abstract: In 2006, composer James DeMars conceived of an opera when he began setting the Aztec legend known as Nican Mopohua, the “legend of Guadalupe.” Many inherent challenges arose as DeMars began to compose his first opera. His unfamiliarity with operatic writing and production, a preference for the aural elements of opera over visual ones, inexperience with dramatic textual writing, and insecurity in his ability to have it produced, encouraged him to detour from his operatic vision altogether and instead write an oratorio. Yet, his original operatic concept revealed itself through the music and text enough to encourage him and others to believe that his oratorio, Guadalupe: Our Lady of the Roses, could be produced on the operatic stage. Despite the oratorio’s success, DeMars persisted in realizing his original operatic vision and began the arduous task of rewriting his opera in 2012. To overcome the challenges, he relied heavily on the input of an “Operatic Advisory Council.” This group of dedicated colleagues and experts in the field of opera revealed to DeMars certain essential elements of opera that were absent from the oratorio, and through the course of three years advised and instructed the composer as he transformed his oratorio into an opera – something rarely attempted in the operatic repertoire. In this document, Chapter 1 discusses the formation of the Council, its members, and the expertise they offered. Chapter 2 presents the areas of concern the Council had during the process. Chapter 3 discusses the methods by which DeMars rectified the flaws in the oratorio’s visual aspects, the vocal writing, and the dramatic elements that needed attention. It also presents musical and textual examples of the adjustments and additions DeMars made during the transition, and discusses their effect on the opera’s staging, vocal writing and drama. The changes DeMars made under the guidance of the Operatic Advisory Council ultimately resulted in an operatic version of Guadalupe, which premiered at Arizona State University in November 2015. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2018

abstract: Sonata No. 2 in B-flat Major is a work for trumpet and piano. It is composed in the romantic tradition and is thirty minutes in length. Trumpet chamber repertoire has increased dramatically in the past century, but few new works are representative of the harmonic language or extended forms of the late romantic tradition. The first movement, “Allegro con spirito,” is in sonata form with fantasy qualities allowing the exposition to meld with the development. The primary theme in 3/4 meter develops a neighbor-tone motive; in contrast, the second theme in 4/4 (in the same tempo) is more lyric in nature. In the development, the juxtaposition of these themes provides changing meters and opportunity for dramatic tension. The bold and metric nature of the first movement is contrasted with the slow, more lyric second movement, “Dolce e sensibile,” (Sweet and sensitive, pg. 22). This movement in E-flat major is in sonata form and encourages a more expressive, rubato interpretation. The second theme of the first movement shares a similar falling gesture as the themes of the second movement, but are different in their expressive qualities. The third movement (“Grave et lento”) is played attacca and begins with a transition from the ideas of the second movement (pg. 30). The dissonant harmonies and low register of the piano solo create an ominous atmosphere which mutates to the bold nature of the first movement. The remainder of the third movement is a seven-part Rondo. The primary theme (m. 20, pg. 31) is derived from a theme from the development of the first movement (m. 210, pg. 12). The C section of the rondo (m. 118, pg. 40) develops the opening theme of the third movement and leads to the primary theme in B-flat major. The final A section of the rondo is piu mosso with the primary theme in a compound meter providing a coda for the entire work. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Music 2018

abstract: “OUT.” is a song cycle for bass and piano that follows the coming out process of a young homosexual who has been raised in a politically and religiously conservative corner of American culture. This character was taught from a very young age that anything or anyone of a queer nature was inherently wrong and should be avoided and scorned. The story arc captured in this seven-movement work is only a small portion of what the character ultimately goes through as they mature. This portion of their narrative has been isolated with the hope of embodying a queer character of strength, and this piece begins with the character knowing, understanding, and having already come to terms with their own sexuality. The story outlined in this song cycle is one of hardship that ultimately leads to triumph, as a demonstration that overcoming queer suppression is an achievable goal. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Composition 2019

The Shores of Light is an orchestral composition which seeks to explore musical processes of coherence and evolution at a deeper level. The piece charts the journey of a single musical identity across a shifting aural landscape. This thematic idea — a strongly modal melody reminiscent of both plainchant and folksong, which serves as both the initial premise and foundation for the piece — is rooted in serene yet archaic stasis. After a brief introduction, the theme is subjected to tremendous pressure by external forces, which eventually crush it beyond recognition via a series of 'destructive' harmonic, contrapuntal, and acoustic procedures. Reduced to a shadow of its former self, the theme then undergoes a series of transformations, culminating in restoration — not to its original form, but to a new identity which functions as part of a whole, a 'master' entity whose components have been discreetly but gradually cohering throughout. This final realization is glimpsed but not necessarily fulfilled (hence the "shores of light") and the work, while striving at every register to return to its initial tonic, ends on a note that suggests (somewhat ominously) the possibility of a cyclical process. It is the essential tension between hierarchical complexity (tonality) and disorder (perceptual dissonance generated either by highly chromatic aggregates, acoustic saturation, or both) which plays the most crucial role in this discourse. The evolution toward greater and greater cohesion is achieved, necessarily, in opposition to the chaotic undercurrent which threatens to overwhelm or shatter the 'cohering' elements at every turn. The final chorale is a triumph of the 'meek,' as the elements of noise and distortion (ie. disorder) are stripped away to reveal an image of luminous simplicity. The use of tonal and non-tonal material as metaphors for order and chaos seems to betray an arbitrary initial condition — after all, there is no explicit logical connection between these parameters. But order, like beauty or meaning, is a perceptual phenomenon that transcends its processes. For me, the true complexity of the tonal hierarchy lies in its emergent qualities — the layers of content that emerge from a highly structured syntax. Thus, the gradual accretion of jumbled musical letters into recognizable words, then coherent sentences, then paragraphs imbued with specific meaning, carries with its own symbolism and structural significance.

The Shores of Light is an orchestral composition which seeks to explore musical processes of coherence and evolution at a deeper level. The piece charts the journey of a single musical identity across a shifting aural landscape. This thematic idea — a strongly modal melody reminiscent of both plainchant and folksong, which serves as both the initial premise and foundation for the piece — is rooted in serene yet archaic stasis. After a brief introduction, the theme is subjected to tremendous pressure by external forces, which eventually crush it beyond recognition via a series of 'destructive' harmonic, contrapuntal, and acoustic procedures. Reduced to a shadow of its former self, the theme then undergoes a series of transformations, culminating in restoration — not to its original form, but to a new identity which functions as part of a whole, a 'master' entity whose components have been discreetly but gradually cohering throughout. This final realization is glimpsed but not necessarily fulfilled (hence the "shores of light") and the work, while striving at every register to return to its initial tonic, ends on a note that suggests (somewhat ominously) the possibility of a cyclical process. It is the essential tension between hierarchical complexity (tonality) and disorder (perceptual dissonance generated either by highly chromatic aggregates, acoustic saturation, or both) which plays the most crucial role in this discourse. The evolution toward greater and greater cohesion is achieved, necessarily, in opposition to the chaotic undercurrent which threatens to overwhelm or shatter the 'cohering' elements at every turn. The final chorale is a triumph of the 'meek,' as the elements of noise and distortion (ie. disorder) are stripped away to reveal an image of luminous simplicity. The use of tonal and non-tonal material as metaphors for order and chaos seems to betray an arbitrary initial condition — after all, there is no explicit logical connection between these parameters. But order, like beauty or meaning, is a perceptual phenomenon that transcends its processes. For me, the true complexity of the tonal hierarchy lies in its emergent qualities — the layers of content that emerge from a highly structured syntax. Thus, the gradual accretion of jumbled musical letters into recognizable words, then coherent sentences, then paragraphs imbued with specific meaning, carries with its own symbolism and structural significance.

Concerto for violin and wind ensemble is a 25-minute virtuosic work for the violin and accompanying winds, brass, and percussion. As a trained violinist, among the first works I learned were the concerti of J.S. Bach. Thus, I pay special homage to Bach in this piece by using the famous B-A-C-H motive (each letter corresponding to a pitch) to generate much of the musical material in the work. The analysis of the Concerto details the processes in which B-A-C-H affected and shaped the melodic and harmonic language of the piece, while also touching upon the use of orchestration and the problems associated with balancing a single solo instrument against a large ensemble. I also discuss the several existing works for violin that were highly influential in composing the Concerto and the "anxiety of influence" associated with each model. / text

<p> This thesis is a discussion and analysis of the piece I presented at Signal Flow, the graduate music festival at Mills College, on March 8th, 2018 called pls don&rsquo;t(!) silence ur cellphones. This analysis will be punctuated with various theoretical asides meant to shed light on different aspects of the work and to present a clearer view of my own artistic mission. Since one of the hardest parts of doing work similar to mine is finding the right ways to do it, I hope this paper will at least serve as a resource for those with similar goals. In the spirit of open source, I want the tools and the processes to be as transparent as possible in order to encourage other artists and to expand a now relatively small community. My piece uses only the audience&rsquo;s cellphones as sound sources. I use a centrally-located projected display supplemented by the cellphone displays themselves to choreograph the audience&rsquo;s movements around the space. The piece aims to encourage interesting, fulfilling interactions for the audience while producing a complex sonic result through these interactions. In doing this, there arose many intersecting (and often extramusical) concerns and issues that I needed to address. This paper then serves largely to examine the failures and successes of this pursuit in the hopes of outlining future directions for the project. For this piece, audience members are invited to log onto a website on their cellphone. This website contains a brief set of instructions as well as a &ldquo;start&rdquo; button which, when pressed, activates a Web Audio app which produces sound. Each phone then basically becomes a mobile speaker in a large speaker array composed of the aggregate of all of the audience members&rsquo; phones. The interface on the phones is intentionally spare and minimal in order to encourage audience members to keep their focus elsewhere; it merely displays a solid block of color indicating which group the audience member belongs to at different parts of the piece and flashes white briefly when a new instruction is sent out. The main interface which all audience members react to is a projected image which acts as a sort of topographical map of the performance space. The audience is directed through a sequence of different spatial orientations which are accompanied by changes in the sonic material presented on their phones. The main goals of the piece are 1) to quickly and cheaply create an accessible &ldquo;high-tech&rdquo; listening experience, 2) to encourage and foster social contact (while problematizing and questioning the role of instruction and suggestion), and 3) to present various compositional ideas which are inherent to the work&rsquo;s form and sonic affect.</p><p>

O presente memorial consta de uma reflexão sobre o processo de composição do ciclo de peças intitulado Fragmomento, acompanhado de partituras das peças e registro audiovisual. A reflexão sobre a composição do ciclo enfatiza a utilização de citações de músicas de outros compositores como ferramenta de composição. São explicitadas no trabalho as motivações para a utilização de citações no ciclo, que surgem da experiência musical do autor e de reflexões sobre o referencial teórico empregado na composição. O gerenciamento do tempo de cada peça é outro elemento central abordado no memorial, desde o planejamento de cada peça à forma final. / This work presents an essay about the compositional process of Fragmomento cycle of pieces, the score of the cycle and the recording of the concerto in DVD and CD. The essay is focused on the utilization of quotations in the pieces as a compositional tool. The work describes the motivations that led to the utilization of quotations, which has its foundations in the life experience of the author and the theoretical basis used in the work. The control of the time in the composition is also described in the work, from the beginning to the end of the compositional process.

O presente memorial consiste em uma reflexão sobre os atos criativos de um conjunto de composições, acompanhado das respectivas partituras e de registros audiovisuais. A reflexão tem início com o estabelecimento do referencial teórico, prossegue com uma abordagem de cada uma das quatro composições e é encerrada por meio de algumas conclusões a respeito dos trabalhos realizados. O enfoque adotado para a investigação é o conceito de restrições, cuja definição como elemento norteador do ato composicional, no contexto deste memorial, é elaborada no capítulo inicial. Os capítulos seguintes investigam as composições individualmente, ressaltando, à luz do conceito-chave, fatores técnicos e estéticos presentes ao longo do ato criativo e elucidando retrospectivamente decisões composicionais cujo resultado são as partituras apresentadas. O capítulo conclusivo delineia breves generalizações a respeito do trabalho realizado como um todo, assim como aponta aspectos passíveis de considerações futuras. / This paper consists in a reflection about the creative acts of a set of compositions, together with their respective scores and audiovisual recordings. The discussion begins with the establishment of the theoretical framework, proceeds with an approach of each of the four compositions and is closed by a few conclusions about the work carried out. The approach taken for the research is the concept of constraints, whose understanding and definition as a guiding element of the compositional act, in the context of this paper, is elaborated in the opening chapter. The following chapters discuss the compositions individually, noting, in light of the central concept, technical and aesthetic factors present during the creative act and retrospectively elucidating compositional decisions whose results are the presented scores. The concluding chapter outlines brief generalizations about the work as a whole as well as pointing aspects that may be subject to future considerations.

Este trabalho apresenta o memorial de composição, a partitura e a gravação do balé Mahavidyas para dois pianos, flauta, piccolo, timpani e orquestra de cordas. O balé é integrado por sete ciclos de peças livremente inspiradas em imagens das Mahavydias, deusas do hinduísmo. Cada um dos ciclos, agrupado em dois atos, contém três movimentos. O primeiro ato é composto pela abertura e pelos quatro primeiros ciclos; o segundo, por abertura, três ciclos e coda. O Memorial inclui breve descrição das referências estéticas que estimularam as atitudes composicionais, fundamentadas no pensamento de H. J. Koellreutter e Fernando Pessoa. O relato dos processos composicionais revela os critérios expressivos e estruturais para a escolha da instrumentação e a relação desta com materiais compostos e utilizados de forma espontânea e intuitiva. / The present study presents the score, the recording, and a compositional essay on Mahavidyas, a ballet for two pianos, flute, piccolo, timpani and string orchestra. The ballet consists of seven cycles freely inspired by images of Mahavydias, goddesses of Hinduism. Each cycle contains three movements, grouped into two acts. In the first act are presented an overture and the first four cycles, while the second act presents an overture, the remaining three cycles, and the coda. The Memorial includes a brief description of aesthetic references that have informed the composition, based on the ideas of H.J. Koellreutter and Fernando Pessoa. The description of the compositional process addresses the expressive and structural criteria for the choice of instrumentation and its relation to written materials, used spontaneously and intuitively.