Orbits.

Orbits for orchestra is a quest for order and balance achieved through musical transformation. It is a process in which self-similar, simple musical patterns are configured to create complex harmonic/rhythmic structures resembling acoustical mosaics and spirals. The idea of oneness, audible (visible) in the musical material, extends to the form of the piece as well. The larger sections of the composition contain their smaller self-similar parts. In that respect, the musical content of Orbits originated its own form. In the same manner of simple patterns creating complex structures, the individual instrumental parts are particles of a more sophisticated organism. I treat the whole orchestra as one complex instrument: while there are no soloistic musical passages, the sum of the instrumental layers is virtuosic. The harmonic, rhythmic and formal language of Orbits is based on the relationships between parts and the whole. Interpreting all three as proportions, I treat them as individual manifestations of a single idea---the structure of sound is mirrored both at the level of rhythm and form. The differences among their manifestations resides in our perception.D.M.A.; Ph.D.Communication and the ArtsMusicUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/132967/2/3079574.pd