Wearing tone-coloured glasses: a 'colour-first' compositional approach to the modern wind band

Abstract

In the nineteenth century, the English term tone colour, derived from the German word klangfarbe, entered musical vocabulary. Similarly, the French term timbre, referring to the same concept, 'quality of tone', circulated musical discussions. Throughout the twentieth century, composers explored various aspects of tone colour in their compositional approach including Schoenberg's Klangfarbenmelodie (later developed extensively by Webern), Varese's fascination with sound generation, Messiaen's drawn relationships between visual colours and harmonic clusters, and Boulez's concept of timbre as a musical language.

'Wearing tone-colour glasses' is an autoethnographical study that establishes the concept that a composer's creative approach is guided by an overarching fascination with instrumental tone colours from the outset of their creative process. The aims of this study are to establish a firm definition of a 'colour-first' composer, explore the 'colour-first' process through the creation of a varied portfolio of works for a singular instrumental medium (the wind band) and investigate the impact of formative musical development and career pathway on the development of compositional process and product.

To achieve these aims, the definition of a 'colour-first' composer, being one who inherently composes with tone colour from the very beginning of their compositional process, is proposed and established. Ongoing studies into the creative and compositional process conducted by social psychologists and musicologists are reviewed, revealing the impact of early interactions with music and music education on a composer's process and their proclivity towards certain musical elements. Research conducted in the creative process of other composers is also conducted, postulating additional support for the 'colour-first' designation.

Research into my own compositional process is conducted and a set of questions on "how composers compose", devised by Dr. Bernard Andrews of the University of Ottawa is used to maintain an extrinsic perspective. Investigations into formative musical development and career pathway reveal the origination of my 'colour-first' approach as well as my ongoing dedication to the creation of educationally based repertoire. The application of my established 'colour-first' approach to composition is explored through an investigation into the creative portfolio. The creative portfolio, consisting of eight works includes a full four-movement symphony, six works for apprenticing musicians of varying capability (an apprenticing musicians defined in this study as any person, of any age, learning to play a wind band instrument) and an additional short piece for professional musicians. The investigation and review of the creative portfolio reveals the enduring impact of familial influences, education and professional experience on my creative process and resultant compositional voice.

To establish the validity of the unique contribution to wind band repertoire this creative portfolio provides, an investigation into the wind band and its repertoire was also necessary. This includes an historical account of wind band instrumentation development, and an overview of the body of work currently written for the medium. Collectively, the study provides insights into the impact of the functional role played by the wind band on the development of repertoire, as well as the formulation of early societal disparagement based on an haphazard array of instrumentation. The deviations in instrumentations are particularly pertinent to this study as each work in the portfolio, stemming from a 'colour-first' perspective, offers alterations to instrumentation in an effort to best explore the timbral capabilities of the wind band medium across multiple genres.