Master of Music / School of Music, Theatre, and Dance / Anna Wytko / The saxophone is a versatile instrument utilized in a variety of musical styles. Paul Creston’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra, Claude Debussy’s Rhapsodie pour Orchestre et Saxophone, and Edison Denisov’s Sonate pour Saxophone Alto et Piano are among some of the most important, original works for saxophone. The saxophone can also effectively be utilized in music from earlier time periods. For example, the saxophone is capable of producing tonal colors that closely mirror tonal colors associated with string instruments. These parallels make transcriptions of the Six Suites for Solo Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach particularly effective when performed on saxophone. This master’s report, presented as extended program notes, includes biographical information about the composers, a stylistic overview of the selected works, and thoughtful performance considerations.

Rhapsody for Saxophone and Orchestra is a work of 15 minutes duration, scored for solo alto saxophone, flute (doubling piccolo), oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, timpani, percussion, piano, and strings. Within the work, an invented harmonic structure is combined with a freely improvised melody that is subjected to a large-scale formal process of phrase expansion and contraction. Layers of musical activity, involving interval templates (defined as invariant patterns of pitches), phrase-lengths, melodic contour, referential rhytlimic gestures, and pedal-notes are set in motion from the outset. While operating independently, these musical elements converge at major section points in the work, of which there are ten. The ultimate aim is to devise engrossing musical textures that embody variation within coherence, and possess strong goal-directionality. The method of composing with interval pairs represents a novel approach to harmony, and the resulting harmonic structures underlie much, but not all of the work. In terms of melody, the predominantly step-wise and back-circling (melody which moves away from then back towards a central tone) character is also of great significance in the work, providing the basis for much canonic imitation. The commencement of a new section in the work is often marked by two gestures: a treble pedal figure, and a "bouncing" figure, which occur in the first and last quarters of the work. Examination of larger-scale structures designated as "super-sections" (each comprising three or four sections) reveals the systematic phrase expansion and contraction that juxtaposes sections with short phrases next to those with long ones. This expansion and contraction of phrases creates the ultimate structure of the work. / Arts, Faculty of / Music, School of / Graduate

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This thesis is part of the result from an explorative venture into understanding how saxophone multiphonics can be used as tools for improvisation and composition. The focus lies partly on how I found these sounds, personalized them and incorporated them into my artistic language, but more importantly, this is an attempt of thinking through art by letting the experience gained from making creative use of accidental occurrences affect future experience in an open-ended artistic process. This is done in two acts, solo-playing and duo-playing. With the solo-playing I listen for what these sounds suggest in themselves, and through this, create open compositions that are embracing their elusive nature. The duo-playing searches for sounds within sounds in a sonic map, constructed from a co-creative artistic process that allows us to zoom in on details, experience deep and spectral listening through vertical musical motion. Apart from the written words and the compositions, the artistic results consist of several recordings, presented and discussed throughout the text together with connected concepts and contexts revolving around saxophone multiphonics, composition and improvisation. / <p>Komposition: Sonic Map</p><p>Kompositörer: David Bennet &amp; Vilhelm Bromander </p><p>Medverkande: David Bennet, Saxofon. Vilhelm Bromander, Kontrabas </p><p>Konserten är inspelad och bifogas med det skriftliga arbetet. </p>

Multiple articulation is a technique that is becoming commonplace in the saxophone literature. This study provides a detailed explanation of how produce the technique. Its application to saxophone literature is explored with musical examples and commentary by the author. A compilation of pedagogical viewpoints regarding multiple articulation from educators spanning the last century is provided.

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The slap tongue articulation is a unique sound and challenging technique in the performance of literature for the saxophone that has been used in a wide range of musical media, from classical to jazz. The purpose of this investigation is to gain a deeper understanding of the musical, artistic, and technical aspects of the slap tongue articulation as applied to the performance of selected, original literature for the alto saxophone. During the recital, the examples from Jungle by Christian Lauba, Rock Me by Barry Cockcroft and Pulse by Vincent David for unaccompanied alto saxophone were presented to demonstrate how to apply the slap tongue articulation artistically and effectively.