It is. It is not: a composition for narrator and electronics
María Lihuen Sirvent · NC Digital Online Collection of Knowledge and Scholarship (The University of North Carolina at Greensboro) · 2020
It is. It is not is a musical composition for narrated voice and fixed electronic media. In this composition, I explored the transformation of musical material in a way that makes the experience of the passage of time in music rely on memory and familiarity. I approached this exploration from the metaphor of music as a time machine represented through the interaction of certain compositional processes with the content of the text. Starting with a text that explores in sometimes humorous ways the prospect of time travel, I created a composition that involves memory not only of elements within the work itself, but also the memory of other music from the past. For this, I included references to my previous compositions, en castellano es lejos (2018) and In 1964 (2019). This thesis includes brief sections on time perception in musical experience, the use of external references in musical works, a discussion of these procedures in my piece, plus information about the rhythmic patterns employed and the musical form.