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Description
The legacy of the great double bassist and pedagogue Joseph Prunner (1886-1969) includes his scale and arpeggio exercise book, Progressive Studies for the Double Bass, composed in 1955. Progressive Studies was originally written for Prunner's students at the Bucharest Conservatoire and was not intended for a wide publication. In the

The legacy of the great double bassist and pedagogue Joseph Prunner (1886-1969) includes his scale and arpeggio exercise book, Progressive Studies for the Double Bass, composed in 1955. Progressive Studies was originally written for Prunner's students at the Bucharest Conservatoire and was not intended for a wide publication. In the work Prunner presents major and harmonic and melodic minor scales that are performed in one octave and then extended diatonically through all their modes, progressing through this pattern for three octaves, followed by a series of arpeggio exercises. These exercises are based on a modernized fingering system and are offered in the traditional positions and in what Prunner called "Fixed-Position" scales. A series of chromatic scale exercises are also included that follow the template of the major and minor scales. The study at hand is a revision and expansion of Prunner's work. The edition presented here intends to preserve the information that Prunner provided, fix the errors made in editing, and expand the study greatly by increasing the range of the exercises, providing more arpeggio exercises, creating melodic and harmonic minor "Fixed-Position" scales and arpeggio exercises, and including the study of double-stops. In support of the revised and updated version of Progressive Studies, this study includes a biography of Joseph Prunner and a summary of the importance of the type of scale and arpeggio practice the collection of exercises supports. An explanation of the revisions made to Prunner's work and recommendations for using the exercises also precede the new edition.
ContributorsStotz, Daniel Aaron (Author) / Rotaru, Catalin (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Kennedy, Jeffery (Committee member) / Koonce, Frank (Committee member) / Landschoot, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
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Description
Tres Tangos para Duo de Contrabajos (Three Tangos for Double Bass Duet) is a three-movement set written by Andrés Martín and commissioned by Darren Cueva specifically for this document and accompanying performance project. This piece blends tango with Western art music in a style often referred to as “nuevo tango”

Tres Tangos para Duo de Contrabajos (Three Tangos for Double Bass Duet) is a three-movement set written by Andrés Martín and commissioned by Darren Cueva specifically for this document and accompanying performance project. This piece blends tango with Western art music in a style often referred to as “nuevo tango” (new tango) which was popularized by Astor Piazzolla. This research paper will serve as a performance aid for those wishing to present tango idioms on the double bass in addition to a more detailed guide to performing Tres Tangos by Martín.

To give context to performers, this survey begins with a brief history of the tango and the life and stylistic developments of Astor Piazzolla. Various music and dance styles that contributed to early tango include, milonga, habanera, and tango andalúz. The resulting tango was popularized as a music and dance style in the early twentieth century. Astor Piazzolla brought the tango to the concert hall after studying composition with acclaimed professor Nadia Boulanger. His new tango style merged traditional tango, classical composition, and jazz music, which he was exposed to after his family moved from Argentina to New York.

Tres Tangos was modeled after the style of Piazzolla. Characteristic articulation and improvised techniques are a fundamental aspect of the tango sound; a successful performance will depend on the musician’s ability to create these sounds. A detailed description of the most common elements is provided as well as suggestions for creating them on the double bass. Finally, I have compiled a specific performance guide for Tres Tangos. This guide includes rhythmic, articulation, fingering, and notational considerations, to assist in the performance of this piece.
ContributorsCueva, Darren (Author) / Rotaru, Catalin (Thesis advisor) / Koonce, Frank (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
The study and performance of J.S. Bach’s music has long been essential for every string musician. A transcription of the Flute Partita in A minor, BWV 1013, is an excellent addition to the double bass repertoire. This paper includes a performance guide that discusses the technical and musical considerations of

The study and performance of J.S. Bach’s music has long been essential for every string musician. A transcription of the Flute Partita in A minor, BWV 1013, is an excellent addition to the double bass repertoire. This paper includes a performance guide that discusses the technical and musical considerations of each movement, and a new transcription for double bass.

Chapter 1 introduces the goals of the paper. Chapter 2 is an overview of the transcription that covers the reasoning behind the bowings, fingerings, note alterations, ornamentation, articulation, and interpretation included in the transcription. Chapters 3 through 6 discuss these technical and musical elements in the context of each movement of the Partita. There are two other transcriptions of this piece for double bass, both of which take a different approach to transcribing the music of Bach.

The transcription includes two different versions of the Partita: a version with bowings and note alterations, and a second version that also includes fingering suggestions. The bowings are based on Bach’s manuscript of the Violin Partitas in order to accurately recreate bowings that Bach would have written. The suggested fingerings serve as guidance for bassists who study this piece and are included separately to acknowledge that there are other fingering possibilities.
ContributorsWang, Chunyang (Author) / Rotaru, Catalin (Thesis advisor) / Landschoot, Thomas (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
This research project introduces the Czech composer Miloslav Gajdoš (b. 1948) to classical guitarists through his composition Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, composed in 1998. Gajdoš is a double bass virtuoso who has enjoyed a successful career performing, composing, and teaching. After the fall of the communist regime in

This research project introduces the Czech composer Miloslav Gajdoš (b. 1948) to classical guitarists through his composition Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, composed in 1998. Gajdoš is a double bass virtuoso who has enjoyed a successful career performing, composing, and teaching. After the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia in 1989, Gajdoš was allowed more opportunities to perform outside the Czech Republic and to become better known throughout the world. His Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, originally for solo double bass, works well on the guitar and is a rewarding piece to learn and perform. A transcription is presented here that is of publishable quality, together with a biography of Gajdoš and a performance guide. The biography was written from available research materials as well as from direct email correspondence with the composer, and includes authorized quotations from those emails. This project also includes a description of the piece together with musical and technical suggestions that will aid the performer in creating a satisfying musical interpretation. Chapter Three includes a description of the left-hand challenges that were encountered while the piece was being transcribed and the solutions that were devised to mitigate them. Finding new pieces to transcribe for the guitar has long been an important activity of serious players, and this transcription adds a substantial and expressive piece to the growing repertoire of the classical guitar.
ContributorsPrillaman, Aaron Paul (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Rotaru, Catalin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This is a recording of a new piece for Double bass and Guzheng performer Qingfeng Li, who is internationally renowned. The composer composed this audacious and unique chamber work for double bass and traditional Chinese Guzheng zither in November 2021, dedicating it to me and Guzheng virtuoso Prof. Qingfeng Li.

This is a recording of a new piece for Double bass and Guzheng performer Qingfeng Li, who is internationally renowned. The composer composed this audacious and unique chamber work for double bass and traditional Chinese Guzheng zither in November 2021, dedicating it to me and Guzheng virtuoso Prof. Qingfeng Li. The objective of this project is to create a work for the classic Chinese instrument Guzheng that incorporates elements of Chinese folk music. This chamber music will be a duet for double bass and guzheng, with the guzheng's distinctive style and sonic effects blended into the double bass. The project will contain a recording of this new piece, as well as a written research document outlining the work's structure, the composer's collaboration process with me as a performer, and brief analysis of the work. Additionally, the author recorded this piece in a professional audio and video recording made in China, with Guzheng player Qingfeng Li.This is the first combination of a traditional Chinese instrument, the guzheng, and a Western instrument, the double bass. This unusual melodic combination conveys the essence of traditional musical practices unique to the Chinese folk of Jiangnan. To investigate the connections between the pentatonic scale and traditional musical practices, I have studied Jiangnan music manuscripts compiled by ethnomusicologists. To better complement the traditional instrument of the guzheng in the piece, I studied the history of the guzheng and how to use techniques to express emotion in the piece. These connections are discussed in depth in the chapter on structure form, including how to break out of familiar compositional combinations and how to use the unique acoustics and techniques of the double bass to embody the Chinese folk pentatonic scale. I also discuss the process of working with the composer, the rehearsal process, and the incorporation of necessary modifications in this document to make the music effective and idiomatic for the double bass. This new work at the intermedi
ContributorsWu, Yuxin (Author) / Rotaru, Catalin (Thesis advisor) / Solís, Ted (Committee member) / Landschoot, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022