The Piano Improvisations of Chick Corea: An Analytical Study.

128 Pages·2017·2.45 MB·English

by  Daniel Alan Duke

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LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School
1996
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Daniel Alan Duke
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
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Duke, Daniel Alan, "The Piano Improvisations of Chick Corea: An Analytical Study." (1996). LSU Historical
Dissertations and Theses. 6334.
https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/6334
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THE PIANO IMPROVISATIONS
OF CHICK COREA:
AN ANALYTICAL STUDY
A Monograph
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the
Louisiana State University and
Agricultural and Mechanical College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
in
The School of Music
by
Daniel Duke
B.M., Northwestern University, 1984
M.M., The University of Texas, 1988
December 1996
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UMI Number: 9720348
Copyright 1996 by
Duke, Daniel Alan
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Copyright 1996
Daniel Alan Duke
Al1 rights reserved
11
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my appreciation to my
advisor. Doctor David Smyth. His insight, patience, and
guidance were invaluable throughout the conception and
writing of this monograph.
The members of my committee. Doctor Jack Guerry,
Professor Michael Curt, Doctor Jan Herlinger, and Doctor
David Smyth, all made valuable suggestions which improved
the final text.
Finally, I would like to give special thanks to my
children, Daniel and Aaron for allowing their father the
time to complete this study, and especially to my wife,
Sharon LaCour, for her infinite patience and support.
Ill
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PREFACE
This monograph is an analysis of the first five
pieces from an album by Chick Corea, Piano Improvisations,
Volume One. The titles of the individual pieces are Noon
Song, Song for Sally, Ballad for Anna, Song of the Wind,
and Sometime Ago. These pieces, which form a suite of
sorts, were chosen for a variety of reasons. High quality
transcriptions are available, the pieces have never been
dealt with in detail, and they embody an intriguing
mixture of classical styles, jazz styles, improvisation,
and composition.
Chapter one furnishes background information on Corea
and general observations on the Piano Improvisations.
Chapter two discusses existing analytical studies of jazz
and describes the methods used in this study. Chapters
three through seven comprise the detailed analyses of the
pieces, followed by conclusions in chapter eight.
I decided to use the term "classical” to describe
what is generally regarded as western European art music.
In the context of this paper, this term refers to music of
approximately the 17th through 19th centuries. In refering
to works by composers such as Berg, Hindemith, Messiaen,
and Cage, I use the term "20th-century classical music."
I also use the term "jazz" in a general way, inclusive of
various styles within jazz. There are two main reasons
for this use of the terminology: when style comparisons
IV
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are made in this study, the focus tends to be on jazz and
classical styles as a whole, rather than finer gradations
such as bebop, cool jazz, baroque, etc. Furthermore,
these are the most commonly used terms, for which no
widely accepted substitutes exist.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..........................................iii
PREFACE...................................................... iv
ABSTRACT................................................... vii
CHAPTER
1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION ........................ 1
Chick Corea: Life andW o r k s .................... 1
Piano Improvisations:G eneral Comments . . . 6
Jazz Influences...............................6
Classical Influences.........................10
Piano Improvisations:I ndividual Pieces . . 11
Noon Song.................................... 11
Song for S a l l y ............................. 11
Ballad for A n n a ............................. 12
Song of the N i n d ...........................12
Sometime A g o ................................13
2 METHODOLOGY AND REVIEW OFL ITERATURE . . . . 15
3 NOON S O N G ......................................... 25
4 SONG FOR S A L L Y ...................................42
5 BALLAD FOR A N N A ...................................55
6 SONG OF THE N I N D ................................ 66
7 SOMETIME A G O .....................................81
8 CONCLUSIONS ..................................... 98
END NOTES................................................... 106
BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................ 110
V I T A ........................................................115
VI
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