D.M.A. final project--Department of Music, Stanford University, 2003. / Pref. includes abstract and performance instructions. "Weave, for string trio, is formed of three solo pieces: Weft for violin solo, Shuttle for viola solo, and Warp for cello solo, each composed using a common structural and metrical grid, so that they may be performed simultaneously"--Leaf iv.

Thesis (M.Phil.) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.

This study provides a resource for performers preparing Walton's Viola Concerto. It is intended to provide information regarding history, technical and musical obstacles, and common alterations to the viola part. The study begins with a historical overview of the work, including information about the composer and the composition. A review of the existing literature examines sources for parallel information and similar studies.The development of a methodology of study is based on the examination of nine excerpts from the Concerto. These excerpts represent technical and musical challenges found in the Concerto. Each example is accompanied by an excerpt from a study or etude that closely reflects the same technical musical challenges. These excerpts are provided as possible technical enhancement studies that, when practiced prior to or in conjunction with the study of the Concerto, provide the methodology of study with the means to actually address the technical demands of the Concerto.Included in the study are the opinions of professional violists, solicited for this study by means of a survey. The survey group is identified, and their opinions on the previously identified technical passages are presented. Compilations of survey responses, along with additional comments and suggestions, are provided in conjunction with the corresponding excerpts.The final portion of this study examines the alterations most frequently made to the viola part. These so-called "William Primrose alterations" are presented with the suggestions and recommendations of the survey respondents. Various aspects of performance practice are examined, and the study offers several conclusions on this subject.Survey participants agreed that performance of the Concerto is a task of considerable difficulty. Regardless of the performer or the performance venue, great technical, musical, and intellectual skill and energy is required. This study provides historical information that all performers should acquire, as well as a methodology of study. It includes performance and practice suggestions from several prominent violists. This methodology of study serves as a resource for violists who undertake to perform what is one of the most significant works in the viola repertoire. / School of Music

This portfolio presents seven compositions composed for different instrumental and vocal forces, accompanied by a commentary and recordings of some of these works. Across the seven pieces there has been a concern with building longer-term structures; establishing a stronger developmental style; and with moving towards a more systematised approach to harmony as a way of creating a harmonic language that can underpin development more efficiently.  Several of the works show a direct engagement with the issue of form, which is approached from the perspective of Classical models, the listener’s perception and in the context of a highly chromatic harmonic language.  In contrast, two works (<i>Aubade</i> and <i>So Turn Your Heart</i>) engage more directly with diatonic models of harmony. The dominant concern across all the works presented has been the desire to create developmental, direct music in which the notion of transformation, rather than stasis and ritual, are of paramount importance.  From a melodic, harmonic and structural point of view each work represents different ways in which this has been attempted. The commentary that accompanies the works explores many of these ideas in more detail as well as setting out the origins and development of each composition. There is also an explanation as to how the initial material was decided upon and utilised during the compositional process. The commentary then concludes with a summary of what has been achieved over the course of the programme and where this might lead in the future.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008. / Accompanying disc is DVD-ROM, and contains sound files for recordings of 2nd and 3rd compositions. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed June 25, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Reproduced from holograph.

At the turn of this century, Charles Martin Loeffler (1861-1935) was considered to be among the finest of the handful of well-known American composers of the time. His music was often performed by major symphony orchestras, chamber groups and solo artists. Deux rapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano: L'Etang and La Cornemuse, after poems by Maurice Rollinat (1846-1903), show Loeffler's affinity for programmatic concepts. These works, completed in 1901, are revisions of settings of 1898 for low voice, clarinet, viola and piano, and are now, unfortunately, out of print; but the oboe, viola and piano setting has been published (originally as Deux rapsodies by G. Schirmer, 1905; the latest edition, Two Rhapsodies, is by McGinnis and Marx, N.Y., 1979) and recorded several times. Loeffler has reflected Rollinat's poetry in his settings by means of melodic, rhythmic and harmonic devices unique to his style. Formal and articulative devices also tend to point to his dependence on the poetry as a source of inspiration and as means for defining the final musical product. Indeed, the music seems incapable of existence independent of its source in the richly imagistic poetry of Rollinat.

The sensation and perception of musical qualities, properties, and phenomena have long posed challenges for musical analysis. Unconventional musical materials adopted by recent composers and creators of contemporary music, in particular, raise specific questions about the temporal segmentation and musical classification of spectromorphological form-building units. Recent musical scholarship has demonstrated a growing interest in answering such essential questions from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. This study considers the music of Pierluigi Billone and Georges Aperghis, two composers who have forged artistic practices unlike any of their contemporaries, but who share a common interest in developing the emergence of certain musical qualities of intense fascination within their works. Determining how these phenomena emerge, and under what musical contexts and boundary conditions, is a topic of major concern. A psychoanalytic approach to Billone’s ITI. KE. MI (1995) for solo viola was found to yield a descriptive interpretation of the piece’s musical discourse given its raw materials, while a data-driven audio analysis, relating certain features of a recorded performance to compositional methods encoded in synthesis and notated score, were found to best describe the musical necessities of Aperghis’ 2004 opera Avis de tempête. While each composer retains a unique approach to building formal schemes out of their chosen emergent properties, the inclusive pages show that both qualitative and quantitative analytical frameworks can be utilized to describe musical statements created through differing means towards similar ends.

This paper discusses several compositions that use the computer screen to present music notation to performers. Three of these compositions, Law of Fives (2015), Polytera II (2016), and Terraformation (2016–17), employ strategies that allow the notation to change during the performance of the work as the product of composer-regulated algorithmic generation and performer interaction. New methodologies, implemented using Cycling74's Max software, facilitate performance of these works by allowing effective control of generation and on-screen display of notation; these include an application called VizScore, which delivers notation and conducts through it in real-time, and a development environment for real-time notation using the Bach extensions and graphical overlays around them. These tools support a concept of cartographic composition, in which a composer maps a range of potential behaviors that are mediated by human or algorithmic systems or some combination of the two. Notational variation in performance relies on computer algorithms that can both generate novel ideas and be subject to formal plans designed by the composer. This requires a broader discussion of the underlying algorithms and control mechanisms in the context of algorithmic art in general. Terraformation, for viola and computer, uses a model of the performer's physical actions to constrain the algorithmic generation of musical material displayed in on-screen notation. The resulting action-based on-screen notation system combines common practice notation with fingerboard tablature, color gradients, and abstract graphics. This hybrid model of dynamic notation puts unconventional demands on the performer; implications of this new performance practice are addressed, including behaviors, challenges, and freedoms of real-time notation.

Orientador: Emerson Luiz de Biaggi / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Artes / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T09:43:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sacco_AnaCarolinaRobusti_M.pdf: 15590996 bytes, checksum: ae62d7c571cb9ee599acbdfd96cc3ecb (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: O objeto de estudo deste trabalho é a peça "Trio das Águas" composta por Ricardo Tacuchian no ano de 2012 e dedicada ao Terra Brasilis Trio, grupo no qual a autora desta dissertação atua como pianista. O primeiro capítulo aborda aspectos do ofício de compositor segundo Tacuchian, seus anseios e motivações para compor, fazendo ainda uma breve explanação a respeito dos fundamentos teóricos do Sistema ¿ T, ferramenta de controle de alturas desenvolvida pelo compositor no início dos anos 80 utilizada para a composição do "Trio das Águas". No segundo capítulo identificamos aspectos relevantes do emprego do Sistema ¿ T e que serviram de base para estruturar esta primeira interpretação. As sugestões interpretativas aqui encontradas baseiam-se no trabalho em conjunto dos primeiros intérpretes da obra com o compositor, buscando melhor compreensão de suas ideias quanto à concepção da obra, sonoridade e articulações desejadas. Os anexos consistem em textos de autoria do compositor sobre a abordagem estética em suas obras e seu Sistema ¿ T, disponibilizados pelo mesmo, e que deram suporte a essa dissertação. Ao levantar essas informações, o presente trabalho tem por objetivo dar subsídios aos futuros intérpretes desta peça no desenvolvimento de uma interpretação coerente com as idéias do compositor / Abstract: The subject of this dissertation is the piece "Trio das Águas" (Water¿s Trio) composed by Ricardo Tacuchian in the year 2012 and dedicated to the Terra Brasilis Trio, ensemble where the author of this dissertation acts as pianist. The first chapter addresses aspects of the composer¿s craft, his wishes and motivations to compose it, and explains the T-System (Sistema ¿T), a pitch control tool developed by the in the 1980¿s used in the composition of the "Trio das Águas". In the second chapter, we identify relevant aspects of the use of this T-System that worked as basis for the first interpretation of the piece. The interpretative suggestions are based in the collaborative work of the first interpreters with the composer, seeking a better comprehension of his ideas about the concept of the work, sonority and desirable articulations. The attachments consist of texts by the composer about the aesthetical approach in his pieces and the "Sistema ¿ T". These texts, made available by the composer himself, served as basis for this dissertation. The present dissertation has as its goal to offer support to future interpreters of this piece, facilitating the development of an interpretation coherent with the composer¿s ideas / Mestrado / Praticas Interpretativas / Mestra em Música

Throughout centuries of great classical music, many viola compositions have been crafted from a wealth of literature for instruments of similar range. Clarinet, violin, and cello concerti and ensemble literature often adapt into challenging literature for the viola. In November 2009, Oxford Music Publishing gave me permission to transcribe and perform the Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale by Rebecca Clarke in New York's famed Carnegie Hall - Weill Recital Hall. This dissertation explains the process by which I transcribed the Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale from an original Bb-clarinet/viola duo, to a new arrangement for two violas (approved by Oxford Music Press arrangement license #7007940), and discusses challenges faced throughout the transcription process.