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Some of the material in is restricted to members of the community. By logging in, you may be able to gain additional access to certain collections or items. If you have questions about access or logging in, please use the form on the Contact Page.
Four Movements in Search of a Composer draws inspiration from the play Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello. Rather than a character sketch of the six Characters in this play, this piece centers around four moments...
From the beginning, this was intended to be a work for chorus and orchestra with a text suitable to some current events, particularly the recent war and new age we live in since September 11, 2001. As a child of a Vietnam veteran...
The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time is a five movement work of approximately fifteen minutes in length for a mixed chamber ensemble: vocal quartet, saxophone quartet, organ, and bass drum. As this work is a culmination of my education in...
Quiet Sounds originally drew its inspiration from what the title suggests, the quiet sounds of these five string instruments. These sounds take on a different character as they are amplified to “normal” volume, providing an exciting...
Pneuma is a piece for small chamber symphony with a prominent flute part. It explores timbral resources of the flute in relation to the ensemble, as well as harmonic and motivic resources inherent in a central, expanding melodic idea....
Sketch Book is a collection of short movements conceptually derived from various art forms and definitions associated with the word “sketch.” Sketch In seeks to embody the artistic process of realizing a visual concept into a tangible...
To declaim publicly is an old dramatic practice that requires of its performer a mastery of communicative clarity and confidence, or at least the appearance of it. The orchestral performance tradition is in many ways analogous to this...
Derivation was written with the idea that biology can influence music on many levels. Just as phenotype and genotype can be expressed in genetics, the same terms may describe a musical work, distinguishing its phenotype, or perceived...
One aspect of the Bible that has always fascinated me is the study of Biblical numerology. That is, the study of individual numbers along with their meaning found in the scripture, both literal and symbolic. This can indeed be taken to...
Illusions: Three Songs for Baritone and Ensemble (2004) is a set of three songs based on the poetry of Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The piece is scored for clarinet, violin, horn, baritone, piano, and two percussionists. Each...
Unstructured Play is not, strictly, unstructured but an expression of the idea meant by the term as it is used in music therapy and education. "Unstructured play" is when a child is supervised and assisted in exploratory play with no...
Requiem masses have been an important part of classical music literature since the late 15th century and have been used as masses for the dead during funerals. Over the centuries the use of the requiem text has become more common because...
Odds and Middles for Wind Ensemble explores the concept of duality in human identity. The struggle to discover and develop an individual identity which allows for inclusion in the larger social dynamic, yet is capable of enduring the...
“Psychodrama - 5 movements for String Quartet” takes its name from a genre of cartoons originally popularized by John K. the creator of “Ren and Stimpy.” “Psychodrama” borrows the abrupt shifts from normalcy to neurotic hysterics, which...
Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble is a single-movement work for solo clarinet and a chamber wind ensemble. The piece is constructed in 3 large sections; it begins with a moderately fast introduction, a clarinet cadenza, and a dance...
Symphony No. 6 represents a musical endeavor into the large-scale concert medium of the symphony, a form so ubiquitous in the repertories of composers of the past that has receded from the fore in the wake of downsizing trends in...
The title of my dissertation is The heritage for orchestra. This work is a tonal piece and takes about 8 minutes. The work is a variation with 9 short sections using the second section as its theme. The first section is named Prologue...
The Return of Odysseus is based upon Homer's epic poem The Odyssey. Following the style of the poem, the story begins in medias res – that is, in the middle of the tale. The first act takes place on Odysseus' home island of Ithaca, where...
Seeds of Hope, written for nay (Middle Eastern flute), oud (Middle Eastern lute), and western orchestra, is an attempt at synthesizing two different musical traditions into a single cohesive work. The musical traditions that are...
Iconography, in its technical sense as sacred art, is not an act of individual creativity or personal self-expression. The iconographer must follow established forms and conventions in order for the work to function as an icon....
Trio for Clarinet, Bassoon and Piano is a three movement piece which utilizes aspects of sonata form. As a woodwind player myself, I took special care to write idiomatically for the clarinet and bassoon. The role of the piano is much...
As a native of Taiwan, Szu-Yu Chen often combines influences from western and eastern culture in her music. In her compositions, the charm of Chinese music shimmers on the surface, while the foundation resonates with European and...
L'Écoulement (Flow) is a one-movement work for orchestra based upon a three-note idée fixe which expands, grows, and develops over the course of the piece. As the title suggests, this work presents a continuous flow of motivic...
In the opinion of this composer, one of the principal advantages of classical stringed instruments is their capacity for emotional expression. Subtle details of articulation, dynamics, vibrato, timbre, and phrasing contribute to a rich...
'Laudamus Te' is a five movement work for chamber orchestra and two soprano soloists. Based on both Biblical texts and more modern writings, the work presents five different perspectives on the relationship between humanity and the...
The title of this composition, Forge, is based on two distinct applications of the word. First, it represents the compositional process of combining and balancing the relationships of a handful of originally separate musical ideas into a...
Flying Machines was written for the ensemble El Perro Andaluz. The name evokes humankind's fascination with the concept of flight, especially during early years of the development of powered flight. Movement I, Ezekiel's Airship, is a...
Today composers have a variety of sounds at their disposal and with the advancements of technology it is no wonder that composers would turn to electronic means for producing music. However, this leaves the listener with unmapped...
Desist is a ten minute work for orchestra. The instrumentation of the work is for a fairly standard orchestra: two flutes, two oboes, two Bb clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, three C trumpets, two tenor trombones, bass...
The notion of this piece came about through the fusion of a wide number of influences. First and foremost is my love for, and practical experience with, music that makes use of the electric guitar. I wanted to transform the guitar's role...
This thesis, a piece of music scored for full orchestra, draws upon the piece of art commonly known as the Bayeux Tapestry, an immense, medieval embroidery chronicling the history behind the Norman Conquest of England up through the...
Less than a decade ago, I was convinced that I would pursue a career not in music, but in genetics. Science had long been an important part of my life, and despite a change in career plans, biology has remained an important part of my...
This piece is written for string quartet, and is composed of two contrasting movements. Based on the idea of blending Western and non-Western musical elements, it was inspired by Korean traditional dance music. Non-standard instrumental...
Three Night Pieces for Chamber Orchestra was composed with different qualities of the evening as inspiration. With each piece, I aim to portray a unique nighttime environment, utilizing various orchestration possibilities within the...
Symphony No. 2 is an attempt at synthesizing differing musical styles into a single cohesive symphonic work. The musical styles that are consciously alluded to in the symphony are the block textures of Stravinsky and Xenakis, 19th c....
Sepulchers of the Fathers is a three-movement work for piano quartet approximately 15 minutes in length. All three movements possess strong motivic coherence and are required to be performed together to maintain comprehensibility. All...
A Night Time Rain is a work for five live performers with four channels of prerecorded sound and two channels of click track. At this point in 2005 DVD-A, SACD, and a computer are options for playback.
The work is a treatment of the dual nature of musical intervals, and the semantic values attributed to them. By "dual nature, I am referring to the distance between two notes (e.g. [C] and [E]) being measured as either a major third or...
I would like to thank my major professor and dissertation advisor, Clifton Callender, for his advice and guidance over the past year while composing Prometheus and other projects along the way. I would also like to thank the other...
Symphony No. 1 was inspired by the works of Dmitri Shostakovich, Bela Bartok, and Igor Stravinsky. It is a programmatic work that reflects the confrontation between positive and negative energies which dominate human existence. Although...
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