M.M., University of Cincinnati, 2010, College-Conservatory of Music : Music History

The Percussion Group Cincinnati, an ensemble-in-residence at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, celebrated its thirtieth anniversary in 2009. In its first three decades, this trio collaborated with at least fifty composers, several of whom have contributed multiple compositions. The more than seventy works composed expressly for the ensemble comprise the core of its performance repertoire. While the members have amassed a sizable body of chamber percussion compositions, their primary goal has remained the process of collaborating. Whereas comparator ensembles measure success by their number of recordings, performances at specific events, or notoriety among various communities, the Percussion Group Cincinnati can be best understood through a careful consideration of its interactions with composers. Through an analysis of the Percussion Group Cincinnati's correspondence, concert programs, promotional materials, recordings, and performance reviews, as well as extensive interviews with past and current members, this thesis offers an examination of the ensemble's partnering composers/collaborations, compositions, and reception. While sharing portions of the ensemble's history, through the lens of composer-performer interaction, this thesis argues that the absence of the Percussion Group Cincinnati from histories of twentieth-century percussion music evinces a flaw in the existing literature: the prevalence of evolutionary narratives that venture to connect the “great composers” of twentieth-century percussion music with the likes of Haydn, Beethoven, and Berlioz. Instead of exploring the various ways that composers and performers in this genre have functioned, authors have too often set out to legitimize percussion chamber music by placing it in a teleological narrative whose connections are weak and overstatements are many. This thesis demonstrates that, while the members of the Percussion Group Cincinnati are known mainly as performers, they (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: bruce mcclung PhD (Committee Chair); Jeongwon Joe PhD (Committee Member); Robert Zierolf PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Music Composition

Ouroboros— a single-movement, fourteen-minute work scored for flute, alto flute, B-flat clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), bassoon, horn, B-flat trumpet (doubling B-flat flugelhorn), bass trombone, three percussionists, harp, piano, violin, viola, violoncello, and contrabass— is a work that lacks melodies, motives, clear harmonic shifts, perceivable changes in dynamics and timbre, audible articulations, and a discernible pulse. Every element of this composition was informed by some aspect of the mythical serpent ouroboros. At the broadest level, Ouroboros follows a single, processed-based form. This gesture consists of several subsections that are simultaneously transformed by various processes: registral and dynamic wedges, a timbral rondo, and an exponential accelerando. The algorithms used to develop the material also progressed in a cyclical fashion, terminating in the same way that they began. The harmonic progression, which functions as one giant sequence, is derived from the hexachord 6- 25[013568] and transformations that share at least four common tones. These harmonic materials were arranged across pitch-space in the framework of an ouroboros beginning with a hexachord spanning seven octaves, reducing to a single note, and smoothly spreading back to the fully expanded hexachord. In order to produce many different sonorities, both new and familiar, I developed multi-layered orchestrations that cycle at different rates and are slightly transformed with each reiteration. While inner layers were orchestrated with systematic processes to transform between primary and secondary orchestral choirs, the surface orchestration shifted slowly between “dark” and “light” timbres. In addition, individual pitches were orchestrated by two dissimilar instruments that articulated to and from niente. To further unify these disparate timbres, the majority of the work was written at dynamic levels less than mezzo piano; this also helped facilitate the execution of the unusua (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mikel Kuehn PhD (Advisor); Christopher Dietz PhD (Other) Subjects: Music