My composition Dragon Mother for soprano and orchestra explores one woman’s glorious and bizarre journey from girlhood to motherhood.
My essay explores Pink Floyd’s approach to large-scale structure. While other British bands from the so-called “golden age” of progressive rock typically shaped their large-scale songs as a series of sub-songs and instrumental interludes, Pink Floyd’s tactic was fundamentally different – using a small amount of thematic material (appropriate to a standard short song) and expanding it enormously. Despite being based on a modest quantity of material the band’s large-scale songs are masterfully arranged in ways that keep the listener intrigued throughout.