Derivative composition practice & application: creating a collection of works based on electric guitar solos

Chivers, Nathaniel Brooks (2023) Derivative composition practice & application: creating a collection of works based on electric guitar solos. Doctoral thesis (PhD), The Royal Northern College of Music in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This thesis concerns itself with the practice I have come to call derivative composition. The process involves taking fragments from earlier compositions and transferring them to form a new piece for a different instrument or ensemble. The differences between the original and target instruments causes deviations to occur. Consequently, these deviations are then used to purposely generate new works instead of arranging them from the old work. This new work then undergoes the derivative process again, generating another new piece. This process repeats deriving new pieces from the previous compositions and forming a series of pieces resembling a family tree. To explore the generative properties of derivative composition I begin with my own original pieces for solo electric guitar. The idiosyncrasies of various technical innovations create a significant number of deviations when transferred to very different instrumental forces, allowing the generation of new works. This thesis and commentary will be useful to composers interested in recomposition as well as performers/composers interested in using their instruments as a catalyst for compositions for other instruments, and vice versa. Other instruments might be the impetus for a new work for theirs.