Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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Item"Speaking in tongues": an investigation into a compositional practice informed by intercultural exploration( 2019)There is an existing context for contemporary composers engaging in intercultural exploration through creative work, both in Australia and internationally. Taking a practice-led research approach, this study by composer Tim Dargaville investigates the ways that ceremonial forms and ritual practices can inform the creation of new music and the development of a personal compositional language. A folio of five compositions for solo instrument, string quartet, chamber ensembles and orchestra, with scores and recordings will be accompanied by a dissertation that aims to contextualise the process of creation, locating the development of the works within a broader understanding of approaches to intercultural exploration undertaken by Australian and international contemporary composers.
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ItemThe pursuit of originality: aspects of unity and individuality through compositional synthesis( 2018)This thesis forms case studies using compositions by its author Lorenzo Alvaro as a catalyst for understanding how originality is manifested in the consistent re-enactment of borrowing and self-borrowing. Understanding how compositions ‘come together’ through ‘Synthesis’ oppose long-debated theories of originality being an innate power giving rise to the notion of ‘genius’. More recent scholarship acknowledge borrowing and collaboration as a means for originality, and based on this, the thesis argues that true originality is nothing more than an ideal.
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ItemThe remains of decay: composing auditory afterimages( 2018)This autoethnographic critical exploration reflects on an accompanying folio of music compositions created between early 2013 and late 2016: Suite from The Bloody Chamber for three harps, Rung for electric guitar, contrabass recorder, violin, double bass and sensor-triggered bells, extracts from The Experiment: a musical monodrama; bound south for string quartet and Harp Guitar Double Concerto for two soloists and chamber orchestra. A post-structuralist reading reveals an emergent philosophical and practice preoccupation with the sonic phenomenon of the auditory afterimage.
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ItemRepurposing material and idiom in new music( 2018)A folio of nine works is presented, which explore three significant aspects of the composer’s art. Firstly, “musical language” itself is used as an expressive device, and resulting expectations and associations are intended to stimulate the listener. Secondly, recognition of the significant cultural lineage of western music has encouraged the reuse and repurposing of established and even traditional elements beyond their usual contexts. Finally, the works explore the effectiveness of “musification” where non-musical cues, such as dramatic narrative and visual metaphors, are represented in musical terms. The works are mostly for larger ensembles, such as orchestra or wind ensemble, but the central work of the folio is a song cycle setting poems by the Melbourne-born poet and writer Walter J Turner.