The Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti taught that “truth is a pathless land,” a saying intended to caution the listener against following gods and gurus. While composing this piece, I entered my own kind of pathless land. As in many of my recent works, I derived the piece’s materials from the names of the performers for… Continue reading Mercy in a Pathless Land
Tag: Algorithmic Composition
What’s in a Name?
Most of my recent compositions have been composed using the names of the performers for whom the piece was written as seeds for the basic materials. While composing What’s in a Name? I was reflecting on the fact that all of the “name compositions” before this piece are solo works. I found that working with… Continue reading What’s in a Name?
Movements (for Clarinet and Live Electronics)
Lately, it seems that every third piece I compose feels like pulling teeth. For reasons that (mostly) have nothing to do with the work itself, Movements (for Clarinet and Live Electronics) is one of those pieces. Whatever dramas may have unfolded between April and May, I will give some dry information about the piece. Movements… Continue reading Movements (for Clarinet and Live Electronics)
Electric Dreamscape no. 3
In this piece I am beginning to explore generative musical forms. I wrote 25 fragments of music using a five note pitch-class set derived from the name Matt Mason, the performer for whom this work is composed. (The set is [0 1 2 6 7]). These 25 fragments are separated into five “primary moment groups”.… Continue reading Electric Dreamscape no. 3
Dialogues (an Interactive Sound Installation for Disklavier Piano)
Dialogues is an interactive sound installation centered around a Yamaha Diskalvier piano that is controlled by Max/MSP. During an installation, users are allowed to play the Disklavier. A computer, connected to the Diskalvier with a MIDI to USB converter, analyzes the performance and then plays along using the data collected from the preceding user interaction.… Continue reading Dialogues (an Interactive Sound Installation for Disklavier Piano)