Browsing by Author "Stamps, Jack W."
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Item Buck Jones : an electroacoustic opera in three acts(2006-05) Stamps, Jack W.; Sharlat, YevgeniyBuck Jones is a three-act electro-acoustic opera set in a western themed family steakhouse located between a highway interchange and a suburban node. The libretto, written by John Navarro, depicts one anomalous day in the life of the restaurant through three acts, named for the three traditional meals of the day: Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. The interior subject matter often humorously spiritualizes the character of the Old West while gently reminding the audience of the profundity of our existence in the universe, even in such a seemingly uninteresting place as a roadside restaurant. The musical score supports the story with the use of such western sounds as electric guitar and lap steel guitar and others. It is written in a quasi-western vernacular in places and seeks to carve a space between the worlds of serious opera and more accessible elements of musical theater.Item The speaking world, tarab and iPod alchemy : The Sensuous Terrain, for mixed chamber ensemble and percussion(2010-05) Stamps, Jack W.; Sharlat, Yevgeniy; Antokoletz, Elliott; Pinkston, Russell; Grantham, Donald; Perzynski, BogdanThe Sensuous Terrain, a work for violin, clarinet, piano, cello and two percussionists is a 28-30 minute commission for the SOLI Chamber Ensemble of San Antonio. The goal of the work is a hybrid, or reconciliation, of Sufi devotional music and Western, jazz-inspired impulses and continues my interests in weaving pop idioms through a post-modernist canvas. It is also reflective of my ongoing research and exploration of the application of extended graphic design to score mechanics and construction. The work is inspired by the melodic structures, phrasing and voice-exchange concepts found in the music of the late Pakistani composer and singer, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. The preliminary plans for the piece included the piano prepared to mimic the sounds of traditional Middle Eastern percussion instruments such as the dumbek, a tabla-like instrument. This idea quickly evolved into the incorporation of two percussionists whose parts consist of nearly all Middle Eastern instruments or their closest Western equivalents. These percussion parts, which are notated in a purely Western style and evoke many traditional Middle Eastern rhythmic modes, are symbolic of the aforementioned “reconciliation” of the Eastern and Western styles found in the piece.