SCI vol. VIII

coversci8

Mutations I (2010) - Travis Garrison

Mutations I explores incremental shifts that gradually transform one musical entity into another. Everything changes. Everything stays the same. This piece does not include the pitch A natural.

Das Zauberbuch (2011) - Mike Solomon

The original version of Das Zauberbuch ends with the eponymous book being burned by a group of irate children. Its ending has been changed for the purposes of this children's compilation.

Sounds Within Sounds (2011) - Jorge Variego

"My mother is a fish" W. Faulkner.

all two clarinet (2010) - Benjamin O'Brien

all two clarinet traces the relationship between a clarinetist and a static computer performer. While the clarinetist understands that a specific amplitude range and pitches in a sounding whole-tone scale will be analyzed and digitally processed, s/he does not have control over the computer's selection of whole-tone pitch output or the synthesis and spatialization processes. Though the DSP in all two clarinet remains consistent throughout the work, the indeterminate output of the computer performer, directly dependent on the clarinetist, influences the latter to pursue particular musical ventures.

Solar Flare (2010) - Chester Udell

This work is comprised of a single sample of my electric stove-top coil heating up and then cooling back down which is then used to drive spectral impulse responses of a kalimba and a temple gong. The harmonic reconstruction of the kalimba and temple gong evolves in complexity, pitch range, and density over the duration of the piece. To me, the work operates on several levels: aleatoric, surreal, and spectral.

20 Impressions on an Impression of Buddha (2010) - Evan Kassof

20 Impressions on an Impression of Buddha is based on a painting by Odilon Redon (1840-1916) called Buddha in his Youth (1904). The piece was composed by dividing the painting into 20 regular, rectangular cells and then trying to encompass each cell's musical identity. Mainly, the focus was on capturing the amount of activity or stillness in each cell. The cells are separated musically with pauses that allow the listener to construct an imaginary image of the 'action' in each cell before moving on to the next. One cell boundary is not a pause however, and is instead the climax of the piece, as this moment corresponds to the two cells that divide the Buddha's head. Hopefully, this piece captures the 'essence' of the painting without enforcing any overt imagery on the listener.

After the Ascension (2011) - Justin Johns

The text for After the Ascension comes from Seth Morgan's trio of poems Sonnets: Loss Equals Transformation. In this final poem of the set, the idea of hope being instilled in a group of people through apparent loss is explored. This poem is juxtaposed with text from the Latin Vulgate translation of Acts 1, notably emphasizing the phrase "But you will receive power." Musical material for this piece is derived in part from the harmonic studies of Paul Hindemith, employing specific rise and fall of harmonic tension.

Excited Utterance (2010) - Sarah Hersh

In the law of evidence an “excited utterance” is a statement relating to a startling event made while the declarant was under the stress of the excitement caused by that event. A statement that qualifies as an excited utterance will be admissible in court as an exception to hearsay doctrine, which regularly forbids admission of out-of-court statements offered to prove the truth of the matter asserted. An illustrative example of an excited utterance is when a declarant, upon seeing a car nearly hit a school bus, exclaims, “Holy cow, what kind of idiot’s driving that Mazda?”

The excited utterance exception is codified in Federal Rule of Evidence 803 along with other exceptions to hearsay in the res gestae category. The theory behind this exception is that the stress created by an event will undermine a declarant’s ability to reflect on the statement being made, producing utterances free of conscience fabrication.

88 Attempts to Linger (2010) - Sean Peuquet

The piece is a presentation of 88 harmonic sets. The size of each set decreases by one with each iteration, such that the initial set comprised of 88 harmonics, is followed by a sequence of 87, then 86.. and so on, down to 0. For each subsequent set, the fundamental is determined by dividing the highest harmonic of the previous set by the new (n-1) set size. This process maps the frequency of the highest harmonic to the highest harmonic of the n-1 set, thereby maintaining this particular frequency as a point of tangency between iterations, and across the piece. Other points of tangency emerge as a result of process as well. Frequencies within a given set match frequencies of the initial set comprised of 88 harmonics according to the greatest common factor between the number of harmonics in both sets. For example, the set comprised of 66 harmonics will match 22 of the frequencies contained within the initial set of 88 harmonics. Sets with a prime number of harmonics, or sets that do not share a common factor, will only contain one matching frequency (at the highest harmonic of each set). Throughout the piece, these matching frequencies are articulated by piano samples, played at both the matching frequency and the fundamental frequency of the initial set (32.703... hz). The 32.703... hz notes are band-passed with a high Q at the matching frequency. Non-matching frequencies are articulated using pitched percussion sounds. The percussion samples being used change according to the GCF of the current set. All non-matched frequencies start off as grains, and by the end of the piece, are given time to resonate. This trajectory is reversed for matched frequencies. Within a set, the temporal position of each frequency relative to other frequencies (independent of matching) is determined by a formant map of a low C (32.703... hz) piano sample. A frequency's mapped amplitude is correlated with a delay time relative to the initial onset of the set, such that stronger frequencies occur later time.