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- All Subjects: Music
- Creators: Holbrook, Amy
- Creators: School of Music
Description
This project sheds light on trombonist Andy Martin's improvisation and provides tools for further learning. A biographical sketch gives background on Martin, establishing him as a newer jazz master. Through the transcription and analysis of nine improvised solos, Martin's improvisational voice and vocabulary is deciphered and presented as a series of seven thematic hooks. These patterns, rhythms, and gestures are described, analyzed, and presented as examples of how each is used in the solos. The hooks are also set as application exercises for learning jazz style and improvisation. These exercises demonstrate how to use Martin's hooks as a means for furthering one's own improvisation. A full method for successful transcription is also presented, along with the printed transcriptions and their accompanying information sheets.
ContributorsWilkinson, Michael Scott (Author) / Ericson, John (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In addition to his many other works, Russian-American composer Leo Ornstein (1893-2002) contributed a substantial body of literature for cello and piano, including Sonata No. 1 (1915-1916), Sonata No. 2 (circa 1920), Composition No. 1 (date unknown), Two Pieces (date unknown), and Six Preludes (1930-1931). His cello music is an eclectic mix of twentieth-century Neoromantic and atonal styles. This study includes a recording of the complete works for cello and piano by Leo Ornstein and a description of the music that details the formal procedures and how the cello and piano relate to one another. The discussion offers extensive musical examples in support of the descriptions. The recording was completed at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada (October 2009), with R. Nicolas Alvarez, cello, in collaboration with pianist Keith Kirchoff. Andre Shrimski produced and edited the recording.
ContributorsAlvarez, Rodolfo Nicolas (Author) / Landschoot, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / Rotaru, Catalin (Committee member) / Jiang, Danwen (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The end of the nineteenth century was an exhilarating and revolutionary era for the flute. This period is the Second Golden Age of the flute, when players and teachers associated with the Paris Conservatory developed what would be considered the birth of the modern flute school. In addition, the founding in 1871 of the Société Nationale de Musique by Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) and Romain Bussine (1830-1899) made possible the promotion of contemporary French composers. The founding of the Société des Instruments à Vent by Paul Taffanel (1844-1908) in 1879 also invigorated a new era of chamber music for wind instruments. Within this groundbreaking environment, Mélanie Hélène Bonis (pen name Mel Bonis) entered the Paris Conservatory in 1876, under the tutelage of César Franck (1822-1890). Many flutists are dismayed by the scarcity of repertoire for the instrument in the Romantic and post-Romantic traditions; they make up for this absence by borrowing the violin sonatas of Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) and Franck. The flute and piano works of Mel Bonis help to fill this void with music composed originally for flute. Bonis was a prolific composer with over 300 works to her credit, but her works for flute and piano have not been researched or professionally recorded in the United States before the present study. Although virtually unknown today in the American flute community, Bonis's music received much acclaim from her contemporaries and deserves a prominent place in the flutist's repertoire. After a brief biographical introduction, this document examines Mel Bonis's musical style and describes in detail her six works for flute and piano while also offering performance suggestions.
ContributorsDaum, Jenna Elyse (Author) / Buck, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Micklich, Albie (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Libby Larsen is one of the most performed and acclaimed composers today. She is a spirited, compelling, and sensitive composer whose music enhances the poetry of America's most prominent authors. Notable among her works are song cycles for soprano based on the poetry of female writers, among them novelist and poet Willa Cather (1873-1947). Larsen has produced two song cycles on works from Cather's substantial output of fiction: one based on Cather's short story, "Eric Hermannson's Soul," titled Margaret Songs: Three Songs from Willa Cather (1996); and later, My Antonia (2000), based on Cather's novel of the same title. In Margaret Songs, Cather's poetry and short stories--specifically the character of Margaret Elliot--combine with Larsen's unique compositional style to create a surprising collaboration. This study explores how Larsen in these songs delves into the emotional and psychological depths of Margaret's character, not fully formed by Cather. It is only through Larsen's music and Cather's poetry that Margaret's journey through self-discovery and love become fully realized. This song cycle is a glimpse through the eyes of two prominent female artists on the societal pressures placed upon Margaret's character, many of which still resonate with women in today's culture. This study examines the work Margaret Songs by discussing Willa Cather, her musical influences, and the conditions surrounding the writing of "Eric Hermannson's Soul." It looks also into Cather's influence on Libby Larsen and the commission leading to Margaret Songs. Finally, a description of the musical, dramatic, and textual content of the songs completes this interpretation of the interactions of Willa Cather, Libby Larsen, and the character of Margaret Elliot.
ContributorsMcLain, Christi Marie (Author) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Discovering Puerto Rican art song: a research project on four art song works by Héctor Campos Parsi
Description
Puerto Rico has produced many important composers who have contributed to the musical culture of the nation during the last 200 years. However, a considerable amount of their music has proven to be difficult to access and may contain numerous errors. This research project intends to contribute to the accessibility of such music and to encourage similar studies of Puerto Rican music. This study focuses on the music of Héctor Campos Parsi (1922-1998), one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century in Puerto Rico. After an overview of the historical background of music on the island and the biography of the composer, four works from his art song repertoire are given for detailed examination. A product of this study is the first corrected edition of his cycles Canciones de Cielo y Agua, Tres Poemas de Corretjer, Los Paréntesis, and the song Majestad Negra. These compositions date from 1947 to 1959, and reflect both the European and nationalistic writing styles of the composer during this time. Data for these corrections have been obtained from the composer's manuscripts, published and unpublished editions, and published recordings. The corrected scores are ready for publication and a compact disc of this repertoire, performed by soprano Melliangee Pérez and the author, has been recorded to bring to life these revisions. Despite the best intentions of the author, the various copyright issues have yet to be resolved. It is hoped that this document will provide the foundation for a resolution and that these important works will be available for public performance and study in the near future.
ContributorsRodríguez Morales, Luis F., 1980- (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Buck, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Kopta, Anne (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Jazz continues, into its second century, as one of the most important musics taught in public middle and high schools. Even so, research related to how students learn, especially in their earliest interactions with jazz culture, is limited. Weaving together interviews and observations of junior and senior high school jazz players and teachers, private studio instructors, current university students majoring in jazz, and university and college jazz faculty, I developed a composite sketch of a secondary school student learning to play jazz. Using arts-based educational research methods, including the use of narrative inquiry and literary non-fiction, the status of current jazz education and the experiences by novice jazz learners is explored. What emerges is a complex story of students and teachers negotiating the landscape of jazz in and out of early twenty-first century public schools. Suggestions for enhancing jazz experiences for all stakeholders follow, focusing on access and the preparation of future jazz teachers.
ContributorsKelly, Keith B (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Thesis advisor) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
As an organist, church musician, and educator, Clifford Demarest (1874-1946) was a prominent figure in New York during the first half of the twentieth century. However, prior to this thesis, Demarest's place within the history of American music, like that of many of his contemporaries, was all but neglected. This research reveals Clifford Demarest as an influential figure in American musical history from around 1900 to his retirement in 1937. Led by contemporary accounts, I trace Demarest's musical influence through his three musical careers: professional organist, church musician, and educator. As a prominent figure in the fledgling American Guild of Organists, Demarest was dedicated to the unification of its members and the artistic legitimacy of the organist profession. As the organist and choir director of the Church of the Messiah, later the Community Church of New York (1911-1946, inclusive), Demarest played an integral part in the liberal atmosphere fostered by the congregation's minister, John Haynes Holmes (1879-1964). Together Holmes and Demarest directly influenced the nascent National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and supported luminaries of the Harlem Renaissance. Influential figures such as Langston Hughes (1902-1967), Augustus Granville Dill (1881-1956), Egbert Ethelred Brown (1875-1956), and Countee Cullen (1903-1946) were inspired by the liberal environment in the Church of the Messiah; however, prior to this research, their connections to the church were unexplored. As the music supervisor of Tenafly High School and later, for the state of New Jersey, Demarest influenced countless students through his passion for music. His compositions for student orchestras are among the earliest to elevate the artistic standards of school music ensembles during the first four decades of the twentieth century. Archival sources such as church records, letters, and newspaper editorials, are synthesized with current research to characterize Demarest's place in these three professional orbits of the early twentieth century. His story also represents those of countless other working musicians from his era that have been forgotten. Therefore, this research opens an important new research field – a window into the dynamic world of the American organist.
ContributorsHicks, Glen W (Author) / Saucier, Catherine (Thesis advisor) / Norton, Kay (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This paper and its accompanying recital examine three solo vocal works by Italian composer Alfredo Casella (1883-1947): "Larmes" from Cinq Mélodies (Op. 2); "Mort, ta servante est à ma porte" from L'adieu à la vie: Quatre lyriques funèbres extraites du "Gitanjali" de Rabindranath Tagore (Op. 26); and "Amante sono, vaghiccia, di voi" from Tre canzoni trecentesche (Op. 36). Each of these songs is discussed as representative of Casella's three compositional periods. A fourth song, "Ecce odor filii mei" from Tre canti sacri per baritono et organo (Op. 66), is also examined, as an end-of-life composition. Some of the more important solo vocal works composed in each period are mentioned to show where the four selected songs fit into Casella's compositional output and to suggest music for further study or repertoire.
ContributorsGordon, Stefan (Author) / Mills, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Committee member) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The normal playing range of a brass instrument includes a definitive stopping note in the instrument's low register. However, players have the ability to manipulate their lips to extend the low range beyond this point; notes sounding below an instrument's normal playing range are called pedal tones. The history of pedal tones in trumpet performance and pedagogy has long been a source of confusion and misinformation. Consequently, this paper also discusses the educational value of using pedal tones, includes a brief history of players and teachers who have formulated pedal tone exercise methods, and examines their use within the six most influential method books that promote the use of pedal tones. The six books are Original Louis Maggio System for Brass by Carlton MacBeth, Double High C in 37 Weeks by Roger Spaulding, Systematic Approach to Daily Practice by Claude Gordon, Trumpet Yoga by Jerome Callet, James Stamp Warm-Ups +Studies by Thomas Stevens, and The Balanced Embouchure by Jeff Smiley.
ContributorsRodriguez, Malachy Sean (Author) / Hickman, David (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Bailey, Wayne (Committee member) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Christopher Caliendo is a guitarist/composer who has written for a variety of performance mediums. His works been performed on international concert stages and recorded for film and television media. His compositions have garnered him the Henry Mancini Award for Film Composition, the Artin Arslanian Scholarship for Humanities, and the Peabody Grant for Scholarship. He has also received two commissions from the Vatican in 1992 and 1995. In 1988, he received an Emmy nomination for his work with the television series Paradise. The purpose of this project is to present a study of selected clarinet works by Christopher Caliendo: The Tango Concerto No. 1 is a three-movement work that Caliendo arranged for clarinet and piano in 2010, The Little Gypsy was written for solo clarinet, and Jal, Ven a mis Brazos, Amanacer, La Milonga, Acariciame, Amor Perdido, Caliente, Impulso, and Passione comprise a series of nine guitar/clarinet duos that were composed or arranged between 2009 and 2010. The document is comprised of a brief description of the career and compositions of Christopher Caliendo, a performer's guide to the selected works, a track listing for the performance recording, and a list of Caliendo's other clarinet and chamber music compositions that are intended for the concert stage. It is the hope of the author that this project can generate more interest in Christopher Caliendo's clarinet repertoire throughout the clarinet community.
ContributorsQuamo, Jeff (Author) / Spring, Robert (Thesis advisor) / Gardner, Joshua (Thesis advisor) / Kocour, Michael (Committee member) / Hackbarth, Glenn (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013