Composition Commons^™

Chaconnes, Sonatas, And Fugues, Oh My: A Study Of The Influence Of Baroque, Classical, And Romantic Musical Forms On Today's Media, Cadence A. Graves

ATU Scholars Symposium

As a future music educator, it is my duty to have not only understanding and knowledge of composers, music history, and compositional techniques, but to also have an appreciation, passion, and interest in what music is, where it has been, how it has changed, and where it is going now. With this research, I deepened my appreciation for the evolution of music over the course of history, expanded my understanding of how and when they came into existence, and broadened my understanding and appreciation of music that draws on those techniques today.

In the comparisons I made between compositions of …

María Grever: Influence Through Mexican Folk And Classical Romantic Techniques And Ideals In ‘A Una Ola.’, Alexandria C. Ellis

ATU Scholars Symposium

In the last 25 years, there has been a resurgence in Latin American ethnomusicology. This means that, while interest continues to grow, there are several gaps, especially when it comes to the contributions of women. Interestingly, some of these gaps surround the popular Mexican composer María Grever. This includes the lack of information on the variety of sources she gathered inspiration from for composition. Through analyzing Grever's compositional style, especially in the bolero ‘A Una Ola,’or ‘To a Wave,’ I will examine the relationship that Grever employs between the classical Romantic approach and Latin American techniques, especially Mexican folk. While …

Music Therapy Techniques In The Commercial Music Industry, Sarah Heath

Senior Honors Theses

Despite the fact that music is commonly described as free therapy with easily accessible content in the modern age of streaming, most people do not realize that music they already listen to contains many legitimate, psychologically tested therapy. This creative artistic research study examines the role that music therapy processes and techniques play in affecting the form, songwriting and creative processes of the modern music industry. These foundational aspects of songs elicit neurological responses, the emotional effect of which is discussed and incorporated through creative research and implementation through a creative artifact. This study explores songwriting techniques found in various …

Wallpaper Yellow, Jasmine Aust

FUSION

The short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a significant piece of American literature published in 1892. This submission intends to capture its essence musically by adapting the prevailing themes of its narrative into song. Through the use of dynamics, delivery, and diction, the song conveys the evolution of Gilman’s piece. The composition includes deliberate tonal shifts and lyrical choices to reflect the story's progression and the protagonist's descent into madness. Selective adaptation was employed, consciously omitting certain narrative elements while prioritizing key thematic events. The musical piece intends to accurately represent core themes and properly adapt …

Plane Of Existence: A Composition By An Sfa Percussionist, For The Sfa Percussion Ensemble, Carson Chlup

Undergraduate Research Conference

No abstract provided.

City Boy By Judd Greenstein: A Transcription From Chamber Quintet To Full Wind Band, Emmanuel Rodriguez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this project is to create a wind band transcription of the chamber work City Boy by Judd Greenstein. Greenstein describes his own music as being “built on contrasts and juxtapositions between the jittery, competing pulses of the New York City streets where he grew up and the placid landscapes of the rural farm land he now calls home.”1 His music is also influenced by his passion for contemporary popular music genres, specifically hip-hop and rap. This duality is a major aspect of Greenstein’s musical language, which he describes as “a genre- fluid musical infrastructures that endeavors to …

A Poetics Of Handel’S Operas, By Nathan Link, Jonathan Rhodes Lee

Music Faculty Research

Textbooks and program notes summarize the relationship between story and music in opera seria with tidy bullet points: recitatives = action; arias = reflection; ensembles sometimes contribute to a story’s progression, while instrumental pieces typically do not. Nathan Link’s A Poetics of Handel’s Operas dismisses such generalizations as caricatures, going so far as to assert that opera seria is “easily among the most complex forms of storytelling yet devised” (p. 7). The author turns to narratological theory, with occasional forays into opera studies and cinema studies (including film music scholarship), to explain the “semantic decoding” (p. 2) that audiences must …

All Is Flux For Solo Vibraphone And Fixed Media, Ethan Stearley

Masters Theses

“All is Flux” is a composition for solo amplified vibraphone and fixed media. The title is derived from a quote by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus- “All is flux, nothing remains still.” While a traditional score will be provided to the performer for the purposes of preparation and analysis, a video score that is synchronized to the fixed media audio elements will be used in the final performance. This moving score should be visible only to the performer, not the audience. The composition serves as a practical demonstration of experimentation on structure in tandem with elements drawn from narrative theory. Additionally, …

Existential Crisis (Or The Art Of Buying A Guitar), Maxwell Miller

Masters Theses

Existential Crisis (or the Art of Buying a Guitar) is an audio-visual creative project consisting of three works for guitar, voice, and electronics. I perform them using a real-time audio manipulation program developed in the open-source programming language, SuperCollider, with live video projection created in the open-source programming language, Processing. The title comes from grappling with internal expectations, questions of purpose, and the absurdity of being a thinking, sensing creature, which are recurring themes in my life. When these feelings come into sharp focus, it is sometimes overwhelming, but I believe that processing these feelings through art is an innately …

So Much (For) Saving Rock And Roll: The Musical Dna Of Fall Out Boy, Blake Buehler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although the American rock band Fall Out Boy has had a great impact upon the popular music scene since their first album in 2003, little academic literature exists exploring their musical and cultural influences and impact. Through careful transcription and analysis this thesis defines Fall Out Boy’s compositional tendencies and contextualizes their work in the greater Western popular music canon. My composition, AQUA, is a continuation and response to Fall Out Boy’s seminal album, So Much (For) Stardust. Grounded in influences from Fall Out Boy’s music and my personal journey as a musician and queer individual, AQUA represents a deeply …

Terry Riley's "In C" For Mobile Ensemble, David B. Wetzel, Griffin Moe, George K. Thiruvathukal

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This workshop presents a mobile-friendly Web Audio application for a “technology ensemble play-along” of Terry Riley’s 1964 composition In C. Attendees will join in a reading of In C using available web-enabled devices as musical instruments. We hope to demonstrate an accessible music-technology experience that relies on face-to-face interaction within a shared space. In this all-electronic implementation, no special musical or technical expertise is required.

Listening To The Gordon Natural Area: Field Recording As Means Of Connecting With The More Than Human World, Devin Arne

Sustainability Research & Practice Seminar Presentations

Professor Devin Arne (Music Theory, History, and Composition) shares "Listening to the Gordon Natural Area: Field Recording as Means of Connecting with the More Than Human World"

Harmonic Data: Ai Music, Edm Transcription, & Minimalist Jazz, Trevor Freed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents research in the domains of music theory and music technology. The topics of the three chapters are as follows: (1) the technical and artistic limitations of artificial intelligence when generating music, (2) the transcription of electronic dance music (EDM) using a hybrid notation system, and (3) the effective convergence of jazz and minimalism in the music of Joe Hisaishi from Studio Ghibli. Each topic investigates a different aspect of harmony and the modern ways in which humans communicate in terms of harmony. The first chapter surveys the latest research projects in AI-generated music and proposes ideas for …

In Search Of The Armorial Aesthetic: The Counter-Reform Of Ariano Suassuna And The Compositional Techniques In Clovis Pereira’S Suite Macambira, Wagner De Oliveira Duarte

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, in the wake of the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo in 1922, Brazil grappled with defining its national identity, distinct from European influences. While eminent figures such as Villa-Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri, and Francisco Mignone provided foundational narratives in this quest, the Armorial movement emerged as a unique and emblematic response to these nationalistic aspirations.

Originating from the creative vision of Ariano Suassuna, the Armorial movement, though often perceived as a regional initiative, epitomized a broader endeavor to represent Brazil's diverse cultural tapestry. Central to understanding this movement is the work …

2023-2024 New Music Festival, Lisa Leonard, Katherine Balch

New Music Festival

The 18th Annual New Music Festival

• Katherine Balch, Composer-in-Residence
• Lisa Leonard, Direcor

Friday, January 19, 2024

• Spotlight 1: Emerging Composers

Saturday, January 20, 2024 at 2:00 PM

• Master Class with katherine Balch: Sound and Art Installation

Saturday, January 202, 2024 at 4:00 PM

• Red and Record Project: Contemporary Cuban Music for Clarinet and Piano

Sunday, January 21, 2024 at 3:00 PM

• Spotlight 2: The Art of Katherine Balch

Louise Farrenc: A Woman Composer's Voice Rising Out Of Obscurity, Allika Polowchak

All Zyzzogeton Presentations

Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) was a prolific composer, performer, and teacher of art music in Romantic-era France. Widely regarded during her lifetime for her incredible natural talent and hard work, her compositions fell into obscurity after her death due to general disinterest in women’s contributions to art. As Louise Farrenc started to become more recognized in the later 20th century, efforts were focused on reviving her instrumental works, but little is known about her choral and vocal pieces to this day.

Creative Technologies: A Conversation With Roy Magnuson, Roy Magnuson, Maureen Russell

Faculty Publications - Music

[In lieu of an abstract, the introduction is provided.] Today I am speaking with Roy Magnuson, Associate Professor Creative Technologies in the School of Music at Illinois State University (ISU). (see Figure 1) His music has been performed throughout the United States and Europe at venues such as the World Saxophone Congress, WASBE, CBDNA, the RED NOTE New Music Festival, and the Robb Composers’ Symposium. Magnuson is also the creator of the virtual reality composition software solsticeVR and the conducting software RibbonsVR. He is a member of ASCAP, and his music is recorded on Albany Records and NAXOS.

Vital Status, Thomas Ginnona

West Chester University Master’s Theses

“Vital Status” is a term used to describe the state of being alive or not and is typically used in a medical and/or biological context. The project explores duality and balance in the universe and ultimately questions the nature of what it means to be a truly living creature or entity. This occurs through four distinct pieces, each focusing on a different duality or aspect of life: “A Nameless Evil” addresses internal struggle/anxiety (individual/internal strife), “Resonances of the Earth” depicts the resonance of the planet and the natural balance therein, “V404 Cygni” portrays relationships both here and in the universe, …

New Hampshire, Liam Thomas

West Chester University Master’s Theses

New Hampshire is a concept album: a recording project inspired by Robert Frost’s (1874-1963) large poetic work of the same title. After reading Frost’s lengthy first poem (also titled “New Hampshire”) I felt an immediate connection between his texts and my musical style. Frost’s “New Hampshire” features many depictions of nature and creates mystery through its colorful, sometimes vague imagery that leaves interpretive space for the imaginative reader, which, in my opinion, is the mark of a great poet. As a reflection of Frost’s text, my album contains atmospheric, ambient music drawing influence from folk, Americana, rock, jazz, with the …

Demiana Ibrahim's Senior Recital: Music Across Continents And Centuries, Demiana Ibrahim

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis contains the recording and program notes of Demiana Ibrahim's Senior Recital in partial Completion of the Music major on the Performance track. The music performed is from a wide variety of composers, in addition to two transcribed from orchestral renditions by the performer herself. Beyond the composers expected in the Western canon, this performance includes music of North African origin, and highlights the first mainstream successful African American classical composer.

Sinfonia Concertante In E, Braden Cutright-Head

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The "Sinfonia Concertante in E" was written about my journey overcoming a visual impairment as a college student in a global pandemic. It represents the struggle in the first section, while the second section is a lament for things I don't have (not being able to drive or see facial cues), while also representing my unusual but awesome African connections I made during the height of Covid. The third and last section is a big party for having overcome the visual impairment. The accompanying paper describes the processes, as well as my life story and how I got to this …

Brighter Days, Erich J. Eastman

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Brighter Days is a musical composition for choir, solo voice, and guitar, depicting the stages of an emotional journey through five separate movements. Each movement represents a different set of feelings, exploring themes of frustration, perseverance, hope, elation, and other sentiments. The movements are interconnected, employing key relationships and cross-references throughout the work. Musical styles vary, and genres are blended to create tonal landscapes that are both unique and accessible. Brighter Days is an expressive new work about finding light in darkness and coming to terms with oneself.

The Thing With Feathers For Orchestra, Treyton Blaser

Honors Program Theses

I have known for a long time that in order to complete my honors thesis, I would need to write some sort of “big, monolithic” piece to show my work. Initially, I had decided that I wanted to pursue a path of electroacoustic composition to complete this piece, as this area was, and still is, a field of music composition that I lack general knowledge with. The progress on this piece was rapid at first, yet slowly came to a halt. My lack of familiarity with the processes and options available led to quickly feeling overwhelmed with the scope of …