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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Music
First Advisor
Joshua S. Duchan
Abstract
This document examines Alexina Louie’s distinctive approaches to piano composition with an emphasis on her most recent pedagogical album, Small Beautiful Things (2016). It asks the question: What are the distinctive features of Alexina Louie’s piano music and how have they changed throughout her career? The findings herein augment extant scholarship through the following research efforts: Small Beautiful Things is considered within a historical context of Louie’s pedagogical writing for piano; moreover, the substantial use of visual aids and post-tonal analyses helps to address the underlying theoretical basis of her stylistic choices and their pedagogical implications.
Rhythmic features are discussed in terms of their role in determining phraseology and, consequently, form. Louie often approaches phrasing from a minimalist standpoint, opting to lengthen or shorten the musical phrase according to her visceral sense of its trajectory. Harmony, melody, and motivic cells are analyzed through the lens of post-tonal theory. This approach illuminates Louie’s preferred pitch class sets and the extent to which their properties inform musical development.
The findings of this research suggest that those stylistic features which characterized Louie’s most advanced and virtuosic works permeate her pedagogical compositions from 1982 to 2016. Louie prefers to develop her pieces through minimalist approaches to rhythm, harmony, and melody, including a tendency to select symmetrical pitch class sets. These strategies work symbiotically, alongside evocative titles and poetic references, to convey a musical sound world that is, at once, reflective, appealing, and accessible to young pianists.
Recommended Citation
Santoro, Nadia Olimpia, "Poetry And Atmosphere: The Piano Works Of Alexina Louie" (2024). Wayne State University Theses. 948.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_theses/948