BARRET ALLEN (B.M. ’25): “broken essence”
“Broken Essence” revolves around the homogenous texture introduced in the opening section of the piece. In this texture, all three performers are executing similar, yet sonically distinct, techniques. These techniques are, specifically, unpitched lip trill, flutter-tongue air noise, and paper-made white noise, on each respective instrument.
The musical material of “Broken Essence” is comprised of three alterations to this aforementioned texture. The first is disruption, wherein the texture is in some way distorted, such that its identity is functionally different. Examples of this can be found in the pitched entrances in the vocal/clarinet part. The second is augmentation, wherein the texture is in some way distorted, without its identity seeing significant changes. Examples of this can be found in the change from unpitched lip trill to sustained inward K in the vocal part. The final alteration is complete transformation, wherein the texture exists only in an abstracted form. In this case, there is only one example, wherein the three previous techniques are swapped out for new techniques, of drastically different character. This texture is made up of overpressure multiphonics, sustained overblow, and a super-soft mallet buzz roll.
TIFFANY HEE JAE HWANG (B.M. '25): “interruption”
In the piece “Interruption,” I used one simple motivic idea and expanded throughout the piece. While listening to this piece, you will be able to hear the development of the motif.
GRACIELA HERNÁNDEZ (B.M. '26): “Rail Times”
The purpose of this piece is to mimic the sounds of a train ride I was on in West Virginia. The melody that appears in the left hand is supposed to represent the natural West Virginia beauty.
DANIEL J. ELIZALDE (B.M. '25): “Interjection”
like in a conversation.
IAN MEDINA (B.M. ’23): “Prisms”
—Refraction of light—
JULIAN DÜRR (B.M. ’25): Elegy for the Desensitized—Mvm’t II: my dreams feel so real
Elegy for the Desensitized is a work-in-progress multi-movement work for piano.
This particular movement, “my dreams feel so real,” depicts a dream as commentary on our shallow, obscured perceptions of the world around us, and how our dreams act as a messenger of what truth is in the face of our darkest times—especially when faced with conflicts and tensions weighing on our shoulders.
When this dream seems to be reaching its greatest height of beauty, attaining the unattainable after wandering and dragging you through your bastardized half-memories of your childhood and places you barely remember, you realize it’s a dream and are pained even more by the seriousness of the tensions that loom over you—you want nothing but to live in this dream.