Identifier

etd-07082015-221240

Degree

Master of Music (MM)

Department

Music

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

This piece is inspired by three different fable stories, which my parents told to me when I was a child. It has three different characteristic sections. The main tune throughout the piece has Chinese elements, including the use of pentatonic scales and intervals of the second. During each section, I employed the melodious melody of solo cello as the transition to bridge different sections. These transitions are all composed of Chinese folk tunes. The first section uses a story about perseverance. A pony wants to cross a river but it is indecisive and afraid. Some of animals tell the pony the river is very deep, but some of them say it is shallow. Finally, the pony tries to cross the river by itself and it succeeded. This section has two lyric movements and I am using lyricism to evoke the feeling of uncertainty. In the second section I used the story of the tortoise and the hare. There are two main characters: the melody of piccolo plays the role of the rare; the melody of solo cello plays the role of the tortoise. These two instruments always act in cooperation with each other. Also, I employed lively motivations to express the feeling of humor. In the third section, I was inspired by a traditional Chinese fable about faith making things happen. An old man, named Yukong, lived behind a mountain. There was no path to cross the mountain. So the old man decided to move the mountain piece by piece. No one believed he could succeed, but he did it. It is because he did the same thing over and over again. In this section I employed similar melodic patterns and continuous imitation to describe the story.

Date

2015

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Constantinides, Dinos

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_theses.2258

Download

Included in

Music Commons

Share

COinS