This thesis implements Milton Babbitt's time-point system for music composition via the creation of a computer software application for the Macintosh computer. This system asks the composer to enter musical information, which is used to calculate pitch, duration, articulation, texture, octave, and silence, for the time-point composition. The application generates a file of musical information that is compatible with a performance application; the performance application will execute the composition communicating with MIDI-compatible musical instruments.The purpose of this project was to create a compositional tool that would implement the time-point system by reducing hours of hand calculation and tedium, and would provide an accessible and efficient approach to time-point composition. It is intended that this application be used to assist both the serious composer as well as the student of music composition. / School of Music

Written in 1999, Concerto Piccolino is a part of the Composer's Guild of New Jersey Vibraphone Commission, which contains a collection of twelve soli written exclusively for vibraphone. Concerto Piccolino presents vibrant opportunities for both performer and listener to experience the compositional world of Milton Babbitt. With its limited register, ability to control duration and create extreme dynamics, the vibraphone serves as an appropriate vehicle for Babbitt's multi-dimensional style. The intent of this study is to first situate this work into Babbitt's compositional output as well as referencing Babbitt's other works for solo percussion. Next, an investigation into the background structure will provide a recommended analytical framework. Included is a performance guide for how these structures should be realized via surface materials throughout the interpretive and internalization stages of the work. Examining a recommended progression from analysis through performance will demonstrate Concerto Piccolino's significance and proper place in the standard repertoire of percussion. The study concludes with discussing connections to pedagogy and how the importance of Babbitt's work, as well as other composers of serious music, is vital to the forward progress of music performance.