2010-2011 New Music Festival

Fifth Annual New Music Festival Gunther Schuller, Artist-in-Residence Lisa Leonard, Director Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 7:30 pm Defining Modernism: Faculty Favorites Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 7:30 pm Spotlight: Young Composers Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 7:30 pm Contemporary Forum: Schuller Masterclasshttps://spiral.lynn.edu/conservatory_newmusicfest/1006/thumbnail.jp

One King to Rule Them All

He battled for superiority over his fellow musicians in the shady nightclubs of New Orleans, led his great Creole Jazz Band in the early 1920s, and stood tall in the face of racial prejudice. Joe “King” Oliver was the type of man to not just survive but thrive—like any true king would

Who wrote Duke Ellington’s music? Authorship and collective creativity in ‘Mood Indigo’

The copyright system privileges composition over performance, particularly improvisation, and melody over harmony. Both of these evaluations are problematic in the field of popular music, which is often the result of collaborative processes involving improvisation, and where harmonic structures may be of greater importance than recognisable tunes. In this chapter, I will illuminate the creative process of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Often regarded as, variously, America’s or the Twentieth Century’s ‘greatest composer’, Ellington arguably comes closest to a traditional authorial figure in jazz. Nevertheless, the majority of his most famous creations are the result of often complex collaborative processes. Using ‘Mood Indigo’ as a case study, I will reconstruct the creative contributions of various individuals in detail, evaluating their originality and significance for the final result. As I will show, although he was by no means the sole creator of the song, Ellington did take most of the fundamental creative decisions and, as bandleader, lent the tune a ‘brand identity’

An Annotated Bibliography and Performance Commentary of the Works for Concert Band and Wind Orchestra by Composers Awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music 1993-2015, and a List of Their Works for Chamber Wind Ensemble

The purpose of this document is to assemble into one resource the concert band, wind orchestra, and chamber wind ensemble compositions of the 23 composers who were awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music between 1993 and 2015. The Pulitzer Prize in Music is given annually to an American composer in recognition of distinguished achievement in composition of a work that received its premiere during the previous year. Timothy Mahr completed this study on composers who received the Prize from 1943 to 1992. This is a continuation and replication of that study, following Mahr’s procedures. A brief biographical sketch will be given for each composer, followed by a complete listing of their works for concert band, wind orchestra, and chamber wind ensembles of five to fourteen performers. Works for concert band and wind orchestra will be annotated, including available information on the premiere, instrumentation, publisher and date of publication, availability, level of difficulty, duration, and commission. Each of these works will be given a brief performance commentary and will include a selective bibliography and selective discography. Works for chamber wind ensembles will be listed by composer, title, and number of instrumental performers, but will not be annotated. There are 348 works in total to be considered in this research. The 257 chamber wind ensemble works account for 74% of the total, with the 91 works for concert band and wind orchestra comprising 26% of the total number. Second-party transcriptions of works originally for other genres are listed in the appendices, but not annotated or included in the number of total works. This study suggests that conductors should entreat these distinguished composers to continue to write for the wind band medium and identifies works that have been overlooked in scholarly research or have not been professionally recorded

Rhapsody in Red, White and Blue: The Co-Evolution of Popular and Art Music in the United States during World War II

World War II was a watershed event in twentieth century American history. All aspects of life, including music, both found roles to play in the war effort and were forever altered by the conflict. Past work on the subject of American music in World War II tends to focus heavily on the nature and impact of popular music during this time period. While this paper will review and build upon this scholarship, art music during the war will also be considered. Using two distinctly different, yet complementary, autobiographies – those of army band musician Frank Mathias and composer Gunther Schuller – the functions and impacts of both popular and art music on the American war effort will be analyzed and compared. Their stories will then be contextualized within the larger narrative of twentieth century American music, showcasing how World War II – through the increased influence of jazz – shaped the evolution of both popular and art music in the United States during the early 1940s

Successfully Selecting Performance Repertoire for Concert Festival Evaluation

Since Lowell Mason introduced the idea of modern day music education, music specialists like Dr. Acton Ostling, Jr. and Dr. Frank Battisti have aided in the evolution of music education to meet the needs of our ever-changing society. Dr. Ostling and Dr. Battisti published ground breaking research regarding selection of wind band repertoire that included a list of research-based guidelines such as choosing music that has clear melodic content, contrasting rhythms, and contrasting tonal textures, among other specifications. This study focuses on the prior research conducted by Dr. Ostling and Dr. Battisti. A survey consisting of a series of questions and statements derived from the information found in Ostling’s and Battisti’s publications was sent out to randomly selected band directors in the Mississippi Public School System and Past Presidents of the American Bandmasters Association. The survey inquired about the band directors’ opinions on how to select performance repertoire for their ensembles’ concert festival evaluation in four main categories: musical demographics (composer, time period, etc.), outside influence on programming decisions (opinions of others), educational factors of music, and aesthetic values of program selections. The band directors’ survey responses were then related to past festival ratings they have received to determine if a correlational relationship exists. As a result, this study provides information pertinent to band directors’ repertoire selection processes in regards to criteria that should be considered when searching for literature that their ensembles will perform at concert festival evaluation

Faculty concert: Atlantic Brass Quintet, February 16, 1999

This is the concert program of the Faculty Concert of the Atlantic Brass Quintet performance on Tuesday, February 16, 1999 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. Works performed were Mini Overture by Witold Lutoslawski, Keyboard Music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Brass Quintet by Ira Taxin, Volte from Terpsichore by Michael Praetorius, Music for Brass Quintet by Gunther Schuller, and Brass Band Music from Around the World. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

ALEA III 1984-85 Season, October 6 and December 8, 1984 and January 26 and February 28, 1985

This is the concert program of the ALEA III 1984-85 Season, at the Longy School of Music, 27 Garden St, Cambridge. Works performed on Saturday, October 6, 1984 were Octet by Tobias Picker, Altissimo by Ludovico Einaudi, Opseis B by Iosif Papadatos, Refutation and Hypothesis II by Donal Fox, and Serenade by Seymour Shrifrin. Works performed on Saturday, December 8, 1984 were Symmolpa IV by George Koumendakis, Ariosi by Gunther Becker, Chamber Concerto IV for Saxophone and Chamber Ensemble by Elliot Schwartz, Six Renaissance Lyrics for Tenor and Instruments by Gunther Schuller, and Rhapsody by Arthur Honneger. Works performed on Saturday, January 26, 1985 were Seferis Songs by Spyros Cardamis, The World's Winter by Anthony Payne, Under Neon Light by Detlev Muller-Seimens, Music for Chamber Ensemble by Robert Sirota, and Collage by Henry Cowell. Works performed on Thursday, February 28, 1985 were Wall Street by Haris Vrontos, Shaker Loops by John Adams, Konzertstucke by Boris Blocher, Hart Crane Settings by James Willey, and Songs and Duets from "Cymbeline" by Charles Fussell. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

ALEA III: Composers' Workshop, March 13, 2006

This is the concert program of the ALEA III: Composers' Workshop performance on Monday, March 13, 2006 at 8:00 p.m., at the Tsai Performance Center, 685 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were "trouble and Desire" by Missy Mazzoli, "Mass Pike" by Liza Jane White, "Waves of Oaxaca: Reflections on Luis Pagan" by A. Green, "Reflections" by Özkan Manav, "Tra" by Davide Ianni, "Nine Eleven" by Sarah Macarah, "Dance Profane" by Brett Keüper Abigaña, and "Illustration" by Manos Panayiotakis. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities Library Endowed Fund

An Overview of Third Stream/Confluent Music and the Involvement of Australian Composers

In this essay the author discusses the origins, evolution and impact of Third Stream music, the broader outgrowth of it being Confluent music. Reference is made to relevant compositions and recordings from the USA, England and Europe, up to 2004. Background information about the composers is provided. Compositions including elements from African music are being examined. The author investigates the involvement, up to 2004, of Australian composers and composers resident in Australia. A substantial bibliography and discography is included