Developmental Techniques as Structural Tools: A Commentary on Their Application in My Recent Music

This thesis details my approaches to composition, focusing on methods of using development
processes and techniques to benefit the structure of the work, with the goal of developing new
methods and ideas to generate continuous material progression in my compositions. It reflects on
my position as a composer coming into the project and which areas of my approach I wished to
develop or change. The paper proceeds to focus on additive techniques with reference to
minimalism, followed by studies on number patterns in relation to Tom Johnson and how he
combines music and mathematics. I explore a new method of structuring compositions to assist
constant material development and focus on a number of techniques I use to progress my music
as part of this. These areas of focus include displacement, isorhythm and canon, and I analyse
how successful these approaches are in a number of compositions and studies. In support and
reference to these techniques I focus in on works by Ligeti and Nancarrow, examining how their
approaches have directly or indirectly influenced my own.