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- All Subjects: Jazz
- Creators: Kocour, Michael
- Creators: Gilfillan, Daniel
- Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
For the second part of my thesis I talk about how I came to create the creative project aspect. I discuss how and why I designed the narrative that I did, and also analyzed the music I have created to illustrate how I implemented the various methods of musical storytelling that I detail in the first part of the paper. Lastly, I discuss my plans for publication and release of the creative project.
The third part of this thesis is a sample of the creative project. There is a version of the narrative that goes along with the creative project, as well as one of the eight pieces of original music on the creative project, entitled Journey.
Overall, I found that music does have meaning, it is just meaning that society ascribes to it based off of artistic intent and context, and as to whether music should mean anything, I believe that this is a question best left to be answered on an individual basis. Music can be whatever it wants to be.
In the early history of jazz, many of the songs that were popularized by jazz musicians became known as jazz standards, and these songs remain a central component of the jazz repertoire today. Many of these jazz standards were adapted from early Broadway musicals and revues. Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! is widely considered to be the most significant musical in the history of Broadway theater. Its innovative blending of song, dance, and a cohesive dramatic story has profoundly influenced the structure of Broadway musicals to this day. However, none of the songs from this show have risen to the status of a jazz standard, and many appear to have not been adapted to the jazz idiom at all. In my Barrett Honors creative project, I have reimagined and arranged nine songs from the original Rodgers and Hammerstein production. I then led a jazz quintet through two months of rehearsals, culminating in a performance of the work for my senior jazz performance recital. A link to the performance at the ASU School of Music Recital Hall is included here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeOs4muj12M