Joan Tower is one of the most highly regarded and awarded composers practicing today. Her compositional "profile" has been characterized as a balance of serial and organic elements, and has been best expressed in the works in which there were collaborative efforts between her and the performers of her music. These elements of Tower's compositional profile, coupled with her great regard and affinity for the clarinet are apparent in Turning Points for Clarinet and String Quartet. This document contains a synopsis of Tower's compositional career, a discussion of her collaborative methodology, and an analysis of the aforementioned work. These were facilitated through interviews with Tower and two of her foremost interpreters on the clarinet, Laura Flax and David Shifrin; these interviews are included in their entirety as a part of the Appendix to this document.