University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Harmonically speaking: George Van Eps and the great American songbook

Swanson, Erik

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Description

Title
Harmonically speaking: George Van Eps and the great American songbook
Author(s)
Swanson, Erik
Issue Date
2017
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
McNeil, Charles
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Gray, Lawrence
Committee Member(s)
  • Silvers, Michael
  • Tipei, Sever
Department of Study
School of Music
Discipline
Music
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
A.Mus.D. (doctoral)
Keyword(s)
  • George Van Eps
  • jazz guitar
  • 7-string guitar
  • Solo jazz guitar
  • Great American songbook
Language
en
Abstract
George Van Eps (1913-1998) is a legendary figure among jazz guitarists, not only for his innovation in developing and performing on a 7-string instrument and the ability to perform unaccompanied, but also for his unprecedented harmonic knowledge that led him to develop his own unique style of playing he called the “Lap piano.” In spite of publishing four large instructional books about harmony on the guitar, little has been written about how he approached his own music when playing the many standards of the Great American Songbook, which is the backbone of his repertoire. For this project, eight of his finest and most complex unaccompanied recordings, arranged from the Great American Songbook, have been transcribed, spanning a period from 1955–1994. My objective is to understand how Van Eps approached arranging for the solo guitar in terms of his varied rhythmic styles, his treatment of melody, the vertical chord structures that he used (as well as how he approached moving harmony), and his approach to reharmonization.
Type of Resource
  • text
  • image
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Owning Collections

Doctoral Project Theses [Option 2] - Music PRIMARY