Electroacoustic music has a unique ability to connect the listener to places, space and stories both real and imaginary. Each work within the portfolio explores specific objects, spaces and places. The intrinsic sonic qualities are explored and a musical narrative takes the listener through a newly composed imaginary space. Six original compositions are presented in this portfolio. The titles of these works are as follows: Lamenting, 192, All Along the Bell Tower, Oz, The Thing About Listening is…. and A Bit Closer to Home. Narrative structures that simulate a journey are used as a guide for the listener through immersive, virtual soundworlds. These spoken word and musical narratives also serve as a structural tool for the composer. Imagined and real sonic layers within stories and soundscapes are analysed, deconstructed and manipulated. These works convey a message, story or sense of place to the listener, while revealing sonic qualities that are not normally the focus of listening. My aim as a composer is to enhance the daily listening experiences of the listener, as they become more aware and appreciative of the sounds around them, through the sounds and spaces they experience in my music.

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Middle schools--Writing apprehension--Adolescent motivation--Peer interaction--Student letters--Writing workshops--Literature logs--Student self-evaluation.

abstract: “The Mystery of Light” is the first movement of a yet to be completed larger work titled ...to melt into the sun for chamber choir and percussion quartet. The text of the work is an excerpt from Kahlil Gibran’s masterpiece, The Prophet. This book tells the story of a prophet-like man, Almustafa, who, before embarking on the journey back to his native land, stops in the city of Orphalese, where the townspeople, having known him for many years, entreat him to share his wisdom before he departs. The seeress, Almitra, urges him, “speak to us and give us of your truth.” Almustafa proceeds to philosophize on a range of topics including love, laws, pain, friendship, children, time, beauty, and self-knowledge. Just before his farewell to the people of Orphalese, he speaks of death, saying that it is not something to be feared, but rather, embraced as a necessary and beautiful part of life. This interconnectedness of the life and death process, of which Almustafa speaks, is the subject of “The Mystery of Light.” Almitra’s aforementioned request returns directly and indirectly throughout the movement as a reference to humanity’s undying desire to understand the great mysteries of our own mortal condition. The choir shifts throughout the movement between the three following perspectives: 1) that of people who live in fear, whose anxious whispers grow into shouts of horror as they are faced with the threat of death, 2) that of people who share Almitra’s inquisitiveness and are inspired with wonder by the secret of death and 3) that of the prophet, as he speaks words of comfort and wisdom to those who look, either in terror or wonder, upon the face of death. My hope with this music is to share the comforting words which Gibran has spoken through the character, Almustafa, so that, as they have done for me, these words may provide comfort to those who will stand trembling in the presence of life’s most inevitable consequence. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Music 2020

abstract: Patterns and Soundscapes explores the concept album format, popularized in the late 1960s and into modern times by artists such as the Who, Pink Floyd, and Frank Zappa. Specifically, I sought to adapt this format as a compositional process aimed towards the completion of a large-scale work that can be presented in album format and live performance. Further influenced by the concept album, I sought to create pieces consisting of similar musical techniques, motivic ideas, and harmonic language, so that each piece could be performed on its own or be combined as a multi-movement work. I began writing this work in the spring of 2019, with “Colored Red Currents” for string quartet and “Conspiracy Wall” for two drum sets. After realizing that both pieces had a similar sound and style, I began to consider how they could function within an album format, and how they could also work together to form a large-scale musical work. I then decided that each subsequent piece, in addition to being composed of similar musical ideas, would be written in a manner that allowed for seamless transitions between the end of one and the beginning of another, and would also introduce the instrumentation making up the full ensemble in the last movement. This work begins with the sparkling and rapid string quartet, “Colored Red Currents,” then moves to the energetic and groove based “Conspiracy Wall” for two drum sets, the meditative “Interlude” for solo viola and electronics, and the quick and mechanical “Beat Frequency” for alto saxophone, bass clarinet, and electronics. The work ends with “ALL IN,” where the full ensemble is finally formed, and all of the patterns and soundscapes come together to form a bombastic and wild finale. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Composition 2020

This phenomenological study examines Saudi students’ perceptions of writing difficulties in U.S. universities as they have experiencing EFL and ESL contexts. The reason for focusing on Saudi students as participants is to limit linguistic, educational, cultural, and social factors that may affect the findings. The participants are seven Saudi graduate students at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC). Interview is used as a research instrument to provide a space for each participant to recall as many memories and perceptions as possible in order to manifest comprehensive presentations of their experiences in the Saudi and U.S. contexts. The two research goals are: (1) exploring the similarities and differences between the two contexts based on the participants’ perceptions; and (2) identifying potential effects of these similarities and differences on the participants’ writing during graduate studies in the U.S. Participants’ perceptions focus on the differences between the Saudi and U.S. contexts, rather than similarities, and their comparisons of the two contexts are discussed based on eight key factors: student’s role, students’ expectations, teacher’s role, relationship with instructors, writing process, feedback and grading, off-campus social life, and educational policies. The potential effects of these differences on Saudi students’ writing in the U.S. context are classified into three domains: educational procedures and academic standards; pedagogies; and writing processes. I conclude this study by offering recommendations for U.S. professors and instructors who may teach Saudi students and future Saudi students who plan to come to the U.S. universities.

The aesthetic of this composition begins with a flurry of notes creating a wall of sound and slowly disintegrates into becoming something light and airy. Beginning is dense and hurried with overlapping entrances, in the beginning I aim to achieve an overall effect of very smooth and natural slowing down. It feels rhythmic but the pulse is somewhat ambiguous. There are chains of flurried notes followed by rests in the individual parts but the rests are hidden by the overlapping entrances so it feels continuous. As holes open in the texture and the slowing down process takes effect, fragments of a melody begin to peak out of the texture and melt back in. Eventually the piece has completely slowed down and the full melody is revealed. This then builds into a climactic high point of the melody played in the cello. Throughout the ending, fragments of the beginning texture fade in and out until one final build up resembling the beginning texture. There is then a flurry of notes that then proceed to do the slowing down process of the beginning but within a much quicker timespan and then the piece closes out on the final chord of that process.

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