In Terra Nullius

In Terra Nullius was written for Danielle Cumming, my guitar teacher.

Terra Nullius translates from Latin to English as “no one’s land,” and is a concept that derives from Roman law. European powers used Terra nullius to justify the colonization of non-Christian lands around the world. In Terra Nullius is a reflection on northern British Columbia, evoking the pillaging of that land and its people that continues today.

There are two parts this composition, each a suite with four internal sections. The first part was completed November 19th, 2007 to be followed by the second part completed February 15th, 2009. The second part constitutes a continuation of the ideas explored in the first part, and the two may be treated as two separate suites, or as one larger composition, and so may be performed separately as well as together.

There are four large-scale sections in the first part of this work, each named after a place in northern British Columbia that I visited as a silviculture worker (tree planter) in the spring and summer of 2006 and 2007: Tachie Creek, Takysie Lake, McCloed Lake, and the Laird Hot Springs. The second part of In Terra Nullius, although also a four part suite, is named after only two places: Riske Lake and Gibraltar mine. The effects of colonization are apparent throughout northern British Columbia, where open pit mining continues to grow, logging has been so extensive that satellite images look like diseased skin, and the financial divide between the aboriginal community and white community is staggering. Still, some parts of northern B.C. are extremely remote and virtually undamaged; it is in these places that one can truly experience a “wilderness,” something extremely rare and precious. Through this music I wish to express my own relationship with these places, and my experiences living there.

The work explores just intonation and microtonal clusters through the scordatura technique. Six different tuning are used, each which one a new set of pitches interrelated according to just intonation.