Forgotten places, abandoned buildings: a song cycle for pierrot ensemble and metal vocalist

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Jacob Thiede (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Mark Engebretson

Abstract: Forgotten Places, Abandoned Buildings, is a three-movement song cycle for metal vocalist, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, drum set, and electronics. The piece is written specifically to take advantage of the performance abilities of vocalist Tyler Rayle of the Greensboro-based band Beyond This, and is based on poetry by Emily Dunbar. The intention of Forgotten Places, Abandoned Buildings is to seamlessly fuse elements of classical and popular music, particularly metal, punk, and emo-rock. In addition to drawing on inspiration from Rayle and Dunbar, this fusion was achieved by incorporating influences of the work of other singer-songwriters music such as August Burns Red, iwrestledabearonce, and Sarah Kirkland Snider. The main challenges faced included taking what is essentially an aural tradition that exploits the individuality of the specific performers and translating that into something that is written down and playable by a wide range of musicians. The methods to overcome this challenge included making transcriptions of songs by August Burns Red and iwrestledabearonce and using spectral analysis on recordings by metal vocalists. I expect that the resulting piece is a haunting and viscerally powerful work of chamber music. Looking to the future, my aim is to have this song cycle recorded as a six-track album, and released on a record label.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 2016
Keywords
Composition, Metal, Pierrot, Song-cycle
Subjects
Song cycles $v Scores
Chamber music
Heavy metal (Music)

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