Please do not remove this page Let Me Tell You A Story (The Children In Their Beds): The Fusion of Classical Music and Electronic Dance Music Larson, Logan Thomas https://scholarship.miami.edu/discovery/delivery/01UOML_INST:ResearchRepository/12379279380002976?l#13379279370002976 Larson, L. T. (2021). Let Me Tell You A Story (The Children In Their Beds): The Fusion of Classical Music and Electronic Dance Music [University of Miami]. https://scholarship.miami.edu/discovery/fulldisplay/alma991031572688802976/01UOML_INST:ResearchR epository Open Downloaded On 2021/09/25 02:50:01 -0400 Please do not remove this page UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI LET ME TELL YOU A STORY (THE CHILDREN IN THEIR BEDS): THE FUSION OF CLASSICAL MUSIC AND ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC By Logan Larson A DOCTORAL ESSAY Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Miami in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Coral Gables, Florida May 2021 ©2021 Logan Larson All Rights Reserved UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI A doctoral essay submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts LET ME TELL YOU A STORY (THE CHILDREN IN THEIR BEDS): THE FUSION OF CLASSICAL MUSIC AND ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC Logan Larson Approved: ________________ ________________ Dorothy Hindman, D.M.A. Juraj Kojs, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Composition Assistant Professor of Professional Practice ________________ _________________ Lansing McLoskey, Ph.D. Guillermo J. Prado, Ph.D. Professor of Composition Dean of the Graduate School ________________ ________________ Robert Carnochan, D.M.A. Professor of Conducting LARSON, LOGAN (D.M.A., Composition) (May 2021) Let Me Tell You A Story (The Children In Their Beds): The Fusion of Classical Music and Electronic Dance Music Abstract of a doctoral essay at the University of Miami. Doctoral essay supervised by Professor Dorothy Hindman. No. of pages in text. (142) This dissertation explores the inspiration for the concert band and fixed media work Let Me Tell You A Story (The Children In Their Beds). I discuss the genesis of the work, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) history, the text, instrumentation, influences, and classical and EDM techniques. In Let Me Tell You A Story (The Children In Their Beds), I explore the combination of classical music and EDM. The work serves as an interactive children’s story where the narrator in the fixed media represents a parent acting out the story. The work is seven minutes and three seconds in length. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF EXAMPLES ............................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................... viii Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION AND GENESIS OF THE WORK .................................. 1 Inspiration………………….………………………………………………… 2 Commission…………………………………………………………………… 3 2 EDM GENRES .............................................................................................. 4 Early Electronic Music………………………………………………………… 4 Drum and Bass…………………………………………………………………. 6 Dubstep and Riddim…………………………………………………………. 6 The Importance of Movement………………………………………………… 10 3 TEXT ............................................................................................................. 12 Commission and Research ............................................................................... 12 Collaboration and Characters ........................................................................... 13 Synopsis ........................................................................................................... 13 Conversational vs. Rhythmic Speech in Music ............................................... 15 Vocals vs. Speech ............................................................................................ 16 4 INSTRUMENTATION ................................................................................... 17 Instrumentation ................................................................................................ 17 5 INFLUENCES ................................................................................................ 18 Concert Band Research .................................................................................... 18 Narration in Orchestral Music ......................................................................... 19 EDM Influences and Storylines ....................................................................... 21 Sampling .......................................................................................................... 22 Sound Design ................................................................................................... 22 Techniques ....................................................................................................... 23 6 CLASSICAL AND EDM TECHNIQUES IN LET ME TELL YOU A STORY (THE CHILDREN IN THEIR BEDS) ............................................................... 26 Overall Formal Structure ................................................................................. 26 Counterpoint In My Music ............................................................................... 27 Musical Elements in EDM Compared To Classical Concert Band in Let Me Tell You A Story (The Children In Their Beds) ................................................ 28 Section 1: Introduction of Narrator – Measures 1-9 ........................................ 30 iii Section 2: Narrator Begins Story – Measures 10-33 ....................................... 31 Section 3: Introduction of Blue and the Ambassador – Measures 34-57 ........ 40 Section 4: Adventure Begins and Introduction of the Purple Dragon – Measures 58-75 ................................................................................................ 43 Section 5: Purple’s Coin Drop – Measures 76-83 ........................................... 47 Section 6: Leaving Purple’s Cave and Introduction of the Green Dragon – Measures 84-117 .............................................................................................. 51 Section 7: Green’s Knife Drop – Measures 118-142 ....................................... 57 Section 8: Leaving Green’s Cave and Introduction of the Dragon – Measures 143-184.............................................................................................................. 62 Section 9: Red’s Sword Drop – Measures 185-202 ......................................... 71 Section 10: Return To Aeribeth and Blue’s Hoard – Measures 203-228 ........ 75 Section 11: Blue’s Book Drop – Measures 229-247 ....................................... 77 7 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 84 WORKS CITED…………… ...................................................................................... 85 AppendiX A – Full Score…………… ......................................................................... 98 iv LIST OF EXAMPLES Page Example 1 – Opening Vocals ...................................................................................... 30 Example 2 – Trombone 1 Phrygian Mode Mixture: Measure 12 ................................ 31 Example 3 – Flute 1 Triplet Sixteenth-Note Passage: Measures 20-21 ....................... 32 Example 4a – Opening of Middleground Section 2, Part 1 ......................................... 33 Example 4b – Opening of Middleground Section 2, Part 2 ......................................... 33 Example 5 – Wobble Bass Triplets in Tenor and Baritone Saxophones: Measures 18- 20 ................................................................................................................................. 34 Example 6 – Glockenspiel Entrance: Measures 18-20 ................................................ 34 Example 7a – Middleground: Measures 18-21, Part 1 ................................................ 36 Example 7b – Middleground: Measures 18-21, Part 2 ................................................ 37 Example 8 – Middleground: Measures 22-25 .............................................................. 39 Example 9 – Lower Brass and Horn in Measures 26-29 ............................................. 40 Example 10 – Background of Section 3 – Repeated Five Additional Iterations ......... 41 Example 11 – Two Foreground Layers: Measures 54-57 ............................................ 42 Example 12a – Conversational Speech in the Vocal: Measures 58-60 ....................... 43 Example 12b – Rhythmic Speech in the Vocal: Measures 62-66 ................................ 43 Example 13a – Horns and Chimes Beat 3 Accent: Measures 58-64, Part 1 ................ 45 Example 13b – Horns and Chimes Beat 3 Accent: Measures 58-64, Part 2 ................ 46 Example 14a – Two Foreground Layers of Drop 1, Part 1 .......................................... 48 Example 14b – Two Foreground Layers of Drop 1, Part 2 ......................................... 49 Example 15a – Bassoon and Trumpet 1 Imitation, Part 1 ........................................... 50 Example 15b – Bassoon and Trumpet 1 Imitation, Part 2 ........................................... 51 v Example 16 – Dovetailing Sections 5 and 6 – Measures 84-85 .................................. 52 Example 17 – Mimicking of Fixed Media in Horn 1, Trombone 1, Bass Trombone: Measures 100-101 ........................................................................................................ 53 Example 18a – Orchestrational Dialogue: