Carolyn Wilson Digital Collections (Lipscomb Univ.)
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Beyond Chord-Scale Theory - Realizing a Species Approach to Jazz Improvisation
Get PDFCollegiate instruction in jazz improvisation is typically given in two places: the jazz theory classroom and private lessons. In both contexts, one of the first concepts taught is the relationship between chord and scale. I distinguish the term scale in the classical sense from the term chord scale. The former refers to a stepwise collection of pitches that expresses a tonal center. The latter refers to a stepwise collection of pitches that melodically expresses a chord. A harmonic progression contains all of the pitches in a major scale, and the progression could easily support a melody that expresses all of the pitches of that scale. Classical theory holds that one scale accounts for the harmonic and melodic organization of the whole progression. By contrast, jazz pedagogy recognizes a succession of chord scales, one for each chord. Chord-scale theory teaches students to make harmonically informed melodic improvisations by enforcing one-to-one relationships between chords and scales
Transformational Theory in the Undergraduate Curriculum - A Case for Teaching the Neo-Riemannian Approach
Get PDFIn recent years, neo-Riemannian or tonal transformational theory has generated considerable interest within the academic music theory community, primarily due to insights it offers into the organization of passages that are triadic but not functionally coherent. With the 2003 publication of Miguel Roig-Francolí\u27s Harmony in Context, neo-Riemannian theory made its début in an undergraduate harmony textbook, appearing as part of a chapter devoted to nonfunctional pitch centricity in late-nineteenthand early-twentieth-century music. As brief as Roig-Francolí\u27s presentation is, any inclusion of neo-Riemannian theory in an already crowded undergraduate curriculum raises the question: what can our students gain through study of the neo-Riemannian approach
Inspired Accidents - Spontaneous Invention in Musical Performance (Master Teacher Column)
Get PDFEven when conventionally appropriate phrasing and shaping are heard in a musical rendition, intangibles can seem missing. To distinguish not just between the musical and the unmusical but also between the musical and the ultramusical and to inquire why these magical elements - these uncanny X-factors - re present or absent in a performance seem among the most burning questions of music study and theoretical training. To assist my investigation, I have constructed a Communication Chain for Musical Performance
Backlog 2007
Get PDFThe 2007 Lipscomb University Backlog yearbook.https://digitalcollections.lipscomb.edu/backlogs/1096/thumbnail.jp
A Comparative Review of The Complete Musician by Steven G. Laitz, Harmony in Context by Miguel Roig-Francolí, and A Musician\u27s Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Piper Clendinning and Elizabeth West Marvin
Get PDFThe last twenty years have seen a rapid metamorphosis in undergraduate music theory textbooks. One trend, undoubtedly inspired by the seminal work of Edward Aldwell and Carl Schachter, has been to incorporate Schenkerian philosophy and analytical techniques. As Schenkerian methods have become more pervasive, some pedagogues have devoted their attention to barriers that have historically separated the various facets of music theory pedagogy. The textbooks under review represent the most recent efforts to level these barriers by the integration of written work, listening, and ear training. (The continuing influence of the Contemporary Music Project of the 1960\u27s and its emphasis upon comprehensive musicianship is remarkable.) Texts comprising the focus of this review are The Complete Musician: An Integrated Approach to Tonal Theory, Analysis, and Listening by Steven G. Laitz, Harmony in Context by Miguel Roig-Francolí, and The Musician\u27s Guide to Theory and Analysis by Jane Piper Clendinning and Elizabeth West Marvin. This review follows (roughly) the layout of each publication, with assessment of their various approaches to fundamentals, diatonic harmony, form, chromaticism, and extended harmonic techniques
Developing Aural Skills - It\u27s Not Just A Game
Get PDFRecent developments in aural skills training have led to alternative approaches that depart from traditional sightsinging and dictation exercises. In this spirit, we developed game playing as an effective strategy for use in our classrooms at Oberlin College Conservatory. We find that game playing fosters good musicianship, while cultivating a positive interactive classroom that is conducive to learning
Understanding Sonata Form through Model Composition
Get PDFComposition is an important aid to musical understanding. The NASM handbook states that musicians benefit significantly from study and experience in the creation of musical works. . . . It also develops the musical mind, hones analytical capacities, and develops sensitivity to the possibilities of musical structure. This paper describes a plan for guiding intermediate music theory students to hone their understanding of classical sonata structure through composition.Sonata-allegro is arguably the quintessential form in tonal music, certainly the most elaborate and prescriptive in terms of its component parts. It is deservedly the premiere form addressed in a music theory curriculum. Its study normally emphasizes description of tonal and thematic aspects, paired with analysis of selected works by master composers
Studying Perle\u27s Motivic Processes through Contour Transformation
Get PDFTeachers of 20th century analytical techniques often bypass George Perle\u27s music in their curricula, since the majority of Perle\u27s compositions emanate from his theory of twelve-tone tonality. Few college theory teachers are sufficiently conversant with Perle\u27s twelve-tone tonality to lead students in analyses of this body of music. Perle\u27s theory is a compositional method based on the intersection of interval cycles and symmetrical pitch class collections. Yet his method is analogous to tonal theory in its utilization of scales, chords, and hierarchical relationships. Moreover, in most of his compositions Perle reveals a penchant for traditional forms and developmental techniques. This article contends that Perle\u27s predilection offers the college teacher an ideal means of access into this music. Nowhere is this more evident than in his Woodwind Quintet No. 4, which captured the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1986. Perle\u27s Quintet contains four movements: Invention, Scherzo, Pastorale, and Finale. Each of these movements adheres to a traditional formal design: the Invention is based on the Baroque contrapuntal model, the Scherzo comprises alternating scherzo and trio sections, the Pastorale follows a ternary form, and the Finale reprises the main motives of the preceding movements, but in new contexts.This article aims to demonstrate how a college theory teacher may present Perle\u27s music from a perspective that integrates aspects of his innovative compositional method with familiar formal structures and developmental processes. We will begin by introducing the essential components of twelve-tone tonality and observing how these components comprise the fundamental pitch material in the first movement of the Quintet, the Invention. We then will reveal how Perle\u27s invention conforms to the traditional procedures of the Baroque model, focusing specifically on the processes Perle employs for motivic development