Stravinsky said all music is either a song or a dance. As I thought about this, I though “Why try to prove him wrong?” So I wrote a suite of songs and dances to prove him right.
Canticle uses octatonic and whole tone scales, serialized chords, notes, rhythms, and dynamics, retrogrades, and inversions to create a sound world. The idea is that the music always exists, we simply interrupt it and engage with it for a few minutes before moving on to the next idea.
Pastorale – Shepherd’s Song is a “palate cleanser” movement that depicts a pastoral scene in which a Shepherd daydreams about love. He plays a song on his pipes while the wind blows around him in a lush field.
What is a March but a dance? This is a rondo-style march that utilizes whole-tone scales and several instrument colors to create a Stravinsky-like finale proving Igor right – all music is either a song, or a dance.