moon, and their relationships …

“Mi Alma Cantará”: Tracing Issues In Music Education Within The Colonial And Contemporary Latin American Church, Kerry Digiacomo

Senior Honors Theses

Music education and institutionalized Christianity have been criticized by historians and ethnomusicologists for their role in the domination and transformation of indigenous Latin American cultures since the late 15th century. However, indigenous peoples, including Amerindians as well as more recent mestizo and Ladino people groups, have also taken an active role in transforming European musics to reflect an emic understanding of their own cultural identity. Music education within the Latin American church has provided an interface for these complex interactions between foreign and native cultural influences. This paper will explore the connections between colonial and contemporary-era music education movements in …

Suite For The Forgotten, Masayoshi Ishikawa

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

Suite For The Forgotten is an original composition that is dedicated to people who are currently living in Fukushima and its surrounding areas. The piece is comprised of three movements (“I. Grief and Wrath,” “II. Wasururuka,” “III. A Song for Children.”) The tragic Great East Earth Quake and tsunami occurred in Japan March 11, 2011. The disaster not only took thousands people’s lives away but also caused Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown.

Due to high radioactive leakage from the plants, thousands of people had to leave their hometowns. It has been said that some of those areas that have …

The Budding Musician: A Method For Developing Cognitive And Physical Proficiency At The Piano, Lauren M. Hartburg

Senior Honors Theses

A comprehensive piano curriculum involves physical performance development alongside musicianship training. This thesis will discuss the decline in music literacy alongside research supporting the benefits of a creative, holistic, flexible music education program. These items will then be applied to developing an elementary piano curriculum. A four-volume piano method emphasizing theory and musicianship in the context of performance literature is outlined and level one is presented in detail.

Beethoven Ahead Of His Time: Sonata In C Major No. 21 Op. 53, Carolina E. Perez Ms.

Honors College Theses

This research looks at the work of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sonata in C major No. 21 Op. 53. A historical, theoretical, and technical analysis helps set a foundation for a better comprehension of the work and influence the overall performance.