With continued development I continued to advance my portfolio project, using my geometric graphic score as a guide for composition. I was caught between making the entire piece flute based, but decided to add more layers and texture as well as new instrumentation – a more thoughtful placement of musical elements resulted in a multidimensional spatialization work in which the flute, Daf, and Oud each played a unique role.
The symbolism involved in assigning numerical values to each part—flute representing 786, Daf representing 165, and Oud representing 54—contributed to the composition’s succinct structure. This numerical symbolism not only corresponded to the geometric patterns I used in the graphic score, but it also formed a coherent and intentional structure for the entire composition. I wanted to stick with instruments used in Sufi Music, (the Daf, Ney and Out) as a way of communicating the composition more than anything else whilst aligning with the aspects of the Sama.
” the daf’s varied timbres and tones coupled with complex rhythms may help to induce a meditative state or ecstatic trance.“
(The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018)
