Westbrae is a work written for string quartet composed in 2020. The work is approximately eleven minutes long and focuses on the idea of losing one’s perception of time. Throughout the piece, musical gestures quickly crossfade in and out of one another, creating the sense that all materials are coming and going with ease. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, this piece serves as a reflection of what it is like to be in lockdown and to have days blend together.

Yearn is a work of notated music for string quartet. The piece examines the emotions of longing and loss through the repetition of motivic and timbral fragments, which are continually frustrated and never fully resolved. Elements of American and British folk music traditions are also drawn upon as inspiration for much of the bowing patterns and harmonic content present in the piece. The piece is approximately twelve minutes in duration.

This work explores the myth of the Midas touch, attempting to recreate Midas’ thaumaturgical condition through sound. The sonic experience is delineated by distinct phases that mimic the process of Midas’ touch, following a subject’s existence from pure life to still, tarnished gold.

abstract: It is not a tremendous exaggeration to suggest the world almost ended on September 26, 1983. At the command center for the Soviet Union's Oko nuclear early warning system a report came in stating that six hostile missiles were launched from the United States. The commanding officer at the center, Stanislav Petrov, was convinced that the missiles were a false alarm, and indeed the Oko system had malfunctioned. Petrov was justified in reporting the attack to his superiors, which would have likely resulted in retaliatory strikes from the Soviet Union, leading to nuclear war. This relatively obscure, but immensely important moment in history is the inspiration for Alarm. This work is not a direct retelling of Petrov's story, but a musical journey imagining the many emotions this man must have been feeling. The piece is also not a look at the Cold War politics surrounding the event, but a study of a choice, one of massive consequences. The most significant element in Alarm is tension. The goal of the opening statement of the piece, played by the brass, is to immediately transport the listener into this world on the edge. This motive is developed throughout the work, and serves as a binding agent as the music evolves. Another crucial element is the oscillating staccato notes usually played by high-pitched instruments. This is implying stress one might feel- whether it be an alarm going off or time running out. As the piece seems to reach its breaking point just past the halfway mark, Petrov makes his choice. The final part of the work is decidedly more peaceful, emphasized by the "Tranquillo" and "Calmo" descriptors, but there is a consistent dark undertone to Alarm. Petrov's story is bittersweet- he is a hero, but his accomplishments were swept under the rug by Soviet leadership, humiliated by their nuclear system's failure. The near disaster in 1983 has barely been addressed by the world at large, even as the threat of nuclear war seems to fade. When the next nuclear crisis arises, what choices will be made? / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Music 2020

This dissertation investigates how the contemporary performers of the Swazi gourd-resonated bow, the makhweyane, create music. Since David Rycroft's study of Swazi bow music in the 1960s and 1970s, little study has been devoted to this musical instrument. The makhweyane is played by a handful of people, each appearing to consider him or herself the last bearer of this tradition. Despite this, however, musical bows have been co-opted as icons of Swazi national identity, and, along with the Incwala (the "first fruits" festival) and Umhlanga ("reed dance") ceremonies, are used as public affirmation of Swazi cultural homogeneity to rally support for the monarchy. The research investigates how musicians create new music for this single-stringed instrument. It also explores, through oral testimony, musical analysis, and practice-based methodologies, the discourse surrounding composition and musical innovation on this rare instrument. Players learn and create through both solitary and participatory exploration and music-making. This research explores how current makhweyane music can be read as oral testimony with regards to the lives of musicians, but also how diverse current praxis serves many functions: as "radio" for lone travelers, as comfort for broken hearts, and as individual acts of citizenry within a broader national environment. This dissertation explores the musical, technical, and social parameters engaged when creating new repertory - the myriad invisible spectres to whom players play and for whom players compose - and the shape that new, resilient makhweyane sounds are taking. It extends David Rycroft's musicological analysis of the 1960s and 1970s to include an investigation into current dialectics between individual notions of creative innovation and musical memory, and the national cultural imaginary. My findings suggest a reframing of 'traditional' musicians from elderly 'culture-bearers' to responsive, innovators and active contemporary musicians, along with their urban-based, younger counterparts. Opening with the King's call for new compositions to be created, this dissertation reads the makhweyane as a prism for Swaziness, for learning and storytelling, for the imagination and remembering, and for creation.

The first movement of scenes was written for the Sound Icon ensemble, thus the reason for the somewhat unusual instrumentation. They read the piece at Boston University on February 25, 2022. The title scenes comes from the idea that the motive found at the start of the piece is recontextualized throughout the work at different tempos, with varying dynamics, and with changing combinations of instruments. This can be related to the scenes in a play or movie where the actors remain the same but they are seen in various locations, with other characters, and with different lines. The second movement acts as an extension of this idea, taking another motive and recontextualizing it throughout.

This piece was composed in 2022 for Mivos Quartet. Through the combination and conflict of different timbres, it expresses the sense of tearing and unknown confusion caused by the collision between the rational world and mysticism. By citing the theme of Tchaikovsky's Violin Sonata in D major, the most representative rhythm pattern in Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring", the music fragment of popular music culture after the second industrial revolution, the intention is To create an illusion similar to time travel. Just as the world is in the process of disenchantment, the rapidly changing process makes us feel as if we have fallen into the abyss. Do we still need the power of faith? Or a spiritual sustenance or memory? In ancient society, people are "embedded" in the world, is connected with the world. In modern society, people are separated from that big "matrix" and live alone and without support in this world. The natural world was objectified, no longer divine and spiritual, but a physical world that could be explained by cold laws of cause and effect. So what are the consequences of this for the human spirit?

Moondust is a piece for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet in B flat (doubling Bass clarinet), Horn in F, Trumpet in C, Trombone, Percussion, Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Double Bass. Moondust means lunar soil. In this piece, however, it symbolizes the illusion or fantasy of what we admire and yearn more than the existence in reality.

This piece is a projection of my first transpacific flight experience, from Korea to the United States. Every flight is somewhat frightening and bizarre to me, but this long flight was quite exceptional. I used to be emotional, and a lot of anxiety and self-reflection possessed me. However, this time, crossing the vast indigo ocean, I almost burst into tears of loneliness and nervousness, thinking about my unstable life path and the land I do not know. However, this flight was too long to be fragile. I prayed, ate meals, searched for travel information, studied scores, watched movies, observed people, listened to the music and noise inside the airplane, and composed a new piece. After all, life went on, even at 36,000 feet in the air.

Please note: this thesis are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock icon and fill out the appropriate web form. / Klásma, meaning “fraction”, in Greek; the intent of this piece is to present how a piece of music can be put together with seemingly disjunct materials, yet sounding as a unified entity. / 2999-01-01