Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 230). Discography: p. 231. Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

As the title of the work suggests, Burn brings to mind the qualities, characteristics and properties of fire: its volatile, destructive and unpredictable nature, and its often-overlooked sublime and evanescent states. Although I did not set out to programmatically depict the element in Burn, fire provides a metaphor for the compositional process. My objective was to compose a work that is harmonically and motivically rich, and where colour and character are of absolute importance. In turn, the work is explosive and unrelenting, with contrasting moments of subtler music. The complex and volatile personality of fire takes form right from the dramatic and combustible opening of Burn, through to the kaleidoscopic and mercurial textures of its developmental sections, its slow but catastrophic middle section, and its remorseless ending. And like the prodigiously agile nature of this element, I wanted to write a work that is engaging and virtuosic for its players. Burn is a single-movement work cast in three dramatic sections. The opening, spanning from mm. 1-24, establishes the musical material and sets the tone for the work. The music of the introduction gives way, at m. 25, to a developmental section, where varied forms of the introduction appear as structural delineators: mm. 68-71 to close the first part of the development, mm. 98-106 and mm. 131-136. The outer sections of Burn, mm. 1-136 and mm. 188-291, are fast and furious, colourful and nimble, and are similar to each other in character and content. The contrasting middle section, mm. 137-187, gives way to a different music, one that is slow and intense but shares motivic and harmonic attributes with the outer sections. The music climaxes at the return of the Tempo Primo, mm.166-187, with the defining motif of the outer sections superimposed at its original speed over the broad music of the middle section. Burn closes at the end of the third section with a varied return of the introduction.

As the title of the work suggests, Burn brings to mind the qualities, characteristics and properties of fire: its volatile, destructive and unpredictable nature, and its often-overlooked sublime and evanescent states. Although I did not set out to programmatically depict the element in Burn, fire provides a metaphor for the compositional process. My objective was to compose a work that is harmonically and motivically rich, and where colour and character are of absolute importance. In turn, the work is explosive and unrelenting, with contrasting moments of subtler music. The complex and volatile personality of fire takes form right from the dramatic and combustible opening of Burn, through to the kaleidoscopic and mercurial textures of its developmental sections, its slow but catastrophic middle section, and its remorseless ending. And like the prodigiously agile nature of this element, I wanted to write a work that is engaging and virtuosic for its players. Burn is a single-movement work cast in three dramatic sections. The opening, spanning from mm. 1-24, establishes the musical material and sets the tone for the work. The music of the introduction gives way, at m. 25, to a developmental section, where varied forms of the introduction appear as structural delineators: mm. 68-71 to close the first part of the development, mm. 98-106 and mm. 131-136. The outer sections of Burn, mm. 1-136 and mm. 188-291, are fast and furious, colourful and nimble, and are similar to each other in character and content. The contrasting middle section, mm. 137-187, gives way to a different music, one that is slow and intense but shares motivic and harmonic attributes with the outer sections. The music climaxes at the return of the Tempo Primo, mm.166-187, with the defining motif of the outer sections superimposed at its original speed over the broad music of the middle section. Burn closes at the end of the third section with a varied return of the introduction.

Musical Moments abstract The inspiration for this piece came largely from my encounters with Miles Davis’s composition “Flamenco Sketches” from his album “Kind of Blue”. Initially, I wanted to write a piece that would have a highly dramatic emotional content with some influences drawn from flamenco music. The only thing that I drew from flamenco is a progression of chords that loosely hint at Phrygian mode (often used in flamenco). Other elements of the music and the development of musical material are not related to flamenco or to Davis’s “Flamenco Sketches”. “Musical Moments” presents four different moods: calm but anxious, joyous and assertive, indecisive and contemplative, restless and explosive. Each of these moods creates a separate section of the piece which when combined shape a single movement work.

Impact (2013) is an eight-minute work for full orchestra that explores an aural gesture best described as a heavy thud. This gesture, which opens the work in its clearest form, is a steep drop from the upper register of the orchestra, such as the flutes and triangle, to its depths in instruments such as the basses, contrabassoon, and tuba. Each time the gesture plummets to the bottom, the impact of this arrival generates various “resonances” – shards of harmonic or melodic material that proceed to develop on their own, contributing to subsequent thuds and eventually blooming into more lyrical sections of music. Along the way, the thudding gesture is dissected, reversed, and fragmented before finally regaining its original form and prominence near the end. One giant, swirling thud brings the work to a rumbling close. The work was greatly influenced by my exposure to electronic music techniques, many of which focus on non-traditional aspects such as register, timbre, and abstract shapes and gestures rather than rhythm, melody, and harmony. Also central to the work’s creation was my desire to treat the orchestra as a single, metamorphosing instrument rather than a layering of its distinct parts.

Thesis (M.M.)--University of North Texas, 1999. / Includes analysis by composer. Performance notes on p. [iii]-[iv]. Includes bibliographical references (p. 42).

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI/Dissertation Abstracts International.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-273).

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of North Texas, 2002. / For orchestra, guitar and computer generated sounds. Duration: 23:45. Compact disc contains computer-generated and processed sounds. Includes bibliographical references (p. ciii-cvii).

Thesis (D.M.A.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 230). Discography: p. 231. Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.