The first of any formal education in music that can be found from the records or from the memories of those who were present at the time was the singing school. One ranch in the Blair community has files in which records were found of all import ant events of the school and community life. These files relate the coming of the singing school regularly every summer. Shaped notes were taught front hymn books. At the end of the course, a certificate was given to those who graduated. The teacher of the school then moved on to the next engagement.

Ravel' s "Tombeau de Couperin," a suite for piano, was published in 1918 by Durand. Its first performance was in the Salle Gaveau in Paris in April, 1919. Shortly afterwards Ravel scored four of the six movements of the piano suite for small orchestra, composed of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, and horns in pairs, English horn, trumpet, harp, and strings, The new version was introduced in America in 1920. The four orchestrated movements, Prelude, Forlane, Menuet, and Rigaudon, have no programmatic content and the titles identify the forms used. "Le Tombeau de Couperin" is a souvenir of World War I. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of a French soldier fallen in battle. The "Tombeau" form dates from the seventeenth century and is a musical "homage" to Francois Couperin, clavecinist of Louis XIV, and one of the great names of French music. "The separate movements, cast in eighteenth century dance forms often used by Qouperin have been described as "tonal wreaths," not too somber nor too profuse, laid with tenderness on an unforgotten tomb." This piece represents Ravel's extreme effort to express himself in the simplest possible manner. The music is subtly archaic; form, line and texture artfully suggest …

It would be impossible to trace the evolution of the form of the scherzo without treating also to some extent the history of the minuet, as the scherzo would hardly have come into being in the way it did had there not been the minuet, even though as the scherzo grew to maturity it resembled less and less its parent-form. This thesis examines the early use and origin of the scherzo, and its use and evolution in the works of Beethoven.

This thesis centers around a certain twentieth-century compositionaI device, the method of composition with twelve tones. There are many terms to designate this device, for example: "basic set," "tone-row," "note-series," "serialism," "serial technique," "twelve-note series," "twelve-tone technique" or "twelve-tone method." TI is thesis is a methodical research demonstrating the contemporary conventional way of scientifically and artfully manipulating twelve equal tempered degrees of the chromatic scale to produce a desirable system. In order to arrive at any substantial conclusions, it is necessary to make a critical examination and evaluation of known twelve-tone compositional procedures from as many angles as possible, so as virtually to exhaust every practical and speculative potentiality included in the technique, that is, within the range and limits of our present needs. This examination and evaluation will also involve a comparative investigation of various uses of the device, in order to produce and suggest ideas for further theoretical insights. The ultimate purpose of this thesis is to pinpoint the "hows" and "whys" of Rochberg's use of the twelve equal tones in Sonata-Fantasia.

This paper discusses and analyzes the music and methodology of Sigfrid Karg-Elert's Thirty Caprices for Flute, Opus 107. Jon Novi examines how Karg-Elert provides clues and instruction in The Logical Development, a paper appended to the Thirty Caprices.

In this document, I discuss the creative process of a piece for instruments, electronics, and video titled Music for the End of the World in the context of the Anthropocene and music's relationship with it. The document is divided into two parts: Part I, divided into three chapters, is a critical essay and Part II, the score for Music for the End of the World. In the first two chapters, I present the conceptual basis for the creation of the piece and discuss relevant musical references. In the third chapter, I describe the creative process in detail and explain how the aesthetic decisions I made relate to the original concept. The first chapter starts by defining the Anthropocene and pointing out some connections between music, colonialism, and ecology. It also highlights some of the Anthropocene potential implications for the arts through the lens of Timothy Morton's post-humanist philosophy. In the second chapter, three important references for the creation of Music for the End of the World are presented: Luigi Nono's Prometeo; Francisco López La Selva; and João Pedro Oliveira's Neshamah. In the third chapter, I present the creative process of Music for the End of the World in detail. It …

Rainpiece is a composition for flute, viola, harp, and computer, cyclic and open in form, and inviting collaborative improvisation by instrumentalists and computer operator together. It is also a study of water, from torrential downpours and bubbling springs to rivers and waterfalls. The movement of water through the phases of the water cycle is the central metaphor guiding the cyclic and theoretically endless structure of the work. Rainpiece is also a model of community, collaboration, and above all mindful meditation. The metaphor of water is one that focuses the mind, and brings together the community of performers and audience members into a context with which all can connect emotionally. Like the sound of flowing water (which is included in the piece in the form of processed field recordings), the musical ideas of Rainpiece are constantly changing, and yet continually recurring and returning; this connects with concepts of meditation and mantra as well. The work proposes a new direction in interactive chamber music that integrates natural and composed sound worlds, with the goal of shaping a social and acoustic environment that allows for openness, mindfulness, and connection.

The histories of acoustic ecology, field recording, and soundscape composition are intertwined. This combination of disciplines has lead to the potential for powerful insights, but an over-emphasis on music composition using recorded sound has to led to some problematic tendencies in the study of soundscapes. I begin by tracing the development of acoustic ecology and related disciplines, leading to a proposal for a practice of acoustic ecology that centers the study of all sounds from an ecological perspective and incorporates the insights of creative practices. I include the results and data from my acoustic surveys in Patagonia, Iceland, and Texas. These three locations are varied in their climate, and they are all threatened by noise pollution or human interference from one source or another. Each survey plots out the daily sound activity in a given location and then includes information such as decibel level and the amount of anthropogenic noise. Using the field recordings from my acoustic surveys, I composed a non-linear piece, Resonance Ecology, that generates soundscapes by combining sounds from different locations based on connections such as geography or weather patterns. There is also the option for acoustic performers to perform alongside the electronics, creating an unpredictably evolving …

This dissertation is a thorough examination of the problems modern composers of electronic music face when writing or discussing acousmatic music as derived from Pierre Schaeffer. By taking a close examination of Schaeffer's own writings on the subjects of reduced listening and acousmatic sounds, I illustrate the difficulties and inconsistencies in Schaeffer's philosophy and the problems that his reliance on Husserl's phenomenology creates. Further examination of criticisms of Husserl from Derrida and Heidegger highlight the ways that Schaeffer's phenomenology needs to be updated for the modern acousmatic composer. Articles by modern acousmatic composers such as Adrian Moore, Denis Smalley, Simon Emmerson, and others illustrate how artists have dealt with the problems in Schaeffer's ideas and the inconsistent ways they have applied his principles of sound and the sound object. I argue that a new method of musical meaning as a method of composition and analysis is necessary to resolve these conflicts and inconsistencies. This method is found in the writings of J.L. Austin, and Ludwig Wittgenstein through Andrew Chung, who places significant emphasis on the actions and effects that music takes. By reframing the acousmatic problem through meaning-as-use, I attempt to modernize Schaeffer's conceptions of sound and emphasize the significance …