The Development of an Individual Compositional Voice with a Related Critical Commentary Volume 1 of 2

This portfolio shows an insight into the development of my individual compositional voice towards pre-determined directions, in the light of five original works. The compositional materials for this body of work are drawn from: existing sources of musical scales, musical forms and instrumental combinations. This set of works consists of compositions for voice, various solo and instrumental ensembles written in a combination of tonal and chromatic styles. My means towards developing a varied individual compositional voice were mainly based on experimental challenges, reflecting practical applications of the selected compositional and orchestration skills I am intending to acquire. The five works are deliberate representations of selected influences, compositional language, styles and forms from the 18th century through to the 21th century, accompanied with analysis and critical commentary. I am aware that to develop as a composer, I need to specially integrate contemporary forms and techniques. To this end, I have explored the compositional processes used by Joseph Schillinger to see how relevant they might be to my own style and influences. Schillinger was a Russianborn music-theorist, composer and composition teacher who developed a mathematical based compositional system in New York circa 1940's. Students of Schillinger include popular musicians and composers such as George Gershwin, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman and Oscar Levant. The Schillinger System can be adapted for composing in any existing musical style while providing practical methods towards solving problems arising during the compositional process. The central point of this work is to demonstrate how I have effectively adopted the above styles and techniques.