Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemUNWRAPPING AUTHENTICITY: Skill development + perception / conception development( 2022)The music that has always meant the most to me has taught me something new about the world, about life, or about myself. It has a brilliance about it, a depth, an innate beauty. The music that has touched me the most has an inherent authenticity, and authenticity touches people. It does not have to be a serious or earnest work; it can be fun, whimsical, or curious. But there remains an underlying integrity, a truthfulness, and a musical communication that lies beyond superficiality, gimmick, or sterile intellectualism and I hope to believe that humans are hard-wired to know when communication is authentic. As a listener, I seek music where there is genuine coherence between the artist and that which they express in their work. As a music maker and practitioner, the continual extension of my technical skills, knowledge, and analysis is essential. However, so too is pondering, deep listening, and observation of oneself and the world, as well as the development of what I would like to say. Whilst technique and research assist a composer to present a work with clarity, poignancy, and potency, they are not the point in and of themselves. So, whilst I extend my technical and analytical music skills, I also seek to clarify and extend my ability to perceive and conceive an integral point of view. Authenticity requires interrogation of one’s perception, broad enquiry, and leaning on one’s own life experiences. I believe that perception is as important a skill to develop in music as it is in the visual arts. I create as I perceive. I am a witness to my life and to my times. Each creative has a chance to deliver a refracted vision of life as we experience it; as we share our version of reality, so too does the collective understanding of life broaden and flourish. This initiates an important feedback loop, where flourishing ideas nourish the community, which then, in turn, nourish new creative endeavours. For this composer, authenticity means witnessing and expressing the corner of reality I inhabit; my culture, my experiences, my observations, and history-in-the-making during my life and times. I locate my music with this compass.
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ItemFolio of Compositions( 2020)The following portfolio of compositions demonstrate the influence of extramusical ideas and materials on my compositional process. The preface to these four works discusses how these extramusical ideas and materials are utilised to generate compositional decisions and musical outcomes.
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ItemComposition folio( 2009)At the age of nine, I began my musical studies in violin. Like so many musicians, I’d already been sold on my future career. I didn’t realize back then however that my musical journey would lead me to write. I didn’t come from a musical background, in fact, I can’t think of anyone in my family that played or sung. In my youth I played in various orchestras and ensembles, all classical, and enjoyed playing music in groups. Through my years of study, listening and playing, I have come to realize that no particular influence has come forth in my own music but each has come together to make my music what it is.