an interlude between two nothings: A Musical Composition for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, Augmented Electric Guitar, and Fixed Electronics, with Accompanying Document

• Author / Creator

  Labadie, Colin M.

• "an interlude between two nothings" is a musical work approximately thirty-five minutes in length. It is scored for flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, fixed electronics, and an augmented electric guitar. The work is divided into six movements, which alternate between two contrasting streams. One stream attempts to evoke a rational quest for knowledge through the metaphor of the universe’s origins and evolution, while the other stream suggests the absurdity in such quests by my imagining of the universe’s ultimate destruction. The contrasting goals of these streams is reflected in their respective creative approaches: the former is composed primarily for the acoustic medium, and develops increasingly fixed and ordered musical materials; the latter is improvised exclusively in the electronic medium—namely, an augmented electric guitar that I designed and constructed—and uses a variety of destructive and/or deteriorative signal-processing effects. The separation of fixed/ordered materials in the acoustic medium and improvised/destructive materials in the electronic medium is reflective of my overall creative practice in recent years.
  This thesis is divided into two broad sections: an analysis of an interlude between two nothings, followed by the score itself. In the analysis, I begin by contextualizing the work within my own creative output as well as the broader repertoire. I then analyze the entire work, beginning with broad considerations such as narrative and formal structure, and then moving to more a more detailed discussion of specific creative approaches in each of the respective streams.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Absurdism
  • Augmented Electric Guitar
  • Solo Piano Music
  • Music Composition
  • Cosmology
  • Chamber Music

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Music

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3BN9XD9T

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.