TEXT AND MEANING IN LISZT’S ANNÉES DE PÈLERINAGE, ITALIE
Amalfi Coast International Music and Arts Festival, 2013
University of Michigan, 2013
Lecture/recital and research paper demonstrating compositional devices that become determining features of Liszt’s middle and late compositional style. Thematic transformation, programmatic meaning, symbolic key significance and other traits are analyzed in Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata. The transformation from art song to piano writing and its influence on phrasing and interpretation is examined in the Tre sonetti del Petrarca.
ANALYTICAL APPROACHES TO SCRIABIN’S PIANO MUSIC
University of Michigan, 2010-2011
Research papers, literature review, and multiple presentations on existing approaches to Scriabin analysis, particularly in relationship to the Sixth Sonata. In order to cultivate a deeper musical and interpretive understanding of Scriabin’s piano output, I have proposed an examination of the merits and drawbacks of different methodologies, from mystic chord, proto-serialism, and octatonic theories to neo-Schenkerian approaches to analysis.
UNDERSTANDING AND PERFORMING BACH’S C MINOR PARTITA
University of Michigan, 2011
Presentations and paper proposing an approach to interpreting Bach on the modern piano based on an examination of compositional structures. The project is aimed at discovering how issues of phrasing, articulation, harmonic decoration, rhythm, ornamentation, etc., can be understood from a compositional perspective and thereafter translated from performance on the harpsichord to the modern piano.
EPISODIC MATERIAL IN BACH: AN EXAMINATION OF COMPOSITIONAL CONTENT
University of Michigan, 2011
Presentation on the make-up of episodic material in Bach’s fugal works and movements. Questions examined include how Bach’s choice of episodic material might contribute to the character of the fugue in question, and how this is apparent when comparing different fugues and fugal movements to each other.
MUSICAL HUMOR IN PIANO MUSIC: A THEORY OF REFERENTIAL AND COMPOSITIONAL HUMOR
University of Michigan, 2012
Research paper and presentation on analyzing and categorizing the elements that create different types of musical humor. The ways in which intra- and inter-stylistic contexts, parody, incongruity, and other features create musical humor are explored. How to engage students and cultivate interpretive expressiveness through the use of musical humor as a pedagogical tool is also discussed.
Amalfi Coast International Music and Arts Festival, 2013
University of Michigan, 2013
Lecture/recital and research paper demonstrating compositional devices that become determining features of Liszt’s middle and late compositional style. Thematic transformation, programmatic meaning, symbolic key significance and other traits are analyzed in Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata. The transformation from art song to piano writing and its influence on phrasing and interpretation is examined in the Tre sonetti del Petrarca.
ANALYTICAL APPROACHES TO SCRIABIN’S PIANO MUSIC
University of Michigan, 2010-2011
Research papers, literature review, and multiple presentations on existing approaches to Scriabin analysis, particularly in relationship to the Sixth Sonata. In order to cultivate a deeper musical and interpretive understanding of Scriabin’s piano output, I have proposed an examination of the merits and drawbacks of different methodologies, from mystic chord, proto-serialism, and octatonic theories to neo-Schenkerian approaches to analysis.
UNDERSTANDING AND PERFORMING BACH’S C MINOR PARTITA
University of Michigan, 2011
Presentations and paper proposing an approach to interpreting Bach on the modern piano based on an examination of compositional structures. The project is aimed at discovering how issues of phrasing, articulation, harmonic decoration, rhythm, ornamentation, etc., can be understood from a compositional perspective and thereafter translated from performance on the harpsichord to the modern piano.
EPISODIC MATERIAL IN BACH: AN EXAMINATION OF COMPOSITIONAL CONTENT
University of Michigan, 2011
Presentation on the make-up of episodic material in Bach’s fugal works and movements. Questions examined include how Bach’s choice of episodic material might contribute to the character of the fugue in question, and how this is apparent when comparing different fugues and fugal movements to each other.
MUSICAL HUMOR IN PIANO MUSIC: A THEORY OF REFERENTIAL AND COMPOSITIONAL HUMOR
University of Michigan, 2012
Research paper and presentation on analyzing and categorizing the elements that create different types of musical humor. The ways in which intra- and inter-stylistic contexts, parody, incongruity, and other features create musical humor are explored. How to engage students and cultivate interpretive expressiveness through the use of musical humor as a pedagogical tool is also discussed.