Aaron Copland(1900~1990)is a well-known American composer, conductor, educator and musical criticism in twentieth century. He devoted his whole life to develop American music, and his music work of “Americanism” still influenced deeply and extensively from the time to present. In the trends of the times background and the courage to try various skills in composing, the creative style of Copland is highly changeable. Moreover, the most abundant period of creation is in the thirties and forties, and the main of that is simple music lexicon. This kind of work has simple structure and tuneful melody, and is widely loved by the public. The inquiring work at this thesis “Duo for Flute and Piano, 1971” is in the evening work, but it accomplishes by the most popular music style in the forties.

This thesis is inquired by four parts. In the first part, it discusses Copland’s life story and his creative style of music in each period. In the second part, it discusses creative background of “Duo for Flute and Piano” by the collection and commentary of literature documents. In the third part, it analyzes the creative skills of musical composition from the rational angle. In the final part, it integrates creative background and melody analysis, and furthermore provides the method of melody annotation and propositional practice, and anticipates that it can have more substantial helps in musical performance.

「Yu-Ling Lai Flute Recital Program」

W. A. Mozart: Sonata in C major for Flute and Piano, K. 14

Sigfrid Karg-Elert: Sinfonische Kanzone für Flöte und Klavier

André Jolivet: Chant de Linos pour Flûte et Piano

Jean-Michel Damase: Sonate en Concert pour Flûte et Piano

Astor Piazzolla: Invierno Porteno for Flute and Piano

Gary Schocker: Three Dances for Two Flutes and Piano