Transcendent or Constructed? Musically Composing the Worlds of L.M. Montgomery

My doctoral research involves using creative practice to intertextually represent the worlds created by author, L.M. Montgomery. In doing this I contribute to the ongoing debate in music studies about the representational capacity of music. One prevailing thought in the debate is that music comes from a higher power via the soul, allowing it to occur somewhat naturally. In contrast to this, my creative practice involves ascribing to the music different contextual and cultural meanings to musically represent themes, objects or concepts that are discovered in Montgomery's novels in an accessible way. Montgomery herself addresses the representational qualities of music in her novel Kilmeny of the Orchard where she portrays music in highly romanticised terms. While the aforementioned debate provides scholarship on the construction of meaning in music, it does not specifically address or provide a musical response to Montgomery's portrayal of music. In this presentation, I will draw on recent scholarship and Montgomery's own writing to talk about how this notion of music being transcendent contrasts with my own professional practice of composing music. As an example, and using an arts-based methodology, a theme identified in Kilmeny has been used as the basis for a new musical composition, drawing lines of intertextual meaning between the literature and the music. My work in arts practice demonstrates how the themes in Montgomery's work can be communicated in new forms.