Portfolio of compositions

• Main Author: Conner, Stephanie
• Other Authors: Brooks, William
• Published: University of York 2011
• Subjects: 781.3
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.557249

The ten original compositions presented in this portfolio are products of practice-led research into the use of language as musical material. The different methods of incorporating aspects of language into musical forms that my research has explored are outlined in the following commentary. My particular areas of interest can be categorized as follows: 1. Communicating my interpretation of text meaning through the medium of composition, using musical devices to control 'oratory elocution' - which comprises speed of delivery, phrase-length, frequency of pauses, loudness and accentual character, posture, physical movement and facial expression etc. 2. Exploiting the potential for musical settings to convey subtextual meanings, which are inferred but not explicitly stated in texts. 3. Taking an integrated approach, in which musical and dramatic variables are compositionally controlled with equal priority and attention to detail. 4. Shaping musical and extra-musical variables in order to create specific atmospheres, or to stimulate atmospheric changes, in performance environments. 5. The deconstruction of language into its phonological components to create a palette of non-semantic, timbral materials - e.g. vowel sounds, whispers, prosodic gestures, hisses, plosive attacks etc. - for use in vocal compositions. 6. Exploring the inherent 'musicality' of grammatical and semantic structures in text and language to identify principles that may be applied to instrumental composition. 7. Analysing spectral characteristics of phonemes and creating orchestral timbres which emulate them, using both intuitive and spectrographic techniques.