ALIEN MUSIC FOR TROMBONE
A short character piece, "Alien Music" stems from a love for the creepy horror and
old science fiction film scores of the 50's. The trombone part is written in such a
way intended to directly mimic generally the sound of a theremin, which was used
frequently in those films. The piece utilizes the harmon mute with the stem in, along
with the performer's hand repeatedly moving on and off of the mute. The piece is
not long, with an Intro and a "march" the piece ends with a familiar tune.
CLAIR DE LUNE
"Clair de Lune" for string quartet was not written in an attempt to copy other pieces
by the same name, but to capture the meaning of the harmonic language that 1 used in
writing the piece. A pitch that can be extended out in a perfect fourth and augmented
fourth forms, what I call, the "moonlight chord" and is used prolifically in the string
quartet. The piece begins subtly with a very small melody which becomes manipulated
in different ways throughout. The piece continues on in waves, this melody gets
pushed and pulled to several higher points and always comes back down and it ends
by eventually just dying out The piece as a whole pays homage to the composer
Maurice Ravel. This piece was first premiered in August 2, 2012 in Pavia, Italy.
DREAM
"Dream" is a cue from the short film named "Riley Cleveland" created and directed by
Jack Norsworthy. Riley has come across some hard times recently. He has lost his job,
his estranged mother and he's about to lose his girlfriend to his best friend. Even
though he's a good-hearted person, luck doesn't seem to be on his side and the
building up of these events causes him to break. The music for "Dream" is set to the
opening of the movie, the dream sequence and uses viola and piano. This project was
created with MIDI virtual instruments utilizing Logic Pro and Pro Tools.
OPERA SCENE
In the story, 'The Picture of Dorian Gray", a portrait is painted of the main
character Dorian Gray. He becomes so enamored with his own beauty and youth
that he makes a wish that the "painting grow old, and he stay young". Unbeknownst
to Dorian that wish becomes true, and every action and choice, age and sin is
carried on to that portrait. Eventually the portrait grows dark and hideous and
Dorian becomes disgusted and weary of this picture that haunts him.
"Opera Scene" was written out of a love for opera and the story, "The Picture of
Dorian Gray", which the scene was adapted from. This scene contains one recitative
and one aria. In the recitative, the presence of dissonance and jagged rhythms
represent Lord Henry's nature while amounts of consonance display the character
of Dorian Gray. These two musical entities battle throughout the recitative. The aria
is a relaxation from the energy of the recitative. Here the piano plays a low cluster,
that crescendos quickly to a louder dynamic. This begins the slow but gradual push
to the end, picking up speed until Dorian Gray's timely demise.
STETSON
UNIVERSITY
School of Music
421 N. Woodland Blvd. Unit 8399 | DeLand, FL 32723
stetson.edu/music | concert line 386.822.8947
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STETSON UNIVERSITY
School of Music
SENIOR RECITAL
Justin Ward Weber, composition
Studios of Sydney Hodkinson & Manuel de Murga
Saturday, March 15, 2014 | 3:00 p.m.
Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall
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