Digital Commons Network^™

Fungal Chapel, Gabrielle Joy Cerberville

Masters Theses

FUNGAL CHAPEL is an interactive installation exploring the ties between people and place through the deconstructed visual language of Judeo-Christian religious iconography. Comprising five sculptures; BELFRY, OFFERTORY, BAPTISMAL, DOORWAY, and ALTAR, visitors are encouraged to interact on multiple levels of physical touch and consciousness, including pouring water, self-expression through writing, interacting with sonified fungal biodata, meditation, and offering and receiving gifts. Most of the objects in the chapel are “sounding sculptures” hooked up to contact microphones with added effects, and can be manipulated to produce a variety of musical sounds. Through the process of semi-guided ritual as an individual moves …

Engaging With The Score: Wadada Leo Smith, Graphic Notation, And The Performer’S Perspective, Kennedy Taylor Dixon

Masters Theses

As a Composer/Performer, my work exists in both realms. This thesis reflects the principle that my experience as a violist influences my compositional process and vice versa. Since identifying under both artistic skill sets, it has become evident that the two areas that exist as a creative and presentational output, thrive off one another’s success.

In June 2019, I had the chance to play Wadada Leo Smith’s String Quartet No. 3: Black Church, The First World Gathering of the Spirit (1995) at the Nief-Norf Summer Festival. This encounter was the first time I interacted with graphically notated scores as a …

Common Ground, Cody Christopher-Park Ray

Masters Theses

Common Ground is a work that explores ideals of unity through the shared awareness of human mortality. I wrote the majority of this work during the COVID-19 pandemic in the fall of 2020. Throughout this period, including the summer leading up to it, political and social tension was felt throughout the country. This sentiment stemmed from the unjust killings of unarmed people of color at the hands of law enforcement, to blatant errors in the way political figures handled the spread of this newfound disease, leading to more than 400k civilians prematurely dead. In experiencing these external pressures, I found …

Compositions For 0 Or 1 Performers, Rodrigo Valente Pascale

Masters Theses

This thesis includes a collection of pieces composed for 0 or 1 performers – unaccompanied solo, solo and electronics or fixed media. The compositions for solo instruments include “Unnest” for bassoon solo, premièred by Ariane Petri during the V Congress of Music and Mathematics in 2020, and “Assemblage” for baritone saxophone solo, premièred by Erin Rogers in 2020. “Reizantwort” is a composition for viola and electronics which was first recorded by Laura Parra in summer 2020. Finally, "Discontinuous Mediation I" and "Discontinuous Mediation II" are fixed media compositions that were composed in Summer 2020 and Spring 2021, respectively. This collection …

Prescribed Freedom, Proscribed Freedom: Compositional And Improvisational Balances In Jazz, Andrew W. Saliba

Masters Theses

Jazz is a recent and flexible art form, rooted in the twin musical strains of occidental canon and folkloric African-American music. From its genesis, jazz musicians have had the difficult task of reconciling these seemingly opposite musical parents while simultaneously building a new musical canon that respects and upholds its past, even as it celebrates new individual voices. Like any multifaceted challenge this balancing of elements has not always gone smoothly, and attempts to codify the delineation and categorization of jazz remain controversial even now. There is additional challenge in defining the nature of “free” improvised music. While free music …

The Sunlight Cycle, Michael Flynn

Masters Theses

The Sunlight Cycle is a work in four movements which evokes certain time periods within a 24-hour day. In order of number, the movements are meant to represent dawn, daytime, twilight, and night, respectively. Each movement transitions seamlessly into the next, with Mvt. 4, “Nocturnal,” transitioning back to the beginning of Mvt. 1, “Matutinal”. This cyclical nature allows for a performance of the cycle to begin with any of the four movements. Theoretically, the work can repeat indefinitely.

Musically, the work develops in three main areas: harmony, rhythm, and timbre. Harmonically, the work is tonal, featuring extended and altered triadic …

A Collection Of Three Pieces For Solo Instrument And Electronics, Carolyn Borcherding

Masters Theses

This collection of three musical compositions for solo instruments and electronics explores the interaction between acoustic instruments and electronic media with a specific focus on musical form. The musical form is apparent due to clear musical segmentations, and the coherence of each work is maintained by the inter-contextual relationships evident in the musical material. Each piece is divided into three parts: beginning, middle, and end. Each beginning sets up a strong relationship between the two media by using closely timed action-reaction gestures. The middle section diverges away from these reactionary gestures, while the ending then brings about a short return …

Gesture-Sensing Technology For The Bow: A Relevant And Accessible Digital Interface For String Instruments, Zachary Boyt

Masters Theses

Technological advances in powerful, miniaturized electronics have created a growing potential to continue the evolution of string instruments through an accessible digital interface. Although many new types of instruments and controllers have explored this goal, gesture-sensing technology, when paired with the expressive nature of the bow, has provided the most eligible solution towards bridging technology and tradition. Through a selective showcase of technical development, artistic application, and future possibilities, this thesis traces the evolution of gesturesensing bow technology as an accessible digital interface in string instrument performance.