APRIL

Recently I have become interested in the way that musical material can be structured to give the illusion of circular motion. I have composed a melody that repeats every eighteen bars where, at the end of each repetition, the melody is seen to have transposed itself up a tone. Defining the tonal centre for this melody as E, the theme is seen to rotate away from this centre until it finds itself returning to it, several repetitions later, an octave above.

The initial inspiration for this idea has come from contemplating the nature of centrifugal force. It is the tendency of a rotating body to move away from its circular path at a tangent. The typical example to illustrate this is when one rides a carousel and feels the pull outward as the carousel spins. Similarly, whilst my musical material is following a circular path it is constantly 'pulled outward' by transposition.

I have composed a small ensemble piece for eight players to experiment with this idea. I have set up pairs within the ensemble who play the circular melody in close canon (set a quaver beat apart) and then layered these pairs at different points to build a larger polyphonic texture. My intention now is to expand this texture even further in an orchestral context.

Returning to my analogy, I am now considering the function of a centrifuge. This is a machine with a compartment that spins around a central axis to separate substances of different density. What are the formal implications if I imagine the different timbres possible within an orchestra act similar to substances of different density within a centrifuge? I envisage many instrumental lines following circular paths at different times. Instrumental lines progressively become fixed in their circular repetition like substances that become stuck on the outer edge of the centrifuge. There are potentially endless combinations of layering as all the melodic lines interact at different times.

I am in the process of discovering the wide range of possibilities that this material offers. It is my job now to discern its musical essence.