Minha Terra for Orchestra and Sound Files

Abstract

Minha Terra is a piece for orchestra and sound files based on the musical materials generated from the vernacular speech and the regional dances and rhythms from the Brazilian provinces of Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco. The piece is scored for a standard North American orchestra (2222/4231/Timp./Perc./Strings), and it has three movements with the approximate duration of eighteen minutes. The thesis contains a discussion of Brazilian dialects, of composers who made musical use of speech from points of view that are different from my own, and of traditional music and dances from the three Brazilian provinces. It also contains a discussion of the process that lead to the creation of the text, the recording of the voices, and the transcriptions of the musical material. There is an extensive discussion of the musical language of the piece. The thesis also has appendices that include the complete text, the musical transcriptions, and the complete orchestral score.