An Analysis Of Pitch And Rhythm In John Adams’ Recent Instrumental Pieces Examples From "Slonimsky’s Earbox"

John Adams, as one of the most popular American contemporary composers, has a different music style from the other minimalist composers. He loves to try to combine his own works with totally different music styles, such as western classical music and jazz, etc. The Adam’s music sensation can be described as the popularly acceptable sound of contemporary music. This is also the reason that some musicians consider his music as neo-romanticism and post-minimalism.So far in China, published articles classify Adams as a minimalist composer. Most of the articles are categorizing his musical characteristics into different periods influences from Eastern and Western cultures. Abroad, especially in America, there are more analyses and dissertations about Adams’music. Composition technique, musicology perspective and performance style are all included. No specific articles on his rhythm research have been found.Through researching the papers on Adams, we find frequent mention of the musician Nicolas Slonimsky and his "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" when talking about Adams’melodies and scales. In1996, Adams composed an orchestral work entitled Slonimsky’s Earbox. This dissertation will focus on the "Slonimsky’s Earbox" and discuss how Adams absorbs and develops his melodic models from the "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns". Furthermore, it will use the traditional and contemporary analysis methods to clarify the details of music elements in this piece.This treatise consists of two chapters.The chapter1firstly identifies the inner structural way of Slonimsky’s "Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns" and the logic of its’own patterns’system; secondly, it’s about the relationship between Adams’work and the Slonimsky’s Patterns; thirdly, most importantly, it illustrates where and how Adams used the "Patterns" in this piece. Melodic transformation and modification are the key points in this chapter.The chapter2main focus is on two major topics:Pitch Construction and Rhythm Construction. In addition, the technique of melodic transformation, rhythmic transposition, displacements, polyphony and the long linear crescendo power of Adams’music are included.