Minimalism and Improvisation as Teaching Tools: Bringing Contemporary Music to the Instrumental Music Class Room
This topic seeks to defend and advocate for the teaching of minimalism and improvisation in the music classroom. This paper will explore the value of using minimalism and improvisation to teach basic musical elements such as reading and performance, in addition to more complex ideas such as how to rehearse and perform with an ensemble. Through examining the stylistic qualities of different minimalist composers, this paper will demonstrate the validity of their compositions in the context of music education. This paper will also discuss the importance of improvisation in a musical education and how working within minimalistic parameters provide students with a spiral curriculum approach to learning how to improvise. Potential lessons will also be developed that use selected compositions, each working on a different element of music and including improvisational ideas. Many students are never exposed to minimalism as a musical genre and never explore musical improvisation, leaving gaps in their education and development as musicians. This paper will provide a methodology for teaching and using minimalism in the classroom to introduce improvisational ideas and expand students’ musical knowledge.
Experiments in Sympathetic Vibrations and Percussion Composition
Undergraduate Research Fellowship 2015 – 2016
Elements of sound production in a snare drum have been studied and manipulated over several centuries of the instrument’s existence, resulting in new ways of playing, manufacturing, and tuning the instrument to create new and different sounds from a seemingly limited instrument. Taking a different approach to the subject, this research explores sound production away from the instrument. The aim of this study is to examine the sympathetic vibrations in the snare system of a snare drum, analyzing possible causes and elements that might affect how the vibration is produced. Experiments will be conducted using a single snare drum and a vibraphone, testing the frequencies at which sympathetic vibrations are produced. These experiments will involve the testing of variables that include drumhead tension, drum depth, room acoustics, distance between instruments, the material of the vibraphone, and material of the snares. Following this, compositional ideas will be collected and tested and the resulting data collected will then be applied as compositional elements in a solo work that demonstrates the findings. This research was funded with an Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
A History of Electroacoustic Solo Percussion Repertoire
Undergraduate Research Fellowship 2014 – 2015
In the 1940s, electronics began finding their way into the music world, specifically in 1939, with John Cage’s first work to use tape in live performance; Imaginary Landscapes No. 1. From this point, electroacoustic accompaniment made the most appearances in percussion repertoire. This research will examine the use of electronics in solo percussion repertoire from the 1940s to the present. These media will include tape, complex electronics, and computer processing. A few selected works will be discussed in detail. Pieces will include: 27’10.554” For a Percussionist (1956), John Cage; Child of Tree (1974), John Cage; Can’t See The Forest…Music (1972), Daniel Lentz; Metamorforsi I per Marimbafono e Nastro (1978), Ivan Patachich; Fabian Theory (1987), Nigel Westlake; Six Japanese Gardens (1993), Kaija Saariaho; Watershed IV (1995), Roger Reynolds; Daydreams for Marimba (1991), Philippe Boesman; and Two Hands (Not Clapping) (2009), Wayne Siegel. At the conclusion of the study, a chronological index of electroacoustic percussion solos will be included. This research aims to provide an in history of the usage of electronics in solo percussion literature to gain a greater understanding of the evolution and future of the field. This research was funded with an Undergraduate Research Fellowship.
John Tyree 