Night Dance, for orchestra.

Night Dance was inspired by the contemplation of opposite worlds, the Ancient and the Modern, the East and the West, Piety and Decadence. My plan was to integrate these concepts into a composition in such a way that they all complimented one another, coexisting as a whole. I wanted to achieve a definite sense of a drama unfolding with characters, a story with a beginning and an end, through a musical development of ideas presented in the early measures of the piece. The main theme was inspired by the spirit apparent in the mystic music of Turkish Sufiism. Initially presented by the piano in the opening section of contemplative string sonorities, the step-wise tune recalls the ritualistic spinning of the Whirling Dervishes, piously weaving around the note D. It produces a meditative trance-like quality, evoking the reexperiencing of a thought without any real beginning or end. This theme acts as the main character in the drama, venturing through a wild scene of rhythmic celebration intended to evoke an ancient orgiastic feast before revolving back to the peaceful quietude of the opening. Through all this it remains secure, traversing the dramatic changes of setting unflinchingly. Features of instrumentation allow contrast between different hemispheres and ranging epochs. The dumbek, an ancient Turkish and middle eastern drum, sparsely punctuates the opening section. The drum serves as a representative of the ancient Eastern world, a sole alien voice in the modern Western setting of the orchestra, eventually driving the seductive dance in the middle section. Ideally, the drum plays a supporting dramatic role offering light-hearted temptation to the resolute character of the main theme. When the main theme joins in the decadent festivities of the middle section all disparate ideals have merged in one celebratory dance, the Ancient and the Modern, the East and the West, Piety and Decadence.PhDDoctor of Musical Arts (DMA)Communication and the ArtsMusicUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/131673/2/9929848.pd