Portfolio

Installation: Displaced Resonance version 2
in collaboration with John Fillwalk
“Displaced Resonance v2” is an interactive installation consisting of sixteen reactive forms that are networked in a grid of light and sound. Interaction within the sculptural field is based on a participant’s presence and proximity to each sculpture. The Displaced Resonance installation is connected to a mirrored instance of the field in a virtual environment – bridging both physical and virtual visitors within a shared hybrid space. Visitors to the virtual space are represented by avatars and through their proximity affect the light and sound of each sculpture. Each participant is aware of the other in each space and uniting both instances within a singular hybrid environment.

Openings (Vimeo link)
for interactive performance system
“Openings” is the first version of a piece being developed for a computer performance system that makes use of the Electrotap Teabox and associated sensors. Another version in progress will incorporate a live accordion player. The present piece uses pre-recorded accordion sounds as the source material for all of the music. It is intended to be the first in a series of works that explore live performance with gestural control of computer processing of live and computer-generated sound. Thanks to Rick DiGiallonardo for helping with this piece and for letting me record his accordion sounds. Thanks also to Nathan Daywalt for his assistance. This activity is made possible, in part, with support from the Indiana Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.

Highway Coda (Vimeo link)
for poetry reader, audio and video
Poem and video by Matt Mullins
Online interactive version (click on “Highway Coda” on the new page that appears)
“Highway Coda,” based on a poem with the same title, is a collaboration between the composer and the poet/musician/video artist, Matt Mullins. It consists of an electroacoustic audio work, a video component, and a reading of the poem (either a recorded or a live reading). The audio component was created using recordings of the poet playing electric guitar, electric bass, and drums. These sounds, along with some other recorded sounds, were transformed, edited and mixed to create an electroacoustic audio work that accompanies a reading of the poem. The video component is an experimental film created by the poet. Another version of the piece involves an interactive, online interface for exploring the poem along with the audio and visual components of the piece. The composer is grateful to both the MacDowell Colony and I-Park for providing time and stimulating environments that were invaluable in the creation of the audio for this piece.

The Swing Garden Project (SoundCloud link)
for digital audio
“The Swing Garden Project” is a composition created from sounds recorded when I was in residence at I-Park in Connecticut. Another artist there created a landscape design project called “The Swing Garden.” While she was realizing her design, I recorded many of the sounds associated with the work. These sounds are the only source materials used in my piece. I was particularly interested in the transformation of the materials used in the project. This inspired my transformation of sounds for the piece, and the structure of the piece clearly shows the transformational development of those sounds.

Hajiki (Pluck) (SoundCloud link)
for digital audio
“Hajiki (Pluck)” was composed using only recordings of a Japanese shamisen. It is an exploration of the various possibilities of the instrument and the sounds it can make (and many that it cannot). The piece is loosely structured around the idea of a plucked string, with it’s excitation and resolution as a metaphor for life experience. Thanks to Kyoko Kidd for playing her shamisen in the recording studio.

Cry Out (SoundCloud link)
for trumpet and digital audio
Cry Out Score
“Cry Out” was intended by the composer to be a rather direct emotional outburst. While the music does not follow a literal program, it is possible to think of the solo trumpet line as the outward expression of a character who is experiencing a series of emotions. The electro-acoustic accompaniment is an integral part of this expression, using precise rhythmic coordination and sounds that blend with and augment the trumpet part. “Cry Out” was commissioned by Scott Wyatt for the 40th Anniversary of the Experimental Music Studios at the University of Illinois, and was realized in the Experimental Music Studios.

Article: Recent Collaborations and Compositions
This was from a presentation at a meeting of the Japanese Society for Sonic Arts, and was published in the Journal of the Japanese Society for Sonic Arts, Vol. 1, No. 3 (December, 2009).