Garden music

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 18,2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. W. Thomas McKenneyInstrumentation: flute, B[flat] clarinet, bass clarinet, violin, cello, piano, percussion. Duration: about 20 minutes.Master of Music University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."May 2012"This piece was written as a thesis for the completion of an M.M. in composition. To write it I conjured several images to help characterize various elements of a garden. The first movement came about as a visualization of the rolling and undulating that land undergoes when imagined in "deep" time, i.e. in fast motion. The second movement is more peaceful, after the dreaminess of underwater vision, though reflections of both the movements before and after it break up the calm now and then. The third movement is reflective of animal and plant life around the garden, which I chose to represent with a clean and ambiguous character. This movement utilizes much improvisation on the part of the ensemble, and as such represents a culmination of my compositional work and focus at the University of Missouri