&M∀G ("Etymology")

Listen to the work here!
 
&M∀G (pronounced “etymology”) is a work for solo tuba, accompanied by fixed audio sourced by the performer and played through an amplification system. The pronunciation of the work’s title is derived as follows: “&”, the ampersand, signifies the word “and”, pronounced “et” in French; the letter “M” is pronounced “em” when spoken aloud; the symbol “∀” is the universal quantifier in propositional logic, often used in place of the clause “for all”; and the final symbol is “a G”. This piece touches on the nature of language and communication in multiple ways, the most obvious of which is the recurring use of the sounds of cacophonous conversation in crowded public spaces. By using the sound of conversation as a pseudo-white noise, to which attention is drawn by the piece, the thin line between understanding and obscurity in communication is made a focal point. This is drawn out through the musical material of the work’s three sections, all of which is written using variations of the same twelve-tone row. The first section is arrhythmic but intensely melodic and speech-like, the second is minimalistic with shifting rhythmic pulses on individual notes, and the third is a brisk march, short phrases interrupted by a tritone refrain. In this way, the piece becomes more rhythmically structured but less strictly melodic as time goes on, a representation of the way that the more complex human language becomes, the less it is that we seem to understand each other.
 
&M∀G was commissioned by Preston Smith, a graduate tubist at the University of
Illinois Urbana-Champaign, for premiere performance at a graduate tuba recital.