This dissertation is an analysis and critical framing of my recent compositional work, magnolias in bloom (2022) and Weavings (2023), both of which utilize ephemerality as a sonic and physical property to illustrate the content and narrative of the compositions. I give an overview of the last five years of installations, performances, and compositions and highlight ideas of grief, identity, and queerness within my recent work.
I investigate how my composition magnolias in bloom uses the ephemeral nature of unfired clay and amplifies the sound it makes when immersed in water as a metaphor for loss and grief. I also look at how the unstable nature of analog modular synthesis, nonlinear modulation, and timbral fluidity contribute to themes of queer theory and identity politics.
Through these works, ephemera is left behind in the form of clay and patch cables. At the end of each chapter I examine works that have both influenced and informed my practice and throughout the dissertation, I highlight the writings of José Esteban Muñoz, Pauline Oliveros, and bell hooks to relate their work to my own practice. My analysis of magnolias in bloom and Weavings through a lens of ephemerality draws a connecting thread between the two vastly different compositions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/wc0r-w070 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Dobkin, Danielle |
| Source Sets | Columbia University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Theses |
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