Abstract:
Each composition presented on this recital was undertaken as an attempt to correlate materials learned in a variety of classes while at Ball State University. The interdisciplinary nature of the Music Engineering Technology program provided the resources to accomplish this task. The required knowledge of physics, analog sound synthesis, and twentieth century electronic music led to Reflections (Studies in Analog Synthesis). The two acoustic compositions Mechanism I and Mechanism II combine skills learned in music composition, music perception, music history, instrumentation, orchestration, etc... Furthermore, performance considerations learned in the required instrument performance minor were valuable in writing playable pieces. The use of computers to generate and control music in Sculptured Sound added a further dimension. The last piece written for the recital, Tension Derivation, utilized information from all of the aforementioned areas as well as ideas imported from outside the realm of class work. This composition is an electroacoustic work which consists of acoustic instrumentation with electronically derived sounds. The ultimate objective of these compositions was to reach a familiarity with the material necessary to produce compositionally relevant music in any style.
