Chapter I. Emma Lou Diemer, currently Professor of Composition at the University of California at Santa Barbara, is an excellent representative of the mainstream of twentieth- century American music. Born in 1927 in Kansas City, Missouri, she began composing at an early age, motivated by her improvisations at the piano. She received a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music from Yale and a Doctor of Philosophy from Eastman, all in composition.Diemer's career has encompassed teaching in the public schools and at the university level, working as a church organist, and performing publically on all of her keyboard instruments. Her compositional output reflects this diversity. In 1959, she was the only woman in the first group of young composers to be awarded Ford Foundation Grants, for which she was assigned to the secondary schools of Arlington, Virginia. During this time, the simpler works for the bands and choirs resulted in requests from publishers and commissions from many sources, for choral works in particular. These have since become her largest category of compositions. However, she has also written some twenty-six chamber and solo works for piano. This body of music, which reflects both her many influences and her unique style, constitutes an outstanding contributionto her art.Chapter II. Her earliest works reflected her stated models, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, and Gershwin, in their programmatic titles, energetic rhythms, and full keyboard sound. In them one can see her affection for low sustained resonant tones and for Prokofiev-like brilliant high register sounds. She frequently used chord structures in thirds, but employed a deliberately atonal harmonic framework.Chapter III. At Yale, she fell under the neoclassic influence of Hindemith. Her forms tightened and her harmonic language centered on tonics and key schemes resembling traditional modes. Features seen in the early works became pervasive: motivic melodic construction, ametric and syncopated rhythms in a strongly metric context, ostinatos in all registers, imitative textures, structured fugues, and a Bartokian control of harmony by intervals, particularly the fourth and fifth.Chapter IV. With the solo piano works, she melded the neoclassic structured language with her earlier romantic style. Ideas once again flowed directly from improvisations, while she also wrote her first large twelve-tone work.Chapter V. In the 1970's, she combined the sonorities of the electronic world with intrinsically pianistic techniques, including the new sounds of the avant-garde. Rhythm returned as pulsing beats, contrasted with free and aleatoric sections. Neoclassic motivic development generated dramatic forms.Chapter VI. Diemer integrates many techniques, new and old, into a highly successful and personal style, one which places ultimate value on expression and communication. Retaining a strong tie to the past, she is a cautious explorer, rarely breaking new ground, but eventually encompassing even the most advanced trends into wonderfully effective works.

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This study was designed to portray some of the personal attributes of Emma Lou Diemer, a contemporary composer, and to describe her compositional processes and products through videotaped interviews. Over a two year period and during five days of interviews and discussion, Dr. Diemer and this writer developed a rapport allowing the composer to reveal insights into her attitudes about music composition and her methods and techniques for composing. The writer then prepared and edited the videotaped interviews specifically for the following purposes:1. to provide insight into Emma Lou Diemer's philosophy of music composition2. to offer first-hand commentary on two of her own compositions3. to give composers and conductors insight, in Dr. Diemer's own words, into her compositional processes.The two videotapes central to this study provide visual records of the discussions of the composer at work, thereby allowing viewers access to her original comments, facial expressions, conversational nuances, and humor. The tapes show Dr. Diemer's energy, vitality, and sense of purpose as she continues to seek creative channels within her chosen field of composition.The videotapes are supported by a written document containing background information, related literature, and a biography of Emma Lou Diemer. Chapter four contains the narratives of the videotaped interviews and a discussion of two of Diemer's compositions, "There is a Mom Unseen" and "To Come So." The final chapter includes a summary and recommendations for further research.The writer recommends the use of videotape for recording interviews with contemporary composers; this medium was an effective tool for this study. Suggested procedures include: the recording of a composer's perspectives on interpretations of his/her compositions, recording of composing techniques, videotaping of the composer as performer or conductor, and videotaping of related performances of a composer's works by selected individuals and groups.Suggested audiences for the videotapes prepared for this study are: 1. university composition classes;2. conductors preparing to present compositions by Emma Lou Diemer in concert;3. high school groups looking at composition as a career;4. individuals who wish to study Dr. Diemer's compositional processes and style. / School of Music

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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.

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