Lost & Found an Electro-Acoustic Musical Composition Referencing a Day in an African Village
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Music Music 2019 LOST & FOUND AN ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC MUSICAL COMPOSITION REFERENCING A DAY IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE: A COMMENTARY ON A MUSICAL COMPOSITION George Essilfie University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2020.036 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Essilfie, George, "LOST & FOUND AN ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC MUSICAL COMPOSITION REFERENCING A DAY IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE: A COMMENTARY ON A MUSICAL COMPOSITION" (2019). Theses and Dissertations--Music. 153. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/music_etds/153 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Music at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Music by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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George Essilfie, Student Prof. Joseph Baber, Major Professor Dr. Lance Brunner, Director of Graduate Studies LOST & FOUND AN ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC MUSICAL COMPOSITION REFERENCING A DAY IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE: A COMMENTARY ON A MUSICAL COMPOSITION ________________________________________ THESIS ________________________________________ A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in the College of Fine Arts at the University of Kentucky By George Mensah Essilfie Lexington, Kentucky Director: Prof. Joseph Baber, Professor of Music Composition Lexington, Kentucky Copyright © George Mensah Essilfie 2019 ABSTRACT OF THESIS LOST & FOUND AN ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC MUSICAL COMPOSITION REFERENCING A DAY IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE: A COMMENTARY ON A MUSICAL COMPOSITION Electro-acoustic music composition makes it possible for composers to manipulate sounds with the computer with either alone or both live and prerecorded sounds. From the end of the 19th century when the first electronic devices for performing music were developed up till today, transformations in music technology keep surfacing and the possibilities with working with sounds have become endless. Electro-acoustic music has the ability to conjure mental images using vast sound manipulation techniques using the DAW(Digital audio workstation) and sound amplification through loudspeakers. Every space in our environment has its unique sound/s. Lost and found through these techniques provides an insight to a space which seems distant by geographical location but closer through sound. KEYWORDS: electro-acoustic music composition, African village, Digital audio workstation, sampling, Lost and found George Mensah Essilfie 12/3/2019 LOST & FOUND AN ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC MUSICAL COMPOSITION REFERENCING A DAY IN AN AFRICAN VILLAGE: A COMMENTARY ON A MUSICAL COMPOSITION By George Mensah Essilfie Prof. Joseph Baber Director of Thesis Dr. Lance Brunner Director of Graduate Studies 12/3/2019 Acknowledgements It is with immense gratitude that I acknowledge the support and help of all my Professors who helped to make this work a reality. Foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof. Joseph Baber for the continuous support of my Music Composition studies at The University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY. His guidance, patience, motivation, enthusiasm, and immense knowledge helped me in all the time of research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better advisor and mentor for my master’s in music composition. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Dr Karen Bottge and Dr. Donna Kwon. Special thanks to Dr. Karen Bottge, a very diligent professor. The door to Dr. Karen Bottge’s office was always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing. She consistently allowed this paper to be my own work but steered me in the right direction whenever she thought I needed it. I am grateful to Dr. Donna Kwon for her encouragement, insightful comments and discussions to make sure I stayed focus on this path and explore the facets that come with electro - acoustic music composition. My sincere thanks to Dr. Adam Sovkoplas who first introduced me to electro - music composition and inspired me to explore further which resulted in this thesis. My heartfelt thanks to Dr. Tim Moyers. He arrived when I was sealing this work, but his discussions drew my attention to tidbits to tighten the work to make it unique. iii Dr. Michael Baker and Dr. Lance Bruner - your constant support and wish for my success awes me more than anything anytime I think of the numerous times I came to your office looking to talk about the direction of my composition studies. It worked out! - Thanks for your immense help. Finally, I would like to thank my family, Felicia, George Jnr. and Ivan. I would not have made it without your love, prayers, care and concern for my personal development. To God be all glory, honor, thanks and praise. iv Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vi BACKGROUND ................................................................................................................ 1 OBJECTIVE ....................................................................................................................... 3 ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC MUSIC........................................................................................ 5 THE STORY ....................................................................................................................... 7 THE MAKING OF “LOST & FOUND” .......................................................................... 10 THE COMPOSITION PROCESS .................................................................................... 14 LISTENING GUIDE AND EFFECTS ............................................................................. 16 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 21 GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................... 22 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 28 VITA ................................................................................................................................. 29 v List of Figures FIGURE 1 COMPOUND OF KWESI ............................................................................... 9 FIGURE 2 STRUCTURE/FORM .................................................................................... 11 FIGURE 3 STRUCTURE IN WAV FORM ..................................................................... 13 FIGURE 4 STARTING A NEW TRACK ........................................................................ 14 FIGURE 5TEMPLATES IN GARAGEBAND ................................................................ 14 FIGURE 6 AUDIO INTERFACE .................................................................................... 15 FIGURE 7 RECORDING A WOODEN TONGUE DRUM FOR SAMPLING ............. 18 FIGURE 8 LAYERED INSTRUMENTS AND LOOP ................................................... 19 FIGURE 9 LAYERED INSTRUMENTS IN WAV ......................................................... 19 FIGURE 10 PLUGINS ..................................................................................................... 23 FIGURE 11 EXPORTING AUDIO TO TRACK - SAMPLE STEP ONE ...................... 25 FIGURE 12 EXPORTING TRACK TO WAV - SAMPLE STEP TWO ........................ 25 FIGURE 13 OPEN A NEW SOFTWARE TRACK - SAMPLING STEP THREE......... 26 FIGURE 14 SAMPLING INTERFACE ........................................................................... 26 FIGURE 15 SAMPLER PARAMETERS .......................................................................