The Drum Set Works of Stuart Saunders Smith as a Correlative Trilogy through Compositional Unity and Autobiographical Content as Confession

Abstract

Stuart Saunders Smith (b.1948) is widely known as a significant compositional figure in contemporary music, and most notably for his music for solo percussion.His works are internationally performed and are characterized by a heavy use of complex polyrhythmic devices and atonality achieved through the intuitive selection of pitches, as opposed to structured tonal systems.Smith's expansive output as a composer has yielded three works for solo drum set: Blue Too (1983), Brush (2001) and Two Lights (2002).Despite a space of eighteen years between Smith's first composition for drum set, Blue Too, and the completion of the other two compositions, Brush and Two Lights, consideration should be given to the assertion that the three compositions are interrelated.Although they originated from differing stylistic periods of Smith's career, the three pieces can be found to share common aspects of rhythmic vocabulary and form.Aside from the compositional aspects, the pieces may also be related through autobiographical content and influence.Smith's description of his work as being that of a "confessional composer" connects his compositional style to that of the autobiographical writings of the "confessional" movement of poetry in the 1950s and 1960s, specifically the works of Robert Lowell, John Berryman, and Delmore Schwartz.The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interrelationship of Smith's Blue Too, Brush, and Two Lights with the post-Modern Confessional movement through compositional and autobiographical analysis.iv To my family.

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