Music Commons^™

Constructivist Peer Review In Music Theory And Composition Courses: Technologies And Practice, Brendan Mcconville

Journal of the Association for Technology in Music Instruction

This article considers the supporting technologies and practices for effective semi-anonymous peer review in traditional music theory and composition-related courses: orchestration, arranging, and composition. A coordinated approach probes two questions nested within one broad case study: (1) does the use of peer review in music theory and composition-related courses create meaningful, constructivist-inspired learning experiences, and (2) what web technologies can efficiently and effectively accomplish its activities? The article first provides a constructivist theoretical framework; next, it explains the methodologies, technologies, and resulting feedback from using peer review in a three-course study; and finally it provides concluding remarks on the many …

Engaging With The Score: Wadada Leo Smith, Graphic Notation, And The Performer’S Perspective, Kennedy Taylor Dixon

Masters Theses

As a Composer/Performer, my work exists in both realms. This thesis reflects the principle that my experience as a violist influences my compositional process and vice versa. Since identifying under both artistic skill sets, it has become evident that the two areas that exist as a creative and presentational output, thrive off one another’s success.

In June 2019, I had the chance to play Wadada Leo Smith’s String Quartet No. 3: Black Church, The First World Gathering of the Spirit (1995) at the Nief-Norf Summer Festival. This encounter was the first time I interacted with graphically notated scores as a …

The Machine Is Angry, Seth David Allen

Graduate Thesis Collection

At its heart (or lack thereof) The Machine is Angry is a theater work. The visual components are as equally important as their acoustic counterparts. Sounds are only as valuable as the images they evoke and the intention of The Machine is to outline a picture that simultaneously conveys community and isolation; the idea that one can feel most alone when in a crowded room.

Home Quartet, Oliver Bonie

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

How Reading, Writing, And Composing Music Enhances A Child’S Creativity, Marisa R. Robertson

Masters Theses

This thesis intends to prove that reading, writing, and composing music in elementary school can help children enhance their creativity. The project will contain recent research that shows how reading, writing, and composing music can enhance a child’s creativity. Research from this thesis will provide parents, educators, and administration with the necessary information to decide to incorporate music into their child’s school curriculum.

Composition Portfolio, Joshua A. Aguiar

Music ETDs

A collection of music compositions, composed and imagined during study at the University of New Mexico.

The News, Toby Wren

Staff Scholarship - Australia & Dubai

The News is an 'album' of musical works presented in score format. It is part of an ongoing ontological exploration of the nature of the work in jazz. There is some agreement in the literature that the classical work is present in the score, while in popular music the work is taken to be the recording. Jazz is somewhat more elusive due to the presence of improvisation, with each performance contributing to an understanding of the work, but no version being definitive.

The work is also a reaction to the conflation of recordings and live music within the same body …

Recording Sounds And Instruments For Sample Libraries, Camden Daly

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In this paper, we will look at the topic of instrument sampling for virtual instrument libraries. This paper will look at the history of recording devices, samplers, first technologies for playing orchestral sounds, and the process for making my own library. This paper looks at the techniques and processes for sampling a grand piano in detail. Details including pitch, dynamics, microphone placements, round robins, releases, and pedals. For my own sample library, I recorded and programmed Foley sounds that can be used for film compositions.

Undecided, Quinn Dymalski

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

Undecided is a big band ballad that features the baritone saxophone. It was written by Quinn Dymalski for his senior recital at the University of Denver, and was premiered on March 2nd, 2020. While the inspiration for this work comes from the styles of modern big band artists such as Quincy Jones, the harmony displays a romantic twist; seventh chords and suspensions like that of a Chopin Nocturne appear when the saxes enter at measure thirteen. The following choral-like figures written for the brass build a dramatic intensity only for the texture to be stripped down to solo bari sax …

Grey Areas: Songs Of Memory, Imagination, Intellect, And Death For Baritone Voice And Mixed Instrumental Octet, Scott Stephen Hansen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The central element of this thesis is Grey Areas, a newly-composed dramatic piece in four movements for baritone and chamber ensemble. The work is highly personal in both its subject matter and its musical execution; it also contains a unique movement order that changes depending on the age of the baritone. Along with the written portion of this document and full score, I completed a studio recording of the entire composition as part of the project. Composers (by necessity) are more frequently functioning as their own recording and mixing engineers for their own works. I have been able to …

Compositions For 0 Or 1 Performers, Rodrigo Valente Pascale

Masters Theses

This thesis includes a collection of pieces composed for 0 or 1 performers – unaccompanied solo, solo and electronics or fixed media. The compositions for solo instruments include “Unnest” for bassoon solo, premièred by Ariane Petri during the V Congress of Music and Mathematics in 2020, and “Assemblage” for baritone saxophone solo, premièred by Erin Rogers in 2020. “Reizantwort” is a composition for viola and electronics which was first recorded by Laura Parra in summer 2020. Finally, "Discontinuous Mediation I" and "Discontinuous Mediation II" are fixed media compositions that were composed in Summer 2020 and Spring 2021, respectively. This collection …

The Best Is Yet To Come: Approaches To Rhythmic Development, Robert W. Lindsay Ii

Masters Theses

For my Masters of Arts thesis, I recorded a number of songs that I had written between 2015 and 2020 for an album titled “The Best is Yet to Come.” In this adjunct essay, I will analyze four of those pieces to demonstrate my use of rhythmic development; I use rhythmic development extensively in my work in order to generate cohesion between songs. The opening song, “Fresh Vegetables,” demonstrates the rhythmic motive that all other songs develop from. If anyone chooses to learn or analyze my music in the future, this document can be a reference.

The Elements, Soren Andrew Allen

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

The Elements is a five-movement composition for wind ensemble inspired by the five classical elements: earth, water, fire, air, and aether. These elements were once thought by Plato to be made of small, indivisible solids which were later named the Platonic Solids: the cube, the icosahedron, the tetrahedron, the octahedron, and the dodecahedron, respectively. I utilized compositional techniques developed in the twentieth century to explore these elements and their connections to their solids.

Sunday Music Series: Andrews University Composers, Department Of Music

Concerts and Event Programs 2020-2021

Andrews University Department of Music presents its annual Composition Recital, featuring works by our student composers. Composers featured include Ludwig Natchimie, Nicole Powers, Daley Lin, Andrew Pak, Lorian Guillaume, Daniel Soochkoff-Cerna, and Kaija Perry.

Red Note New Music Festival Composition Workshop Announcement, 2021, Carl Schimmel, Roger Zare

Red Note New Music Festival

The RED NOTE New Music Festival at Illinois State University is a week-long event which features outstanding performances of contemporary concert music.

Red Note New Music Festival Composition Competition Announcement, 2021, Carl Schimmel, Roger Zare,

Red Note New Music Festival

The RED NOTE New Music Festival at Illinois State University is a week-long event which features outstanding performances of contemporary concert music.

Metamorphosis, Microtones And Modes: Composition Portfolio With Commentary, Daragh Black Hynes

Research Theses

This research project consists of a portfolio of eight works accompanied by a thesis, which offers analytical commentaries on all of the works and the composition processes therein. The title of the thesis, ‘Metamorphosis, Microtones and Modes’, alludes to the primary factors involved in the composition processes, from a research perspective, across the course of the project. The concept of metamorphosis was approached in the context of attempting to musically interpret the visual ideas of M.C. Escher, and was subsequently explored extensively throughout the portfolio works in the parameters of pitch material, rhythm, form and structure, texture, timbre, and also …

The Unfaithful Bride: A Musical Exploration Of The Jewish Prayer Modes And Comparable Modern Instrumentation, Claire Smith

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The Unfaithful Bride is a piece of Western art music written with the intent of acclimating westernized ears to the sonic landscape of Judaism, while simultaneously exploring a difficult and allegorical passage of Scripture that intersects with the composer’s religious traditions. The primary objective, however, was to create a beautiful work of art. To create this work, research on Jewish music (specifically on the ancient liturgical modes) was utilized to both inform and inspire.

Once the text was selected and analyzed, composition began, and rhythmic values and a prayer mode were assigned to each movement. Melodic materials were written at …

Creative Constraints: Developing A Method For Restrictive Jazz Composition, Harry Mitchell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research aimed to develop a method of jazz composition that utilises data-based restrictions to facilitate the composition process. An analysis rating tool (ART) was developed based on methodologies created by Aaron Stroessner and Jan LaRue to extract elements of melody, harmony, rhythm and form from compositions on Seamus Blake’s album Bellwether and Will Vinson’s album Stockholm Syndrome. The ART then facilitated a practice-led composition process in which the data from the analysis were used as the primary source of creativity to generate and record a set of 10 compositions. Through an iterative process of composing with and refining the …

On Five Degrees: For Voice, Flute, Cello, Vibraphone And Piano, David Patterson, Tenbroeck Davison

Compositions of David Patterson

On Five Degrees (do si la sol fa - fa sol la si do) musically develops TenBroeck Davison's poem, The Five Degrees. Her song, Melancholy Nights, is an inlay at the composition's center.

The Five Degrees

The glance, the look.
The arms that open wide
to hold the moment - Melancholy Nights - and the kiss
in time. And then beyond. 
To glance, to look. Again.

Melancholy Nights

City lights they all astound me, 
and the noises still confound me 
since you've gone, it's been so long 
I can't recall a single song to take— 
nights that always …

Pity The Nation, Kameron Zebadiah Mechling

Graduate Thesis Collection

In light of the unprecedented events of social unrest that took place in the year of 2020, this piece takes inspiration from the timeless poem “Pity the Nation” by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Just as the text and themes relate to the United States during this time, they continue to resonate beyond multiple areas and eras.

When recalling the events of 2020, some remember fear, uncertainty, pain, anger, disgust, and loss. Pity the Nation depicts these emotions. The alto and tenor voices follow each line of text in the poem, interpreting the themes musically as they are given. The fear of the …

Developing A Music Composition Practice: Exploring The Choreography Of Cymatics, Joshua Jervis

Theses : Honours

Cymatics is an area of physics popularised by Hans Jenny that observes the influence of sound but more simply vibration on physical matter. When sound is directly applied to a substance, for example, water, the vibrations create kaleidoscopic movement within the medium. Specific variables primarily of pitch, container size, and water volume contribute to creating a variety of geometric shapes. Without sound cymatics does not exist and is, therefore, a visual characteristic of sound itself.

With an investigation into the behaviour and application of cymatics, this research uses the findings of an investigation to develop a ‘choreographical’ language that can …

Theoretical And Compositional Analysis Of Select Metal Works, Jacob Bird

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This paper is a comprehensive essay on the history, form, and compositional techniques of Extreme Metal music. Within Extreme Metal this paper will cover three sub-genres using compositions by Burzum, Death, and Gojira. This paper is meant to show a link between the compositional techniques used in Western Classical music and Extreme Metal through analysis of form, harmony, and tonality/modality. The scope of this paper primarily focuses on the popular music form verse/chorus which is compared to a variety of Western Classical music forms. The goal is to promote future research into the Extreme Metal style and other popular music …

Representations Of Chronic Migraine And Therapy Through New Electronic Music Composition, Peter Mcavan

Theses : Honours

This thesis explores compositional techniques in electronic music that depict and explore chronic migraine and the therapies that manage the condition. Migraines are typically described as a destructive, violent force or a hopeless ailment, but research shows that this perception is damaging for new patients learning to manage migraine. Furthermore, evidence suggests that better understanding of how pain works can be instrumental in reducing pain (a process called Therapeutic Neuroscience Education). Drawing from this literature and my experience as an electronic musician suffering from chronic migraine, I utilise a practice-led research methodology to explore current scientific understandings of migraine and …

Music Composition In The 17th And 18th Centuries: A Historical Analysis Of How Georg Frideric Handel Participated In “Borrowing”, Nicholas Mueller, Oscar Peterson-Veatch, Russell Schmidt

2020 Festschrift: Georg Frideric Handel's "Messiah"

The primary focus in this research paper is borrowing; this means borrowing from other composers, and self-borrowing from a previous composition. It is widely accepted in scholarship that Georg Frideric Handel participated in the action of borrowing. However, there is significantly more contention among scholars surrounding both the extent of Handel’s borrowing, as well as what the appropriate modern perspective is for these actions. In this research paper our primary focus will be on Handel’s borrowings, the benefits he received from these actions, and the historical lens of borrowing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Uncommon Influence: Exploring Xenakis’ Use Of Math And Architecture As Compositional Tools Bibliography, Paul Finckel

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Schubert’S Compositional Development Reflected In Winterreise: Annotated Bibliography, Reid Wolch

Musicology and Ethnomusicology: Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Bendit_I/O: A System For Extending Mediated And Networked Performance Techniques To Circuit-Bent Devices, Anthony Thomas Marasco

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Circuit bending—the act of modifying a consumer device's internal circuitry in search of new, previously-unintended responses—provides artists with a chance to subvert expectations for how a certain piece of hardware should be utilized, asking them to view everyday objects as complex electronic instruments. Along with the ability to create avant-garde instruments from unique and nostalgic sound sources, the practice of circuit bending serves as a methodology for exploring the histories of discarded objects through activism, democratization, and creative resurrection. While a rich history of circuit bending continues to inspire artists today, the recent advent of smart musical instruments and the …

Prescribed Freedom, Proscribed Freedom: Compositional And Improvisational Balances In Jazz, Andrew W. Saliba

Masters Theses

Jazz is a recent and flexible art form, rooted in the twin musical strains of occidental canon and folkloric African-American music. From its genesis, jazz musicians have had the difficult task of reconciling these seemingly opposite musical parents while simultaneously building a new musical canon that respects and upholds its past, even as it celebrates new individual voices. Like any multifaceted challenge this balancing of elements has not always gone smoothly, and attempts to codify the delineation and categorization of jazz remain controversial even now. There is additional challenge in defining the nature of “free” improvised music. While free music …

Encounters: System For Creative Improvisation, Drake R. Andersen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Encounters is an indeterminate musical composition or, more precisely, a flexible system for creative improvisation. Performers improvise and interact with one another through four possible games whose instructions are laid out in the performance materials. This version of Encounters includes parts for flute, clarinet in B-flat, violin, viola, cello, double bass, percussion and piano, reflecting the performing forces of the premiere. However, the instrumentation is open, and any of the parts can be adapted to other instruments contingent upon the range and transposition of the particular instrument. The duration is indeterminate.