Imetosha - Swahili for "Enough is Enough"; is a piece that shines a light in the darkness and rages against the status quo of the acceptance of the killing of unarmed African American Males in the streets of America without just cause, a trial of their peers, or even a crime committed.  This piece takes us on a journey throughout a city seen where people are going about their normal daily routine and they are forced to witness the tragedy of an African American Male killed in cold blood and the range of emotions that they go through from shock, wonder, anger, and finally descending into chaos.  The piece ends with the hope of a brighter future being enveloped by the flatline of death.  This displays the harsh reality that even though we believe in and fight for a brighter future, death, hate, and prejudgement is always constantly knocking at our door.

Imetosha

Ugunduzi is Swahili for Discovery.  This piece takes the listener on a journey of self discovery.  Even though this journey is filled with ups and downs, curves, and jagged edges, it is still undergirded by a feeling of peace throughout.  During the journey some of what is already known about the explorer is lost, because the explorer allowed the path chosen to swallow the light that shined within.  It is not until the explorer learns to except and love from within that the correct path is revealed and chosen, allowing the explorer to reach their final destination not fearing the charge of letting their light shine upon the world as a beacon of truth and hope.

Ugunduzi

Scaturient is a piece for 8 Channel Fixed Media and Alto Saxophone.  The fixed media for this piece was composed purely of Alto Saxophone sounds recorded in an Anechoic Chamber.  An Anechoic Chamber is a room designed to completely absorb reflections of sound and totally insulate itself from exterior sources of noise.  This allowed me to record purely the sounds created by the Alto Saxophone without any exterior noise interfering.  This piece surrounds you in an overflowing rush of notes and sounds created from the Alto Saxophone, which bombard you like water fro a waterfall, or wind on a cold winter day as you are taken on a mental journey. 

Short - -Scaturient

Phase is a 10 Channel Fix Media piece that was inspired by Steve Reich’s Violin Phase.  Violin Phase is a piece that used different compositional techniques to bring the violins used, both into and out of phase with each other.  Phase uses various compositional techniques that are extremely different than the techniques Mr. Reich used, to try to bring about the same phasing effect through a variety of different sounds.  The sounds used for this piece were mined from a collection of recordings done in the Anechoic Chamber, sound distortions created in the Electronic Music Studios, and a 24oz Under Armour Thermos filled with water

Phase

Change is a piece that reflects the unsettling changes that have come to pass within my life during 2014.  The fluid use of aggregate pitch collections is meant to provide a feeling of instability and constant change.  The piece reflects my experience transitioning from a full-time teacher to a full-time student, moving to a new city and state, transitioning from having a father in good health to having a father severely ill.  Change comes in many shapes and forms, just as this piece will suggest many different thought processes. 

Change

Metamorphosis, the second of a three movement work for flute and 8 channel fixed media, focuses on the creation and deconstruction of a melody created from a recording of the poem “A Jelly-Fish” by Marianne Moore. Once recorded, the audio file was stripped down to isolate all hidden tones found within and between each spoken word. Once sequestered, those phonemes were used to help create the main melody of the piece, which was analyzed and rebuilt, creating a free flowing texture that elides into a hocket-like texture.

Metamorphosis - Flute and 8 Channel Fixed Media 2016

Silhouette is an 8 Channel Fixed Media piece which involves a series of transformed samples arranged into gestures and systematically permuted creating a two-dimensional representation of a mental configurational drawing of small gestures which through transformation evolve into long gestures over time.  Dedicated to Dr. Lawrence Fritts, thank you for pushing me to find my limitations and reach beyond them.  The World Premier Silhouette was held at the Delian Academy For New Music held in Mykonos, Greece

Silhouette - Fixed Media 2017

Disquietude attempts to reflect the raw emotions of uneasiness and anxiety that the composer was dealing with at the time of its creation as a result of his mothers Stage 2 Breast Cancer diagnosis.  As a result of this inspiration this piece became an exploration of ordered states and disordered states.  Throughout the piece we explore transformations from a united state of sound to a state of deviation of musical ideas, rhythmic syncopation, density of sound, & the isolation of silence.

Disquietude

Huzuni is a single movement musical composition for sinfonietta ensemble that formally reflects the five stages of grief. Using the Swahili word for sadness or sorrow and research from the Kübler-Ross Model, Huzuni lays out each of the five stages in the following order: denial and bargaining [section 1], depression and anger [section 2], and acceptance [section 3]. 

In section 1 the tonal center of g minor is implied but never fully realized, thereby providing a sense of the denial of truth. In section 2, dissonance is emphasized to suppress a clear sense of direction in order to project a state of depression. It functions as a bridge section that slowly simulates depression in real life. When juxtaposed against the first section we see that the piece shows us that consciousness can be related to tonality and unconsciousness to atonality.

In section 3 the principal melody returns, but within the key of B Major. Even here we see a denial of what the true tonal center is, due to the way that it is notated, but it is handled in a way that creates a sense of this reality being adequate, suitable, or acceptable. When juxtaposed against the first sections, an ascending third relationship is created giving the sense of climbing out of the valley and onto higher ground. The third and final section exposes the idea of acceptance and is achieved by juxtaposing the keys of the first and third sections. The ascending relationship between these two keys suggests the triumphant climb from a depressed state into a state of acceptance that is finally resolved, in the conclusion, in the key of E major simulating moving on.
Throughout the composition we tap into the natural continuum found in harmonic intervals, between consonance and dissonance. This continuum is then used to reflect each of the emotions as part of the grief model.

February 24, 2019 COncert Hall

Huzuni

Tafuta Upendo

Bernard Short is a PhD in Music Composition student at the University of Iowa.  Born in Harlem, NY and raised in Far Rockaway Queens, NY he earned a BA in Music with a Composition focus at Morehouse College in 2007, and a Masters in Music Education at The University of Georgia in 2012.  From 2008-2014 he was a Director of Bands and Orchestra Director at Cross Keys High School in Atlanta, GA.  To Mr. Short, music is the expression of a person's soul that is best used as a way to communicate with someone without allowing words to obliterate the message.

Bernard Short

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