Folkloric Flux

This paper accompanies the authors original symphony for large orchestra, folkloric flux. Although primarily based on traditional symphonic formal and developmental features, folkloric flux also employs narrative to guide form, and textural procedures to supplement more traditional thematic and motivic development.

Each movement recounts a folkloric narrative as a metaphor for recent events. Specifically, the four movements use 1) Humpty Dumpty to convey the effects of nationalistic militarism and veterans psychological trauma in relation to the US-Afghan war, 2) Jack and the Beanstalk to warn of hubristic technological advancement in modern industrial agriculture; 3) The Three Little Pigs to depict socioeconomic dimensions of the 2007-08 housing crisis; and 4) The Adventures of Pinocchio to examine quantitative easing, the widespread experimental monetary program.

This paper documents 1) the relationship between narrative and form; and 2) how textural, thematic and motivic development contributes to narrative symbolism on an intra- and inter-movemental scale.