Repetition and Recontextualisation: an analysis of my recent compositional work

This thesis accompanies and complements a portfolio of four original acoustic compositions written between 2017 and 2018. Together, this thesis and the portfolio of compositions explores aspects of repetition and recontextualisation within music.

By drawing from sources by Dora A. Hanninen, Jacques Lacan, Johnathan Burrows, and Bara Kolenc, this thesis outlines several current theories regarding repetition and recontextualisation and attempts to contextualise my enquiry.

This thesis will identify, illustrate, and explain a variety of compositional techniques and devices that may be used to achieve the repetition and recontextualisation of musical material, and through which a composer may encourage a listener to re-orientate the perspective from which each element of the repeated material is heard.

To do so, this thesis presents an analysis of Cicada by Kevin Volans, as an initial case study, but also draws upon examples from work presented within the portfolio of original compositions. Furthermore, this thesis also draws examples from a wide variety of works across the creative arts by other artists including: Phillip Glass, Robert Lax, Alvin Lucier, Steve Reich, Morton Feldman, Richard Glover, Agnes Martin, and James Turrell.

Ultimately, this thesis proposes that the compositional techniques and devices deployed in the repetition and recontextualisation of musical material may be classified into any one or more, of the following three categories: (1) addition and subtraction, (2) placement and displacement, and (3) tone and colouring.