Paluse Grant Award

As a recipient of the Duquesne University’s Paluse Faculty Research Grant, I will compose a new multi-media musical composition based on the writing and drawings from Thomas Merton’s book, Dialogues of Silence. A writer, theologian, and mystic, Thomas Merton (1915 – 1968) remained an avid social critic and advocate of fundamental human and spiritual rights and values. In an effort to explore the role of the sacred in the search for common good, in composing my new musical composition I will consider Merton’s concept of silence as a contemplative agent for social change in our world.

Scored for baritone voice, flute, and a collection of percussion instruments, the new 50-minute work will set a selection of Merton’s texts and drawings to music. It will be accompanied by electronically manipulated sounds that will act as a sonic backdrop to the selected drawings.

The Paluse Faculty Research Grant is an important university-wide internal funding opportunity intended to support scholarly research that reflects the mission and identity of Duquesne University. The grants are open to full-time faculty working in any academic discipline. Grant awards are for $6,000, and up to two grants are awarded per academic year. The award will support the Pittsburgh performance and recording of the new work during the 2018-19 academic year. Special thanks to the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University for granting the permissions to use the Merton’s writing and drawings in my new composition.