Exploratory Musicism : Ideas for Spontaneous Composition

Examines both music and musical composition, and the characteristics they share with science, mathematics and the natural world. Written for upper-division and graduate courses, the book shows students that music is part of an interdisciplinary collection of artistic modes of expression, and that these modes can be better understood in the context of what we observe in the real world.

Exploratory Musicism: Ideas for Spontaneous Composition examines both music and musical composition, and the characteristics they share with science, mathematics and the natural world. Written for upper-division and graduate courses, the book shows students that music is part of an interdisciplinary collection of artistic modes of expression, and that these modes can be better understood in the context of what we observe in the real world. Using the book as a tool for extending the concept of music composition, students will discover new ways to connect music to more universal and organic constructions. As the rings of Saturn share similarities with how sound is organized, so does organic cell composition share similarities with music. As the mathematical Fibonacci sequence correlates to nature, so too can music be correlated to nature. In this book the way music is composed in real time (spontaneous composition) and music itself, are presented in a greater context. Exploratory Musicism leads students to the understanding that creativity is a vehicle through which we explore the evolution and interconnectedness of phenomena in our universe.

Ancillaries to this text include sample compositions, web links and exercises for class use.

Karlton E. Hester, Ph.D. (composer, flutist, and saxophonist), began his career as a composer and recording artist in Los Angeles where he worked as a studio musician and music educator. He specializes in premeditated, spontaneous, and electro-acoustic composition. His compositions range from solo cycles for various woodwinds to chamber configurations, music videos, interdisciplinary collaborations (music, dance, video, etc.) and electro-acoustic symphonic works. Dr. Hester has received composer fellowships, grants, and commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New England Council of the Arts, Arts International, ASCAP, the William Grant Still Foundation, and the Mellon Foundation. He served as the Herbert Gussman Director of Jazz Studies at Cornell University from 1991-2001. He is currently Professor of Music and Director of "Jazz" Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. Hester was founding director of the Fillmore Jazz Preservation Big Band, and is leader of his interdisciplinary arts ensemble, Hesterian Musicism.