<p>Into the Bends of Time is a 40-minute work in seven movements for a large chamber orchestra with electronics, utilizing real-time computer-assisted processing of music performed by live musicians. The piece explores various combinations of interactive relationships between players and electronics, ranging from relatively basic processing effects to musical gestures achieved through stages of computer analysis, in which resulting sounds are crafted according to parameters of the incoming musical material. Additionally, some elements of interaction are multi-dimensional, in that they rely on the participation of two or more performers fulfilling distinct roles in the interactive process with the computer in order to generate musical material. Through processes of controlled randomness, several electronic effects induce elements of chance into their realization so that no two performances of this work are exactly alike. The piece gets its name from the notion that real-time computer-assisted processing, in which sound pressure waves are transduced into electrical energy, converted to digital data, artfully modified, converted back into electrical energy and transduced into sound waves, represents a “bending” of time.</p><p>The Bill Evans Trio featuring bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential piano trios in the history of jazz, lauded for its unparalleled level of group interaction. Most analyses of Bill Evans’ recordings, however, focus on his playing alone and fail to take group interaction into account. This paper examines one performance in particular, of Victor Young’s “My Foolish Heart” as recorded in a live performance by the Bill Evans Trio in 1961. In Part One, I discuss Steve Larson’s theory of musical forces (expanded by Robert S. Hatten) and its applicability to jazz performance. I examine other recordings of ballads by this same trio in order to draw observations about normative ballad performance practice. I discuss meter and phrase structure and show how the relationship between the two is fixed in a formal structure of repeated choruses. I then develop a model of perpetual motion based on the musical forces inherent in this structure. In Part Two, I offer a full transcription and close analysis of “My Foolish Heart,” showing how elements of group interaction work with and against the musical forces inherent in the model of perpetual motion to achieve an unconventional, dynamic use of double-time. I explore the concept of a unified agential persona and discuss its role in imparting the song’s inherent rhetorical tension to the instrumental musical discourse.</p> / Dissertation

<p> This dissertation provides a guide with prompts to help people access the benefits of creativity research in the collaborative process of programming choral concerts. To highlight the distinctive characteristics of choral music in ways that engage the audience, programmers can utilize the Eight Stages of the Creative Process as found in R. Keith Sawyer&rsquo;s book Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation. These stages, as applied to choral programming, are 1) finding a problem statement for the concert, 2) acquiring the knowledge of the choral domain, 3) gathering information related to the specific concert, 4) taking time off from programming tasks for incubation, 5) generating ideas related to the problem statement of that particular concert, 6) combining those ideas in unexpected ways, 7) selecting the best ideas according to the criteria for that particular choir concert design, and 8) externalizing those ideas. The dissertation details current practices of choral programmers who already use the principles behind Sawyer&rsquo;s Eight Stages. The guide includes specific prompts that are tied to each of Sawyer&rsquo;s Eight Stages of the Creative Process for use by individuals or team leaders in a collaborative planning process. Annotations (Chapter 4) provide context for understanding and using the prompts to aid creative choral programming.</p>

This thesis analyzes Nikolay Roslavetss Four Compositions for Voice and Piano and Ar-thur Louriés Azbuka and Corona Carminum Sacrorum, all works written during the height of the composers involvement with the Russian Futurist movement. These works represent oppo-site means of compositional experimentation. Lourié used Russian folk influences to stretch the limits of tonality through the use of peremennost. Azbuka and Corona Carminum Sacrorum contain equal tonal centers of A minor and C major with secondary harmonic areas of E minor and G major. Roslavets, however, invented his own system of composing with synthetic chords to free himself from past artistic trends. A combination of voice-leading analysis and setclass analysis reveals three types of transpositional organization: cyclic, derivative, and varied. Each type of transpositional organization has a different function that shapes the harmonic and ortho-graphical landscape of the songs. Louriés works manifest his shift to new simplicity (Sitsky, 87) as a means of musical experimentation whereas Roslavets sought to expand the boundaries of composition with synthetic chords.

<p>Folk songs are an important part of many cultures and are often influential on artists, poets, playrights, and composers. P?t, V?ji?i (Blow, Wind) is an example of a folk song from the Latvian culture that has experienced a transformation from the tables of the home to the stages of the theater. The narrative of P?t, V?ji?i has been portrayed through countless musical arrangements, a play, two operas, a film, and a musical, and the story continues to thrive. An overview of the evolution of the song and analyses of the opera by a blacklisted composer, Felicita Tomsone, and the film music by Imants Kalni?s will be given, thus showing the importance of P?t, V?ji?i as a thriving subject within Latvian music and theater.

<p> This paper is a study of Carmen McRae&rsquo;s unique style of delivering lyrics by analyzing her use of phrasing, stylistic elements, and personal connection, in an effort to apply these techniques to a modern-day vocal performance. The paper provides vocalists with a guideline in order to understand, emulate, and implement Carmen McRae&rsquo;s techniques. Analyzing McRae&rsquo;s interpretation of a song is important in today&rsquo;s musical climate because the modern jazz singer has limited resources pertaining to how to perform a song with lyric interpretation as the primary focus.</p>

The initial part of this dissertation is a symphony. Symphony No. 1 consists of three movements. Each movement begins with a monumental gesture designed to make a bold and unforgettable statement. Within each movement, there is an interesting array of harmonic and rhythmic schemes. In Symphony No. 1, the diametrically opposed concepts of simple and complex are featured prominently. These concepts are contrasted thematically, rhythmically, and harmonically. The next part of this dissertation establishes the existence of certain obstacles facing contemporary composers and the benefits of developing new techniques in composition. The music of György Ligeti and Arvo Pärt are examined in order to explore of the specific techniques used in their compositions. This involves a review of micropolyphony, including aspects of its origin and development. This also involves an examination of the tintinnabuli technique and its role in the music of Arvo Pärt. The final two sections of this dissertation include the presentation of a new compositional technique. Part of this presentation consists of a synopsis of some neo-Riemannian techniques, including aspects of harmonic dualism and parsimonious voice leading. This is followed by the comparative analysis of a new technique with methods used in established compositional works. The new technique is based on parsimonious voice leading extended to ninth chords and minor eleventh chords. It is also based on two distinct types of motives. The first motive is distinguished from the second in that it does not develop. Conversely, the second motive incorporates various aspects of motivic variation and development. The analyses presented in this section effectively demonstrate the uniqueness of the new technique as well as its legitimacy as a means of artistic expression and communication.

The first part of this dissertation is an original music composition for orchestra entitled, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra. In studying the life of pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim (November 15, 1942-), I discovered a recording of his beautiful and gifted wife Jacqueline Mary Du Pré, (January 26, 1945 October 19, 1987) performing Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85. This experience was the beginning of a love triangle between Elgar, Barenboim, and Du Pré. An attraction to Jacqueline goes deeper than just the music and the cello. Her career was not long due to multiple sclerosis which forced her to stop performing at the age of twenty-eight. Barbara (my wife) was afflicted with this crippling disease, and our relationship began with both of us being musicians (Trumpet and French horn). The second part of the dissertation is a comparative study of the pedagogical methods of Nadia Boulanger and Dr. Dinos Constantinides. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction of Nadia Boulanger and Dinos Constantinides in a biographical sketch. Chapter 2 uncovers the teaching of Nadia Boulanger and her connection to young successful American composers. Chapter 3 is an eyewitness account of the teaching of Dr. Dinos Constantinides by the author of this document. Chapter 4 shows a comparison of similarities and differences between the teaching of Nadia Boulanger and Dr. Dinos Constantinides. Chapter 5 is a summary and conclusion of the pedagogical methods of Nadia Boulanger and Dr. Dinos Constantinides.

This study is about creating an online presence for a chamber ensemble. The study takes recommendations from notable books on music entrepreneurship, articles written for classical musicians on the importance of online content for musicians, and articles from select music industry websites. The author compares and combines these recommendations with interviews from members of seven different professional chamber ensembles, and the online presence of seventeen professional chamber ensembles that are based in the United States. The purpose of this study is to introduce to newly formed chamber ensembles how current chamber ensembles are using online media, what content is being presented online, and how to create the most common content. The study organizes the collected advice from resources and interviews, as compared with the studied ensembles, to conclude with recommendations for the most common content being used online. The study determines the most commonly used online platforms, and how they are being used. Included in this study is the use, organization and content of: Websites; Facebook; Twitter; Instagram; and YouTube. The author then goes into detail about how to create the content for these different platforms. Detailed studies are included for: organizing and choosing content for websites; collecting information and writing an ensemble biography; the attributes of a professional ensemble photo; working with a professional photographer; the different kinds of audio and video recordings and how to create these recordings; and working with a sound engineer. The author chose to specifically focus on classical music chamber ensembles due to the absence of documentation focused specifically on this group of musicians. The studied documentation primarily focuses these discussions as they apply to solo musicians, or musicians in the pop/rock/indie music genre. The author has taken the recommendations from these different genres of music and determined how they can relate specifically to classical chamber ensembles. Through this study, the author has determined the best practices and recommendations for chamber musicians on what is needed to start their online profiles.

Two-Part Invention (2014) is David Stocks only work for solo vibraphone. Although Stock has a vast amount of solo and chamber works for percussion instruments, his music is not well known in the percussion community. The primary goal of this document is to serve as a gateway to his percussion music. This document is intended to explore his music through an analysis that highlights the main features of his compositional process. It also explores the technical and musical demands within Two-Part Invention. My research starts with a short bio on David Stock, highlighting the main accomplishments of his career as well as his passion for contemporary music. The analysis portion of this document examines the form, rhythmical features and harmony. In addition to my own personal study of Two-Part Invention, I studied the compositional techniques used by Stock particularly in his percussion writing, including pieces such as Duo Dynamic, U-Turn, Three Vignettes for Marimba, Rosewood Reflections, Shadow Music, Red Stick Ripples, Circling the Square and Double Bars. The performance guide concentrates on mallet choice, playing area, stickings, articulation and range issues. I provided sticking suggestions as well as pictures with the exploration of playing areas. This document includes a list of Stocks works for percussion as well as an outline of my pedaling suggestions.

The purpose of this document is to serve as a performance guide to Joelle Wallachs A Revisitation of Myth, a song cycle containing four songs scored for viola, piano and medium voice. Discussed within this guide will be important characteristics found in the songs, overview and analysis of each song, as well as performance recommendations. According to Wallach, this cycle has never been successfully performed to completion. This document will include biographical information about the composer, Joelle Wallach, as well as commentary about the four poets, Luann Keener, Muriel Rukeyser, Denise Levertov, and Delmore Schwartz, whose texts are set in this cycle. Appendices include: a complete list of vocal works by Joelle Wallach and a transcript of a Skype interview with Wallach.