First Advisor

Casey, Brian

First Committee Member

Applegate, Erik

Second Committee Member

Zaremba, Drew

Degree Name

Doctor of Arts

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

8-2024

Department

College of Performing and Visual Arts, Music, Music Student Work

Abstract

Jazz and Metal are genres of music that can seem aesthetically distant, both musically and culturally. Despite this perceived distance, there are evident connective roots that allow for the continuous incorporation of elements from each style and musical perspective into both genres. Many contemporary improvising musicians with jazz ties have explored this connection, such as John Zorn and his various projects such as his trio Simulacrum, and Tigran Hamasyan’s various small ensemble projects. Additionally, many musicians coming from a metal perspective have worked to incorporate jazz and improvisational elements into their work, such as death metal band Imperial Triumphant. Works have been written for large jazz ensembles as well, by such contemporary composers as Steve Wiest, Adam Neely, and Brian Krock. Cantus Imperialis is an original composition that further explores the musical connective tissue between jazz and metal, building on musical devices from modern metal and contemporary big band compositional aesthetics. This composition relies on the narrative of the modern mythopoeia epic “The Horus Heresy” to inform the structure of the composition. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to create an original and expansive work for jazz orchestra, which incorporates elements of modern jazz big band composition techniques, motivic development, and modern metal musical genres, into a cohesive and narrative-driven composition. Secondly, as a result of said composition, this research intends to contribute to the consolidation of root connectivity between the two genres. Cantus Imperialis and other works in a similar style are also representative of trends in twenty-first century music toward the breakdown of genre boundaries and the free inclusion of musical elements from other seemingly disparate sources.

Abstract Format

html

Extent

419 pages

Local Identifiers

Call_unco_0161D_11267.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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