Top Ten American Composers

[Angie Parkes]

To the last syllable of recorded time;

[hal 9000]

Thank you for the monologue about the futility of it all a la MacBeth, Angie.

Here come the results...

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Well, another round has been brought to a close and I must say that the results were interesting this time around. Here are your Top Ten American Composers by general consensus:

01. Aaron Copland 123 points.
02. Leonard Bernstein 74 points.
03. George Gershwin 72 points.
04. Charles Ives 61 points.
05. Samuel Barber 52 points.
06. John Williams 40 points.
07. Scott Joplin 33 points.
08. John Philip Sousa 26 points.
09. Duke Ellington 23 points.
10. Philip Glass 18 points.

A total of 14 lists were submitted nominating 51 different composers. One composer appeared on every single list, with seven 1st place votes, three 2nd place votes, two 3rd place votes, and one 8th place vote. That composer was of course Aaron Copland, the undisputed king of American composers.

Next are the individual results. Pay attention to the alternate scoring results at the end as they change drastically from the official scoring method...

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1st place- ks organist 8 matching with a score of 49.

01. George Gershwin 8 points.
02. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
03. Scott Joplin 4 points.
04. John Philip Sousa 3 points.
05. Duke Ellington 2 points.
06. Frank Zappa
07. Norman della Joio
08. Aaron Copland 10 points.
09. Charles Ives 7 points.
10. Samuel Barber 6 points.

Congratulations ks organist! Your list best matched the general consensus list making you the person who gets to choose the next Top Ten thread topic. After I finish posting the rest of the individual results, I will post the compilation of topic ideas. You may choose one from that list if you wish or you may select a completely new one if you like. The list is merely there as a reference for you. PM me with your topic choice when you have it.

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2nd place- dai bread 8 matching with a score of 44.

01. Samuel Barber 6 points.
02. Charles Ives 7 points.
03. Aaron Copland 10 points.
04. Philip Glass 1 point.
05. John Philip Sousa 3 points.
06. Leroy Anderson
07. Richard Rogers
08. John Williams 5 points.
09. Scott Joplin 4 points.
10. George Gershwin 8 points.

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3rd place- Lliam 7 matching with a score of 47.

01. Aaron Copland 10 points.
02. George Gershwin 8 points.
03. Charles Ives 7 points.
04. Samuel Barber 6 points.
05. George Chadwick
06. Elmer Bernstein
07. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
08. Duke Ellington 2 points.
09. Bernard Herrmann
10. John Williams 5 points.

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4th place- FlyingSorcery 7 matching with a score of 46.

01. Ferde Grofe
02. Aaron Copland 10 points.
03. Henry Mancini
04. John Williams 5 points.
05. Scott Joplin 4 points.
06. George Gershwin 8 points.
07. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
08. John Philip Sousa 3 points.
09. George Frederick McKay
10. Charles Ives 7 points.

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5th place- BenG 7 matching with a score of 43.

01. Aaron Copland 10 points.
02. George Gershwin 8 points.
03. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
04. John Philip Sousa 3 points.
05. Scott Joplin 4 points.
06. Howard Shore-- Canadian
07. Charles Ives 7 points.
08. Duke Ellington 2 points.
09. Walter Piston
10. Walter Harbison

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6th place- Marye 6 matching with a score of 42.

01. Aaron Copland 10 points.
02. George Gershwin 8 points.
03. Samuel Barber 6 points.
04. Duke Ellington 2 points.
05. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
06. Billie Holliday
07. Charles Ives 7 points.
08. Irving Berlin
09. Elmer Bernstein
10. Frank Zappa

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7th place- TrumpetMaster 6 matching with a score of 40.

01. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
02. Aaron Copland 10 points.
03. George Gershwin 8 points.
04. Charles Ives 7 points.
05. John Williams 5 points.
06. Philip Glass 1 point.
07. John Cage
08. Alan Hovhaness
09. Virgil Thompson
10. Walter Piston

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8th place- OperaTenor 6 matching with a score of 31.

01. *ignaf
02. Aaron Copland 10 points.
03. Charles Ives 7 points.
04. Scott Joplin 4 points.
05. Maurice Jarre-- French
06. John Williams 5 points.
07. Duke Ellington 2 points.
08. Frank Zappa
09. Howard Shore-- Canadian
10. John Philip Sousa 3 points.

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9th place- Bones 5 matching with a score of 40 and an accuracy of -4.

01. Aaron Copland 10 points.
02. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
03. Samuel Barber 6 points.
04. Charles Ives 7 points.
05. George Gershwin 8 points.
06. Elliot Carter
07. Howard Hanson
08. Walter Piston
09. Virgil Thompson
10. Edward MacDowell

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10th place- Angie 5 matching with a score of 40 and an accuracy of -8.

01. Aaron Copland 10 points.
02. Samuel Barber 6 points.
03. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
04. George Gershwin 8 points.
05. Richard Rogers
06. Ferde Grofe
07. Charles Ives 7 points.
08. Elliot Carter
09. John Cage
10. Morton Gould

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11th place- madawab 5 matching with a score of 28.

01. John Williams 5 points.
02. Chip Davis
03. Stephen Foster
04. Aaron Copland 10 points.
05. Philip Glass 1 point.
06. George Winston
07. Scott Joplin 4 points.
08. Vince Guaraldi
09. George Gershwin 8 points.
10. John Cage

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12th place- bignaf 4 matching with a score of 34.

01. Steve Reich
02. George Crumb
03. Aaron Copland 10 points.
04. Charles Ives 7 points.
05. George Gershwin 8 points.
06. John Adams
07. Elliot Carter
08. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
09. Lukas Foss
10. Harry Partch

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13th place- Selma in Sandy Eggo 4 matching with a score of 27.

01. Aaron Copland 10 points.
02. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
03. John Williams 5 points.
04. James Horner
05. Neil Diamond
06. Leonard Cohen-- Canadian
07. Howard Shore-- Canadian
08. Paul Simon
09. John Philip Sousa 3 points.
10. J Rosamond Johnson

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14th place- shostakovich 3 matching with a score of 25.

01. Aaron Copland 10 points.
02. Samuel Barber 6 points.
03. Howard Hanson
04. Morton Gould
05. Alan Hovhaness
06. William Schuman
07. Leonard Bernstein 9 points.
08. Paul Creston
09. Henry Cowell
10. Walter Piston

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Here is how everyone did based on score alone (matching not considered):

01 ks organist- 49
02 Lliam- 47
03 FlyingSorcery- 46
04 dai bread- 44
05 BenG- 43
06 Marye- 42
07 TrumpetMaster-Bones-Angie- 40
08 bignaf- 34
09 OperaTenor- 31
10 madawab- 28
11 Selma in Sandy Eggo- 27
12 shostakovich- 25

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And here are the results based on everyone's accuracy adjusted Matching scores:

01 BenG 5.29
02 Lliam 5.14
03 TrumpetMaster 4.83
04 dai bread - OperaTenor 4.50
05 FlyingSorcery 4.29
06 Bones 4.20
07 ks organist 4.13
08 Marye 3.67
09 Angie 3.40
10 Selma in Sandy Eggo 3.00
11 bignaf 1.50
12 madawab 1.20
13 shostakovich 0.33

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Full Results