Selected Solo Music for Saxophone by United States Composers: 1975-2005

This dissertation project identifies important works for solo saxophone by United States composers between 1975 and 2005. The quality, variety, expressiveness, and difficulty of the solo saxophone repertoire during these thirty years is remarkable and remedies, to some extent, the fact that the saxophone had been a largely neglected instrument in the realm of classical music. In twentieth-century music, including Jazz, the saxophone developed, nevertheless, a unique and significant voice as is evident in the saxophone repertoire that expands immensely in many instrumental settings, including the orchestra, solo works, and a wide variety of chamber ensembles. Historically, the saxophone in the United States first found its niche in Vaudeville, military bands, and jazz ensembles, while in Europe composers such as Debussy, D'Indy, Schmitt, Ibert, Glazounov, Heiden, and Desenclos recognized the potential of the instrument and wrote for it. The saxophone is well suited to the intimacy and unique timbral explorations of the solo literature, but only by the middle twentieth century did the repertoire allow the instrument to flourish into a virtuosic and expressive voice presented by successive generations of performers – Marcel Mule, Sigurd Rascher, Cecil Leeson, Jean-Marie Londeix, Fred Hemke, Eugene Rousseau, and Donald Sinta. The very high artistic level of theses soloists was inspiring and dozens of new compositions were commissioned. Through the 1960’s American composers such as Paul Creston, Leslie Bassett, Henry Cowell, Alec Wilder, and others produced eminent works for the saxophone, to be followed by an enormous output of quality compositions between 1975 and 2005. The works chosen for performance were selected from thousands of compositions between 1975 and 2005 researched for this project. The three recital dates were: April 6, 2005, in Gildenhorn Recital Hall, December 4, 2005, in Ulrich Recital Hall, and April 15, 2006, in Gildenhorn Recital Hall. Recordings of these recitals may be obtained in person or online from the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library of the University of Maryland, College Park.

Characteristics of primary care office visits to nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physicians in United States Veterans Health Administration facilities, 2005 to 2010: a retrospective cross-sectional analysis.

UNLABELLED: BACKGROUND: Primary care, an essential determinant of health system equity, efficiency, and effectiveness, is threatened by inadequate supply and distribution of the provider workforce. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has been a frontrunner in the use of nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs). Evaluation of the roles and impact of NPs and PAs in the VHA is critical to ensuring optimal care for veterans and may inform best practices for use of PAs and NPs in other settings around the world. The purpose of this study was to characterize the use of NPs and PAs in VHA primary care and to examine whether their patients and patient care activities were, on average, less medically complex than those of physicians. METHODS: This is a retrospective cross-sectional analysis of administrative data from VHA primary care encounters between 2005 and 2010. Patient and patient encounter characteristics were compared across provider types (PA, NP, and physician). RESULTS: NPs and PAs attend about 30% of all VHA primary care encounters. NPs, PAs, and physicians fill similar roles in VHA primary care, but patients of PAs and NPs are slightly less complex than those of physicians, and PAs attend a higher proportion of visits for the purpose of determining eligibility for benefits. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that a highly successful nationwide primary care system relies on NPs and PAs to provide over one quarter of primary care visits, and that these visits are similar to those of physicians with regard to patient and encounter characteristics. These findings can inform health workforce solutions to physician shortages in the USA and around the world. Future research should compare the quality and costs associated with various combinations of providers and allocations of patient care work, and should elucidate the approaches that maximize quality and efficiency.

A GLOBAL SAMPLING OF PIANO MUSIC FROM 1978 TO 2005

Pianists of the twenty-first century have a wealth of repertoire at their fingertips. They busily study music from the different periods -- Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and some of the twentieth century -- trying to understand the culture and performance practice of the time and the stylistic traits of each composer so they can communicate their music effectively. Unfortunately, this leaves little time to notice the composers who are writing music today. Whether this neglect proceeds from lack of time or lack of curiosity, I feel we should be connected to music that was written in our own lifetime, when we already understand the culture and have knowledge of the different styles that preceded us. Therefore, in an attempt to promote today’s composers, I have selected piano music written during my lifetime, to show that contemporary music is effective and worthwhile and deserves as much attention as the music that preceded it. This dissertation showcases piano music composed from 1978 to 2005. A point of departure in selecting the pieces for this recording project is to represent the major genres in the piano repertoire in order to show a variety of styles, moods, lengths, and difficulties. Therefore, from these recordings, there is enough variety to successfully program a complete contemporary recital from the selected works, and there is enough variety to meet the demands of pianists with different skill levels and recital programming needs. Since we live in an increasingly global society, music from all parts of the world is included to offer a fair representation of music being composed everywhere. Half of the music in this project comes from the United States. The other half comes from Australia, Japan, Russia, and Argentina. The composers represented in these recordings are: Lowell Liebermann, Richard Danielpour, Frederic Rzewski, Judith Lang Zaimont, Samuel Adler, Carl Vine, Nikolai Kapustin, Akira Miyoshi and Osvaldo Golijov. With the exception of one piano concerto, all the works are for solo piano. This recording project dissertation consists of two 60 minute CDs of selected repertoire, accompanied by a substantial document of in-depth program notes. The recordings are documented on compact discs that are housed within the University of Maryland Library System.

SOLO AND CHAMBER CLARINET WORKS BY AMERICAN- BORN WOMEN COMPOSERS: 1990-2005

During the period of 1990-2005, American-born women composers have contributed significantly to the standard clarinet repertoire. Pioneering composers such as Joan Tower, Margaret Brouwer, and Libby Larsen have created staples for clarinet literature. Yet, there is very little scholarly research on women composers of clarinet music, most being concentrated on Joan Tower. Through my research, I have discovered over seventy-five works by more than fifty composers in the following genres: solo clarinet; clarinet and piano; clarinet and voice, with or without piano; and small chamber pieces for up to five players. This performance dissertation project consists of three recitals featuring solo and chamber works by nine living women composers, and program notes containing pertinent biographical and compositional information. My intent is to increase recognition women composers, both prominent and lesser known, who are writing high-quality, accessible clarinet literature. Each woman selected is making a full or partial living from the sales of her compositions, has received recognition through awards, commissions, grants, and frequent performances, and has composed works that are both performer and audience accessible. Recital 1: Trios for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano Commissioned by the Verdehr Trio and Composed by American-Born Women Composers. Composers: Jennifer Higdon, Joan Tower, Margaret Brouwer, and Libby Larsen. Recital II: Programmatic Clarinet Works by American-Born Women Composers. Composers: Andrea Clearfield, Stella Sung, and Karen Amrhein. Recital III: Works for Solo Clarinet, Clarinet and Piano, and Clarinet Concerto Genres by American-Born Women Composers. Composers: Persis Parshall Vehar, Jenni Brandon, Margaret Brouwer, and Libby Larsen.

Erratum: Generalized Smarr relation for Kerr-AdS black holes from improved surface integrals (Physical Review D (2005) 71 (044016)

SCOPUS: er.j

Ecological Status Report: results from the CPR Survey 2004/2005.

Using a number of ecological indices, this report summarises unusual species found, large phytoplankton blooms, changes in community structure and trends in hydrobiological indicators from regions in the North Atlantic (with an emphasis on the North Sea). In the majority of cases the term unuasual or large in referring to phytoplankton blooms refers to population increases greater than four standard deviations above the species recorded baseline mean (baseline mean: 1980-2003). Notable blooms that are geographically lareg refer to patch sizes greater then 100 km in diameter. The primary regional assessment area used to monitor changes in community structure, biomass and phenological changes is the central North Sea. Most data analysis has been performed to highlight the year 2004 in relation to the long-term dataset. 2005 sample data is presented but has not yet undergone quality checks. Annual abundance estimates were calculated for each CPR box when eight or more months were sampled, no annual estimate of abundance was calculated. Sea surface temperature was used as an indicator of ocean climate and climate change.