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Description
The purpose of this project is to introduce Bryan Johanson's composition for two guitars, 13 Ways of Looking at 12 Strings, and present an authoritative recording appropriate for publishing. This fifty-minute piece represents a fascinating suite in thirteen movements. The author of this project performed both guitar parts, recorded them separately in a music studio, then mixed them together into one recording. This document focuses on the critical investigation and description of the piece with a brief theoretical analysis, a discussion of performance difficulties, and guitar preparation. The composer approved the use and the scope of this project. Bryan Johanson is one of the leading contemporary composers for the guitar today. 13 Ways of Looking at 12 Strings is a unique guitar dictionary that takes us from Bach to Hendrix and highlights the unique capabilities of the instrument. It utilizes encoded messages, glass slides, metal mutes, explosive "riffs," rhythmic propulsion, improvisation, percussion, fugual writing, and much more. It has a great potential to make the classical guitar attractive to wider audiences, not limited only to guitarists and musicians. The main resources employed in researching this document are existing recordings of Johanson's other compositions and documentation of his personal views and ideas. This written document uses the composer's prolific and eclectic compositional output in order to draw conclusions and trace motifs. This project is a significant and original contribution in expanding the guitar's repertoire, and it uniquely contributes to bringing forth a significant piece of music.
ContributorsSavic, Nenad (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Rotaru, Catalin (Committee member) / McLin, Katherine (Committee member) / Feisst, Sabine (Committee member) / Landschoot, Thomas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The focus of this study was the first Serbian opera, Na Uranku (At Dawn). It was written by Stanislav Binièki (1872-1942) and was first performed in 1903 at the National Theatre in Belgrade. There were two objectives of this project: (1) a live concert performance of the opera, which produced an audio recording that can be found as an appendix; and, (2) an accompanying document containing a history and an analysis of the work. While Binièki's opera is recognized as an extraordinary artistic achievement, and a new genre of musical enrichment for Serbian music, little had been previously written either about the composer or the work. At Dawn is a romantic opera in the verismo tradition with national elements. The significance of this opera is not only in its artistic expression but also in how it helped the music of Serbia evolve. Early opera settings in Serbia in the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century did not have the same wealth of history upon which to draw as had existed in the rich operatic oeuvre in Western Europe and Russia. Similarly, conditions for performance were not satisfactory, as were no professional orchestras or singers. Furthermore, audiences were not accustomed to this type of art form. The opera served as an educational instrument for the audience, not only training them to a different type of music but also evolving its national consciousness. Binièki's opera was a foundation on which later generations of composers built. The artistic value of this opera is emphasized. The musical language includes an assimilation of various influences from Western Europe and Russia, properly incorporated into the Serbian musical core. Audience reaction is discussed, a positive affirmation that Binièki was moving in the right direction in establishing a path for the further development of the artistic field of Serbian musical culture. A synopsis of the work as well as the requisite performing forces is also included.
ContributorsMinov, Jana (Author) / Russell, Timothy (Thesis advisor) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Schildkret, David (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Reber, William (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Guitar repertoire from the Baroque period consists primarily of transcriptions, which suggests that modern performers may explore more sources to identify eligible works to transcribe. The Musikalischer Parnassus, a collection of dance suites for harpsichord by Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer (1656-1746), is worthy of such a transcription. This collection has high artistic value and possesses a range and texture that make much of it playable on the guitar. The purpose of this research project is to introduce Fischer and his works to the classical guitar community, and also to explore the artistic qualities of Musikalischer Parnassus that qualify it for transcription for guitar. This document addresses the transcription process of two selected suites: VI, Euterpe and VIII, Polymnia by Fischer. The outcome is an edition for guitar and a performance guide, which includes interpretations and stylistic considerations for each movement.
ContributorsFang, Zhou, D.M.A (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Rotaru, Catalin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The North Park Middle School Band, in Pico Rivera, California, is an exemplary model of a band program grounded in the principles of social justice. Three facets guide the program: Social Outreach, Cultural Outreach, and Kids Helping Kids. This qualitative study explores what led the director to create this program, its current structure as well as its historical development, and the impact the program is having on the students involved and the community to which they reach. Between the months of September and December 2012, I spent a total of three weeks with the students, parents, and the director of the North Park Band, Ron Wakefield. In that time, the students were observed during band rehearsals on typical school days. Additionally, I traveled with the band to three separate outreach concerts at the Los Angeles Veterans Healthcare Facility, nursing homes and assisted living centers, as well as the Isaiah House, a homeless shelter for women and children. I observed the students and their interactions with the residents of those facilities, and took detailed observation notes. In addition, a survey was distributed to students in the top two bands, interviews were conducted with current students and a former student, a parent and a former parent, and the director. The North Park Band program structure leads students to develop an unusually high level of responsibility. Students gain an understanding of current issues in society and demonstrate compassion towards other human beings. In many cases, the students discover a sense of life purpose through the program and feel that they have a responsibility to help their community. While a central focus of the program is on humanistic values, it is evident that the students also receive a quality music education.
ContributorsPawelski, Carrie (Author) / Hill, Gary W. (Thesis advisor) / Schmidt, Margaret E (Thesis advisor) / Bailey, Wayne (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Russell, Timothy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The purpose of this project is twofold: to contribute to the literature of chamber ensembles comprising mixed wind, string, and percussion instruments by producing arrangements of three piano rags by William Bolcom; and to highlight Bolcom's pivotal role in the ragtime revival of the 1960's and 1970's. Through his influence as a scholar, composer, and performer, Bolcom (b. 1938), one of the most prominent American composers of his generation, helped garner respect for ragtime as art music and as one of America's great popular music genres. Bolcom's 3 Ghost Rags were written in the tradition of classic piano rags, but with a compositional sensibility that is influenced by the fifty years that separate them from the close of the original ragtime era. The basis for the present orchestrations of 3 Ghost Rags is the collection of instrumental arrangements of piano rags published by Stark Publishing Co., entitled Standard High-Class Rags. More familiarly known as the "Red Back Book," this publication was representative of the exchange of repertoire between piano and ensembles and served as a repertory for the various ragtime revivals that occurred later in the twentieth century. In creating these orchestrations of Bolcom's piano rags, the author strove to provide another medium in which Bolcom's music could be performed, while orchestrating the music for an historically appropriate ensemble.
ContributorsMelley, Eric Charles (Author) / Hill, Gary W. (Thesis advisor) / Bailey, Wayne (Committee member) / Norton, Kay (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Russell, Timothy (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
Whenever a text is transmitted, or communicated by any means, variations may occur because editors, copyists, and performers are often not careful enough with the source itself. As a result, a flawed text may come to be accepted in good faith through repetition, and may often be preferred over the authentic version because familiarity with the flawed copy has been established. This is certainly the case with regard to Manuel M. Ponce's guitar editions. An inexact edition of a musical work is detrimental to several key components of its performance: musical interpretation, aesthetics, and the original musical concept of the composer. These phenomena may be seen in the case of Manuel Ponce's Suite in D Major for guitar. The single published edition by Peer International Corporation in 1967 with the revision and fingering of Manuel López Ramos contains many copying mistakes and intentional, but unauthorized, changes to the original composition. For the present project, the present writer was able to obtain a little-known copy of the original manuscript of this work, and to document these discrepancies in order to produce a new performance edition that is more closely based on Ponce's original work.
ContributorsReyes Paz, Ricardo (Author) / Koonce, Frank (Thesis advisor) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Rotaru, Catalin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
There are a significant number of musical compositions for violin by composers who used folk songs and dances of various cultures in their music, including works by George Enescu, Béla Bartók and György Ligeti. Less known are pieces that draw on the plethora of melodies and rhythms from Turkey. The purpose of this paper is to help performers become more familiar with two such compositions: Fazil Say's Sonata for Violin and Piano and Cleopatra for Solo Violin. Fazil Say (b. 1970) is considered to be a significant, contemporary Turkish composer. Both of the works discussed in this document simulate traditional "Eastern" instruments, such as the kemenҫe, the baðlama, the kanun and the ud. Additionally, both pieces use themes from folk melodies of Turkey, Turkish dance rhythms and Arabian scales, all framed within traditional structural techniques, such as ostinato bass and the fughetta. Both the Sonata for Violin and Piano and Cleopatra are enormously expressive and musically interesting works, demanding virtuosity and a wide technical range. Although this document does not purport to be a full theoretical analysis, by providing biographical information, analytical descriptions, notes regarding interpretation, and suggestions to assist performers in overcoming technical obstacles, the writer hopes to inspire other violinists to consider learning and performing these works.
ContributorsKalantzi, Panagiota (Author) / Jiang, Danwen (Thesis advisor) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Rogers, Rodney (Committee member) / Rotaru, Catalin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Nino Rota was a prolific composer of twentieth-century film and concert music, including the Concerto for bassoon and orchestra in b-flat major. Composing over 150 film scores for directors such as Federico Fellini, Francis Ford Coppola, Henry Cass, King Vidor and Franco Zeffirelli, Rota received distinguished acclaim from several film institutions, professional film reviewers and film music experts for his contributions to the art form. Rota also composed a great deal of diverse repertoire for the concert stage (ballet, opera, incidental music, concerti, symphonies, as well as several chamber works). The purpose of this analysis is to emphasize the expressive charm and accessibility of his concerto in the bassoon repertoire. The matter of this analysis of the Concerto for bassoon and orchestra concentrates on a single concerto from his concert repertoire completed in 1977, two years before Rota's death. The discussion includes a brief introduction to Nino Rota and his accomplishments as a musician and film composer, and a detailed outline of the motivic and structural events of contained in each movement of the concerto. The shape of the work is analyzed both in detailed discussion and by the use of charts, including reduced score figures of excerpts of the piece, which illustrate significant thematic events and relationships. The analysis reveals how Rota uses lyrical thematic material in a consistently, and he develops the music by creating melodic sequences and varied repetitions of thematic material. He is comfortable writing several forms, as indicated by the first movement, Toccata - a sonata-type form; the second movement, Recitativo, opening with a cadenza and followed by a theme and brief development; and the third movement, a theme (Andantino) and set of six variations. Rota's writing also includes contrapuntal techniques such as imitation, inversion, retrograde and augmentation, all creating expressive interest during thematic development. It is clear from the discussion that Rota is an accomplished, well-studied and lyrical composer. This analysis will inform the bassoonist and conductor, and aid in developing a fondness for the Concerto for bassoon and orchestra and perhaps other concert works.
ContributorsKluesener, Joseph (Author) / Micklich, Albie (Thesis advisor) / Hill, Gary (Committee member) / Levy, Benjamin (Committee member) / Russell, Timothy (Committee member) / Schuring, Martin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Composer James DeMars has found a unique voice in the poetry of Alberto "Tito" Rios. The imagery combines memories and experiences of life on the Mexican/American border with scenes of love at various stages of life. The purpose of this study is to examine the structure, artistry and contemporary significance of Tito's Say, a cantata for soprano and baritone soloists, chorus, and orchestra by James DeMars with text by Alberto Rios, and to gain understanding of its inception, creation, composition, and subsequent performances. Description will be given in detail to increase familiarity with the work among choral musicians. Within this document, the reader will learn from personal interviews about James DeMars and Alberto Rios, focusing on their influences and experiences, including the circumstances leading up to the creation of Tito's Say. Furthermore, the reader will discover why the work was composed and how the collaboration came to be, details about its premiere, subsequent performances, and varying versions of this composition. A descriptive exploration and analysis of the text, its musical treatment, as well as an analysis of each of the five movements of the work are included herein, focusing on harmony, form, and style. Last, the author seeks to address stylistic and formal traits that unify the work, and performance considerations and challenges for the choir and for the orchestra. Appendices include available reviews, more extended biographies of both the composer and the poet compiled from interviews, and a works list of DeMars's compositions.
ContributorsChiaravalloti, Charissa (Author) / Gentry, Gregory R (Thesis advisor) / Bailey, Wayne (Committee member) / Reber, William (Committee member) / Russell, Timothy (Committee member) / Saucier, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012