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- Creators: Rockmaker, Jody
Description
This composition was commissioned by the Orgelpark to be performed in Amsterdam in September 2011 during Gaudeamus Muziekweek. It will be performed by the vocal group VocaalLab Nederland. It is scored for four vocalists, organ, tanpura, and electronic sound. The work is a culmination of my studies in South Indian Carnatic rhythm, North Indian classical singing, and American minimalism. It is a meditation on the idea that the drone and pulse are micro/macro aspects of the same phenomenon of vibration. Cycles are created on the macroscale through a mathematically defined scale of harmonic/pitch relationships. Cycles are created on the microscale through the subdivision and addition of rhythmic pulses.
ContributorsAdler, Jacob (Composer) / Rockmaker, Jody (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Etezady, Roshanne, 1973- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Delirium is a piece for large wind ensemble that synthesizes compositional techniques to generate unique juxtapositions of contrasting musical elements. The piece is about 8:30 long and uses the full complement of winds, brass, and percussion. Although the composition begins tonally, chromatic alterations gradually shift the melodic content outside of the tonal center. In addition to changes in the melody, octatonic, chromatic, and synthetic scales and quartal and quintal harmonies are progressively introduced throughout the piece to add color and create dissonance. Delirium contains four primary sections that are all related by chromatic mediant. The subdivisions of the first part create abrupt transitions between contrasting material, evocative of the symptoms of delirium. As each sub-section progresses, the A minor tonality of the opening gradually gives way to increased chromaticism and dissonance. The next area transitions to C minor and begins to feature octatonic scales, secundal harmonies, and chromatic flourishes more prominently. The full sound of the ensemble then drops to solo instruments in the third section, now in G# minor, where the elements of the previous section are built upon with the addition of synthetic scales and quartal harmonies. The last division, before the recapitulation of the opening material, provides a drastic change in atmosphere as the chromatic elements from before are removed and the tense sound of the quartal harmonies are replaced with quintal sonorities and a more tonal melody. The tonality of this final section is used to return to the opening material. After an incomplete recapitulation, the descending motive that is used throughout the piece, which can be found in measure 61 in the flutes, is inverted and layered by minor 3rds. This inverted figure builds to the same sonority found in measure138, before ending on an F# chord, a minor third away from the A minor tonal center of the opening and where the piece seems like it should end.
ContributorsBell, Jeremy, 1986- (Composer) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
A systematic approach to composition has been used by a variety of composers to control an assortment of musical elements in their pieces. This paper begins with a brief survey of some of the important systematic approaches that composers have employed in their compositions, devoting particular attention to Pierre Boulez's Structures Ia . The purpose of this survey is to examine several systematic approaches to composition by prominent composers and their philosophy in adopting this type of approach. The next section of the paper introduces my own systematic approach to composition: the Take-Away System. The third provides several musical applications of the system, citing my work, Octulus for two pianos, as an example. The appendix details theorems and observations within the system for further study.
ContributorsHarbin, Doug (Author) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Etezady, Roshanne, 1973- (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Many of the works of Dominick Argento have been researched and analyzed, but his choral work Evensong: Of Love and Angels s has received limited attention thus far. Written in memoriam for his wife Carolyn Bailey Argento, Evensong draws its musical material from her initials C.B.A. These letters, translated into note names, form a conspicuous head motive that is present in each movement of the work, and it serves multiple functions: as a melodic feature, as the foundation for a twelve-tone row, and as a harmonic base. This paper provides an overview of the work's conception with specific relation to Argento's biographical details, compositional style, and work habits; a brief review of the critical reception of the work; and a succinct analysis of the form and cyclical materials found in each movement.
ContributorsPage, Carrie Leigh, 1980- (Author) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Everyday Arias for soprano and orchestra was composed largely in Arizona and completed in February 2011. The text was taken from a small collection of the composer's own poetry referencing her memories of life in rural Mississippi. Everyday Arias endeavors to elevate these prosaic experiences and settings to art, expressing the everyday as beautiful and worthy of artistic treatment. The primary compositional model for this work was Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, but other influences included Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten, and Dominick Argento. Barber's and Argento's musical treatment of prose style seemed particularly appropriate to the goals of Everyday Arias. Ives and Copland used hymn tunes both to evoke certain associations of worship and as sources of interesting material. The vocal writing of all five composers was influential, but the orchestration techniques for winds are largely a product of studying Ives and Argento, while many string gestures are more obviously tied to Britten and - more historically - Debussy.The primary motive that weaves through the work features an ascending major second followed by a descending perfect fourth, in a long-short-long rhythmic pattern. As a melodic fragment, the motive is often inverted to a descending-ascending pattern, or distorted slightly by expanding the second interval to a perfect fifth, or used in retrograde. The motive was derived from the first measure of the melody "Toplady" (1830) by Thomas Hastings, better known as the hymn "Rock of Ages." In the first movement, the motive is used most frequently in sequences. The second movement treats the motive as a melodic element and as a unit in ostinati. The final movement humorously transforms it into a syncopated gesture to evoke ragtime.
ContributorsPage, Carrie Leigh (Composer) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
ABSTRACT études; written for violin ensemble, which include violin duets, trios, and quartets, are less numerous than solo études.; These works rarely go by the title "étude;," and have not been the focus of much scholarly research. Ensemble études; have much to offer students, teachers and composers, however, because they add an extra dimension to the learning, teaching, and composing processes. This document establishes the value of ensemble études; in pedagogy and explores applications of the repertoire currently available. Rather than focus on violin duets, the most common form of ensemble étude;, it mainly considers works for three and four violins without accompaniment. Concentrating on the pedagogical possibilities of studying études; in a group, this document introduces creative ways that works for violin ensemble can be used as both études; and performance pieces. The first two chapters explore the history and philosophy of the violin étude; and multiple-violin works, the practice of arranging of solo études; for multiple instruments, and the benefits of group learning and cooperative learning that distinguish ensemble étude; study from solo étude; study. The third chapter is an annotated survey of works for three and four violins without accompaniment, and serves as a pedagogical guide to some of the available repertoire. Representing a wide variety of styles, techniques and levels, it illuminates an historical association between violin ensemble works and pedagogy. The fourth chapter presents an original composition by the author, titled Variations on a Scottish Folk Song: étude; for Four Violins, with an explanation of the process and techniques used to create this ensemble étude.; This work is an example of the musical and technical integration essential to étude; study, and demonstrates various compositional traits that promote cooperative learning. Ensemble études; are valuable pedagogical tools that deserve wider exposure. It is my hope that the information and ideas about ensemble études; in this paper and the individual descriptions of the works presented will increase interest in and application of violin trios and quartets at the university level.
ContributorsLundell, Eva Rachel (Contributor) / Swartz, Jonathan (Thesis advisor) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Buck, Nancy (Committee member) / Koonce, Frank (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Despite a quickly growing repertoire list for the brass quintet, the music of the early Argentine tango has remained relatively neglected by brass quintet arrangers and performers. With the goal of bringing a neglected art form to the brass quintet repertoire, three arrangements based on early twentieth century Argentine tango songs are presented here: "Elegante Papirusa" by Tito Roccatagliata, "A La Gran Muñeca" by Jesús Ventura, and "La Cotorrita" by Samuel Castriota. The arrangements follow the style of three early recordings produced by The Victor Talking Machine in 1920 and 1922, as performed by two authentic Argentine orquesta típicas: Orquesta Típica Select and Orquesta Típica Fresedo. A brief history of the style and instrumental evolution of tango music from its influences and origins up until 1920 is discussed, followed by a detailed account of the musicians and circumstances involved in the three early recordings. An explanation of the issues encountered by the author in adapting the early tango style to the brass quintet setting is discussed, along with the solutions realized in order to make the project successful and practical for a moderately advanced brass quintet. The full brass quintet scores are provided as part of the Appendix.
ContributorsCamacho, Gustavo (Musician) (Author) / Ericson, John Q (Thesis advisor) / Pilafian, Samuel (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Campbell, Andrew (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This thesis presents a new arrangement of Richard Peaslee's trombone solo "Arrows of Time" for brass band. This arrangement adapts Peaslee's orchestration - and subsequent arrangement by Dr. Joshua Hauser for wind ensemble - for the modern brass band instrumentation and includes a full score. A brief biography of Richard Peaslee and his work accompanies this new arrangement, along with commentary on the orchestration of "Arrows of Time", and discussion of the evolution and adaptation of the work for wind ensemble by Dr. Hauser. The methodology used to adapt these versions for the brass band completes the background information.
ContributorsMalloy, Jason Patrick (Author) / Ericson, John (Thesis advisor) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In the 1930s, with the rise of Nazism, many artists in Europe had to flee their homelands and sought refuge in the United States. Austrian composer Hanns Eisler who had risen to prominence as a significant composer during the Weimar era was among them. A Jew, an ardent Marxist and composer devoted to musical modernism, he had established himself as a writer of film music and Kampflieder, fighting songs, for the European workers' movement. After two visits of the United States in the mid-1930s, Eisler settled in America where he spent a decade (1938-1948), composed a considerable number of musical works, including important film scores, instrumental music and songs, and, in collaboration with Theodor W. Adorno, penned the influential treatise Composing for the Films. Yet despite his substantial contributions to American culture American scholarship on Eisler has remained sparse, perhaps due to his reputation as the "Karl Marx in Music." In this study I examine Eisler's American exile and argue that Eisler, through his roles as a musician and a teacher, actively sought to enrich American culture. I will present background for his exile years, a detailed overview of his American career as well as analyses and close readings of several of his American works, including three of his American film scores, Pete Roleum and His Cousins (1939), Hangmen Also Die (1943), and None But the Lonely Heart (1944), and the String Quartet (1940), Third Piano Sonata (1943), Woodbury Liederbüchlein (1941), and Hollywood Songbook (1942-7). This thesis builds upon unpublished correspondence and documents available only in special collections at the University of Southern California (USC), as well as film scores in archives at USC and the University of California, Los Angeles. It also draws on Eisler studies by such European scholars as Albrecht Betz, Jürgen Schebera, and Horst Weber, as well as on research of film music scholars Sally Bick and Claudia Gorbman. As there is little written on the particulars of Eisler's American years, this thesis presents new facts and new perspectives and aims at a better understanding of the artistic achievements of this composer.
ContributorsBoyd, Caleb (Author) / Feisst, Sabine (Thesis advisor) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Oldani, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Bright Summer, a one-movement piece for orchestra, was composed in Arizona, and completed in February 2013. The piece is approximately twelve minutes long. The motivation for writing this piece was the death of my mother the year before, in 2012. The prevailing mood of this work is bright and pleasant, expressing my mother's cheerful personality when she was alive. It also portrays bright summer days which resemble my mother's spirit. Thus, soundscape plays an important role in this work. It depicts summer breeze, rustling sounds of leaves, and, to translate a Korean saying, "high blue skies." This soundscape opens the piece as well as closes it. In the middle section, the fast upbeat themes represent my mother's witty and optimistic personality. The piece also contains the presence of a hymn tune, The Love of God is Greater Far, which informs the motivic content and also functions as the climax of the piece. It was my mother's favorite hymn and we used to sing it together following her conversion to Christianity. The piece contains three main sections, which are held together by transitional material based on the soundscape and metric modulations. Unlike my earlier works, Bright Summer is tonal, with upper tertian harmonies prevailing throughout the piece. However, the opening and closing soundscapes do not have functional harmonies. For example, tertian chords appear and vanish silently, leaving behind some resonant sounds without any harmonic progression. Overall, the whole piece is reminiscent of my mother who lived a beautiful life.
ContributorsKim, JeeYeon (Composer) / DeMars, James (Thesis advisor) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013