The War Never Ends: A Composition for Large Jazz Ensemble in Three Movements

Authors

• Derek James Molacek, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Thomas E. Larson

Date of this Version

5-2017

Document Type

Dissertation

Comments

A doctoral document Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College of the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor in Musical Arts, Major: Music, Under the Supervision of Professor Thomas E. Larson. Lincoln, Nebraska: May, 2017

Copyright (c) 2017 Derek James Molacek

Abstract

“The War Never Ends” is a three-movement programmatic suite for large jazz ensemble plus additional instruments, dedicated to the military service personnel who suffer from Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder. The piece is comprised of three movements:I.“The Call to Serve”; II. “The Call to War”; and III. “The Call for Peace.” Each movement tells a different part of a story of a person who has signed up for military service.

“The Call to Serve” serves as the beginning to our service member’s journey; from recruitment, to training, to assignment. “The Call to War” illustrates deployment: Specifically, deployment to the Middle-East. This is shown in the use of the ad’han and other elements of eastern musical writing over a jazz-rock groove. “The Call for Peace” represents the return from deployment as the service member struggles to adjust to civilian life, and continues to re-live his experiences from deployment before ultimately taking his own live.

As a whole, the work represents the experiences of one particular service member from recruitment, to training, to deployment, to coming home and unfortunately to re-live the experiences of the deployment and face new demons entirely. It is my hope that this work will help to raise awareness of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder faced by veterans every day.

Advisor: Thomas E. Larson