| Summary: | This thesis represents my work as a composer from September 2000, to April 2002. The
individual works included in this collection feature a wide range of compositional
techniques. While only two of these pieces use traditional key signatures (the vocal
works Song of Myself and Small Steps), there is the presence of diatonic melodies, as
well as, traditional imitative techniques and counterpoint. Such devices can be found in
the Five Movements for Saxophone Quartet, Song of Myself, A Curious Chamber Suite,
and the movements Chorale and The Finger Twister from Four Contrasting Pieces for
Piano. Another example of traditional compositional techniques are the canons found in
The Finger Twister of Four Contrasting Pieces for Piano, and Crabby Canon found in
A Curious Chamber Suite. The Sneak from Four Vignettes for Orchestra is an example
of a fugue that utilizes both subject and counter-subject.
Several of the compositions are less traditional. For example, the woodwind
quartet Vertical With a Little Horizontal, and the movement Renaissance Moon in A
Curious Chamber Suite are more improvisatory, and are constructed using primarily the
white keys of the piano. Both the woodwind quartet and the movement Expressivity in A
Curious Chamber Suite feature complicated rhythms in addition to their already complex
harmonic texture. A more experimental example is the piano piece Where the Wild
Things Are, which makes extensive use of clusters and chromatic melodic segments.
Finally, the three other movements in the Four Vignettes for Orchestra (The Brat, The
Guttersnipe and Ragamuffin) are approachable to the listener, and are orchestrated to
make use of the wide array of textural possibilities within the orchestra. Five
Movements for Flute Octet is the original source for the orchestra piece.
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