Matching Items (6)
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- All Subjects: Sonatas (Guitar), Arranged--Scores.
- Genre: Scores
Description
Johann Sebastian Bach's violin Sonata I in G minor, BWV 1001, is a significant and widely performed work that exists in numerous editions and also as transcriptions or arrangements for various other instruments, including the guitar. A pedagogical guitar performance edition of this sonata, however, has yet to be published. Therefore, the core of my project is a transcription and pedagogical edition of this work for guitar. The transcription is supported by an analysis, performance and pedagogical practice guide, and a recording. The analysis and graphing of phrase structures illuminate Bach's use of compositional devices and the architectural function of the work's harmonic gravities. They are intended to guide performers in their assessment of the surface ornamentation and suggest a reduction toward its fundamental purpose. The end result is a clarification of the piece through the organization of phrase structures and the prioritization of harmonic tensions and resolutions. The compiling process is intended to assist the performer in "seeing the forest from the trees." Based on markings from Bach's original autograph score, the transcription considers fingering ease on the guitar that is critical to render the music to a functional and practical level. The goal is to preserve the composer's indications to the highest degree possible while still adhering to the technical confines that allow for actual execution on the guitar. The performance guide provides suggestions for articulation, phrasing, ornamentation, and other interpretive decisions. Considering the limitations of the guitar, the author's suggestions are grounded in various concepts of historically informed performance, and also relate to today's early-music sensibilities. The pedagogical practice guide demonstrates procedures to break down and assimilate the musical material as applied toward the various elements of guitar technique and practice. The CD recording is intended to demonstrate the transcription and the connection to the concepts discussed. It is hoped that this pedagogical edition will provide a rational that serves to support technical decisions within the transcription and generate meaningful interpretive realizations based on principles of historically informed performance.
ContributorsFelice, Joseph Philip (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Swartz, Jonathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
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
American Primitive is a composition written for wind ensemble with an instrumentation of flute, oboe, clarinet, bass clarinet, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, tuba, piano, and percussion. The piece is approximately twelve minutes in duration and was written September - December 2013. American Primitive is absolute music (i.e. it does not follow a specific narrative) comprising blocks of distinct, contrasting gestures which bookend a central region of delicate textural layering and minimal gestural contrast. Though three gestures (a descending interval followed by a smaller ascending interval, a dynamic swell, and a chordal "chop") were consciously employed throughout, it is the first gesture of the three that creates a sense of unification and overall coherence to the work. Additionally, the work challenges listeners' expectations of traditional wind ensemble music by featuring the trumpet as a quasi-soloist whose material is predominately inspired by transcriptions of jazz solos. This jazz-inspired material is at times mimicked and further developed by the ensemble, also often in a soloistic manner while the trumpet maintains its role throughout. This interplay of dialogue between the "soloists" and the "ensemble" further skews listeners' conceptions of traditional wind ensemble music by featuring almost every instrument in the ensemble. Though the term "American Primitive" is usually associated with the "naïve art" movement, it bears no association to the music presented in this work. Instead, the term refers to the author's own compositional attitudes, education, and aesthetic interests.
ContributorsJandreau, Joshua (Composer) / Rockmaker, Jody D (Thesis advisor) / Rogers, Rodney I (Committee member) / Demars, James R (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This is a solo guitar transcription of the first five movements, known as the "Joyous Mysteries," of the Mystery Sonatas by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, accompanied by a history of the sonata collection, an analysis of the process of translating a Baroque solo sonata to the guitar, and a guide for performance. The work was chosen because of its significance and popularity within violin repertoire, and the suitability of the solo sonata genre for performance on a guitar. The first section of this project addresses the history and appeal of Biber and the Mystery Sonatas. It is supplemented by a brief survey of guitar transcriptions of Biber's compositions, and the value of the present edition in modern guitar literature. The second section explores the process and challenges of arranging the Mystery Sonatas for solo guitar, followed by a summation of the general allowances and limitations the genre offers to arrangers. The third section focuses on performance practice issues encountered in adapting this series and other Baroque solo sonatas to the guitar. The project concludes with the arrangement, complemented with the original violin and continuo parts for comparison.
Although instrumentations may force an arranger to impose speculative harmonies and countermelodies on a thin texture or sacrifice inner voices in a denser texture, the solo sonata's instrumentation of melody and continuo provides an effective balance. This style allows an arranger three important details: a clear and paramount melody, a flexible bass line, and harmonies with unspecified voicings. Similarly, the compositional freedom that Baroque composers allowed to performers also facilitates the arranging process and enables a variety of creative solutions.
Although instrumentations may force an arranger to impose speculative harmonies and countermelodies on a thin texture or sacrifice inner voices in a denser texture, the solo sonata's instrumentation of melody and continuo provides an effective balance. This style allows an arranger three important details: a clear and paramount melody, a flexible bass line, and harmonies with unspecified voicings. Similarly, the compositional freedom that Baroque composers allowed to performers also facilitates the arranging process and enables a variety of creative solutions.
ContributorsLake, Brendan (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Oldani, Robert W. (Committee member) / Swartz, Jonathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
This project presents eight harpsichord sonatas, 3, 5, 10, 12, 13, 18, 19, and 21, by Sebastián de Albero (1722-1756), arranged for the classical guitar. These pieces were chosen because of the success of other eighteenth-century Iberian harpsichord music that has been arranged for guitar, including works by composers such as Domenico Scarlatti, Carlos Seixas, and Antonio Soler. The popularity and enjoyment of Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas on the guitar today was the inspiration for this project.
Historically, guitarists have used arrangements as a means to expand the guitar's repertoire. The late eighteenth century, especially, was a time in which the instrument was undergoing significant changes from being a five-course instrument into becoming the standard six single string instrument of today. Also, composer/guitarists at that time were beginning to abandon tablature in favor of modern staff notation. Because of these changes, the amount of music originally written for the guitar from this period that is suitable to be played on a modern instrument is limited.
I chose to focus on eight selected sonatas from Sebastián Albero's Treinta Sonatas para Clavicordio because of the influence of Domenico Scarlatti's harpsichord arrangements for solo guitar. It is intriguing to note that Albero and Scarlatti both held positions at the Spanish Royal Chapel for a number of years and, in this capacity, may have influenced one another in their musical compositions and style. Certain similarities are documented in this paper.
Since Scarlatti's music has been successfully arranged, and is popular to play on modern guitar, it is hoped that these sonatas by Albero may enjoy similar success.
Historically, guitarists have used arrangements as a means to expand the guitar's repertoire. The late eighteenth century, especially, was a time in which the instrument was undergoing significant changes from being a five-course instrument into becoming the standard six single string instrument of today. Also, composer/guitarists at that time were beginning to abandon tablature in favor of modern staff notation. Because of these changes, the amount of music originally written for the guitar from this period that is suitable to be played on a modern instrument is limited.
I chose to focus on eight selected sonatas from Sebastián Albero's Treinta Sonatas para Clavicordio because of the influence of Domenico Scarlatti's harpsichord arrangements for solo guitar. It is intriguing to note that Albero and Scarlatti both held positions at the Spanish Royal Chapel for a number of years and, in this capacity, may have influenced one another in their musical compositions and style. Certain similarities are documented in this paper.
Since Scarlatti's music has been successfully arranged, and is popular to play on modern guitar, it is hoped that these sonatas by Albero may enjoy similar success.
ContributorsSloyka, Erik Robert (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / DeMars, James (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
A New Home is a multi-movement musical composition written for a chamber orchestra of flute, oboe, clarinet in B-flat, bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in C, trombone, bass trombone, percussion (1), pianoforte, and strings. The duration of the entire piece is approximately fourteen minutes (movement 1: four minutes; mvt. 2: four minutes and thirty seconds; mvt. 3: five minutes and thirty seconds). As an exercise in compositional experimentation, some of the musical techniques explored throughout the piece are harmonic planing or parallelism, ostinati, modality, chromatic dissonance, thematic transformation, mixed meter, and syncopation, as well as issues of orchestral blend, balance, and color.
The first movement, ironically titled “Don’t Panic,” highlights my initial anxieties on experimentation by creating hectic textures. The movement is structured around two main alternating sections of chromatic, chordal dissonance with more modal, melodic syncopation in addition to a developmental section, but a sense of rhythmic groove is prominent throughout. The second movement, “Still Here,” is a darker, more sensitive music as it explores various settings of its main thematic material interspersed with march-like episodes and a related secondary theme. The themes are organized around a diatonic scale that omits one pitch to comprise a six-note scale. The third movement, “Change of State,” recalls the modality and rhythmic liveliness of the first movement, and it bears a thematic relationship to the second movement. Much of the material also revolves around scales and mediant relationships to comprise an opening theme, a groove section, and an ethereal, glassy texture which ends the movement. Essentially, the piece closes with a calmer music in contrast to the brute force that opened the piece.
The first movement, ironically titled “Don’t Panic,” highlights my initial anxieties on experimentation by creating hectic textures. The movement is structured around two main alternating sections of chromatic, chordal dissonance with more modal, melodic syncopation in addition to a developmental section, but a sense of rhythmic groove is prominent throughout. The second movement, “Still Here,” is a darker, more sensitive music as it explores various settings of its main thematic material interspersed with march-like episodes and a related secondary theme. The themes are organized around a diatonic scale that omits one pitch to comprise a six-note scale. The third movement, “Change of State,” recalls the modality and rhythmic liveliness of the first movement, and it bears a thematic relationship to the second movement. Much of the material also revolves around scales and mediant relationships to comprise an opening theme, a groove section, and an ethereal, glassy texture which ends the movement. Essentially, the piece closes with a calmer music in contrast to the brute force that opened the piece.
ContributorsJones, Zachary William (Author) / Rogers, Rodney (Thesis advisor) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Rockmaker, Jody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016