Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington
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Critical Analysis of the Composition Techniques and Devices Used in Troy Roberts' Album 'The XenDen Suite'

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thesis
posted on 2021-11-12, 12:53 authored by Crawford, Michael Victor

Troy Roberts is a jazz saxophonist, originally from Perth, West Australia. At present, no academic research has been done on Roberts’ compositions or playing, making this research project a positive way of contributing new information to the academic body of knowledge.   His album, ‘The Xen-Den Suite’ was chosen as the material best suited to provide insight into Roberts’ musicianship (particularly focussing on his compositional and arranging techniques), as it is both intellectually complex and also musically innovative. The aim of the study was to identify and describe the use of various techniques and devices (including their relevance, purpose and function) present in Roberts’ music. Through this study, this researcher attempted to gain a basic overview of Roberts’ musical characteristics, with the objective to be able to utilise this information to further this researcher’s musical development (including compositions, arrangements and saxophone playing).  The findings were useful for direct application (i.e. the techniques could be used in the same manner as they appeared in the XenDen Suite, and could therefore be immediately applied to other areas such as composition, arrangement and improvisation), but the many different ways in which the techniques were used compositionally by Roberts provided a more insightful look into broader musical concepts, and their application.

History

Copyright Date

2012-01-01

Date of Award

2012-01-01

Publisher

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Rights License

Author Retains Copyright

Degree Discipline

Musical Arts

Degree Grantor

Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington

Degree Level

Masters

Degree Name

Master of Musical Arts

Victoria University of Wellington Item Type

Awarded Research Masters Thesis

Language

en_NZ

Victoria University of Wellington School

New Zealand School of Music

Advisors

Dyne, Paul