 WALTMANSEARLY AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC |
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CHRISTIAN ONYEJI (NG) My compositions (art music) set out to draw from the totality of what constitutes the essence of the traditional music on which they are based and present them in the idiom of the new work. This entails some investigations on the type and use of harmony, melodic structures form, rhythm, dynamics of performance, contextual nuances of the performances, dance and audience roles in the performance of the chosen traditional music, etc. Such enquiry enables me grasp the creative distinctions of the music as well as the idiom of its expression in the given social context which I project in the art music composition. CHRISTIAN ONYEJI holds a Diploma in Music Education, Bachelor of Arts degree as well as a Master of Arts degree in music from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He also holds a Doctor of Music degree from the University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa. He is a researcher on African music as well as composes from the African stock. He specializes in Research-Composition, a modern approach to art music composition that entails application of ethnomusicological procedures in the composition of modern African art music that is a logical continuum of African traditional music. This is done after in-depth research on chosen traditional music or music tradition. He has made some contributions to modern African music for symphony orchestra, drummistic piano style of modern compositions for the piano, solo voice and choral compositions in World Carols for Choirs by Oxford University Press and others, as well as scholarly works in some leading journals such as Ethnomusicology, Journal of the International Association for Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA), Journal of Musical Arts in Africa (JMAA), Readings in African Diaspora music, the publications of Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education, International Society for Music education (ISME), as well as the forthcoming Anthology of Piano Works by Composers of African Descent of the Oxford University Press. His works have been widely performed locally and internationally. He is a Nigerian Researcher, composer, choreographer, conductor/music director and theatre director. He is currently a Post Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Music, North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa. He is also a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Music, University of Nigeria, Nsukka Enugu State, Nigeria, where his duties include the teaching of African music, composition, theory of music, piano, voice, and performance, among others. Listen to a Christmas Carol for Choir composed by Christian Onyeji, Amuworo ayi otu nwa (For unto us a child is born) on the website of Oxford University Press. See also Interview. More info E: Mail – 21020655(AT)nwu.co.za; uconyeji(AT)yahoo.com; uconyeji(AT)unn-edu.net. |
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