Sonic Instability: A Composition Portfolio

Abstract

This dissertation represents the result of four years of study at Harvard. Before the beginning of my doctoral research, my music was above all focused on creating layers of surfaces across which things move, blend, and work together to hide what lies beneath. These surfaces reflect and absorb light, and in constructing them I constantly veiled the animating energy hidden in their depths, probably also because I was not sure of what this energy was, even if I knew what its shadow looked like. During my Ph.D., the core of my research shifted from the outside — the creation of surfaces — to the more direct representation of the inside. Included in this portfolio are seven works that represent my output over the past four years. Among these works are compositions exploring instrumentations from solo performer to string orchestra, including both acoustic and electronic pieces. An important feature of this music is a compositional approach in which traditional instruments and everyday objects are brought together in order to create a sonic representation of a spatial environment. I understand space as a metaphor for temporal experience: time unfolds linearly, but it enables you to inhabit a space whose dimensions and properties are revealed in time. This research also documents an increasing interest in the productive potential of unstable sounds. My use of fragile sounds, whose quietness and sonic irregularity underline the physical gesture made to produce them — almost as though the sound needed a visual component in order to be fully understood — complements this approach to sonic instability. As an artist, I am drawn to uneasiness, dirt, and imperfection. During my time at Harvard I have been able to integrate these qualities into my music by finding a way of producing scores that direct the performers’ energies towards controlled but unpredictable results. My scores are meticulously notated, but most of my sounds are so unstable, because of the techniques used to produce them, that the same passage played several times would give as many sonic results. The energy and aesthetic experience remain the same, but what changes is a question of shifts in the shade of a color. I feel that it is this breach into imperfection that makes my sonic environments alive.