About Steven L. Rosenhaus Expertise Areas of interest: Classical composition, writing musical theater (including music, lyrics, libretti), songwriting (pop, rock, blues, folk, etc.); music theory; orchestration; arranging. Also: music publishing and related topics.
Experience Composer/arranger with over 100 original works and arrangements in currently in print; publishers include E.F. Kalmus, Masters Music, Music-Print Productions, Theodore Presser, etc. Works have been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe by the United States Navy Band, the U.S. Naval Academy Band, violinist Florian Meyer, the Dresden Sinfonietta conducted by Milko Kersten, pianist Laura Leon, the Meridian String Quartet, the New Hudson Saxophone Quartet, clarinetist Guido Arbonelli, etc. Off-Broadway musical "Critic" (1988) ran 41 performances to good reviews. Co-author, with Allen Cohen, "Writing Musical Theater" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). Also performing singer/songwriter: was in the Don't Quit Your Day Job Players, 1997-2000 (CD:"Blues Spoken Here" available at CDBaby); solo performer since 2000 (CD:"A Man Like Me" available at CDBaby, iTunes, etc.). Classical works and songs recorded on the Capstone, Richarson, Music for a G'Day, and MPP labels; available through CDBaby and/or iTunes, Rhapsody, etc.
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Composition at New York University; have taught composition and other subjects at NYU since 1992, including "Introduction to Music Publishing and Printing" (which I created for NYU's Music Business program). Also Adjunct Assistant Professor at Nassau Community College, teaching songwriting, folk music, history of rock, and other subjects. Currently creating a series of performance etudes for the U.S. Navy School of Music, coordinating them with the School's music theory, ear training, and performance instruction programs.
Organizations ASCAP, MENC, NARAS, Music Theory Society, College Music Society, plus several others in music education, composition, and theory.
Publications "Writing Musical Theater" by Allen Cohen and Steven L. Rosenhaus (Palgrave Macmillan, 2006). Article in Strings Magazine, May 2007, on my string quartet "Strange Loops."
Education/Credentials Ph.D.- New York University
M.A. - Queens College (CUNY)
B.A. - Queens College (CUNY)
Question To make up for my lack of specificity: we are doing hand drumming with children in grades K-5. We are teaching them a piece that begins with multiple parts, gradually takes parts away and then brings each part back. We are struggling to remember the term for this compositional technique. I hold performance degrees from Juilliard, Oberlin and Yale (and therefore should remember such a thing!) so you can be very specific and technical in your response. Perhaps there is no specific term and that's why we can't remember it.
Answer My apologies. I did not know of your musical education and had to assume (based on, well, all of the previous questions I've gotten from people) that we were going from square one.
Frankly, I can not come up with a specific term for what you're doing, other than the one you've already used: layering. Second best option: Textural modulation (but that's just too complex for the concept).
I've checked several sources too. I've come up with nothing. And it's not like no one does this either. The late Lukas Foss did it in several works and, in another context, I've seen West African and Middle Eastern drummers do it as well.
