Musical dialect: tradition, heritage and the language of the vernacular A commentary on recent compositional works

The main aim of the project was to write a set of compositions exploring the ideas of heritage, tradition and vernacular in music, with a view to creating a personal and authentic musical style. To achieve this, I have looked at my musical influences (heritage) and actively included them in composition. The main influences explored in the project include, heavy and progressive metal of many varieties, folk music, barbershop music and choral art music.

I have researched the ideas of tradition in modern composition by studying the works of other contemporary composers to see what aspects of tradition they retain. I have also looked at tradition within the genres of my musical heritage and incorporated traditional aspects and clichés of those styles into my own composition, whilst working to create my own musical dialect that incorporates my linguistic vernacular.

This thesis contains in-depth analysis of the compositions in this project whilst relating them to the music that has inspired me. It also contains the result of research I have done into themes that feature throughout my works.