This research investigates a microcosm of the free jazz/free improvisation environment of the 1970s in "Waterfall," from the album Dave Holland/Sam Rivers Vol. 1. This recording features Dave Holland and Sam Rivers exhibiting highly developed improvisational language and effortless interaction. The purpose of this investigation is to create pedagogical material for bassists who are unfamiliar and/or uncomfortable with performing in an improvisational style that exists separately from the rigid, instrumental role hierarchy of common practice jazz. An analysis of musical elements including melody, rhythm, form, and energy through systems of musical contour, musical forces, and form analysis reveal constituent patterns that can be isolated. These patterns are codified and presented as pedagogical suggestions to assist in the practice of free improvisation.

It is often challenging for early advanced piano students to move from intermediate level repertoire to standard repertoire because the techniques and difficulties present in the new repertoire are simply too overwhelming for them. "A Holy Night: 10 Arrangements of Timeless Carols" can help bridge the gap between the two repertoire categories by introducing several advanced techniques and combinations of techniques to early advanced students in a non-overwhelming way. Several standard techniques that were widely used by composers of different styles are addressed in the arrangements: legato and chord playing, orientation in different keys, pedaling, dynamics and octave playing. The topic of fingerings is also covered since using correct fingerings is a key for any technique to work. The arrangements help to prepare early advanced students for standard repertoire by allowing them to learn, practice, and perform a variety of standard repertoire techniques in short and engaging pieces. This dissertation is intended to demonstrate to private piano teachers ways in which this arrangement of mostly well-known seasonal tunes can be used to assist in the transition to more advanced repertoire.

The Peabody Conservatory commissioned Estudios De Frontera by Alejandro Viñao in 2004. Percussionist Robert Van Sice initiated the commissioning process. Estudios De Frontera is the first composition for percussion ensemble by Viñao. Viñao's Estudios is written in two movements. The first is titled Homage to Nancarrow. As the title implies the compositional processes are directly influenced by Conlon Nancarrow. The composer states: "Homage to Nancarrow is concerned with the perceptual illusion of multiple simultaneous speeds or tempi....This movement explores the type of rhythms that create the illusion that multiple independent tempi are being heard while remaining playable by musicians." The purpose of this document is to provide a rhythmic analysis describing the techniques used by Chopin, Ligeti, and Nancarrow, and demonstrating their manifestation in the first movement of Alejandro Viñao's Estudios de Frontera. The analysis provides detailed information in regards to Nancarrow's rhythmic structures including: ostinato, hemiola, isorhythm, accelerations, and implied poly-tempo. Additionally, by seeking advice from notable performers and ensembles, the areas of greatest concern are identified, and strategies towards rehearsal and performance are recommended. The performance guide is included as an appendix to the analytic body of the paper.

This project delivers to the scholar and performer a critical edition of a little-known horn concerto by Antonio Rosetti. Standing in contrast to performance or practical editions, critical editions demand that the editor exerts a non-trivial measure of authority over the state of the text. Performers often find this fact to be uncomfortable given the normal tendency to revere the perceived intent of the composers based upon the text that they set down. When engaging with sources, it is rarely clear what that intent is, or which of the available sources most closely represents that intent. Those available sources often disagree with one another, even those in the composer's own hand. It is vital for the editor to know, as precisely as is possible, who created the source material, when they created these sources, and why they created these sources. At that point the editor must decide which sources will best fit his or her framework for the creation of the critical edition. At that point the editor will grapple with numerous inconsistencies and ambiguities within those sources, and then use his or her own authority to fix the text of the composer's work into a single version for today's …

This dissertation provides comprehensive performance perspectives for the interpretation of the published keyboard toccatas by Michelangelo Rossi (ca.1602-1656) in his collection, Toccate e Correnti d'Intavolatura d'Organo e Cimbalo (c. 1634). This document consults the following sources on keyboard practice in the early-Baroque period: Girolamo Diruta's Il Transilvano Dialogo Sopra Il Vero Modo Di Sonar Organi, & Istromenti da penna (1593); Adriano Banchieri's Conclusioni nel Suono dell'Organo (1609); Costanzo Antegnati's L'Arte Organica (1608); and the prefaces to Girolamo Frescobaldi's publications Toccate e Partite d'Intavolature di Cembalo, Libro Primo (first version 1615; second version 1615, 1616, 1628; and third version 1637), and Fiori Musicali (1635). These sources provide information on most aspects of keyboard—and specifically organ—playing in the decades leading up to, and at the time of, the initial publication of Rossi's toccatas: including the toccata as genre, Italian organs from the late-Renaissance/early-Baroque, registration, tempo, pedaling, fingering, articulation, and ornamentation. In addition to the performance perspectives, this dissertation also provides a new modern edition of the ten toccatas by Michelangelo Rossi. This edition is based on the 1657 Bologna facsimile. The goal of this edition is two-fold. First to present an accurate text of the facsimile and second to adjust certain beam-groupings, …

Despite being one of the instruments outlined in Aldophe Sax's original patent for the saxophone, and commercially available since 1849, the sopranino saxophone was generally unaccepted as a fully-fledged instrument until the late 20th century, existing solely as a novelty or a rare member of the saxophone ensemble. As such, there are few saxophonist who utilize the instrument, and the literature for the sopranino saxophone exists primarily in the contemporary idiom. Of the contemporary works for sopranino saxophone, one of the most well-known pieces is Chaya Czernowin's The Last Leaf (2011/12). While Czernowin initially conceived this work for solo oboe, she subsequently arranged a version for sopranino saxophone. Since then, it has been performed many times and recorded by several saxophonists including Ryan Muncy and Patrick Stadler. Through an examination of the score utilizing a variety of sopranino saxophone-centric contemporary resources alongside an interview with Czernowin herself, this dissertation provides the first extant performance guide to the sopranino saxophone edition of The Last Leaf, with the purpose of providing any saxophonists wishing to attempt this work with the information of Czernowin's intention for the piece and how to implement the techniques necessary for a performance.

Paganini's 24th caprice still remains to this day one of the most celebrated themes in classical music history. Many composers have used this theme to create variations and each composer attempted to produce stylistically unique variations on this piece. Hamelin's Variations on a Theme of Paganini stands out because his piece incorporates musical borrowing and many different composers' styles. His variations integrate music from different centuries, using pastiche and musical borrowing from figures such as Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, and Rachmaninoff. More provocatively, Hamelin's variations reach outside of Classical music, even adopting elements from salsa and friska. The spectrum of composers and styles included in this set are so radical and shocking that it creates a parody of not only Paganini's theme, but also the tradition of theme and variation pieces it has inspired. Due to its multiple variations juxtaposing extremely different styles, Hamelin's Variations on a Theme of Paganini presents the listener with a musical puzzle that is designed to invoke surprise. The juxtapositions of extremely different styles in these variations create disjointed variations with polystylism. The polystylism in this work diversifies his variations, while unifying these seemingly unbalanced movements through broad musical references. As such, both performers and …

Spanish composer María Teresa Prieto (1895-1982) belongs to a group of Spanish exiles who left their country for Mexico as a result of the Spanish Civil War. She arrived in Mexico in 1936 and developed her compositional career in there. Her first composition after her arrival in the new country was the song cycle Seis Melodías, a work that includes six songs with poetry by Ricardo de Alcázar, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Federico García Lorca, and María Teresa Prieto herself. This document analyzes each one of the songs, both musically and poetically, as well as the relationship between music and text. Seis Melodías' structural organization as a cycle is very particular, since Prieto organized the cycle in pairs—namely I and II, III and IV, and V and VI—each group with strong poetic and thematic unity. The songs belonging to this cycle, present the duality of being independent and dependent at the same time, given that each song stands by itself, but together they create a meta-narrative that progresses from hope to desolation, not as a political statement, but as a homage to, as well as a lament, for the Spanish land and freedom. The cyclical nature of this work is accomplished …

The modern bass trombone has undergone many changes in design since the 1960s and a student beginning on or switching to bass trombone today needs pedagogical material that methodically addresses the many valve combinations available on an independent double valve bass trombone. The existing books for bass trombone contain useful exercises, but none of the currently available books address all the valve combinations and patterns that are helpful for developing proficient valve technique on bass trombone. Therefore, I created a new bass trombone double valve technique method book that includes a thorough exploration of the bass trombone's two valves within the context of scales, scale exercises, and original material specifically designed to be applicable to common literature for the bass trombone.

Pianists often have trouble in determining where a phrase ends, or in other words, cadence identification. This is especially true of certain cadences that can be considered either as half cadences or authentic cadences. This analytically ambiguous cadential point can result in different performance decisions, so pianists should make informed decisions about what kind of cadence it is. This study aims to investigate such cadential ambiguity shown at points of phrase boundaries by focusing on Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35, first movement. I offer both possibilities (a half cadence or an authentic cadence) at the phrase ending, suggesting a performance-related strategy based on each possibility. My objective is not to support only one cadential status, but to bring up the cadential problem from the analytical perspective and to demonstrate how cadence identification affects performance results. The dissertation is divided into two parts: analysis and performance, so it relies on a combined method of analytical terminologies and performance-related musical elements. In the analysis, the terminology of William Caplin is employed. The performance part refers to several method books written by prestigious piano pedagogues. After an introduction in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 reviews some literature on cadences. …

American composer David Kechley was profoundly impacted by a 1990 trip to the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. The composer describes the finely raked, small white stones in the midst of fifteen large rocks in the Japanese Zen garden as "planned randomness." Kechley's inaugural composition for saxophone-guitar duo, In the Dragon's Garden, reflects his experience at the Ryoan-ji Temple. The use of minimalistic compositional techniques without literal repetition in the work represents a departure from the first generation of Minimalist composers, such as LaMonte Young, Steve Reich, Phillip Glass, and John Adams. An analysis of minimalistic compositional elements, combined with an interview with the commissioning ensemble, the Ryoanji Duo, provides insights into the interpretation and preparation of this complex work. Furthermore, this document contains helpful information pertinent to the saxophone-guitar duo. Details on balance and amplification, orchestration, and collaboration with the composer will supply performers and composers with essential knowledge needed to participate in this growing musical medium.

Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927) is a leading American composer, pianist, and educator. Although she composed many outstanding advanced-level piano works, she also believes that composing for other levels is a good discipline for composers. Her two collections Reaching Out and Travels Through Sound contain various contemporary techniques that are highly approachable for intermediate-level students. The purpose of this study is to provide a pedagogical guide to contemporary elements present in these collections, which are ideal for developing skills that can prepare intermediate-level students for more complex modern music. Diemer incorporates such contemporary features as complex rhythms and meters, non-traditional notations, and extended piano techniques, as well as non-traditional textures and forms. These techniques are presented in a compact and informative but not too complicated manner, so that intermediate-level students can master them.

Contemporary music for horn often requires techniques and musical or notational considerations that are unconventional with respect to the standard pedagogy of the instrument. As such, these considerations often represent a level of challenge to which the average-intermediate to advanced-hornist is unprepared to approach or altogether unfamiliar. The most prominent of these demands arising in the last few decades of the twentieth century through today include microtonality (such as extended just intonation and quarter tones), extended techniques in combination or juxtaposition (such as multiphonics and right hand technique), rhythmic complexity (including metric modulation, non-dyadic meters, additive rhythms, and nested tuplets), and unconventional notations (graphic, spatial, and other temporal notations). This document first surveys the challenges of the repertoire in question, which includes works by György Ligeti, Thea Musgrave, Milton Babbitt, Brian Ferneyhough, Iannis Xenakis, Heinz Holliger, and Douglas Hill, among others. After considering the merits and limitations of existing pedagogical materials that work towards these ends, the document then underlines a strategic pedagogical goal for understanding and approaching unconventional contemporary repertoire through newly-composed etudes. This document is written in conjunction with and justification for the author's 24 Unconventional Etudes for Horn, and includes examples therefrom.

A large portion of the standard repertoire for saxophone and piano has already been recorded and performed many times and has received significant scholarly study. For a performer, remaining relevant requires learning and performing new compositions. Jorge Sosa and Andrés Alén are both accomplished composers, yet outside of the Latin-American community they remain virtually unknown to most saxophonists. This project serves as an introduction to both composers. Combined, Sosa and Alén have nine compositions for saxophone. Their works include saxophone quartets, saxophone and piano, and saxophone quartet with choir. This study focuses on three compositions: La Zacapaneca by Sosa, Tema con Variaciones and Sonata para Clarinete ó Saxofón Soprano y Piano, both by Alén. Compositional background information is given about each composition to include date of composition, premiers, important recordings, length of performance and Cuban ethnic and traditional elements used as the basis for rhythmic and thematic ideas. The Cuban and Afro-Cuban influences are explained in further detail pertaining to how they were used in the construction of the works and in their being performed stylistically correctly. Dynamics, articulations, and performance considerations are studied at length.

In Chinese contemporary piano music, large-scale piano compositions featuring innovative polyphonic musical languages are rarely found. Chang-Lei Zhu's Ballade for Solo Piano represents his development of contrapuntal techniques passed on from J. S. Bach and Dmitri Shostakovich in their polyphonic works for solo keyboard or piano. This study focuses on an analysis of Zhu's Ballade as an idiosyncratic composition that makes a significant contribution to the Chinese contemporary piano music repertory. Comparative analysis is made of Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Books 1 and 2, as well as Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues for Solo Piano, Op. 87. Zhu, a living Chinese composer born in 1976, uniquely writes the twenty variations of his Ballade based on the opening theme, a single melody in ten subphrases. This research lays out the close relationship of the opening theme with twenty variations in the Ballade. This study also illustrates how Zhu is an innovative voice in Chinese contemporary piano music literature. This comparative study constitutes the first scholarly study of Zhu's Ballade. Chapter 1 is an introduction to my comparative study. In chapter 2, comparisons on selected excerpts are conducted between Zhu's Ballade and J.S. Bach's WTC, Books 1 and …

Entr'actes and Sappho Fragments (1964) by English Composer Harrison Birtwistle represent extended notation, complex meters, and extended instrumental techniques. After World War II, the style and techniques of musical composition evolved considerably and musical trends began to continuously change. Conducting contemporary compositions requires new approaches in conducting methods. This paper examines a) introduce important elements of Birtwistle's compositions in the 1960, b) include an updated score of Entr'actes and Sappho Fragments (notated by the author), and c) provide a performance guide to the work.

Mario Lavista (b. 1943) is a dominant figure in Mexican classical music. In the second half of the twentieth century, he promoted the use of contemporary techniques, leading to a series of collaborations with expert instrumentalists to explore extended techniques. Marsias for Oboe and Crystal Glasses is one of those pieces. Due to the nature of contemporary techniques, different oboes and reed styles produce different effects with the same fingerings. This document analyzes the contemporary fingerings in the two published editions of the work in consideration of the long-scrape reed style and oboes commonly used in the United States. The contemporary techniques were played on twelve professional oboe models as a way to collect data on how the printed fingerings work. The data is the foundation for the performance guide, which details every contemporary technique in the work. The performance guide also provides comprehensive information about the crystal glass logistics. The document also presents an electronic accompaniment created with Max/MSP in the event that the crystal glasses or crystal glass players are unavailable.

The Grundgestalt (Ger: 'basic shape') is a term coined by Arnold Schoenberg to describe the basis for coherence within a musical composition. Although neither precisely defined, nor adequately supported by examples from his literature, the Grundgestalt remains an important facet of Schoenbergian theory. Composed of several gestalten that occur repeatedly, Schoenberg's Grundgestalt functions as a germinating factor within a piece that allows its motivic, thematic, and rhythmic information to become more accessible through their frequent repetition and diverse presentation. In addition to Schoenberg's definition, the first part of this dissertation discusses the individual findings of Schoenberg's pupils Josef Rufer and Rudolf Réti. Subsequently developed by the contributions of David Epstein, Walter Frisch, Patricia Carpenter, Michael Schiano, and Brent Auerbach, their combined efforts then attempt to illustrate the organicism of the Grundgestalt, to clarify its terminology, and to refine the framework of its analysis. Based upon the framework described in the previous chapter, the second half of this dissertation presents the criteria for the determination of the Grundgestalt. Beginning with a derivation of Brent Auerbach's proto-Grundgestalt analysis that catalogs the various voice-leading strands of a given composition into a summary chart that tracks the frequency of each motive's occurrence within its …

Younghi Pagh-Paan is a female Korean-German composer. Although being a prolific composer, she has only twice composed for piano solo. Pagh-Paan's Mich Drüstet (I Thirst) is a piano solo work and based on the tragedy in Korea, the Jeju 4.3 Incident in 1948. Even though the Jeju 4.3 incident triggered mora than 30,000 casualties, I Thirst is the only music to commemorate the incident, as commissioned by the pianist Kaya Han. This study of I Thirst highlights her musical textures for the piano and elements she employs to express her thoughts about the event; for instance, Korean musical element, 12-tone techniques, and counterpoint. In addition, it addresses the need for the pianist to have background information about Jeju Island and the Incident by matching images with musical sections in order to achieve a deeper interpretation of Pagh-Paan's piano composition.

According to the American League of Orchestras' most recent report, Michael Daugherty is one of the ten most performed American composers of concert music in modern times. He has received six GRAMMY awards, including awards for Best Contemporary Classical Composition in 2011 and 2017. Characteristics of Daugherty's music are diverse: colliding tonalities and blocks of sound, driving polyrhythmic counterpoint, and jazz and pop elements. His music can be minimalistic at times and at others, stirringly melodic. Amongst this eclecticism, a fascination with American iconography remains a consistent hallmark of his music, exemplified by titles such as American Gothic, Jackie O, or Lost Vegas. Daugherty has stated that his goal is to create sophisticated, abstract music that is also catchy or memorable, with melodies and cultural allusions that audiences can "hang their hat on." Despite widespread success, relatively little scholarly work has been done on Daugherty's music, providing an opportunity for further research. The primary goal of this study is to add to the literature on Michael Daugherty by providing an analysis and conductor's guide of his first choral-orchestral work, Mount Rushmore. It is a genuine show piece, galvanizing and colorful, modestly demanding of the listener, and appreciated by individuals of …

English composer Frank Bridge (1879-1941) is well known as Benjamin Britten's teacher and to a lesser degree for his chamber music. Because his mature creative period occurred between the First and Second World War, his works were not well studied or performed until the 1970s, well after his death. This dissertation discusses Bridge's life and his music, how World War I affected in this work, and specifically the work Oration Concerto Elagiaco. Oration is considered historically in terms of its meaning and delayed premiere. Additionally, the work's fantasy arch form, Bridge's signature compositional style, and the character of each section is discussed. Finally, this dissertation provides a practical guide to the work, providing practice and performance suggestions for the numerous complex and technically challenging portions of the concerto.

In today's rapidly changing performing arts market, trumpet players are required to be more versatile than ever. Trumpet performing jobs are diversifying and for a trumpeter, employment often requires the multi-faceted skill set that includes the ability to perform in all styles and settings ranging from jazz to classical, solo to large ensemble and brass quintet. As the demand for the brass quintet medium has grown, the study of chamber music repertoire has also become a common requirement in collegiate music programs. However, coaching in chamber music is limited, sometimes to as little as one hour per week. This coaching time is generally in the format of a single coach instructing the full chamber group, and therefore one-on-one instruction/attention is limited or nonexistent, leaving the onus of learning on the students, for whom these collegiate chamber music ensembles are their first exposure to the medium. While students have ample access to concentrated instruction for orchestral, band, and opera excerpts through the multitude of existing excerpt books, such a resource for trumpet players learning brass quintet repertoire does not yet exist. The purpose of this project is to create a succinct guide to the performance of the trumpet parts of standard …

The wind band provides an outlet for composers to use their platform to reach performers, enlighten audiences, and heal communities. This document is an analysis of three composers' approach to incorporate social consciousness in their wind band music. Adam Schoenberg, Omar Thomas, and Frank Ticheli work with specific social justice issues to respond to specific events, allowing them to reach and empower performers and audiences, to heal, thrive and build past these events. The chapters contain each composer's biographical information, then provide detailed information of the three works; background and cursory information, the composer's use and understanding of the social justice issue and an extensive analysis of each work. The composers use compositional design techniques to convey their intent to share a specific message. This document provides insight through each composer's techniques and thought processes, providing a better understanding of the works. The knowledge gained will help conductors and performers understand social consciousness in wind band music.

The use of orchestral excerpts from standard music repertoire as a pedagogical means has been adopted by many instrumental pedagogues to train the advanced instrumentalist. This dissertation presents an innovative idea among the excerpt tradition by drawing excerpts from solo, chamber music and orchestral music to function as etudes for the intermediate level cellist. 320 music excerpts are drawn and organized under the headings of different technical categories in order to train the techniques within the context of quality music. The purpose of the dissertation is to introduce the young player to the concept that techniques and musical expression are not two separated entities, rather, techniques serve as a medium to convey the music.