IMBUE for Viola and Three Dancers: A Study of Interdisciplinary Collaboration Between Music and Dance

Interdisciplinary collaboration is critical for the growth and development of any artist. It provides a space to engage in a conversation among art forms, where each participant has shared ownership in the creative process. Ultimately, we leave the conversation enriched and inspired to approach our craft in a new manner. This piece contains three contiguous sections, and the interplay between composed and improvised material characterizes each section. The three dancers are staged in a triangular formation, with the violist in the center. The first section begins with the violist introducing the melodic and rhythmic material indicated by the composer. The violist will turn and face each dancer, which cues the dancer to begin improvised movements in reaction to the violist\u27s playing style. The second section switches the roles as the violist improvises in response to each dancer\u27s choreographed movements. In the third section, the violist and dancers perform together, in a blend of composed music and choreographed dance movements

Fugue No. 6 in G-Sharp Minor

Fugue No. 6 in G-Sharp Minor is the sixth installment in a series of preludes and fugues for the piano. Initially, the series was meant to showcase the composer’s understanding of traditional baroque forms as well as the essential techniques of common practice counterpoint. However, having completed several such studies, to varying degrees of success, it was time to explore the fugue as a genre outside of the strict rules dating back to the eighteenth century. This line of thought inspired Fugue No. 6, and the result is a piece of music that combines some of the formal necessities of a fugue with a more strict adherence to the integrity of individual melodic lines in each of the four voices, and a commitment to the chromatic and often dissonant harmonies that the combination of these lines may produce. Despite containing sonorities that can be definitively described as contrary to the goals of the Baroque period, there are still several instances in Fugue No. 6 where Baroque-era processes are deployed. Such techniques include melodic and harmonic sequence and cadential figures, as well as techniques specific to the genre including fugue exposition, augmentation and diminution, fragmentation, and stretto. The synthesis of these techniques with the chromatic and often harmonically ambiguous nature of the music is the primary goal of this composition