Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Diener-Bennett Thesis.pdf (962.94 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Six Embers

Diener-Bennett, Jesse
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2369-9841
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554645065671533

Abstract Details

2019, Master of Music (MM), Bowling Green State University, Music Composition.
Six Embers is a piece for orchestra, scored for three flutes, three oboes, three clarinets (with standard doublings), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four french horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, three percussionists, harp, piano, and a standard complement of strings. Six Embers is an attempt to reconceptualize my interest in writing for bodies – i.e., the performers, rather than their instruments – in an orchestral setting. In solo and chamber music, this is often represented by: fragile sounds, easily inflected by the physicality of playing them; the use of voice and language; and theatricality. However, this approach is not plausible for the orchestral medium or the particulars of the project. So, instead of writing for literal bodies, I take the orchestra itself as a “body,” an organic machine with musical and extra-musical traditions and characteristics. This idea invites phenomenological and semiotic questions. What is “orchestra-ness?” How is it signified, in the world and in my own memories and perception? How can I use it and play with it? I take, as my starting point, a fully-orchestrated 5-to-1 moment in A major. This is an ember of orchestral meaning, reminiscent of all orchestra music but indicative of no piece in particular. It is used traditionally (as material to manipulate), but also as a cultural object, a symbol of “orchestra.” In each of six sections, this ember is reawakened and repurposed, as follows: I. Through stasis, halting the usual method of harmonic movement, allowing listeners to relate to the sound in separation and the orchestra in its full glory. II. As an interval of a fourth (outside of tonal implications) and a short-long rhythm. III. In connection to a stylized orchestral “march.” IV. In connection to an entirely different cultural association, which I am intimately familiar with: shofar (ram’s horn) calls on Jewish high holy days. V. As a skeleton or shadow, masked by a pointillistic texture. My hope is that, through these multiple reconfigurations of this ember of meaning, I give listeners the dizzying, joyful recognition of something familiar becoming something new.
Mikel Kuehn, Dr. (Advisor)
Elainie Lillios, Dr. (Committee Member)
24 p.
Composition; Music
Six Embers; Jesse Diener-Bennett; orchestra score; musical score; semiotics; mannerism;

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Diener-Bennett, J. (2019). Six Embers [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554645065671533

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Diener-Bennett, Jesse. Six Embers. 2019. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554645065671533.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Diener-Bennett, Jesse. "Six Embers." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1554645065671533

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1554645065671533
163
© 2019, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.