Gray Sealed Chamber is a composition for orchestra of approximately seven minutes in duration. The instrumentation of the piece includes the following: two flutes, piccolo, three oboes (third doubles cor anglais), three clarinets in B-flat (third doubles bass clarinet), three bassoons, four horns in F, three trumpets in C, three trombones, tuba, timpani, three percussionists, and the standard string complement. This work is based around feeling trapped by anxieties and the resulting phenomenon of the struggle to find the motivation to overcome these anxieties. The form of this thesis is through-composed and includes four sections.
The first section of Gray Sealed Chamber represents the day-to-day anxieties that I experience. The second segment of the composition depicts the pulling that I feel between various aspects of my life, and my struggle to keep all those aspects running smoothly. A dramatic buildup comprises the third portion of the composition, which represents large deadlines that increase my anxiety. In order to portray this growth, I increase tension through increasing multiple musical parameters, leading into the climax of the piece. The fourth section and climax of the piece exhibit the arrival of all the looming deadlines. The ending of the fourth section is a release of tension accomplished through decreasing multiple musical parameters.
Gray Sealed Chamber furnished me with a greater understanding of compositional workflow regarding writing, orchestrating, engraving, printing, editing, part creation, and copying for a large ensemble. Furthermore, this thesis allowed me to become more comfortable in writing based on an abstract pitch collection. Ultimately, this piece granted a more thorough understanding of writing for orchestra and the possibilities and challenges therein.