(2005-6)

electronic music and sensor programming for Myra Melford
with Dawn Saito, Oguri, Stomu Takeishi, Cuong Vu, Michael Haberz, and Reinhard Ploesch

		photos of sensor grid
		photos of the electronics
		schematic of noise reduction circuit (pdf)

The sensor grid protoype is a 4′ square floor with microphones and sixteen infrared range sensors mounted inside, beneath round acrylic windows. Dancers dance on, beneath, and with the surface, and the sensors influence the electronic sound in real time.

2002, 21′ for violoncello and live electronics

First performance: April 2002, Smith Hall, Irvine

Commissioned and performed by Hugh Livingston, violoncelloSubsequent Performances: April 2002, EMF@ The Flea, New York September 2005, Sacramento New Music Festival, Frances Marie Uitti

My musical interests in Alone in a Crowded Room are twofold. Electronically, I am exploring macroscopic and microscopic processes in the time domain. At the same time, I am engaged with the physical reality of the alto flute and by extension, the flautist.

The long delay lines at the beginning of the piece are an example of macroscopic process; the technique has long been a part of compositional vocabulary from analogue tape loop to cannon at the unison. In this piece it creates the situation for an interior monologue between the player and himself. Concepts repeat, decay, and interact with one another, creating new layers of meaning with each recontextualization. As the piece progresses, microscopic process come to the foreground. The sound of the flute is broken into individual grains that gradually loose cohesion. The monologue branches out, as memories of the original performance split into fragments.

This piece was inspired by Italo Calvino’s Le città invisibili, and shares a similar formal construction. It was performed in 1998 in Hertz Hall, Berkeley by the Berkeley Contemporary Chamber Players, directed by Bruce Bennett.