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Abstract
“A Blur of Color” discusses and illustrates a creation of new American music, its process, and my personal artistic refinement in parallel. As a classically trained violist, I reflect upon and develop musical ideas derived from the people, stories, and landscapes of the American West, while applying concepts that emulate and celebrate a variety of American musical styles. Genres of interest include jazz, modern bluegrass, old-time, funk, prog rock, chamber music, and American music informed by 20th-century theories of the harmonic series. Throughout, I illustrate the use of composition strategies that integrate these genres into my unique sound, while creating a cohesive and compelling EP. An intensive study of jazz performance and transcription supports these new compositions for the viola and an unorthodox string band. This study addresses challenges specific to the viola, and my approach to adapt to a variety of contexts. Further exploration includes the entire production process: pre-production planning, recording, editing, and mixing. The resultant music is highly innovative, and embodies the resilience, unity, and diversity of the American people in the face of current adversity.
Publication Date
7-1-2025
Campus
Valencia (Spain) Campus
Keywords
viola; new-age; folk; production
Recommended Citation
Keeve, Andrew. “A Blur of Color: One Violist's Redevelopment of the American Idiom.” Master's thesis, Berklee College of Music, 2025. https://remix.berklee.edu/graduate-studies-contemporary-performance/329.