From the Shadows: a Collection of Flute Music by Living Black American Composers

For centuries, composers of color have been left out of our music history books, performances, and recordings. One of the major problems that I notice with my Black students is a simple disconnect from the music. Many students find Classical music boring, and they usually do not grow up listening to art music. The lack of exposure to traditional Western art music creates a natural detachment for many students. Several works from the past century use elements of jazz and blues. These elements--repetition, chords, extended techniques, whole tone scales, syncopation, modes, progressions, and simplicity--are more familiar and, in response turn, more appealing to younger musicians. There are also connections to traditional Western music such as form (sonata, rondo, theme and & variations). In this document, I point out these qualities with special attention given to form, extended techniques, and compositional devices. I also hope to convey the importance in diversity of musical repertoire. For this project, I have recorded the pieces discussed in this document and compiled them into an album, complete with cover art and liner notes. This document is to accompany the following recordings to be shared on compact disc: 1. Adolphus Hailstork, The Pied Piper of Harlem for solo flute (1980) 2. Allison Loggins-Hull, Homeland for solo flute (2018) 3. Brian Raphael Nabors, Énergie for flute and fixed-format electronics (2015) 4. Allison Loggins-Hull, Pray for flute and electronics (2010) 5. Brian Raphael Nabors, Theme and Variations for Alto Flute (2018) 6. Allison Loggins-Hull, Color Wheels for alto flute and electronics (2017) 7. Valerie Coleman, Wish, S: Sonatine for flute and piano (2015) For each piece, I explore musical elements, share the background of the composers, and include musical examples of performance and extended techniques that are needed for the pieces. My hope is that the suggested approaches discussed will aid the reader to better learn, perform, and teach each work and to understand the importance of itstheir place in the flute repertoire. I also hope that this project encourages others to research, and perform works from the featured composers, and other Black American composers.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Alabama Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Keith, Steven Ryan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Boyd Schultz, Diane

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bailey, Mary
• Robinson, Thomas
• Noffsinger, Jonathan
• Tayloe, David
• Wilkes, Sherron

• Alto Flute
• Black
• Composers
• Flute
• Music

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Dc Identifier Other

1208737

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/17679