Date of Award

Spring 5-5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Music

First Advisor

Shafer Mahoney

Second Advisor

Philip Ewell

Academic Program Adviser

Philip Ewell

Abstract

This piece paints the picture of what life felt like from the composer’s vantage point, specifically at the time when the composition was conceived. The first section employs the first sixteen pitches present in the harmonic series as an embodiment of the pure nature of sound – vibration, physics, and acoustics. The middle section shows a dynamic that pulls in two directions, one going sharper and sharper ascending through the circle of fifths and the other going flatter and flatter descending, all the while a steady pedal point in the center of the axis nonchalantly ticks like clockwork. As this is happening, a rhythmic pattern (inside joke: Rite of Spring reference) slowly permeates in the lower register, eventually overpowering all the harmonic and melodic contents above and pushing the section to its apex. The piece finally dies down in the last section as the strings gently play the “amen chords.” As if the first section was looking straight into the water, it’s reflection in the undertone softly closes the piece.

Included in

Composition Commons

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