Composition Commons^™

The Silence: Overture And Two Scenes From An Opera In Two Acts, Eric Jurgens

Theses and Dissertations--Music

The Silence is the story of William Rose, a man who, while searching the world for his missing wife and daughter, is kidnapped and held in a secret Iranian prison. After many years of torture, abuse and a slow descent into insanity, secrets about his family manifest as mysterious and magical occurrences, creating a dangerous tension between the prisoners and guards. Questions begin to arise: Who is actually in charge of this prison? Why haven’t the guards ever met the warden? Why is the prison haunted by mysterious voices? And what exactly would it take to crumble the walls of …

A Survey Of Christian Cross-Over Songwriting: Core Principles And Potential For Impact, Paul Malhotra

Senior Honors Theses

A cross-over song has been defined as a song written by a Christian artist aimed at a mainstream audience. An understanding of the core principles of cross-over songs and their relevance in contemporary culture is essential for Christian songwriters. Six albums marked by spiritual overtones or undertones, representing a broad spectrum of contemporary cross-over music, were examined. Selected songs were critiqued by analyzing the album of origin, lyrical content, author’s expressed worldview, and level of commercial success. Renaissance art also provided a historical parallel to modern day songwriting. Recommendations were developed for Christian songwriters to craft songs with greater effectiveness …

Creating And Performing New Australian Works On The Hungarian Concert Cimbalom, Joshua Webster

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis explores the creation and performance of five new Western Australian works for the Hungarian concert cimbalom. These include four solo works, and one duet, which were scored, analysed, performed, and recorded. This thesis is in two parts: this exegetical component, which details the background, development, and findings of the research, including the scores created, and the manual that was developed for composers’ use; and a practical component, which is an active representation of the research, included as video recordings. To assist the composition of the new works, a manual was developed for the composers’ use. This manual began …

The Choral Music Of Allen Henry Koepke (1939–2012) With A Conductor's Special Focus On The Preparation Of His Seminal Work, Missa Brevis, Keith J. Curington

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

Although American choirs have been performing Allen Koepke’s compositions since 1973 and his music is witnessing greater and greater international appeal, especially in Asia, academic writings about the composer and his contribution to the choral art have been absent. This document examines Missa Brevis, the seminal work by Allen Koepke, and serves as a conductor’s guide for score study and rehearsal preparation. It will address practical problems unique to the work and will suggest solutions that will ensure excellence in its performance. A biography, a complete catalogue of the composer’s large number of choral works in print, a listing …

Third Divergence: Representations And Reflections, Nathan Weaver

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

This paper presents an exploration of the process of developing a music composition through various layers of interaction with ideas through the abstract and the real. The composition is the most significant component of the project as a whole, and this paper regards itself as a sort of artist's journal developed during creation of the composition, making some attempt to show the process of improvising through the project. The project as a whole explores the various conceptualizations of the idea, of the relationship between the abstract and the real, and representations of a work that cannot be fully known. The …

Student Teaching Band Arrangement, Whitney Mensink

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

As a future music educator, I have learned how to teach students through various courses and instruction. During the last semester of my undergraduate, I am required to student teach. This gives me an opportunity to apply everything I’ve learned to see if it really works, and what my particular teaching style and philosophy is. At Sky View High School, I had the opportunity to teach the Sophomore Concert Band. For my thesis project, I decided to arrange a piece just for them – to rehearse with them and to score it to the strengths of the ensemble. Since I …

Olympia: A Musical Composition For Wind Ensemble, Kyle Macdonald

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Olympia is a one movement musical composition to be performed by a wind ensemble. Written for the composer’s honors capstone project, Olympia is an exploration into the world of composing for large musical ensembles. The main theme, heard in the trombone solo at measure 40, is the proverbial “voice in the wilderness” that heroically comes out of chaos and is heard throughout the piece in different forms. Starting in short score with piano and percussion, the piece was then orchestrated into the final version. Written in the fall of 2011 and the spring of 2012, Olympia was rehearsed and performed …

Sonnet 29, Matthew Carlson

Student Publications

"Sonnet 29" is an a capella choral piece written for the Gettysburg College Choir in the Spring of 2012. Dr. Robert Natter, director of the College choir, asked me if I would like to write a piece with text of Shakespeare, as he was planning to program a concert that consisted entirely of Shakespearean text. I chose this particular sonnet because it has a great metaphor of transformation which lends itself well to being set to music. In the first half of the piece, the speaker is in utter despair, and I bring this out with clustered harmonies, quiet dynamics, …

Rebekah & Aliya, Mark Hirsch

Lawrence University Honors Projects

Rebekah & Aliya is a multimedia ballet for two dancers, ten musicians, and film based on a story of love, timelessness, and transcendence. Drawing inspiration from literary themes of Jorge Luis Borges as well as composers of the Renaissance and Avant-garde alike, this collaboration with choreographer Madeline Bunke is a four-scene work, alternating between film and live dance, with live music throughout.

Gloria, Abigail L. Kempson

Student Publications

A four part (SATB) motet written with Renaissance counterpoint, specifically in the style of Palestrina. Set to the text of the Gloria. About 2 minutes and 15 seconds in length.

How A Thrown Shooe Became A Tragedy And Other Funny Stories: A Study Of The Three Burlesque Cantatas (1741) By Henry Carey (1689–1743), Jennifer Cable

Music Faculty Publications

This is not to say that Carey thought ill of Italian music, per se. Contemporary accounts, including Carey’s own poems, reveal his high opinion of Handel and others who composed in the Italian style. Rather, Carey’s literary barbs were directed toward his English brothers and sisters who were all too swift to support Italian opera and Italian singers at the expense of English music and musicians. Carey spent much of his career addressing this cultural issue from a variety of creative vantage points: prose, song texts, original melodies, Italian-style cantatas, burlesques of Italian operatic style, and anonymous commentaries. This essay …

Multiple Media Outlets For Composition, Bethany A. Ciullo

Honors Scholar Theses

Through integrating different forms of media, the creator is able to give their audience a unique, multi-sensory experience. In my honors thesis, I concentrated on combining sight and sound as a communication tool and to further engage the observer.

The first type of media I chose to include was original solo instrument, voice, and piano songbooks focusing on lyrical playing for student and amateur musicians. I have also created audio realizations of the songs through Finale, which I then organized into CDs with the intention that the musician could understand how the music sounds before practicing. I combined the visual …

Helen: An Opera In One Act, Garrett Hope

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

Helen is a one-act opera that tells the story of a woman whose husband would later betray her trust and love. It begins with her debut as an eligible young woman and ends with the husband’s demise. Through the course of the story it becomes apparent that her husband is both verbally and physically abusive as well as unfaithful to her. In the end her situation is redeemed through his death because his bacchanalian behavior resulted in his fatal sickness.

The opera is a retelling of a portion of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë, which was adapted …

Music Composition Portfolio, Daniel O'Neill

Masters by Practice

There are six pieces included in this M.Phil. These were completed over two years and are accompanied by a written text part. These pieces contain different instrumentations and range from solo to orchestral works. In this portfolio there is a set of two choir pieces, a trio for piano, clarinet and violin, an orchestral piece, a guitar quartet, three pieces for saxophone quartet and a solo piano piece. The written part of this portfolio examines in detail my compositions with reference to their inspiration, construction and overall shape. There is a detailed description of the six works along with musical …

The Memory Of Persistence, Scott Pfitzinger

Graduate Thesis Collection

This composition for Wind Ensemble (like Concert Band but usually only one player on a part) was Scott Master's Thesis for completing a Master of Music degree in Composition at Butler University. Written in 2010, the piece is a combination of styles, philosophies, and techniques, all in balance with each other. Avant-garde and traditional techniques are used; tonality and atonality vie with each other, resulting in a combination of the two; specific musical directions are balanced by a degree of choice available to each participant.

“The Memory of Persistence” is about a journey. No specific personal story is presented, nor …

Conductor's Guide To Mark Camphouse's "To Build A Fire", Amanda L. Kastner

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis is a guide to understanding and performing Mark Camphouse’s composition, To Build A Fire. The thesis includes a biography of Jack London and a literary analysis of London’s short story “To Build A Fire,” upon which the composition is based. Musical analysis of the Camphouse composition, rehearsal considerations, and performance considerations are also discussed. The literary analysis provides background for the composition and a starting platform for the musical analysis. The musical analysis parallels the composition with the short story. This analysis also provides some technical considerations of the instrumental parts. The rehearsal considerations include a rehearsal plan, …

Se Tu Mi Lassi (If You Leave Me) For Choir, Katherine Spencer

Compositions

No abstract provided.

The Historical Development Of The Modern Worship Song, Travis Doucette

Senior Honors Theses

For centuries, followers of Christ have used music as a channel of communicating their love and adoration towards their Creator and Savior, Jesus Christ. In fact, the use of music with God’s people is encouraged throughout the pages of Scripture. In the Old Testament, the psalmist writes, “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully and shout for joy.” In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians, “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” Throughout Christian history, wherever there has been renewal, revival and restoration, fresh songs of praise and worship have followed and …

A Stylistic Analysis Of Six Pieces For Solo Piano By Rodion Shchedrin And A Stylistic Analysis Of Trespreludiosa Modo De Toccata, Dos Danzas Cubanas, And Estudio De Contrastes By Harold Gramatges, Amanda Virelles Del Valle

Dissertations

This document compiles stylistic analysis for performance of selected works by the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin and the Cuban composer Harold Gramatges. The piano music of these composers has been gaining international acclaim since the 1950's. The unique harmonic language, the elements of folklore, and the virtuosity found in these pieces make them very attractive for performance and research.

The document unites two papers, each supplementing lecture recitals offered on April 16 and 28, 2008. In each paper, after a brief biographical summary and an account of the piano repertoire of the respective composer, the pieces are examined, and matters …

(Waterfall), Scott Schumann

Compositions

No abstract provided.

With Eyes Closed, Queenie Li

Compositions

No abstract provided.

Frankenstein: Man Or Monster?, Leigh P. Mackintosh

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Since its first publication in 1818, Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein has left a lasting impression upon the world speaking to a multitude of audiences including artists, scientists, philosophers, and society as a whole. Considering the impact of Frankenstein through its evolution as a cultural myth in various plays and films, this thesis will provide a way to gauge the relevance of Shelley’s story as an adaptation. Only by knowing what has been done in the past and how the materials have been used by other playwrights and screenwriters can one understand how to handle them as an original work. The …

Reflexiones Sobre La Relacion Poesia-Musica, Marianella P. Machado

Languages, Cultures, and Humanities Faculty and Staff Research

A lo largo de la historia de la cultura universal es posible apreciar que la poesia y la musica siempre han estado muy intimamente unidas.

New Method Of Rhythmic Improvisation For The Jazz Bassist : An Interdisciplinary Study Of Dave Holland's Rhythmic Approach To Bass Improvisation And North Indian Rhythmic Patterns, Linda M. Oh

Theses : Honours

The focus of this honours dissertation is rhythm in jazz-bass improvisation. It is an exploration of the rhythmic devices employed by cutting-edge bassist, Dave Holland (b. 1946). Through transcription and analysis of Holland's improvisation over a selection of compositions recorded by the award-winning Dave Holland Quintet, this study isolates the key rhythmic tools he uses to create engaging solos. Furthermore this study examines rhythmic concepts from North Indian Classical music (a primary influence on Holland) through transcription and analysis of rhythm in certain tabla compositions. Consequently, a synthesis of the explored rhythmic devices is presented in the form of an …

The Spell Of Speech, Bruno Tucunduva Ruviaro

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

This text is a complement to the musical composition The Spell of Speech, a piece for actress, electro-acoustic sounds and live-electronics composed in 2004 as part of the requirements to conclude the Master’s degree in Electro-Acoustic Music at Dartmouth College. The core of this research is the relationship between speech and music composition. The first chapter presents a theoretical framework comprising evolutionary musicology and music cognition. The second chapter contains a historical survey of electro-acoustic music in which human voice plays a fundamental role. Finally, the third chapter analyzes the composition The Spell of Speech, presenting the main techniques used …

News From Cart, Deborah Nemko

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Music, When Soft Voices Die | 10-96410, James Q. Mulholland

Music Faculty Scores

Music, When Soft Voices Die

Part Number:
10-96410

Price:
$1.80

Voicing:
SATB

Lyrics By:
Percy Byshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Music By:
James Q. Mulholland

Commissioned by Waukee High School, Waukee, Iowa, Ryan Beeken, Director
For performance at the 2005 National ACDA Convention, Los Angeles, CA

Interactive Computer Music For Double Bass, Jeremy C. Baguyos

Music Faculty Publications

The rise of the academy as patron of art music, the philosophical underpinnings of "futurists" like Russolo and Busoni, the increasing power and cost-effectiveness of computer-based systems and the new compositional directions of the Post World War II avant-garde have all contributed to establishing the genre of electroacoustic music in the United States. Composers have increasingly turned to electronics for new source material and as a result, there is an entirely new repertoire that was generated to take advantage of the emerging technologies and aesthetics. For the double bass, this new repertoire included compositions like Jacob Druckman's Synapse/Valentine (1969), Charles …

Dedication For String Quartet, Dennis Breier

Compositions

No abstract provided.

Imbal-Imbalan, Bill Alves

All HMC Faculty Publications and Research

A composition in Western musical notation for Javanese gamelan instruments.