Date of Graduation
2016
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
DMA
College
College of Creative Arts
Department
School of Music
Committee Chair
James Miltenberger
Committee Co-Chair
Peter Amstutz
Committee Member
Mary Ferer
Committee Member
William Haller
Committee Member
Bernie Schultz
Abstract
This research document focuses on three American compositions: John Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato, Miguel del Aguila's Conga for Solo Piano, and William Bolcom's Nine New Bagatelles. These three pieces fall into the category of standard contemporary works which require pianists' advanced technique, sound exploration, and imagination. The intention of this research is to provide guidance for pianists and piano instructors who want to learn, perform, or teach any of these contemporary pieces. There are five chapters in this document. Chapter One highlights the existing literature regarding these three pieces. Chapter Two, "John Corigliano," has three main sections. Section one includes a biography of John Corigliano. Section two focuses on how Corigliano has used minimalist technique, music quotation, and aleatoric elements in his Fantasia on an Ostinato. Section three highlights the major technical challenges and their possible solutions in the Fantasia on an Ostinato. It includes discussions of "Bebung" effect, metric modulation, aleatoric elements, hand shifting, and dynamic control. Chapter Three, "Miguel del Aguila," also consists of three main sections. A biography of Miguel del Aguila is presented in section one. Section two provides a brief history of "Conga" as the Cuban drum and also as the Conga dance. Miguel del Aguila's inspiration in writing the Conga Line in Hell is also discussed in section two. Section three focuses on the structural analysis and the performance concerns of this Conga. Clave pattern, distorted rhythms, salsa-like pattern, tango rhythm, glissando, tempo, dynamics, wrist movement, body posture and balance are discussed in section three. Similarly, Chapter Four, "William Bolcom," has three main sections. A biography of William Bolcom is presented in section one. Bolcom's significant piano solo works are discussed in section two, together with the placement of his Nine New Bagatelles among his piano solo works. Section three provides brief structural analysis of each bagatelle as well as the performance concerns of tempo, articulation, pedaling, division between hands, trills, dynamics, tone quality, balance of sound, and voicing in the Nine New Bagatelles. The summary is presented in Chapter Five.
Recommended Citation
Chai, Tse Wei, "Pedagogical and Performance Aspects of Three American Compositions for Solo Piano: John Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato, Miguel del Aguila's Conga for Piano, and William Bolcom's Nine New Bagatelles" (2016). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 5331.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/5331