thread—surface (Acoustic composition supplied on CD)
- Submitting institution
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City, University of London
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 506
- Type
- J - Composition
- Month
- March
- Year
- 2018
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Thread—surface investigates forms of cross-modal perception, specifically between visual and aural modes of experience. Materials and techniques employed in the work derive from an examination of the paintings of Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri (see contextual information), the surfaces of which take on a shimmering quality as a result of the interaction of repeating, self-similar threads. My interest was in bringing about, within the fabric of listening, experiences analogous to those of viewing Tjapaltjarri's work: a surface effect which projects textural consistency but which at the same time radiates constant dynamic motion and holds open the possibility of abrupt shifts in focus and direction. Consistency of texture is achieved through high degrees of repetition, slow rates of harmonic change, clearly defined and delimited registers within which instrumental activity takes place, and the allocation of distinct and idiosyncratic roles to each instrument or instrumental group (which remain constant throughout the entire piece). The emergent perceptual effect is of a gradual 'narrowing' of listening focus, particularly over the first of the work's four main sections. As with Tjapaltjarri's paintings, this contraction of perceptual focus lends force to the disorienting effects of gradual textural evolution, and accentuates the salience of abrupt, micro-level shifts in direction. Several interacting strategies are employed to engender a sense of continuous dynamic motion. These include foreground techniques such as the persistent use of near-symmetrical rhythmic cells (e.g., piano), middleground stratification of overlapping metrical and phrase-group cycles, and long-range strategies of textural layers evolving along distinct but parallel timescales (e.g., the metric rallentando in the strings over the course of the first section). These techniques constitute the slippery contrapuntal weave of the work; the assemblage of threads which give rise to a dynamic, shimmering surface.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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