Open Collections

A performance project on selected works of five contemporary composers : Malcolm Arnold, Robert Henderson, Stan Friedman, John Elmsley, Lucia Dlugoszweski

University of British Columbia

The principal objective of this dissertation is to discuss music for unaccompanied trumpet and trumpet and tape composed after 1965. The discussion of these works will emphasize a method of preparation for each work. New techniques and effects that modern-day trumpet players will need to master will be pursued with relationship to each composition under consideration. Each chapter is dedicated to one composition. The introductory chapter discusses the execution of difficult leaps which is one of the most common challenges in the majority of modern trumpet music. Technique books and general suggestions in the improvement of this technique are emphasized. Chapter II features comments on Malcolm Arnold's Fantasy for Flat Trumpet which is the most "traditional" composition of the five works being surveyed. In Chapter III, Robert Henderson's Variation Movements, 1967 is discussed. The work has components of serialism which give way to tonally motivic material. The piece lends itself to a detailed analysis, although, for this purpose, a rather general discussion with some detail will make the musical decisions clearer. The fourth chapter discusses Stan Friedman's Solus. This composition features the use of pedal tones, aleatoric events, the open-tubing technique, tremolos, and slide glissandi. Some analysis as well as practice and performance suggestions are included in this chapter. Chapter V focuses on a work by John Elmsly entitled Triptych for trumpet and tape. In addition to some analysis of the work there are performance suggestions to enable synchronization between trumpet and tape. Chapter VI features Lucia Dlugoszewski's Space is a Diamond, the most experimental composition of the five being discussed. Innovative techniques utilized in the work include percussive bubble, glissando, flutter-tonguing, ricochet glissando, flap-tonguing, and whistle tone. New notational indications are also discussed. The examination of these compositions demonstrates increased technical demands and analytical skills that will be required by trumpet players

Text

2011-03-07

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/32135

Music

University of British Columbia

Graduate