ELECTRONIC/COMPUTER MUSIC:

A Wondrous Number

The wondrous number algorithm – outlined by Douglas Hofstadter in Gödel, Escher, Bach – has a simple set of rules: A number is chosen at random and “if it is odd, we triple it and add 1. If it is even, we take half of it.” The process produces a series of numbers that increase and decrease until the number 1 is reached, thus ending the procedure. Setting this into RTcmix, I produced strings of numbers to determine various musical parameters in this fixed-media work: Lengths (in seconds) of sections, formal layout, frequencies, amplitudes, and other intrinsic elements of signal processing were all derived from the wondrous number set to create a sound world that is both glitchy, biting, and intensely delicate.

kernel_panic

Soft Gamma Repeater

Tandem (studio version)

From the Petcord album ‘Pareidolia’

Automatos

Automatos, from Greek, meaning “acting of itself.” The source material for this ten minute tape composition was derived entirely from an instrument, coded in Pure Data, that is able to run itself continuously. As sounds are realized, the instrument constantly analyzes its output, using those values to trigger future events.

Tandem (excerpt)

Tandem utilizes the principal of real-time improvisation.  Built using Pure Data, this improvisation environment is built around the monome.  Rows of sounds and effects can be intuitively selected by the performer to work as soloistic elements or in tandem with one another.

INSTRUMENTAL/ACOUSTIC MUSIC:

Samsara

Please click here to view the full score for both the vibraphone and electronics.

Excerpts from The Seven Paths of Awakening

The Seven Paths of Awakening consists of seven short movement for piano and interactive electronics. Each movement expresses a different path in the Buddhist principle towards awakening, or enlightenment: Mindfulness, Investigation, Energy, Relaxation, Joy, Concentration, and Equanimity.  Click here for a link to the full score.

kangaroos

Commissioned by concert:nova (Cincinnati) and performed at the Cincinnati Ballet, this brief work is a reaction to the movement of the same title from Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns.  Click here for the full score.

walking away from Schueler

walking away from Schueler replicates the visual experience of walking away from the painting Sky Shadow II, by Jon Schueler. When close to the canvas, shapes and colors blend into one another, with no discernible features. As you walk away from it, the features begin to coalesce, until a moment of arrival, when the painting becomes a distinct image.  Click here for a link to the full score.

Meditation in the Apeiron

“Whence things have their origin, there they must also pass according to necessity; for they must pay penalty and be judged for their injustice, according to the ordinance of time.”

– Nietzsche’s translation of the Anaximander fragment

Click here for a link to the full score.