Internal Energy Control begins in E phrygian in 3/4 time. The opening melody quickly becomes the background texture over which a new melody is passed between the bass and guitar. This section is followed by a section in 5/8 that uses the octatonic scale, triplet rhythms, and distortion to create a heavy, jagged effect. The rhythms are then transformed into 4/4 for a new section in the hexatonic scale. This is a substantial section which uses a contour map that I created. After tracing the contour of the opening melody, I assigned values along the traced image based on the given points' relative highness or lowness. These values represent the pitches each instrument plays. After each cycle through the contour map, the values double, as does the rate at which the instrument moves through the cycle. Throughout this section, the bass guitar's part serves to correct consonances that result from the contour map's predetermined intervals. After the contour map's limits are exhausted, the piece returns to the 5/8 octatonic section. This is section is repeated, but the brake drum and one of the electric guitars break from the rhythm by playing the 4/4 version, adding a chaotic element. This leads directly into the climax, which features double stroke rolls across the entire drum set, while distorted guitar uses tremolo and glissandi on several different bar chords. This is interrupted throughout by dissonant, distorted chords from the other electric guitar, and tamtam hits. After a short percussion break, the piece closes with a return to part of the opening section, but in F lydian rather than E phrygian, and with a short extension that calls for a "short virtuosic solo" on the drum set.
This live performance (4/3/13) features: amplified violin- Timothy Barnett; electric guitar (distortion)- Sean Ashcraft, Christopher Mann; electric bass (distortion)- Todd Seibert; drum set- Levi Thompson; percussion (woodblocks, tam-tam, brake drum)- Aaron Anderson; conductor- Ed Mellen

Internal Energy Control

I am a composer and percussionist who enjoys conducting and mixing performances of my own works. I was born in 1988 in Savannah, Georgia, and currently live in Yorktown, Indiana. In addition to classical music for instruments and for electronic media, I compose metal, rock, and hip-hop, though I still try to approach this music using intellectual and/or experimental compositional techniques. I am also interested in further expanding the styles, genres, and compositional techniques that I incorporate. I received my Bachelor's Degree of Music from Ball State University, where I was rewarded the “Excellence in Music Composition” scholarship several times. I have also been certified in Advanced-level Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages through the American TESOL Institute, and taught English at Beijing Royal School in 2009.