DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2024, College-Conservatory of Music: Percussion

Electronic music has a rich history dating back farther than just the 1950's. Edgard Varese is often credited with the establishment of musique concrete, though that behemoth was taking shape well before his time. After some decades of composers creating pieces using analog sound systems and synthesizers, we have reached a breaking point in performing their works. Quite often the technology has become decrepit and dysfunctional, if one can procure it at all. A method of performing these works in a manner faithful to the composer's original intent does still exist—and that is through digital signal processors like Max, developed by Cycling '74. However, even with today's practices in Max and similar programs being robust and intuitive, problems in performance still arise that can be avoided altogether by a composer or programmer with the foresight to anticipate them. This document will provide performers and composers alike the necessary tools to navigate this music and improve future music in the electro-acoustic genre. The primary function of this document is to provide a brief historical background of both this analog heritage and digital uprising, a foundational knowledge of rudimentary hardware related to these, and a broad span of case studies related to pieces in both categories and in-between which leads into a discussion of better practices on the part of a composer-programmer.

Committee: James Culley M.M. (Committee Chair); Angela Swift Ph.D. D (Committee Member); Russell Burge M.M. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2022, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

East, West, South, North, and Center is a piece based on neural network technology. In this piece, performers use a set of tiles of a traditional Chinese board game Mahjong as a data-driven instrument by using a camera to recognize all mahjong tiles on the table. Beyond only recognizing the pictures on each mahjong tile, it can also recognize the position and rotation angle of each tile. All those parameters give a lot of potential for a piece with rich timbres and fun interactions. With all these technologies, it tells a fictional story through my music about a family's life. In this family, every member has their own thoughts. They fight, but it won't affect the fact that they love each other and will try to fix it after every fight. A lot of problems we get in our life are always magically solved while we fix our family problems. As a traditional saying that Chinese people say all the time: everything will end in the place where it begins. The inspiration for the title East, West, South, North and Center comes from a set of the five Mahjong tiles called east, west, south, north, center. All five tiles can symbolize how people play this board game: you need four players (east, west, south, and north) sitting around a square table (center). The five elements give the basic figure of a family.

Committee: Mara (Margaret) Helmuth D.M.A. (Committee Member); Douglas Knehans D.M.A. (Committee Member); Michael Fiday Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2013, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

Look to Third for alto flute, bass clarinet, percussion, piano, viola percussion and live electronics Duration: 18 minutes In my never ending search for formal models which paradoxically display properties of randomness and asymmetry yet completeness and structure, I turned to baseball. The skeleton of this piece (although it wouldn't be apparent unless I told you) is derived from a scorecard I kept of a Cubs/Cardinals game. The title references what one commentator refers to as "a move which has worked once in the last twenty years" - the Look to Third, throw to first. In homage to the many paradoxes that lie latent within the game of baseball (for example, it's a pastoral game with urban roots) there is a second possible, more literal, reading of the title. This is music which is inspired by the features of sculpture, the art form which dwells in the third dimension and utilizes space, volume and perspective. Baseball is often described as poetry in motion, and any true fan of the game can speak to this point for hours as they describe the beauty and intricacies of watching an infield in motion as a ball is perfectly bunted down the line or the excitement of judging whether a throw from the outfield will beat out a runner at the plate. These motions through space become the narrative, the story of each game. Every baseball game has 9 innings, 27 outs per team, yet each game, each story is different and unique. It is these aspects of the game that this piece tries to capture, for each movement, with the aid of electronics, presents essentially the same structural narrative but in a unique way, from a unique physical perspective. Imaging how the same musical materials would react and resonate as they move through different physical spaces guided the creation of this piece, and is the way in which the piece "looks to third" for inspiration - I'm still working on the throw to first.

Committee: Mike Fiday Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Mara Helmuth D.M.A. (Committee Member); Douglas Knehans D.M.A. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2010, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

This document consists of three-musical landscapes totaling seventeen minutes in length. The music is written for a combination of mezzo-soprano, Bb clarinet, percussion and tape. One distinguishing characteristic of this music, apart from an improvisational quality, involves habituating the listener through consistent dynamics; the result is a timbrally-diverse droning. Overall, pops, clicks, drones, and resonances converge into a direct channel of aural noise. One of the most unique characteristics of visual art is the strong link between process and esthetic outcome. The variety of ways to implement a result is astounding. The musical landscapes in this document are the result of an interest in varying my processes; particularly, moving mostly away from pen and manuscript to the sequencer. The term "exhibition" implies that consideration be given to how subsequent performances of this work are presented. I conceived these movements in the order they are presented in this document; however, just as any visual artist might base her exhibit on context, the same principle can be followed with this music. Each landscape can be selectively presented. The scores contained within are labeled as such: (1)Williams Mix 2, (2)Automatic Story Telling, (3)Familiar. The tape parts are available upon request from the author.

Committee: Mara Helmuth DMA (Committee Chair); Joel Hoffman DMA (Committee Member); Mike Fiday PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

M.M., University of Cincinnati, 2010, College-Conservatory of Music : Composition

for bass drum, tam-tam and live electronics

Committee: Joel Hoffman DMA (Committee Chair); Mara Helmuth DMA (Committee Member); Mike Fiday PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2005, College-Conservatory of Music : Composition

Tabula rasa is a creative artistic endeavor in a form of a musical composition whose primary purpose is to produce an aurally and intellectually engaging work of art through cross-pollination of two seemingly disparate media. In order to establish series of inseparable aural and structural co-dependencies the piece is to utilize a real-time interaction between the traditionally trained acoustic chamber music ensemble consisting of flute, piano, and cello, and the modern day technology, namely computer.

Committee: Mara Helmuth (Advisor) Subjects: Music