Undergraduate Program
Senior Essays
Each year students undertaking the Intensive Music Major must complete the intensive senior essay requirement, an independent and original project in the history or theory of music or in music composition. The Department of Music selects the best senior essay as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music prize. Recent Senior Essays include:
2010
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, Marriage, Monachism, and 'La Calisto:' Francesco Cavalli and Giovanni Faustini's Opera in Seventeenth-Century Venetian Society, an essay in music history. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Daniel Gelernter, Transcribing and Arranging Gershwin , an essay in music theory.
Kenya Gillespie, Dove Descending , for full orchestra.
Ryan Harper, Mythologies , an album of concert music, songs and fragments.
Rex Isenberg, Sturm und (La)drang , for Javanese gamelan.
David Leigh, Love Songs and a Song of Despair, an extended song cycle on poems of Pablo Neruda.
Loren Loiacono, 'For Madmen Only:' Scenes from 'Steppenwolf' , for chamber ensemble.
Daniel Schlosberg, Five Stuck , for three chamber orchestras, percussion, and organ.
2009
Paul Sherrill, Metric Dissonance, Form and, Metaphors of Motion in 'Different Trains', an essay in music theory. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Margarita Alway, Making the Band: The Development of an American Concert Band Repertoire and the Band Works of Paul Hindemith, Aaron Copland, and Karel Husa, an essay in music history.
James Apgar, A "Great" Tribute: Homage to Byrd in Tomkins' 'Third Service', an essay in music history.
Abraham Wayman, The Mirror, for orchestra.
Stephen Wirth, Mufit Politt in Deutschland: 'Das erste deutsche Sangerbundesfest' and the Manifestation of Imagined Communities, an essay in music history.
2008
David DeAngelis, Rock You Like an Orchestra; A History of Orchestral Rock Music, an essay in music history. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Drew S. Levitt, Pierre Certon's Missa Ave Sanctissima, an essay in music history.
2007
Andrew McManus, Ora, for chamber orchestra and electronics. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Timothy Andres, Shy and Mighty, for two pianos, four hands.
2006
Eric Nathan, Nightscape/Daybreak, for solo trumpet and wind ensemble. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Jordan Nelson, Concerto for Orchestra, for symphony orchestra.
2005
Alexander Temple, Stile Moderno, for chamber ensemble. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Bee-Seon Keum, The Goethe Songs of Hugo Wolfe, an essay in music history.
2004
Jonathan Boschetto, An Investigation of Paris, Bibliothèque national, fonds français 2245 and the Roles of Editor and Source in Early Music, an essay in music history. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Robert Honstein, Towards Fame and Fortune I Walk, Avoiding Assassins, or Old Ladies … , for chamber ensemble
2003
Mark Seto, Bruckner's String Quartet in F Major, an essay in music history. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Mark Dancigers, Electric Guitar Etudes, for solo electric guitar.
2002
Evan Johnson, Horizontals … White Over Dark, for symphony orchestra. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Andrew Osarchuk, The Dramatic Language of Wozzeck, an essay in music theory.
2001
Matthew Croasmun, The Calculus Suite, for jazz chamber ensemble. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Joshua Penman, Samadhi-Lila, for mezzo-soprano, actor, actress, three dancers, violin, clarinet, oboe/english horn, percussion, live electronics, and tape.
2000
Paul Berry, The Pictorial Mode: An Interpretation of Musical Text Setting, an essay in music history. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
Sonya Lebsack, “Papa Likes His Outside Women, Mama Likes Her Outside Men:” Black Migration, the Female Blues Singers of the 1920’s, and the Redefinition of Womanhood, an essay in music history.
1999
Jason Freeman, Diffusions, for concert band. Selected as the winner of The Beekman Cannon Friends of Music Prize.
David Gordan, Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, for solo clarinet and symphony orchestra.
