Liminality as a Framework for Composition: Rhythmic Thresholds, Spectral Harmonies and Afrological Improvisation

Dissertations:

Title:: Liminality as a Framework for Composition: Rhythmic Thresholds, Spectral Harmonies and Afrological Improvisation
Author(s):: Lehman, Stephen Hart
Thesis Advisor(s):: Lewis, George E.
Date:: 2012
Type:: Dissertations
Department:: Music
Permanent URL:: http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:14094
Notes:: Accompanying musical score available at http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:14095.
D.M.A., Columbia University.
Abstract:: This paper examines the ways in which involvement with both French spectral music and Afrological forms of improvisation has informed my current work as a composer. I present a brief overview of the major concerns and preoccupations of both musics as well as an account of the overlapping histories of spectral music and Afrological improvisation, with particular attention to the concepts of liminality and rhythmic thresholds in the light of recent music perception research. Finally, through an in-depth analysis of two of my recent compositions, Echoes (2008) and Baltimore/Berlin (2008, rev. 2011), I show how this ongoing inquiry allows us to think about composition in new and fruitful ways.
Subject(s):: Music