Matching Items (23)
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- All Subjects: Creative Project
- All Subjects: Commission
- Creators: School of Music
Description
Despite the wealth of folk music traditions in Portugal and the importance of the clarinet in the music of bandas filarmonicas, it is uncommon to find works featuring the clarinet using Portuguese folk music elements. In the interest of expanding this type of repertoire, three new works were commissioned from three different composers. The resulting works are Seres Imaginarios 3 by Luis Cardoso; Delirio Barroco by Tiago Derrica; and Memória by Pedro Faria Gomes. In an effort to submit these new works for inclusion into mainstream performance literature, the author has recorded these works on compact disc. This document includes interview transcripts with each composer, providing first-person discussion of each composition, as well as detailed biographical information on each composer. To provide context, the author has included a brief discussion on Portuguese folk music, and in particular, the role that the clarinet plays in Portuguese folk music culture.
ContributorsFerreira, Wesley (Contributor) / Spring, Robert S (Thesis advisor) / Bailey, Wayne (Committee member) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Technological advancements in computers and audio software and hardware devices in the twenty-first century have led to the expansion of possibilities for music composition, including works for acoustic instruments and live electronics. Electroacoustic composition is rapidly and continually evolving, and much that has been written about compositional techniques for percussion and live electronics is becoming outdated. Live electronics include performer-triggered events, audio processing, electronic responses to various inputs, and electronic decision-making during live performances. These techniques can be employed in a variety of ways. This project sheds light on how modern composers of different musical and cultural backgrounds reimagine the use of percussion through the lens of new technologies.
Through the commission, examination, and recording of three new works for solo percussion and live electronics, the author seeks to further explore and highlight electroacoustic compositional techniques for solo percussion. A specific compositional element to be included in these commissioned works is the activation or manipulation of the acoustic properties of percussion instruments by electronic components. The three artists who contributed works are percussionist-composer Jeremy Muller, composer and multimedia artist Jordan Munson, and composer, sound artist, and performer Garth Paine. The creativity demonstrated in their previous works made them desirable candidates for this project. Each of them approached their composition in different ways. In Hysteresis, Muller utilizes a loudspeaker underneath a vibraphone to expand the sound palette of the instrument with microtonal electronic sounds that match the instrument’s timbre. In Where Light Escapes You, Jordan Munson layers various electronic sounds with the vibraphone to create a slowly evolving texture that also incorporates a bass drum and the buzzing of snare drums. In Resonant Textures, Paine spatializes vibraphone, cymbal, and electronic sounds to create a meditative and immersive listening experience. Ultimately, each of the three composers implemented distinctive compositional and performance tools to create new works that provide a glimpse into the future of percussion music.
Through the commission, examination, and recording of three new works for solo percussion and live electronics, the author seeks to further explore and highlight electroacoustic compositional techniques for solo percussion. A specific compositional element to be included in these commissioned works is the activation or manipulation of the acoustic properties of percussion instruments by electronic components. The three artists who contributed works are percussionist-composer Jeremy Muller, composer and multimedia artist Jordan Munson, and composer, sound artist, and performer Garth Paine. The creativity demonstrated in their previous works made them desirable candidates for this project. Each of them approached their composition in different ways. In Hysteresis, Muller utilizes a loudspeaker underneath a vibraphone to expand the sound palette of the instrument with microtonal electronic sounds that match the instrument’s timbre. In Where Light Escapes You, Jordan Munson layers various electronic sounds with the vibraphone to create a slowly evolving texture that also incorporates a bass drum and the buzzing of snare drums. In Resonant Textures, Paine spatializes vibraphone, cymbal, and electronic sounds to create a meditative and immersive listening experience. Ultimately, each of the three composers implemented distinctive compositional and performance tools to create new works that provide a glimpse into the future of percussion music.
ContributorsWier, Alexander Carl (Author) / Smith, Jeffrey (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The main objective of this research project is to expand the bassoon repertoire with the addition of three pieces. The first composition, Rust for bassoon and piano, was written by Christopher Marchant and is six minutes in duration; august, for woodwind quartet (flute, oboe, B-flat clarinet, and bassoon) was composed by Matthew Triplett and is four minutes in duration; the third composition, Rhapsody for woodwind quartet, was written by Conor Anderson and is six minutes in duration. The present document includes background information and a performance guide for each of the commissioned works. The performance guide provides recommendations and tips to aid musicians in preparing these works. This document also contains transcripts of interviews with each composer and performer. Finally, this document is accompanied by a recording of each piece.
ContributorsStrickland, Kiefer Philip (Author) / Micklich, Albie (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Joshua (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
This creative project explores the concept of how music is like a language and how, as a teacher, I plan to enforce this concept through my teaching. The aim of this project is to highlight the importance of completing research and acquiring knowledge of aspects, such as the composer's life, historical background and literary references, when learning a piece of music. Through this project, I address connections between the brain and music pertaining to memorization, the components of language, the similarities between language and music, the role of the teacher and the development of a "toolbox" of knowledge for studying a piece of music. I present my own research on Schumann's Novelette Op. 21, No. 8 in f-sharp minor as well as my own experiences of learning the piece to demonstrate an example of the process and discoveries I hope my students will make in their own studies of repertoire.
ContributorsLee, Kara Jia-Shan (Author) / Pagano, Caio (Thesis director) / Creviston, Hannah (Committee member) / Division of Teacher Preparation (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
"French Vanilla" is a collection of written narratives drawn from lived experiences which serve as the vehicle storytelling that I use to examine larger themes related to the intersections of race and gender. Themes include: binaries, legitimacy, intersectionality, biracial identity development (border identity construction), whiteness, shame, and crisis. While the narratives are situated within theoretical discourse, the narratives present a representation of the lived experience. These pieces engage members of my family as well as a number of figures, including Rachel Dolezal, President Barack Obama, Alicia Keys, and a stranger on a tram in an airport. My relationship with these people present the grounds for an interrogation of identity. This project asks the question: How does one negotiate biracial identity with herself and others through narrative performance? It engages theories, such as critical race theory, black feminist theory, and standpoint theory, which informed my understanding of the discourse of race and contextualized my commentary on race. These theories present a framework within which to situate my understanding and analysis of race through lived experience. Narrative performance, the formal methodology for this work, provides a structure for the performance itself: the ultimate end product. Note: This work of creative scholarship is rooted in collaboration between three female artist-scholars: Carly Bates, Raji Ganesan, and Allyson Yoder. Working from a common intersectional, feminist framework, we served as artistic co-directors of each other's solo pieces and co-producers of Negotiations, in which we share these pieces in relationship to each other. Thus, Negotiations is not a showcase of three individual works, but rather a conversation among three voices. As collaborators, we have been uncompromising in the pursuit of our own unique inquiries and voices, and each of our works of creative scholarship stand alone. However, we believe that all of the parts are best understood in relationship to each other and to the whole. For this reason, we have chosen to cross-reference our thesis documents: French Vanilla: An Exploration of Biracial Identity Through Narrative Performance by Carly Bates; Deep roots, shared fruits: Emergent creative process and the ecology of solo performance through "Dress in Something Plain and Dark" by Allyson Yoder; and Bhairavi: A Performance-Investigation of Belonging and Dis-Belonging in Diaspora Communities by Raji Ganesan.
ContributorsBates, Carly Christopher (Author) / Davis, Olga Idriss (Thesis director) / de la Garza, Sarah Amira (Committee member) / Dove-Viebahn, Aviva (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The music business has constantly evolved since its inception. Sheet music was the first physical form of music sold and was influenced by innovations in printing technology. Recorded music came about in the late 1800s and early 1900s, with Thomas Edison pioneering the phonograph record. Technology shifted from records to 8-tracks to cassettes, and finally, digital audio, which revolutionized the entire industry. Compact discs (CDs) skyrocketed in popularity during the 1990s and early 2000s, but so did file-sharing. To combat piracy, record labels began selling and streaming music online. Music sales have plummeted in all formats. Streaming reigns as the most popular form of music distribution, but it produces a mere fraction of the revenue traditional albums once did. The loss affects all those in the industry, especially the artists, who see an average of only $23.40 for every $1000 in music sold. But technology has allowed the independent artist to record and distribute their music to the world for little cost compared to their major label predecessors. Many wonder if the music industry is dead, but as with any other technological change in history, the adaptors and innovators will survive.
ContributorsDamiano, Alec (Author) / Swoboda, Deanna (Thesis director) / Whyte, Rutger (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Rainbow Connection is an integrated choir with members on and off the autism spectrum. It was founded in the spring of 2012 by Barrett students Ali Friedman, Megan Howell, and Victoria Gilman as part of an honors thesis creative project. Rainbow Connection uses the rehearsal process and other creative endeavors to foster natural relationship building across social gaps. A process-oriented choir, Rainbow Connection's main goals concern the connections made throughout the experience rather than the final musical product. The authors believe that individual, non-hierarchical relationships are the keys to breaking down systemized gaps between identity groups and that music is an ideal facilitator for fostering such relationships. Rainbow Connection operates under the premise that, like colors in a rainbow, choir members create something beautiful not by melding into one homogenous group, but by collaboratively showcasing their individual gifts. This paper will highlight the basic premise and structure of Rainbow Connection, outline the process of enacting the choir, and describe the authors' personal reactions and takeaways from the project.
ContributorsFriedman, Alexandra (Co-author) / Gilman, Victoria (Co-author) / Howell, Megan (Co-author) / Rio, Robin (Thesis director) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
E-Strings Academy (www.estringsacademy.wordpress.com) is a resource website intended for the beginning violinist, violist, cellist, and bassist. The mission of the website is to extend musical learning opportunities to students outside of the physical string classroom and to engage first-year string students in musical activities at home that supplement the instruction they receive in a school setting. The current website features five different areas for students to explore: lesson videos, tunes, listening activities, games, and resources. In each area, students have the opportunity to learn and reinforce musical concepts and skill sets that they will need in order to be successful in music, both in their first year of playing and beyond. I created E-Strings Academy with the intention that I use it with my own string students in my future teaching career. It is a flexible website that I will continue to revise, adapt, and enhance to best serve the needs of my students and enrich their musical learning outside of the classroom.
ContributorsCook, Christa Marie (Author) / Schmidt, Margaret (Thesis director) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
"Chronos" is a composition by the great jazz pianist, Aaron Parks. Originally arranged for a quartet consisting of piano, upright bass, drums and tenor saxophone, I sought to arrange the piece for a sextet consisting of trombone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, guitar, upright, bass, and drums. This thesis outlines my process as I transcribed "Chronos" from the original recording and then arranged it for a new ensemble. It also discusses the difficulties faced in all the phases of the project from transcribing to rehearsing and performing the work. My arrangement is included with the thesis for those who wish to analyze the music as well as a recording of a live performance of my arrangement at The Nash in downtown Phoenix on April 7th, 2015.
ContributorsMcdaniel, Sean Wesley (Author) / Kocour, Michael (Thesis director) / Haines, Ryan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
This thesis explores the musical and historical aspects of two of the greatest solo works for the cello: Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 by Johann Sebastian Bach and the Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 by Zoltán Kodály. The thesis and creative project consists of a researched paper of approximately 30 pages of historical and musical analysis on both pieces and the “defense” was a recital where I performed both pieces memorized with an informed approach. Part I explores of Bach’s Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012, and Section 1 includes a biography and historical context during the period in which the sixth suite was written. Section 2 consists of an analysis of all six movements (Prelude-Allemande-Courante-Sarabande-Gavottes I and II-Gigue). The analysis explores the German dance form of the suite movements and how they are relevant to the sixth suite, as well as musical aspects that make the sixth suite unique. Part II explores Kodály’s Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8 that has a similar structure as Part I with a Section 1 of biography and historical context during the period of the sonata, and a Section 2 analysis. Section 1 explores Kodály’s life and studies in folk music that is relevant to the Sonata, and Section 2 musical analysis with points of relevance to the Hungarian language folk song. The Sonata consists of three lengthy movements (Allegro maestoso ma appassionato-Adagio con grand espressione-Allegro vivace) and the analysis consists of formal, musical, and a few pedagogical approaches. The thesis is rounded out with a conclusion of personal reflection added during the revision process. This musical and historical analysis greatly informed my performance of these works and the “defense” recital was highly successful.
ContributorsPepper, Angelese Antoinette (Author) / Landschoot, Thomas (Thesis director) / Park, Yeil (Committee member) / School of Music (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05