Lament for String Quartet

This piece explores the changing nature of emotion focusing especially on the feeling of sorrow. The opening and ending parts of the first movement represent the overall motive of sorrow. The first movement opens with an augmented chord G-C#-F-B and from this chord the first violin expands upwards while the cello moves downwards towards the C chord (p.2). As the melody alternates between each part, there is a subtle change in harmony which creates tension and release and changes the sound color. In addition, ornamentation in each part reinforces the movement towards the C chord. This progression represents the inner emotion of lament. Sostenuto e largamente section (p.2) uses heterophony in order to express a feeling of chaos. Section Scherzando (p.4) uses the interval relationship M7 and m2, and is a respite from the overwhelming feeling of sorrow. The ending of the first movement (p.12) returns to create a second tension by every instrument ascending slowly, and the viola produces a distinctive melody derived from the previous chaotic section that ends on an Ab. The second movement contrasts with the first movement in order to express a concealed, not explicit, sorrow, and differs in both tempo and texture. The tempo is a waltz that is faster than the first movement. This produces a light, playful figure and a simple melody without much ornamentation. Imitation and canonic structure emphasize the individuality of the strings. The third movement merges material from the first movement rhythmic figure and the second movement pizzicato (p.17). It shows timbral change through con sordino, pizzicato arpeggio, and sul ponticello to display string techniques. An Allegro section (p.19) especially contrasts with Misterioso in rhythm and dynamics. In the Grazioso (p.22), random beats are accentuated by pizzicato arpeggio to de-emphasize the meter. Finally, there is a return to the ending figure of the first movement with con sordino (p.23) and sul ponticello in viola that articulates the internal tension and the timbral change to return to a voice of sorrow.

SAXOPHONE SONATAS 1980-2010

The purpose of this dissertation project identifies contemporary solo saxophone literature, specifically sonatas between the years 1980 and 2010. The overwhelming majority of repertoire written during these thirty years consisted primarily of either multi-movement or through-composed character pieces. By limiting the selected repertoire to sonatas one can still investigate the breadth of the literature that has helped validate the saxophone in the realm of classical music in a format that has seemingly fallen out of favor with composers. The saxophone had developed a unique voice by the middle of the twentieth century in both Europe and in the United States. European composers such as Claude Debussy, Florent Schmidt, Jacques Ibert, Darius Milhaud, Alexander Glazounov, Erwin Schulhoff and Bernard Heiden recognized the potential and beauty of the instrument, while the saxophone had found quite a different niche in vaudeville, jazz, and military bands in the United States. If not for the dynamic performances by concert saxophonist such as Marcel Mule, Sigurd Rascher, Jean-Marie Londeix, Daniel Deffayet, Cecil Lesson, Larry Teal, Eugene Rousseau, Fredrick Hemke and Donald Sinta, the timbral possibilities and technical virtuosity of the saxophone would not have been discovered. The awe inspiring performances by these soloists led to the commissioning of a multitude of works by composers looking to expand the sonic possibilities of this relatively new instrument. Through the 1970's American composers such as Leslie Bassett, Paul Creston, Henry Brant, Robert Muczynski, and Karel Husa were writing significant works for the saxophone, while European composers such as IngolfDahl, Edison Denisov, Alfred Desenclos, Henri Tomasi and Marius Constant were each making their own contributions, all leading to a significant quantity of repertoire that met the quality demands set by the performers. The compositions chosen for this dissertation project were selected after numerous performance, pragmatic, programming and pedagogical considerations were taken into account. The three recitals occurred on: March 7, 2010, December 10, 2010 and May 1, 2011 in either the Gildenhorn Recital Hall or Lecture Hall 2100.

CIVIL WAR SETTLEMENTS AND COMBATANTS’ BEHAVIORS: STRATEGY, PERCEPTION, AND REPUTATION

Three projects in my dissertation focus on the termination of internal conflicts based on three critical factors: a combatant’s bargaining strategy, perceptions of relative capabilities, and reputation for toughness. My dissertation aims to provide the relevant theoretical framework to understand war termination beyond the simple two-party bargaining context. The first project focuses on the government’s strategic use of peace agreements. The first project suggests that peace can also be designed strategically to create a better bargain in the near future by changing the current power balance, and thus the timing and nature of peace is not solely a function of overcoming current barriers to successful bargaining. As long as the government has no overwhelming capability to defeat all rebel groups simultaneously, it needs to keep multiple rebel groups as divided as possible. This strategic partial peace helps to deter multiple rebel groups from collaborating in the battlefield and increases the chances of victory against non-signatories. The second project deals with combatants’ perceptions of relative capabilities. While bargaining theories of war suggest that war ends when combatants share a similar perception about their relative capabilities, combatants’ perceptions about relative capabilities are not often homogeneous. While focusing on information problems, this paper examines when a rebel group underestimates the government’s supremacy in relative capabilities and how this heterogeneous perception about the power gap influences negotiated settlements. The third project deals with the tension between different types of reputations in the context of civil wars: 1) a reputation for resolve and 2) a reputation for keeping human rights standards. In the context of civil wars, the use of indiscriminate violence by the government is costly, and as such, it signals the government’s toughness (or resolve) to rebel groups. I argue that the rebels are more likely to accept the government’s offer when the government recently engaged in indiscriminate violence against civilians during the conflict. This effect, however, is conditional on the government’s international human rights reputation; suggesting that rebel groups interpret this violence as a signal particularly when the government does not have a penchant for attacking civilians in general.

Bat-plant pollination interactions in southern Thailand

The overwhelming majority of flowering plant species depend on animals for pollination, and such pollinators are important for the reproductive success of many economically and environmentally important plant species. Yet pollinators in the Old World tropics are relatively understudied, particularly paleotropical nectarivorous bats (Pteropodidae), and much is unknown about their interactions with night-blooming plant species. To better understand these bat-plant pollination interactions, I conducted fieldwork in southern Thailand for a total of 20 months, spread across three years. I examined the foraging times of pteropodid bat species (Chapter 1), and found that strictly nectarivorous species foraged earlier, and for a shorter duration, than primarily frugivorous species. I also studied year-long foraging patterns of pteropodid bats to determine how different species track floral resources across seasons (Chapter 2). Larger species capable of flying long distances switched diets seasonally to forage on the most abundant floral species, while smaller species foraged throughout the year on nearby plant species that were low-rewarding but highly reliable. To determine which pteropodid species are potentially important pollinators, I quantified the frequency and effectiveness of their visits to six common bat-pollinated plant taxa for an entire year (Chapter 3). The three strictly nectarivorous species were responsible for almost all pollination, but pollinator importance of each bat species varied across plant species. I further examined the long-term reliability of these pollinators (Chapter 4), and found that pollinator importance values were consistent across the three study years. Lastly, I explored mechanisms that reduce interspecific pollen transfer among bat-pollinated plants, despite having shared pollinators. Using a flight cage experiment, I demonstrated that these plant species deposit pollen on different areas of the bat’s body (mechanical partitioning), resulting in greater pollen transfer between conspecific flowers than heterospecific flowers (Chapter 5). Additionally, while I observed ecological and phenological overlap among flowering plant species, pollinators exhibited high floral constancy within a night, resulting in strong ethological separation (Chapter 6). Collectively, these findings illustrate the importance of understudied Old World bat pollinators within a mixed agricultural-forest system, and their strong, interdependent interactions with bat-pollinated plant species within a night, across seasons, and across years.