A piece composed for the Animoog app by Moog for 6 iPads.

Color Of Fifths for Six iPads

This piece is based on a compositional technique called rotation theory. A short melody is placed on a graph in which the X axis represents time and the Y axis represents pitch. The melody is then rotated either clockwise or counterclockwise on its centroid by certain degrees. In this case, it was rotated 60º, 100º, and 130º clockwise; and 50º, 80º, and 90º counterclockwise. The degrees of rotation were found by indeterminate means (rolling dice). 

The resulting notated rotations are then used to compose the piece. The rules are that each rotation must be completed if started, they can be transposed only by octave, and the time can be evenly augmented or diminished (for example, if the original rotation contains two successive half notes, then they can be augmented to two successive whole notes or diminished to two successive quarter notes).

Glimpse Of The Aggregate

Two Songs of Poe is based on two poems by Edgar Allan Poe: Bridal Ballad and A Dream within a Dream. Dream Within a Dream was written in 1849. In the poem, the speaker questions our perception of the world and uses the analogy of a “surf-tormented shore” to describe how the passage of time eventually destroys all things we consider important. The speaker also laments the futility of attempting to battle the passage of time and saving those that one considers important. Defeated, the question is posed, “is all that we see or seem, but a dream within a dream?”

In each movement, though the music follows the drama of the text, the rhythms and phrase lengths intentionally go against the rhythmic structure presented by the text. This is done to represent the deteriorating mental stability of the speaker and her detachment from reality. 


Bridal Ballad:

The ring is on my hand, 
And the wreath is on my brow;
Satins and jewels grand
Are all at my command,
And I am happy now.

And my lord he loves me well;
But when first he breathed his vow
I felt my bosom swell--
For the words rang as a knell,
And the voice seemed his who fell
In the battle down the dell,
And who is happy now.

But he spoke to reassure me,
And he kissed my pallid brow,
Wile a revery came o'er me,
And to the church-yard bore me,
And I sighed to him before me,
Thinking him dead D'Elormie,
"Oh, I am happy now!"

And thus the words were spoken,
And this the plighted vow,
And though my faith be broken,
And though my heart be broken,
Behold the golden token
That proves me happy now!

Would God I could awaken!
For I dream I know not how,
And my soul is sorely shaken
Lest an evil step be taken,--
Lest the dead who is forsaken
May not be happy now.


Two Songs of Poe, I. Bridal Ballad

Two Songs of Poe is based on two poems by Edgar Allan Poe: Bridal Ballad and A Dream within a Dream. Bridal Ballad was written in 1837 and depicts a woman struggling to convince herself that she is happy, though she has married a man she does not love. In her attempts to proclaim her happiness, her thoughts frequently turn to a lover who died “in the battle down the dell;” and, though her “golden token” should be representative her happiness, it continuously reminds her of what she has lost.

In each movement, though the music follows the drama of the text, the rhythms and phrase lengths intentionally go against the rhythmic structure presented by the text. This is done to represent the deteriorating mental stability of the speaker and her detachment from reality. 


A Dream within a Dream

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow--
You are not wrong, who deem 
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flow away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand--
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep--while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Two Songs of Poe, II. A Dream Within A Dream

Journey to the Top of the Looking Glass was inspired by a sculpture of the same name by artist Kyle Van Lusk. The sculpture is built from a mixture of cast iron and steel, which was used to create the harmonic and melodic foundation of the composition. A hexachord was created both from the atomic weight of carbon (C) and iron (Fe) and their symbols. Using the correspondence of the atomic weight of the elements to the frequency of tonal notes in the equal temperament system and the symbols Fe and C, the hexachord (E F G A-flat A C) is created. 
 
The sculpture also strikes an interesting balance between rectilinear and curvilinear forms, which cause certain parts of the sculpture appear intentional while others appear coincidental. To represent this, a meter-less section marked "freely" is notated in which the materials for the performers are present, but it is ultimately up to them how the section is horizontally realized.
 
The sculpture was created in response to the artist's experience hiking the Looking Glass Rock trail near Brevard, NC. He described it as "a fun experience, but hard and memorable." The piece is permeated by ascending melodic fragments that become more dissonant as the piece (and trail) progresses, only to resolve once the peak is reached. After a retrograde of the earlier ascending motives, the piece ends fittingly on measure 64, which corresponds to the 6.4 mile length of the trail.

Journey To The Top Of The Looking Glass

Excerpt from the reading of my wind ensemble arrangement for The Sunken Cathedral by Claude Debussy.

The Sunken Cathedral by Claude Debussy

Excerpt from the reading of my orchestral piece Memorialized by Phantasm.

Memorialized by Phantasm

Cello - Molly Leigh Jones
Piano - Michael Langlois

Formerly Tonalities for Cello and Piano Mvt. I, this piece has been reworked as a single movement. The title Chroma (while intentionally vague) is meant to describe the progression of harmonic and textural "colors" in the piece.

Chroma For Cello And Piano

Performed by Erika Binsley at the University of Maryland

in generationes sempiternas... for Solo Horn in F

Performed by the University of Maryland Percussion Ensemble.

Director: Lee Hinkle
Soloist: Christopher Herman
Spatial Accompaniment: Jon Clancy, Anthony Konstant, Matt Miller, Robert Schroyer

Movement I - 0:29
Movement II - 3:44
Movement III - 6:16
Movement IV - 9:53
Movement V - 15:35

DISCLAIMER: The main idea utilized in this piece is spatialized performers. For this piece, the soloist is  located on stage, while the other performers are positioned around the audience. Because of this, use headphones for the best experience, though this will still not fully resemble a live listening experience. IF USING HEADPHONES, MANY SECTIONS WILL BE LOUD.

Two Songs of Poe, I. Bridal Ballad

Bradley S. Green

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