Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2019, Music

From spring 2017 to March 2019 I composed an original, hour-long audiovisual electroacoustic work that utilized 4.1-channel sound, four projectors, and lights. This work, Study in Rain and Light, features sound entirely synthesized from rain sounds and visual content generated from videos of rainy days. In order to do so, I needed to develop techniques for audiovisual relationships. These techniques are based on terminology used in film and audiovisual research, such as congruence and counterpoint. By adopting these concepts as composition techniques, I was able to create meaningful relationships between sound and image that worked to unify a concert-length work. In this document, I will describe the techniques that I used and how I applied them in order to compose this work.

Committee: Thomas Wells (Advisor); Jan Radzynski (Committee Member); Anna Gawboy (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser

Part I of the dissertation is comprised of a multi-movement composition featuring the erhu, and string orchestra. "Concerto for Erhu and String Orchestra" is influenced by my interest and continuous study of musics of the world. As a pupil of both ethnomusicology and composition, I seek the confluence of these disciplines as a result of my research, and therefore many of my works are influenced by non-Western music. The concerto follows this path. It takes influence from traditional and contemporary erhu repertoire, merging these influences with my own experience in Western music and creates an intercultural composition. This work not only features music of Chinese origins, but also features musical elements of African, Eastern European, Korean, Indonesian, and Brazilian music, as these are areas that I have focused on during my studies. My music is deeply influenced by my study of music from these different cultures and subtly weaves together references to these musics through my use rhythmic patterns, melodic tendencies, and harmonic relationships. Part II: We live in a globalized time in which there is a high degree of exchange of information and a rapidly increasing sense of collision of cultures, identities, and meanings. One arena where this is visible is new pieces commissioned from Indonesian composers by the Bandung Philharmonic, the first professional orchestra created in Bandung, Indonesia in 2015. The very nature of this project entails a high degree of consciousness on the part of the composers, who are aware of their Indonesian-ness and that they are writing for a historically Western ensemble. To what degree and how do these composers express their Indonesian-ness in their works and to what degree do they assimilate Western music and identity? The purpose of this document is to define a way of conducting intercultural analysis. This approach is sensitive to the emic meanings from each culture, but that eventually offers an etic readin (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Adam Roberts (Committee Co-Chair); Gustav Medicus (Committee Member); Jennifer Johnstone (Committee Member); Joshua Albrecht (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Asian Studies; Composition; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; Multicultural Education; Music; Music Education; Pacific Rim Studies; Performing Arts

Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, Music

Electronic music has experienced rapid and tumultuous incorporation into the canon of musical practice. Throughout the past century, this genre's identity has remained fluid, fallible, and ripe for reconstruction. Creating new works using electronic mediums differs from acoustic realms in both utilitarian objectivity and resultant affect. Performing these works invokes additional challenges: What if no performance score exists and the work itself only exists as a recorded audio file? How does a musician replicate seemingly endless abstractions of timbre, pitch, and spectral content? Finally, preserving electronic music is crucial for the survival of the idiom. As many works do not exist within discernible scores, how will new musical content be documented? Although recordings remain at the crux of electronic dissemination, issues such as data degradation muddy the conservation process. Specifically, acousmatic experiences have utterly inundated many individual's daily lives; millions of recorded songs are available at the tap of a button, scores accompany the films, television shows, and video games consumers interact with, and artistic ventures entail the inclusion of previously instantiated music. When Pierre Schaeffer formulated ideals on acousmatic listening and an adumbration of musical objects during the mid-20th century, today's technological perplexities were not predicated by reality; such expeditious alterations to musical practice were likely unexpected. Thus, it is time to situate the framework Schaeffer stipulated within contemporary mise-en-scene. Through the composition of my new work, Acousmatic Symphony, I experimented with alternative notational styles and systems of symbology. Following Schaeffer's assertations that two versions of a “score” are needed for adequate description of musical content-one essential and one operational-I created variations of each and applied my own version of an acousmatic notational system. Ad (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas Wells (Advisor); Jan Radzynski (Committee Member); Daniel Shanahan (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2021, Music Composition

herbstlied or "autumn song" is a composition for two percussionists, two pianos, and fixed media. This work explores how bipolar disorder and subtle, seasonal light fluctuations can affect one's emotional state and sense of stability (or lack thereof). Reconciling ever-fluctuating emotional states with an exploration of timbre and colors, herbstlied formally consists of three modal areas, further subdivided into various textural spaces. The distinctions between these modal areas are obfuscated by assigning each player a partition of the composite and slowly interpolating between the modal areas at different rates. The sound of the ensemble is further augmented through the use of a multitude of implements, including glass bottles, EBows, protractors, and various sticks, mallets, and brushes. Emotional fragility is represented in herbstlied through a limited dynamic range of pppp - p and a slow, nebulous tempo. This nearly constant state of dynamic frailty is punctuated and foiled by two aggressive ff outbursts at the end of the work. By filtering out the central bandwidth of the dynamic range, the ensemble is forced to operate between two dynamic poles, gesturally and literally representing a bipolar relationship. I sincerely hope that herbstlied can be my small contribution toward greater mental health awareness and acceptance in the contemporary music and academic communities. Moreover, it is a sincere expression of gratitude to my wife, Autumn, who acts as my emotional ground in the times that I am most intensely affected by the bipolar phenomena explored in this work.

Committee: Mikel Kuehn PhD (Advisor); Laurello Michael AD (Committee Member); Lillios Elainie DMA (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2014, Music Composition

In partial fulfillment of the degree Master of Music in Composition at Bowling Green State University, I have composed Inside Out for large orchestra. A unifying trait of the the work is motion up and down the orchestra's register; thus, the title refers to the initial rising gesture being turned “inside out” in a later section based on descending pitches. It also relates to the body's awareness of acceleration and motion. Musical gestures perceived audibly with the outer ear are often described as moving “up” or “down,” a metaphor for sensations of the inner ear. I derived the pitch material for this piece from the twelve-tone row (46973A1580B2), which I use in a variety of ways throughout the piece. I derived this row from a twelve-note chord spanning the entire range of the orchestra, with wide intervals in the lowest register, decreasing to major and minor seconds in the highest register. The first section of Inside Out introduces the pitches of the row one at time with different instruments or groups of instruments until the entire orchestra is active. A sweeping gesture abruptly terminates this passage and leads to a new texture, where the woodwinds, each playing in a fixed register, trade notes in the main row while muted brass and percussion pulse underneath. The strings enter gradually and eventually drown out the rest of the orchestra with an enormous downward gesture blending pizzicato, glissandi, col legno battuto, and glissando techniques until they come to rest at a narrow cluster, which is then taken up by the horns. The rest of the orchestra returns for a brief coda, where a nervous gesture featuring pitches derived from the original row sounds in varied doublings and triplings. The opening music re-emerges in the background, leading to a quiet close. Inside Out is my first work for full orchestra; as such, it allowed me to address the challenges of selecting and combining from a wide array of instrumental timbres, of preparing a professiona (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Mikel Kuehn (Advisor); Marilyn Shrude (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Music

MA, Kent State University, 2022, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser

"The Strands of Time" is my concerto for percussion and orchestra. The piece takes the listener through an ever-changing cascade of ideas and blurring the lines between different facets of time, all while maintaining a sense of forward direction and bringing back recognizable ideas through the swirl of sound.

Committee: Adam Roberts (Advisor); Joshua Albrecht (Committee Member); Jungho Kim (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Music

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2021, Music

Piano instruction is often conducted as an isolated practice. Most pre-college pianists attend regular private lessons, practice their repertoire at home, and occasionally partake in competitions and recitals. On rare occasions, piano students have access to collaborative environments, such as studio classes, chamber music, or other ensembles. Due to the segregated nature of private music instruction, pianists are often deprived of collaborative or interdisciplinary creative opportunities, which can lead to limited self-expression and perspectives on how music relates to other art forms and to society. Unless pianists are presented with practical instruction and examples of how different art forms intersect with each other, many immersive opportunities can go undiscovered. This thesis explores the applications of the arts in comprehensive, pre-college piano instruction. An experiential program was implemented for young pianists to interact and collaborate with four different art forms: dance, literature, theatre, and visual art. This project observed how interdisciplinary experiential learning affects piano students' interpretations of music as well as how it encourages confidence and liberty in musical improvisation, collaboration, and performance.

Committee: Florence Mak DMA (Advisor) Subjects: Art Criticism; Art Education; Art History; Education; Fine Arts; Music; Music Education; Pedagogy; Performing Arts; Teaching; Theater; Theater History; Theater Studies

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), Bowling Green State University, 2019, Contemporary Music

The solo repertoire of the tuba and euphonium has grown exponentially since the middle of the 20th century, due in large part to the pioneering work of several artist-performers on those instruments. These performers sought out and collaborated directly with composers, helping to produce works that sensibly and musically used the tuba and euphonium. However, not every composer who wishes to write for the tuba and euphonium has access to world-class tubists and euphonists, and the body of available literature concerning the capabilities of the tuba family is both small in number and lacking in comprehensiveness. This document seeks to remedy this situation by producing a comprehensive and accessible guide on the capabilities of the tuba family. An analysis of the currently-available materials concerning the tuba family will give direction on the structure and content of this new guide, as will the dissemination of a survey to the North American composition community. The end result, the Composer's Guide to the Tuba, is a practical, accessible, and composer-centric guide to the modern capabilities of the tuba family of instruments.

Committee: David Saltzman MM (Advisor); Mikel Kuehn PHD (Committee Member); Andrew Pelletier DMA (Committee Member); Marco Nardone PHD (Other) Subjects: Music; Performing Arts

Master of Music (MM), Ohio University, 2017, Music Composition (Fine Arts)

My original inspiration for this piece came while reading an article in the science section of an online news site. The article was talking about the proposed existence of a new planet in our solar system that had a wildly elliptical orbit around the sun. This meant that its perihelion (closest point to the sun during orbit) and aphelion (furthest point) were drastically different. This proposed planet would be lurking out beyond Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, but its nearest point to the sun could be somewhere closer to Earth or perhaps Mars. I found this a very engaging and interesting idea, and already had an idea for a piece by the end of the article and a title: On an Ellipse Around the Sun. From that moment on I entered my own world of science fiction and created a narrative to explain the title and the piece.

Committee: Mark Phillips Dr. (Advisor); Andrew Trachsel Dr. (Committee Member); Ciro Scotto Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Musical Arts, The Ohio State University, 2004, Music

Conducting a first course in music composition in a classroom setting is one of the most difficult tasks a composer/teacher faces. Such a course is much more effective when the basic elements of compositional technique are shown, as much as possible, to be universally applicable, regardless of style. When students begin to see these topics in a broader perspective and understand the roots, dynamic behaviors, and the general nature of the different elements and functions in music, they begin to treat them as open models for individual interpretation, and become much more free in dealing with them expressively. This document is not designed as a textbook, but rather as a resource for the teacher of a beginning college undergraduate course in composition. The Introduction offers some perspectives on teaching composition in the contemporary musical setting influenced by fast access to information, popular culture, and globalization. In terms of breadth, the text reflects the author's general methodology in leading students from basic exercises in which they learn to think compositionally, to the writing of a first composition for solo instrument. The concept of universal applicability of techniques is carried through discussions on the nature of sound as an expressive resource, how to deal with first ideas, exploration and formation of motives, building phrases, and the notion of form in music. The approach and procedures in the text are based on the author's own experiences teaching composition at The Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, and Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Examples and assignments serve to illustrate points in the text, and to assist the teacher in the classroom.

Committee: Donald Harris (Advisor) Subjects: Music

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2024, Music

Tracking the development of experimental music from 1920 to 1970, this paper seeks to explore how Artists have dealt with and worked within the Absurdity of Life. From Arnold Schoenberg, to John Cage, to Fluxus, the artistic shifts brought by these artists move toward a gradual acceptance of the Absurd and the break down of the Art/Life divide. Accompanying the research is a portion of an opera I wrote that simultaneously analyzes, comments on, and participates in the conflict between the Absurd and the Ideal in Art. The opera follows the poet Stephane Mallarme on his journey to create perfect expression through language despite several Absurd scenarios ranging from the fantastic to the deeply human.

Committee: Robert McClure (Advisor) Subjects: Art History; Music; Performing Arts

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2024, Music

This thesis and professional project aims to showcase the value of Japanese-composed trombone repertoire to American classical music, a field that is currently dominated by works composed in Europe and the United States. The professional project includes a series of three professionally produced videos of selected repertoire and a digital catalog of Japanese-composed pieces. The videos provide a public platform for this genre and target an American audience. The research sheds light on the cultural and musical nuances of Japanese classical repertoire and showcases works that diverge from traditional Western compositions while embodying Japan's deep cultural heritage and modernization. The chosen repertoire includes compositions by Megumi Kanda, Utako Yuza, and Keiko Takashima. These works highlight the unique elements of Japanese classical music. The objective of this thesis is to increase visibility and accessibility to Japanese-composed works and to ultimately increase their study and performance by American trombonists. The research narrative explores the context of classical music education in the United States and the development of classical music in Japan. The lack of diversity of repertoire in American higher education and the barriers to accessing Japanese classical music repertoire is also highlighted. Expanding the curriculum to include Japanese classical music would introduce new musical elements and cultural diversity. By promoting inclusivity and diversity within the classical music community, this thesis advocates for a broader understanding of musical traditions and encourages trombonists to embrace a more international perspective in their repertoire selection and performance.

Committee: Lucas Rego Borges (Advisor) Subjects: Asian Studies; 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

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Music Education

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to document the Antifragility Initiative Music Program's (AMP) model for integrating trauma-informed music engagement services in the Antifragility Initiative (AI), a hospital-based violence intervention program (HVIP) located in Cleveland, Ohio. I collected the perspectives of four mentors engaged with AMP to describe the ways in which they fostered self-determination in mentees (Deci & Ryan, 1995) and their perceptions of the impact of trauma-informed musical engagement on mentees' autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 2012). Three research questions framed this investigation: (a) What are mentors' perceptions of integrating trauma-informed musical engagement opportunities in hospital-based violence intervention programming? (b) How do mentors foster self-determination in mentees through trauma-informed musical engagement? (c) What are mentors' perceptions regarding the impact of trauma-informed musical engagement on mentees' autonomy, competence, and relatedness? The research questions and analysis were developed using the theoretical framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and principles of trauma-informed care (TIC). Participants met weekly with a HVIP client who elected to participate in AMP Fall 2021 sessions to assist them in learning how to operate DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) in order to compose original songs and related material. Data was collected remotely and included session observations and field notes, audio recordings of semi-structured interviews, participant journals, and digital materials and related correspondence. I analyzed and coded the data through SDT in order to gain further insight into the dynamics of the mentor-mentee relationship and their influence on mentee motivation and engagement during Fall 2021 sessions. For participants, integrating trauma-informed music education within HVIPs represented (a) an ethical, humanistic, and inclusive accompaniment to care, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Dr. Ryan V. Scherber (Committee Chair); Dr. Edward Barksdale (Committee Member); Dr. Kathleen Horvath (Committee Member); Dr. Nathan B. Kruse (Committee Member); Dr. Lisa Nielson (Committee Member) Subjects: Music Education

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2021, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

Figuration for piano and electronic sounds, which consists of ten movements, is basically focused on two things:

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

Master of Music, University of Akron, 2021, Music-Composition

“It Is Finished: A Tenebrae Cantata” focuses on the somber memorial of Good Friday. In seven movements, the piece travels from the scriptural Last Supper to the final death of Christ and subsequent conclusion of the dark day. In contrast to the uplifting Easter message, Tenebrae services end in the dark (both physically, with candles extinguished, and figuratively, with the entire mood of the service somber and focused on the sacrifice of Christ). This original piece of music, written for SATB choir and piano, highlights this dark aura and seeks to draw the listener's focus toward the solemnity of the cross.

Committee: James Wilding (Advisor); Robert Brownlow (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Music

Master of Music (MM), Ohio University, 2021, Music Composition (Fine Arts)

Presence is a work for Pierrot Ensemble scored for flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, and percussion consisting of drum set and marimba. The title represents an unknown entity that is slowly consuming the fictional country of Amicea. The piece fits into a set of pieces using the Pierrot Ensemble and its subsets to tell parts of a multimedia story; other mediums include literature and visual art. This work opens and closes with a reprise of sorts like in musical theater. The main section is a slow build of a harmonic progression that becomes serial. As this is happening, each instrument tries to voice their own unique melodies, while being interrupting by others. These melodies are pentachords transposed depending on the given chord in the harmonic progression. The violin tries to bring them all together, but everything dissolves into chaos by the end.

Committee: Robert McClure (Advisor); Mark Phillips (Committee Member); Jennifer Smith (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Fine Arts; Music

MA, Kent State University, 2020, College of Fine and Professional Arts / School of Music

This thesis explores the role and function of the Bandung Philharmonic as a unique impression in the symphony orchestra world and how its ventures into multicultural education forms bridges from the local to the global community. It further demonstrates the unique negotiations that the Bandung Philharmonic has to make in order to create an Indonesian identity through the utilization of the medium, and I argue that the orchestra's commitment to working with local composers, building a unique symphonic orchestra repertoire, and prioritizing the formation of a distinctively Indonesian orchestra, rejects the concept of orientalism and could be considered a marker of Indonesian identity. I begin by documenting the establishment of the orchestra in the modern era to understand how this newly formed orchestra situates itself in Indonesia while having full agency over its medium without a colonialist influence. I then examine its connections with the local community and show how the orchestra is dedicated to building a lasting legacy in Indonesian symphony orchestra music. Lastly, I reflect on the Bandung Philharmonic's endeavors as a professional symphonic orchestra deeply engaged in the community while revealing the option where an orchestra, of and by the community, can be successful by displaying the unique characteristics of its people.

Committee: Jennifer Johnstone PhD (Committee Chair); Jungho Kim DMA (Committee Member); Priwan Nanongkham PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethnic Studies; History; Multicultural Education; Music; Music Education; South Asian Studies

Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, 2020, Music Education/Comprehensive Music Education

In 2004, Goran Folkestad analyzed teachers' approaches to instructing music composition and creativity in a meta-analysis. He found that there were no obvious changes in instruction across all age ranges, that students' creative experiences were informed by previous musical and cultural experiences, and that “external conditions [for composing were] formulated” (Folkestad, 2004). The aim of the present study is to expand on Folkestad's framework and explore the contexts and strategies that teachers use to successfully integrate music composition in their secondary classrooms. A total of ten studies were analyzed using a meta-aggregative approach in order to identify strategies, contexts, and technologies that are conducive to teaching music composition in secondary school classrooms. A comparison of Folkestad's original findings with the current data was also undertaken. The data indicated that the original themes presented by Folkestad were consistent with trends that emerged in the present analysis. In addition to these findings, it was also determined that four new trends may be added to this list: (1) establishing a creative environment for students that allows them to experiment is crucial for composition development; (2) feedback is essential for students to learn how to critique their own works and peers' works; (3) technology can be used to differentiate composition instruction across a variety of ability levels; and (4) collaboration may help students gain confidence while developing their compositions.

Committee: Elizabeth Menard Ph.D. (Advisor); Elaine Colprit Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Music; Music Education; Secondary Education

DMA, University of Cincinnati, 2020, College-Conservatory of Music: Composition

The video art of Steina and Woody Vasulka as well as Steve Rutt and Bill Etra inspired me to write Cathode Green. These pioneers helped to cultivate early audiovisual synthesis techniques in the 1970s and `80s by manipulating Cathode Ray Tubes, typically only used for image projection, to distort and transform everyday images such as faces and hands. Each of the piece's movements is written in response to colors that I saw while watching clips and documentaries of their work: I.

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