The purpose of this document is to create a template for a master’s degree in Collaborative Piano using data collected from an online survey and from publicly available information on institutional websites. The history and development of the graduate collaborative piano degree in the United States is examined to provide the background to this research. In addition to the degree template, other aspects useful for the creation of such a degree are discussed, including proposed required and optional courses, financial considerations, community outreach opportunities, and balancing off-campus professional engagements with on-campus academic duties. A list of all institutions currently offering collaborative piano degrees at the graduate level is included in the appendix.

The degree template conforms to the requirements of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) in order to allow the greatest number of institutions the ability to embrace the curriculum. Designed to be flexible within the overall requirements of the degree, the proposed curriculum favors a balanced approach between instrumental and vocal collaboration, with a combination of traditional courses, project-based courses, and customizable elective courses designed to develop important competencies in collaborative piano. Both solo and collaborative applied lessons would be required, with three coached collaborative recitals and one uncoached collaborative recital required to fulfill the degree requirements. The project-oriented Collaborative Piano Seminar course has the flexibility to allow team teaching or community partnerships and requires an off-campus class performance once per academic year.

The goal of this template is to provide a pedagogically solid foundation for a master’s degree in collaborative piano, with the flexibility to add a variety of elective courses best suited to the needs and talents of the students, faculty, and institution. The synthesis of classical and popular styles within the curriculum is designed to give the collaborative pianist diverse musical competencies in order to succeed and thrive as a professional musician in the 21st century, whether the student continues with self-education after the master’s degree, pursues further study at the doctoral level, or enters the professional world.

Vaclav Nelhybel (1919-1996) composed over 600 works, a significant number of which were never published. The trombone is included in more than 200 of Nelhybel’s compositions, some featuring the instrument in a solo role and also as a key contributor in many of his chamber and large ensemble works. The goal of this project is to bring this significant body of trombone literature into the light by examining his seventeen compositions that feature the trombone in solos and trombone ensembles; this paper also includes a select listing of other works by Nelhybel that include the trombone. The seventeen highlighted pieces include nine works for solo trombone and eight for trombone ensemble. This paper also contains background information on the composer and a brief discussion of his overall compositional history, focusing on the last thirty years of his life when he was most active as a composer and became one of the most prominent figures in the wind band movement in the United States. The central portion of the paper describes each of Nelhybel’s compositions that feature the trombone and is divided into three sections: the trombone as solo instrument in published works, an unpublished Concerto for bass trombone, and chamber works for two or more trombones alone. Discussions of key pedagogical aspects, recurring features and techniques, each piece’s difficulty level, and suggestions for performance are included for added depth.

Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov’s Concerto for Trombone and Military Band and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Sonata in F minor TWV 41:f1 are two works from contrasting periods written by well-known composers. International Music Company first published the Sonata in 1968 for trombone, edited by Allen Ostrander. Rimsky-Korsakov’s Concerto for Trombone was first published in the United States by Leeds Music Corporation in 1952, edited by Davis Shuman. Both of these compositions contain editorial concerns that detract from each composer’s original music.

In most modern editions, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Concerto is accompanied by a piano reduction made by Nikolay Sergeyevich Fedoseyev. Although this reduction is the most commonly used accompaniment today, it is overly difficult for the pianist. The reduction also alters musical gestures within the accompaniment written by Rimsky-Korsakov.

This project contrasts modern editions of each composition with their oldest known manuscript. For Telemann’s Sonata, this is the first publication in Der Getreue Music-Meister, published by the composer in 1728-29. For Rimsky-Korsakov’s Concerto, this is a copyist’s manuscript that is currently housed at the library of the Moscow State Academic Philharmonic. The centerpiece of this project is the preparation of new solo parts for each work and a new piano reduction for Rimsky-Korsakov’s Concerto that restores the composer’s original intentions and makes clear editorial changes and suggestions.

Literature is an important source for children to learn about many aspects of life, including music, and, more specifically, the trombone as a special type of musical instrument. The project at hand seeks to encourage the introduction of the trombone to young children through books and stories in which the instrument is featured prominently. Seven such books by various authors are identified and analyzed, and a study guide for each is presented. In addition, a brief history of children’s literature and a discussion of its use in the music classroom provide context for these seven books as well as any music-themed literature. Finally, the centerpiece of this project is the creation of a new book intended for children and featuring the trombone, written and illustrated by the present author.