In Appalachian Spring, Aaron Copland creates a unique tonal environment. Although often considered a tonal work, it contains many non-functional progressions and techniques that belie common-practice norms. The entire first movement, and sections of other movements contain no harmonic motion, in part because tonic and dominant chords sound together as a single sonority. In other movements, harmonic motion, in part because tonic and dominant chords sound together as a single sonority. In other movements, harmonic motion is increased by shifts to third-related keys, and non-functional progressions. Also, the variations on the melody "Simple Gifts" never employ common-practice techniques. Through the free use of materials, Copland creates an individualistic example of tonality in twentieth-century music.

The Crucifixion, a composition for three vocal soloists, four-part mixed chorus, and instrumental ensemble, is a setting of passages taken from the four Gospels of the Holy Bible. It describes the mocking of Christ and includes the Seven Last Words of Christ on the cross. It uses serial technique in the structuring of pitches and rhythm. Special attention is paid in designing and combining pitch and rhythm to create monophonic, homophonic and polyphonic textures. Besides traditional performance techniques, the work employs some modern vocal and instrumental techniques.

Animations is a composition in six movements (Fish, Seals, Birds, Cats, Zebras, Snakes) for percussion and computer music on tape. One percussionist performs on various percussion instruments: two suspended cymbals, crotales, triangle, vibraphone, glockenspiel, marimba, three bongos, snare drum, field drum, large tom-tom, bass drum, kettle drum, temple blocks and vibraslap. The computer music on tape employs sampled sounds in a MIDI sequencing environment. The melodic and harmonic materials for the piece are derived from a matrix of twelve heptatonic scales. The individual movements are notated using both traditional and proportional notation systems. The score is 37 pages long with a twenty-two page analysis preceding the score. Animations is approximately nine minutes in duration.

Ka is a one movement composition for chamber orchestra consisting of three sections. The work's harmonic, melodic and rhythmic materials are derived from the Chinese I Ching ("Book of Changes"). The middle section was composed with the aid of a computer program written by the composer. The program generated the interval sequence arrays forming the harmonic basis for the piece. Ka is scored for flute, oboe, B𝄬 clarinet, bassoon, French Horn, trumpet, trombone, three percussionists, violin, viola, cello and double bass. The score is 62 pages with a 39 page analysis preceding the score. Ka has a duration of approximately 10 minutes with no pauses between sections.

House in Heaven is a theatrical piece for five solo voices (one soprano, two mezzo sopranos, one baritone, and one bass), two trumpets, four French horns, one trombone, two flutes, two clarinets, two bassoons, string orchestra, vibraphone, timpani and a synthesizer which produces pipe organ sound. The composition consists of an introduction followed by a single act in three Scenes. The piece employs the cyclical device in engaging themes associated with particular characters. The texture grows from simple alternating dialogues to arias and, finally, to tutti passages in which all voices are combined to form a quintet, at the climactic point of the entire composition, which occurs at the end of the piece. The scenes depict imaginary events in a Church and at a flower garden. Rear-stage slide projections are used to project the scenes of these locations, and lighting is used to emphasize actions, characters and changes of scene. The singers also serve as actors. The duration of this work is approximately 20 minutes.

This investigation sought to identify sound levels potentially harmful to directors' hearing, and examine the effects of band size, instrumentation, bandroom and playing ability on sound levels. The subjects were 2 elementary, 2 middle, and 4 high school bands, in 7 rooms, 10 to 66 members, and 26 students, beginning and advanced. A sound level meter was used. Sounds were measured in flat and A-weighted decibels. Sounds measured were steady state (>.5 sec.) and impulse (<.5 sec.). Results were compared with safety limits of OSHA, EPA and Baughn's study of safety limits (1966). Results show exceedences of limits used for comparison. Small rehearsal areas and younger players seemed to cause high levels in the tests. Further testing may prove potential hazards.

Disputes concerning the origin of the term bambuco persist among scholars in Colombia, as well as controversies regarding the process of notating the traditional bambuco (3/4 or 6/8), when it penetrates the written tradition of popular music. Composers writing popular and salon bambucos increasingly perceived the advantage of notating it in 6/8. This study investigates the traditional bambuco and its assimilation into nineteenth and twentieth-century cultivated tradition, with emphasis on piano pieces by representative Colombian composers of art music. I include specific analyses of Cuatro preguntas (ca. 1890) by Pedro Morales Pino (1863-1926), ChirimÍa y bambuco (1930) by Antonio MarÍa Valencia (1902-1952), Bambuco en si menor by Adolf o MejÍa (1905-1970), El bambuco by Manuel MarÍa Párraga (c. 1826-1895), and Trozos Nos. 6 and 158 (1927-1970) by Guillermo Uribe HolguÍn (1880-1971).

The Last Seven Words is an orchestral piece with double woodwind, double brass, and two sets of timpani. The duration of the work is seventeen minutes. The forty-six pages which precede the musical score present a discussion and an analysis of the composition. The purpose of this project was to provide the composer an opportunity to write an orchestra piece with a single scale and seven rhythmic patterns.

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El Polifemo de Oro was written in 1956 and revised by the composer in 1981. This two-fold investigation clarifies the structure of El Polifemo through careful analysis of the work and its revision, and by Smith Brindle's approach to composition based on his interviews and books. The second aspect is aimed toward the pragmatic performance issues of tempo, articulation, timbre, voice leading, and the other details of execution. Although the work was written according to serial techniques, the presence, in the twelve-note row, of triadic formations (minor triad, dominant seventh, fully-diminished seventh) juxtaposed with many tritone intervals suggests the use of tonal devices, which Smith Brindle does employ to effect tension and relaxation. It is assumed that tonal devices such as leading tones, stepwise movement in the bass, fourth and fifth relationships, and triadic constructions are heard against a traditional contextual basis and are therefore ways of implying resolution. Where tonal devices are not present, other structural components, i.e., rhythm, dynamics, timbre, etc., are examined with regard to their functions in creating or dissipating tension. Following the analysis of each of the four fragments is a discussion of performance implications based on the analysis. Both the analysis and performance aspects …

This dissertation discusses two flute works by Joan Tower (born 1938). The performance medium consists of flute alone, Hexachords for Solo Flute (1972), and flute and orchestra, the Flute Concerto (1989). The discussion on Hexachords consists of a theoretical analysis; discussion on the Flute Concerto pertains to Tower's flute writing through an investigation into her musical language and specific performance techniques. Numerous examples are included to illustrate various aspects of Tower's style. Conclusions follow. The purpose of the paper is, first, to illustrate that basic knowledge of the twelve-tone method can bring a composition out of uncertainty for the performer and allow him to present what is unique within it. Secondly, it is to investigate the stylistic maturation of Joan Tower's flute works. In order to facilitate a better understanding of Tower's music and to provide commentary about the performance of each work, the writer has quoted from personal interviews with the composer and with flutists Carol Wincenc and Patricia Spencer, to whom the works are dedicated.

The purpose of this document is to investigate the influence of Bela Bartok's music, specifically the Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, on George Crumb's Music for a Summer Evening. It concentrates on two specific areas: 1) the role of symmetry and 2) instrumentation. These two items were stressed during an interview with Crumb by the author, which is appended to the paper.

In mid-eighteenth-century France, a type of ensemble music was introduced for harpsichord and another instrument(s) in which the harpsichord part is completely written out, instead of a bass line with figures to be realized. Composers of this genre used the word "accompanied" in the tides or in the prefaces of their collections to describe the genre. This study examines the earliest examples of this genre, the works of seven composers, published in the 1740's, (Mondonville, Rameau, Boismoitier, Clement, Dupuits, Guillemain, and Luc Marchand), and compares the various styles of the written out parts, both harpsichord and additional instrument, to determine the nature of the word, "accompaniment."

Government investigations into the motion picture industry are well-documented, as is the widespread blacklisting that was concurrent. Not nearly so well documented are the many investigations of musicians and musical organizations which occurred during this same period. The degree to which various musicians and musical organizations were investigated varied considerably. Some warranted only passing mention, while others were rigorously questioned in formal Congressional hearings. Hanns Eisler was deported as a result of the House Committee on Un-American Activities' (HUAC) investigation into his background and activities in the United States. Leonard Bernstein, Marc Blitzstein, and Aaron Copland are but a few of the prominent composers investigated by the government for their involvement in leftist organizations. The Symphony of the Air was denied visas for a Near East tour after several orchestra members were implicated as Communists. Members of musicians' unions in New York and Los Angeles were called before HUAC hearings because of alleged infiltration by Communists into their ranks. The Metropolitan Music School of New York, led by its president-emeritus, the composer Wallingford Riegger, was the subject of a two day congressional hearing in New York City. There is no way to measure either quantitatively or qualitatively the effect of …

The paper is divided into six chapters. The first two provide a brief summary of the evolution of multiple percussion and biographical information about Kraft. The remaining chapters are an examination of the origin, sound sources, compositional style, and performance problems of the ten Encounters pieces. The paper concludes with several appendices, including a chronological listing of Kraft's compositions which use percussion, a list of percussion equipment and notational symbols used in the Encounters pieces, and a discography of Kraft's music.

In this study, the unique style of percussion writing in the chamber works of George Crumb, written between 1960 and 1980, is examined. The principal aspects examined within this study include: the extended instrumental techniques, the use of percussion within the musical imagery, soloistic treatment, compositional and notational procedures, and specific performance problems pertaining to the chamber work Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death.

Four works are selected to demonstrate the stature and demands of this craft and to represent a pinnacle in the art of contemporary woodwind doubling. Concerto for Doubles, by Thomas Filas, Concerto Tri-Chroma. by Michael Kibbe, Rhapsody Nova, by Clare Fischer and Suite for Solo Flute. Clarinet and Alto Saxophone by Claude Smith all represent rare, major solo works written specifically for three individual woodwind doublers. The paper will begin with a history of the practice of woodwind doubling from the fifteenth century to the present. The four works will then be examined by considering form, style and related performance practices.

Whereas conditions have existed for many centuries which served to exclude or marginalize female participation in music, many women have written compositions of musical worth sufficient to justify their contemporary performance. Although most women composers wrote works more fitting for the "salon" than for the concert hall at the turn of the century, Boulanger and Mahler are representative of the few women composers whose complex approach to art song fell within the mainstream of the genre. Many of their accompaniments attain a level of technical difficulty not previously found in women composers' writing. They offer an interesting comparison between nationalities and styles in that they both favored Symbolist texts. However, each represents a different side of the coin in her musical interpretation of Symbolism: Boulanger, Impressionism, and Mahler, Expressionism. In addition, even though their styles involve opposite musical expressions, they both show a strong influence of Wagner in their writing. This study includes background on turn-of-the-century music and musicians encompassing the role of art song among women composers. Symbolism is addressed as it applies to the poets selected by the composers, followed by information regarding the specific musical representation of Symbolist texts in the composers' art songs. The chapter of …

The musicians in E. T. A. Hoffmann's tales and essays demonstrate traits remarkably similar to those of shamans. Hoffmann uses the same imagery to describe the journey of the composer into the "realm of dreams," where he receives inspiration, as the shaman uses to describe the spirit world to which he journeys via music. Hoffmann was a major force in changing the 18th-century view of music as an "innocent luxury" to the 19th-century idea of music as a higher art. As a German Romantic,author, he subscribed to the idea championed by the Schlegels that true poetry is based on myth. In this thesis, Hoffmann's writings are compared with shamanic mythology to demonstrate a similarity beyond mere coincidence, without drawing conclusions about influence.

During World War II the composer Kurt Weill was in America writing for the Broadway stage. On August 27, 1943, he became an American citizen and was eager to volunteer his talent to the American war effort. Among his many wartime musical contributions are fourteen songs, all with war-related texts, which can be divided into three distinct groups: the American propaganda songs (8), the German propaganda songs (2), and the Walt Whitman songs (4). It is the purpose of this paper to present a comparative analysis of a representative group of these war songs (two from each group) in order to illustrate Weill's musical versatility. The American propaganda songs were written in a purely popular song style; sung by Broadway actors; directed toward an American audience; with texts by the Broadway lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and the Hollywood movie executive Howard Dietz. The German propaganda songs were written in a cabaret song style; sung in German by Weill's wife, Lotte Lenya; directed toward a German audience behind enemy lines; with texts by the German playwright Bertolt Brecht and the German cabaret writer Walter Mehring. The Four Walt Whitman Songs were written in a classical art song style; sung by classically …

A primary purpose of the study was to articulate the significance of these compositions to the twentieth century repertoire, with special attention given to Dies Natalis, recognized as an outstanding contribution to English music literature. Overviews and specific analyses, with pertinent performance applications and background data, fulfill this purpose and provide information of merit for the programming and performance of Finzi's songs for high male voice.

Riders to the Sea is a chamber opera in one act of approximately 40 minutes in duration. The single act is divided into six scenes that progress without pause. The vocal parts are comprised of 2 sopranos, 1 mezzo-soprano, 1 baritone, and an off-stage chorus of men's voices (tenor I, tenor II, baritone, and bass; two per part). The orchestra will be comprised of winds (1-1-1-1-1), brass (2-2-1-1), strings (2-2-2-2-1), piano, 2 percussionists, and tape, that will be used to provide a continuous background of surf and wind sounds. Authentic Irish folk songs are threaded throughout the work, generally functioning as a background element, while twentieth-century compositional techniques are utilized primarily for special effects.

This dissertation primarily concerns performance aspects in compositions for piano and tape, using three specific works as the basis for discussion: Larry Austin's Sonata Concertante, Thomas Clark's Peninsula, and Phil Winsor's Passages. These compositions are representative of the medium as a whole, yet each offers its own unique set of performance problems.