Pierce (Alexandra) Collection, 1973-2012

Summary

Title:

Alexandra Pierce Collection

Dates:

1973-2012

Creators:

Pierce, Alexandra (1934-2021)

Abstract:

The Alexandra Pierce Collection at Armacost Library preserves digital copies of published compositions by Alexandra Pierce (1934-2021), a noted twentieth-century American composer, scholar and educator known for her study of physical movement in music.

Extent:

133 Volumes

Language:

English .

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains 133 PDF-formatted copies of many of Pierce's published compositions, representing four decades of her output. Some scores within this collection also include parts. All scores are available for research use upon request.

Biographical / historical:

Born February 21, 1934, Alexandra Pierce received a Bachelor's of Music at the University of Michigan in 1955, a Masters of Music at the New England Conservatory of Music in 1958, and a Masters in Music History at Radcliffe College in 1959.

In the 1960s, Pierce achieved broader recognition as a composer, while pursuing research interests related to the role of rhythm in music through doctoral study at Brandeis University. She received research grants to study Native American music and the music of Bela Bartok. Her dissertation project advanced a definition of rhythm as the interplay of "structural accents" that punctuate the temporal movement of a piece of music.

Dr. Pierce served the University of Redlands as a professor of music and movement from 1968 to 2001 and was recognized with emeritus status upon her retirement. A prolific composer, Pierce was active in many genres. Many of her earlier works were composed for piano; the 1970s saw the commissioning of her first symphony, Behemoth, for the University of Redlands/Redlands Community Symphony Orchestra, and a chamber quartet, Music for Dance, for Eyes Wide Open, a Los Angeles dance company. Both scores won first prize in the Mu Phi Epsilon National Composition Contest. During the 1980s and 1990s, Pierce wrote numerous vocal works, often to texts by her husband, the poet and drama professor Roger Pierce. Her second symphony, Dances on the Face of the Deep, premiered in 1988, and her string quartet Outcrops and Upshots garnered another Mu Phi Epsilon prize in 1995.

The insight that attentiveness to physical movement could help musicians understand the structure of a musical work and improve their performance motivated much of Pierce's teaching and lecturing. Her first book Spanning: Essays on Music Theory, Performance and Movement collects essays on physical injury, healing and expressiveness for musicians, with particular emphasis on pianists. Roger and Alexandra Pierce's shared interest in physical movement across the arts resulted in two coauthored books, numerous conference presentations/demonstrations and the creation of a touring workshop, "Moving Voices," integrating poetry, movement and music.

Pierce received the 2004 University of Redlands Creativity in Retirement award. She summed up her research on aural, somatic, and structural aspects of musical performance in her book Deepening Musical Performance Through Movement: The Theory and Practice of Embodied Interpretation, published by Indiana University Press in 2007.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Music
Orchestral music -- Scores

About this collection guide

Date Encoded:

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-08-08 13:02:15 -0700 .

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research use.

Terms of access:

All scores are under copyright to various publishers, including Subito [formerly Seesaw Music Corporation], Sisra Publications, and Media Press. Researchers are responsible for obtaining permission from the rightsholder for purposes outside of academic fair use.

Location of this collection:

University of Redlands

1249 E Colton Ave.

Redlands, CA 92374, US

Contact:

(909) 748-8022

library@redlands.edu

Website