Unearthing

Abstract

Composer Toru Takemitsu once stated, “I wish to discard the concept of building sounds. In a world in which we live, silence and unlimited sound exist. Painstakingly, I wish to carve that sound with my own hands, finally to reach a single sound. And it should be as strong a sound possible in its confrontation with silence.” My dissertation is a compositional process developed in response to Takemitsu discarding the concept of building with sounds, instead focusing on a single sound. In a world with infinite sounds, it is not possible to build or carve out a sound without fully understanding what an individual sound inherently is. Unearthing, as I refer to it, is a compositional process to reveal what a sound innately is through my observations of the sound. As the composer, my job in this process is to project my understanding as I move through the original sound, peeling back the surface layers of material, and, in doing so, others might better perceive sound as well. In this work, the original sound reveals subtle timbres, blending wispy techniques unique to the instruments. For instance, the use of speech in the winds’ breathy sounds transforms over time, as one example of a parameter that affects the execution of other sounds. The small, creaking timbres of the original sound transform into fragile and transparent openings, moving into further layers of the sound. In observing and identifying parameters, while allowing said elements to cross-pollinate, I expose the truth of a sounds nature in an effort to understand the fullness of what it inherently is.