Browsing by Subject "Music composition"
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Item Borderlands : an electroacoustic environment experience(2010-12) Sibicky, Nicholas Alexander, 1983-; Pinkston, Russell; Grantham, Donald J; Pennycook, Bruce W; Sharlat, Yevgeniy; Pierson, BurtonBorderlands is a new musical work for violin, clarinet, cello, piano and laptop. Above all else, it is a musical story portraying the travels of four instrumentalists in a strange new world. Each performer is routed via microphone into the laptop, which performs a variety of real-time audio processing manipulations. This electroacoustic work is reflective of my ongoing research in music interpreted as an environment. There are three main aspects to this dissertation. The first aspect is the laptop software (programmed in Supercollider) that is largely responsible for providing the electroacoustic elements during the course of the work. The second (and largest) aspect is the music that utilized this software to create the environmental experience. The last aspect is the text of the dissertation itself, which analyzes and philosophically explains the inner workings of the first two aspects.Item A child's life (symphony for band)(2011-05) Schmitz, Christopher A.; Grantham, Donald; Pennycook, Bruce; Sharlat, Yevgeniy; Almen, Byron; O'Hare, ThomasA Child's life (symphony for band) is a work for concert band in three contrasting movements. It is programmatic and the movements are compositionally linked by a network of motives and a large-scale tonal plan. The piece gravitates around the pitch center C, branching out symmetrically within each movement to explore neighboring key areas. Though tonal, the piece incorporates much chromaticism and features techniques of contemporary and jazz composition. The total performance duration is approximately 22 minutes.Item Concerto for orchestra(2011-05) Passos, Luís Otávio Teixeira; Grantham, Donald, 1947-; Pinkston, Russell; Pennycook, Bruce; Drott, Eric; Lara, FernandoConcerto for orchestra is a twenty-minute work for large orchestra. It was conceived from my personal interest in creating a musical narrative that could create different moods, colors, contrast, agreement, tension, and resolution. I had a major influence from Ligeti’s Double Concerto regarding pitch, mood and form organization. I used his technique of interval signal to differentiate different sections of a movement as well as chromatic balance─the alternation of diatonic scales related chromatically. I also had influences from Mahler, Debussy, Nancarrow, and from my own work. The narrative of my Concerto is based on Ligeti’s notion of states, events and transformations. My Concerto presents states that are transformed into new states. The piece is divided in four movements: Lights, Convergences, Lights II, Convergences II. The Lights movements favor delicate texture, based on a major melodic line and a subtle accompaniment. They also give prominence to solo sections. Convergences favors the idea of dialogue, multitudinousness, contrast, and dense textures. Convergences II emphasizes the tutti versus solo and ritornello form from Baroque concertos.Item Eva and the Angel of Death : a Holocaust remembrance opera : the compositional staging of ritual as memory(2020-06-30) Yee, Thomas B.; Grantham, Donald, 1947-; Hatten, Robert S.; Sharlat, Yevgeniy, 1977-; Wiley, Darlene C.; Bos, Pascale R.As the world grows removed in time from the Holocaust, it becomes increasingly important to preserve and share the stories of those who survived its horrors. The contemporary Holocaust remembrance opera Eva and the Angel of Death presents the powerful story of Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor, who, along with her twin sister Miriam, was subjected to sadistic medical experiments by Dr. Josef Mengele in Auschwitz. At the fifty-year anniversary of her liberation from the camp, Kor returned to Auschwitz and, to the surprise of many, announced to the world that she personally forgave the Nazis for what had been done to her. In the context of Holocaust remembrance, an opera like Eva and the Angel of Death contributes a unique ensemble of benefits, constituting an immersive memorial ritual that binds audiences together in a communal and aesthetic act of Holocaust remembrance. Eva Mozes Kor’s story is then summarized and its public reception explored, including the controversy surrounding her decision to forgive. Then, the Eva opera is analyzed in music-theoretic detail at a variety of levels—including a quasi-Schenkerian tonal plan and in-depth analyses of two of the opera’s pivotal arias. Of special note is an array of six semiotic strategies employed throughout the opera to establish meaningful relationships in musical material across wide temporal spans and to encode in music nuanced psychological experiences of trauma and memory. The selected strategies covered include leitmotif, associative textural fields, textural stratification and collage, intertextuality, musical topics, and virtual agency, which connect this modern opera to time-honored techniques of musical semiotics. Logistical plans for the opera’s premiere performances, surrounding programming, and organizational partnerships are presented— though the original performance schedule of an April 18-19 premiere was disrupted by the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, the investigation concludes with a philosophical reflection on the theme of forgiveness as espoused by Eva Mozes Kor, suggesting that forgiveness may constitute a productive orientation for future Holocaust remembrance efforts as the historical events transition into cultural memory. As Eva did decades after her trauma, the next generation must discern a path forward to carry their memorial task into the future.Item Fantasia in f-minor(2011-05) Menefield, William Owen; Grantham, Donald; Pinkston, Russel; Sharlat, Yevegeniy; Mills, John; Foster, KevinThis dissertation is a fantasia in f-minor for piano and orchestra. The accompanying treatise is an analysis of the piece, which discusses the composer’s influence and inspiration, as well as issues of form, melody, harmony, and various other compositional elements. The purpose of the analysis is to provide the listener/reader with the necessary background to truly understand and appreciate the eclectic nature of the work, which has elements from several different musical genres, including classical, jazz, gospel, R & B, funk, and hip hop.Item Hearing voices(2011-05) Gradone, James Pierce; Welcher, Dan; Pinkston, RussellHearing Vvices is a four-movement instrumental work for clarinet, violin, cello and piano. The title is a reference to both the formal structure and surface features of the music. Structurally, the piece resembles a rhetorical struggle between two distinct musical personalities: the serious and the light. In each movement and across movements, this juxtaposition is evident through sudden changes in tempo, mood, and musical character. In terms of surface features, the trajectory of the piece is best described as the eventual emergence of melody from a dense web of counterpoint and rhythm where, over the course of the movements, small melodic fragments are presented and quickly swallowed up by the surrounding texture. This changes in the final movement, where three of the four instruments join in a soaring melody over a troubled accompaniment, thus illustrating the apotheosis of the preceding musical struggle.Item How about here(2012-08) Shank, Joshua, 1980-; Pennycook, Bruce, 1949-The material for this piece is all based around immutable musical objects and how they interact with one another. The opening movement takes various ostinato patterns and has them combine with different bass notes. The second movement attempts to merge three melodic fragments with three different chords and the final movement is a sequence of unchanging passacaglias which overflow into an ecstatic conclusion. The whole thing reminded me of someone rearranging furniture in a room; the actual pieces don't change but, rather, combine in different ways to make something pleasing. Hence, the title: "How About Here."Item Just lucky(2011-05) Mino, Diana; Pinkston, Russell; Welcher, DanielJust lucky is a chamber work for three singers, three percussionists and saxophone quartet. It is a setting of a poem of the same name by David Bush.Item Manifold facing west(2011-05) Lobel, Herbert Hugh; Welcher, Dan; Pinkston, RussellManifold facing west is a cumulative work. As my master's thesis, it acts as an accumulation of knowledge gained during my time at the University of Texas. As a student of Dan Welcher, it acts as the culmination of my time with him and the focus we took on writing for orchestra. This is my first work for full orchestra, but it comes after a smaller work for orchestra which itself came after a work for string orchestra. In this way too the work is cumulative. Musically, there are key points in the form where a climax is built through the accumulation of figures. Manifold facing west is a story about an artist (myself) who daydreams about moving west, and the adventure of beginning a new life. In the first section (Anthypnic sensations), the artist sees in his mind an idea of what might happen in the years ahead. The artist sees all the slight variations on what events might unfold. At what's called the Borderland state, where the waking mind begins to fall into sleep, the visions become overwhelming and even terrifying. The second section begins in a R.E.M. cycle, where the artist has unknowingly engaged in a great exciting dream. Here the simple thoughts of what may come have been turned into a full blown adventure, with wonders and beauty and danger. Ultimately the energy and excitement the artist is feeling causes the dream to get out of hand. The artist struggles to wake himself up, but is pulled back into his dream. The artist is pulled back several times until, gasping, he finally breaks the spell of his dreams and emerges into a state of calm awareness.Item Music for brass quintet(2007-08) Honstein, Robert; Pinkston, RussellMy thesis composition "Music for Brass Quintet" is a two-movement work of approximately ten minutes in length. The first movement begins with the most elemental of gestures; two notes F and G, some long, suggesting the fragments of an as yet unformed melody, and some short, rapidly repeated with a manic insistence. As the opening ideas are passed between the five instruments, the texture gradually becomes a swirl of activity. Moving through a series of harmonic areas, the music eventually reaches something of an arrival point upon which the dense polyphonic texture instantly switches to a kind of stop-time chorus where tutti articulations of harmonies are immediately followed by solo statements from various members of the quintet. After four iterations of the chord/solo sequence, the Trombone begins a triplet ostinato, on top of which emerge plaintive thirds in the trumpets. The thirds melody descends through the ostinato and is passed to the Horn and Tuba, who carry the melody into the quintet's low register. This prolonged descent from high to low repeats a number of times, getting a bit higher each time. Finally, after the trumpets can go no higher, and the Horn and Trombone no lower, the ostinato cuts off and the Horn and Tuba sound the outlines of an E major chord, with the Tuba playing the lowest E in its range and the Horn playing a G# a 10th above. The second movement begins with a rapid, breathless type of gesture, which is quickly followed by a sad and pathetic melody in Eb. The sad sack melody and the breathless gesture are interwoven over the course of the next minute, before an extended transition begins, using the tail end of the breathless gesture to propel the music into unexpectedly exuberant territory. From this transition emerges a brief statement of a kind of wild dance rhythm after which the music makes an abrupt shift to drunk tavern music. This music is the lazy drunk theme. For the next three minutes or so the lazy drunk music unfolds amidst a series of increasingly ill-tempered interjections from the wild drunk bar peoples. Eventually the wild drunks overcome the carefree lazy drunk and plunge the music into an uncontrollable, bacchanalian, orgy of sound. After the drunks have spent their booze-fueled outburst, a brief coda reiterates part of the sad sack theme, with occasional echoes of the wild drunk music.Item A musical analysis of The abyss suite, a three-movement work for jazz orchestra(2011-05) Wilcher, Marcus; Mills, John Russell, 1953-; Hellmer, Jeff; Fremgen, JohnThis treatise, A musical analysis of The abyss suite, examines the musical underpinnings of an original three-movement work for jazz orchestra. Each movement musically represents a certain period of time occurring over the course of an emotional ordeal in my life. Through the incorporation and manipulation of certain musical elements--form, melody, harmony, and other compositional devices--this piece serves as a wordless narrative of that ordeal. The analysis will address each of these elements in turn.Item Out of the dark...into the light(2020-08-14) Henkel, Kyle Edward; Sharlat, Yevgeniy, 1977-The title “Out of the Dark...Into the Light” is based off of two quotes that have a personal deep meaning to me. The first quote is by Neil Young from his song Hey Hey, My My: “out of the blue...into the black.” This quote holds two meanings: “from day to night” or “depression to suicide.” While I have never attempted suicide, I and too many of who read this note have known people that have attempted or succeeded suicide and that depression has been extreme factor in those situations. The other quote comes from a childhood classic: “Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if only one remembers to turn on the light.” - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. For those who battle with depression, being able to remind yourself of what there is to be happy for is an incredibly difficult task. We live in that darkness for a long time. But it’s those rare moments, those flickers of light, no matter how fleeting, that give us some sort of hope.Item Righteous Among the Nations : the story of Ho Feng-Shan(2017-06-22) Yee, Thomas B.; Grantham, Donald, 1947-Righteous Among the Nations : the story of Ho Feng-Shan is a four-movement music composition of approximately 25 minutes in duration. The piece is scored for Baritone solo voice and Pierrot Ensemble (Flute/Piccolo, Clarinet in B-flat/Bass Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Percussion, and Piano. Music and libretto is the creation/arrangement of the composer. The following is the Program note written to accompany the score to "Righteous Among the Nations", functioning as an introduction to the composition: "In the year 2000, Israel's Holocaust remembrance center Yad Vashem posthumously awarded Ho Feng-Shan the title "Righteous Among the Nations," the nation's highest civil honor, for saving the lives of more European Jews than any other single individual during the early years of the Holocaust. As China's Consul General to Vienna from 1938 1940, he issued exit visas to any Jewish person requesting them, allowing them to leave Austria legally and reach safety elsewhere in the world via Shanghai and other Chinese ports. Hundreds queued up outside his consulate doors from morning to night seeking aid; Dr. Ho issued over 4,000 such visas, by conservative estimates, despite orders from his superiors to desist. On one occasion, an armed SS officer held him at gunpoint while he interposed his own body to protect a Jewish family. Ho Feng-Shan never breathed a word of his heroic actions to his wife, children, or friends—they were discovered by his family and Yad Vashem years after his 1997 death. Ho Feng-Shan, like most Holocaust rescuers, started off as a bystander, attempting to maintain a life of normalcy after Germany's sudden annexation of Austria (Anschluss). However, when confronted with the jagged reality of the unfolding Holocaust—the beginnings of the extermination of Jews on Kristallnacht—he could no longer collude with genocide by refusing to act, becoming complicit every time he averted his eyes from need. In post-war years, after being reassigned to Brooklyn in New York City, Dr. Ho became fascinated with racial prejudice, seared so forcefully into memory by his years in Nazi-occupied Austria. He identified prejudice as the most important social condition in American society, observing and experiencing it in hiring, rent, voting, and education practices as well as tracing its roots through American history—especially slavery and immigration history. I have come to admire Ho Feng-Shan deeply—for his awareness and compassion, humanitarian courage, and unwavering conviction during perhaps the twentieth century's most horrific time and place. As Dr. Ho himself writes (in a poem quoted in Movement IV), "The convictions of heroes [are] not lightly formed". Though the above history may seem flattened into the distant past, Ho Feng-Shan's character and actions stand robust, real, and three-dimensional, coming alive now for you in music. May we never forget, but remember—and by remembering, learn."Item Solve et coagula for 11 instruments and live electronics(2022-05-05) Taylor, Monte; Sharlat, Yevgeniy, 1977-; Grantham, Donald; Drott, Eric; Maggart, Alison; Tejera, Januibe; Young, Nina CSolve et Coagula is a composition for eleven instruments, scored in six movements. This composition is the culmination of the composer’s process of integrating live performers with live, algorithmically-generated electronic playback and digital signal processing of acoustic instruments using the Supercollider audio programming language. Furthermore, the composition also breaks down and restructures musical elements from several of the composer’s previous works from their time at the University of Texas. This documents will detail the conception of Solve et Coagula, provide a detailed musical analysis of the piece, outline the musical elements in Solve et Coagula that are taken from previous compositions, explain the composer’s use of the Supercollider programming language for digital signal processing and algorithmically generated audio, and examine the role of composition as a tool for self-reflection.Item The sound ascending(2011-05) Brown, David Asher; Welcher, Dan; Rowley, RickThe sound ascending is a musical theater work for two actors, four singers and piano. This project was a collaboration with playwright, Jason Tremblay. The story is a loose adaptation of Orpheus descending, by Tennessee Williams. Displaced from the rural, American South, most of our story takes place in Mazer, Afghanistan. Jason and I attempted to create an untraditional model. The work lies somewhere between a musical, oratorio and a song cycle. We both walked away with mixed feelings about the success of the work, following a preliminary premiere. I believe that the work is successful in its drama and storytelling. But in such a confined presentation, the work needs more diversity of material and character strength. Although complete for now, Jason and I plan on revising The sound ascending in the coming year. Most significantly, this project has been a learning experience. We both take away valuable lessons about writing and collaboration.Item Tatar folk tales(2018-05) Faizullina, Adeliia; Sharlat, Yevgeniy, 1977-; Welcher, DanThis musical work by Adeliia Faizullina is for Soprano and Chamber Orchestra. It is based on the folk tales and narratives of her native Tatarstan, Russia. The first movement, Shurali, describes a monster of Tatar Folklore who lives in the woods and scares people with the sound of his wooden bones. The second movement, Sak and Sok, tells of two brothers, who after a curse turned into the Bird of Night and Bird of Day. They hear each other’s voices and wing-trembling just when it is sunrise or sunset time, but they cannot see each other. The third movement, Rainbow, describes colors of the rainbow using instrumental timbres and harmonies. The final movement, Arba, recalls an Asian two-wheel cart to carry live stock and food. We hear sound of the whip, a little folk song, and welcome to join a choir of mischievous, funny animals.Item Three songs for Hindustani vocalist, soprano and sinfonietta(2018-06-25) Tucker, Tara Avril; Sharlat, Yevgeniy, 1977-; Pinkston, RussellThis musical work by Tara (Akshaya) Avril Tucker was premiered on March 21, 2018 by Saili Oak, Suzanne Lis and the prismatx ensemble. The three songs each explore a different melody from Hindustani Khyal singing, interpreting them in the context of Western orchestration, harmony and form. The first song, Saiyan, is a fantasy on Shobha Gurtu's thumri “Saiyan nikas gaye,” and uses Raag Mishra Bhairavi and Raag Pratiksha. The text by Kamaali (c.15th Century) describes the plight of the body as its lover, the soul, departs. The second song, Geliebte Sakhi - Beloved Friend, winds around a Heinrich Heine text and a slow khyal composition by Ashwini Bhide Deshpande in Raag Bageshree, creating a meditative love song. The final song, Tarana - Dance, is based on abstract syllables (like “ta na na” and “de re na”), and includes snippets of two Tarana compositions by Ashwini Bhide Deshpande in Raag Bhimpalas and Raag Desh. The soprano and Hindustani vocalist explore fast runs as well as lyrical lines.Item Vignettes(2018-05) Walker, Chris (Composer); Pinkston, RussellVignettes is musical composition for brass and percussion.Item Wet dirt(2023-04-11) Kemeny, Collin; Grantham, Donald, 1947-; Johnson, Blair; Burns, Chelsea; Turci-Escobar, John; Tejera de Miranda, JanuibeThis dissertation serves as a companion document to Wet Dirt, a one-act chamber opera collaboratively crafted between composer Collin Kemeny and librettist Andrea L. Hart, providing an overview of the work’s core thematic material and structural devices. Collin and Andrea were tasked with writing a queer narrative that featured the saxophone and resultingly chose a chamber opera that indirectly explored LGBTQ stigma through a story of loss and love. The work pertains to a couple that is trying to solve a hedge maze while arguing about whether they should move in together. At the center of the maze sits Manu, the voiceless ghost of their deceased friend. As the couple circles each other, they come closer to the heart of the maze and the reason their relationship is failing. The characters are forced to confront their grief over Manu and in doing so a deep secret is revealed that irrevocably changes their path forward. Wet Dirt explores themes of repression, acceptance, and shared memory.