Stages out : a work for orchestra

Stages Out for orchestra was composed between September 1982 and July 1983 by John H. Morrison. The work was written to serve as a master's thesis to fulfill part of the requirements for the Master of Music degree with a concentration in composition at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The purposes of this paper are to further the comprehension of what the composer has done in Stages Out and to indicate the source of certain features of the work. Toward these ends, an account of the form of the piece is followed by an exposition of ideas and techniques which influenced the character and shape of the composition. By comparing the use of certain techniques in Stages Out with their use in the work of those composers from whom this composer learned of them, an understanding may be gained of this composer's work and perhaps incidentally of the process of composing in general.