The aim and spirit of musical composition is to express and present one’s feelings for outer things or one’s inner emotions. The techniques employed in composition are the means one adopts to achieve this end. From the twentieth century on, timbre has played an increasingly important role in music. The construction and fusion of timbral materials, as the core of the thesis, has now become an issue no composer should neglect.

This thesis consists of three chapters. In the first chapter, “The Construction of Timbral Materials”, I probe into three possible ways in which de-familiarized timbral materials are constructed: change in instrumental performing techniques, change in sound-making media, and employment of prepared devices. In the second chapter, “The Fusion of Timbral Materials”, I discuss the absoluteness/relativity and the homogeneity/heterogeneity of timbral materials, expounding various aspects timbral materials are fused and employed. In the third chapter, “The Analyses of Works”, I present my own compositional thinking through analyzing some of my works, so as to demonstrate how the timbre-oriented concepts are practiced in musical composition.