Observations of form in Christian Lauba's Dream in a Bar, for baritone saxophone and percussion

The purpose of this dissertation is to make observations of form in Christian Lauba's Dream in a Bar for baritone saxophone and percussion through an analysis of pitch, rhythmic and timbral organisation. It will be shown that Dream in a Bar is a single movement work that is essentially through-composed and does not have any large scale musical return, such as one would see in sonata form. Subsequently, this dissertation will explore other relationships by which to establish the form of the work. It will consider the large-scale functions of pitch, rhythm and timbre as organising elements. Following an outline of concepts pertaining to twentieth century musical form within the western art music tradition, the analysis will consider Lauba's use of pitch, rhythm and timbre as individual delineators of form in Dream in a Bar. The conclusion and discussion will present the findings of the analysis. This dissertation will examine the large-scale functions of pitch, rhythm and timbre in Dream in a Bar as delineators of form, rather than discussing specific small-scale events. The structure of a piece of music is perceived, not as a series of discreet independent units strung together, but as a process wherein smaller ideas function as part of a larger organisation (Cooper & Meyer,1960,2).