Unloading The Dishwasher

Unloading The Dishwasher was written in response to Disquiet Junto Project 0402: Music for Tasks

     Step 1: Think of chores or tasks you are responsible for regularly that don’t take a huge amount of time, like doing the dishes, or weeding the garden, or walking the dog.
     Step 2: Select out of the list resulting from Step 1 a single chore or task, for which you will, in this project, create a score or sonic backdrop.
     Step 3: Take a sonic inventory of the experience of doing the chore or task from Step 2. This means making a list of the various sounds inherent in the activity, and thinking about how they work together collectively.
     Step 4: Record an original piece of music/sound that serves as a backdrop/soundtrack to the activity you selected in Step 2 informed by the theorizing you accomplished in Step 3. (The length is up to you. It should be the length of however long the task generally takes.)

As pretty much always happens, I started in one direction and the act of working on that direction sent me in a completely different direction (sounds like quantum mechanics). The genesis of the piece had me recording myself emptying the dishwasher and resulted in a piece for solo viola and electronics.

Go figure.

Unloading The Dishwasher was written for Viola.

Unloading The Dishwasher
Unloading The Dishwasher – Score

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Awakened From Sleep

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku297 – awakened from sleep

     awakened from sleep
     surprised by the darkness–
     late autumn

The haiku was by Mizuhara Shuoshi, a 20th century Japanese poet. Shuoshi rebelled against the principles of emotional detachment in haiku, which he thought limited his ability to emotionally express himself through poetry: he started a magazine called Staggerbush which focused on a more romantic, lyrical type of haiku.

I seldom sleep throughout the night, typically I wake up two or three times then go back to sleep. I generally try to make sense of the senseless dream that preceeded my current state, which should be the subject of a haiku itself.

Awakened From Sleep was written for four bowed Vibraphones, Cymbals, three solo Violins and solo Viola.

Awakened From Sleep
Awakened From Sleep – Score

Rauschen Time

Rauschen Time was written in response to Disquiet Junto Project 0401: Noise Pacing

     Step 1: Familiarize yourself with the German word “rauschen.” Understand that “rauschen” is noise in the sense of white noise, waterfall noise, background noise, static, wind in trees, rain, etc. The blurred, diffuse, continuous kind of noise, not short individual non-tonal sounds.
     Step 2: You are going to make music in which one or more “rauschen” noise(s) will be used as the beat or rhythm for a track. Record and listen back to such “rauschen.”
     Step 3: Select one or more noise elements.
     Step 4: Create a track using the elements from Step 3 as beats or rhythmic material, and then layer something melodic atop it.

Unpitched percussion makes for nice white noise, and the different instruments allow timbres that work against and in concert with one another. I used several clusters of instruments when putting together a theme, which shows itself, but is generally not easily identifiable. Two double stopped string bass groups gave a bottom to everything – although toned they acted more as low, dark white noise.

The idea was to offer an industrial feeling, something that might accompany the movie Metropolis.

Rauschen Time was written for two Horns, two Trombones, Bass Drum, Maracas, Cymbals, Gong, Snare Drum, Tambourine, Violin, Viola, Cello and String Bass.

Rauschen Time
Rauschen Time – Score

Evening Haze

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku296 – evening haze

     evening haze:
     when memories come, how distant
     are the by gone days

The haiku was by Takai Kito, a disciple of Yosa Buson. Despite becoming a professional haikai master in 1771, Kito remained one of Buson’s most trusted disciples until the death of the great master, and was the de facto coordinator of Buson’s haikai group.

Imagine taking that last sip of coffee on Mount Mitchell as the sun slowly hides behind a distant peak – as the evening’s haze becomes more aware to you, you understand that the there are no forces that can change the past or hide you from the future.

Evening Haze was written for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trombone, Cymbals, Gong, Crotales, Vibraphone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.

Evening Haze
Evening Haze – Score

Night Train

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku295 – night train

     night train
     the briefly lit lives
     of others

The haiku was by Mark Gilfillan. He was one of the panelists at the Naviar Haiku Fest in London last October. He’s a member of the British Haiku Society and has been writing haiku and senryu for around seven years, His first collection Ghost Moon received positive reviews from esteemed American haiku Journal Frog Pond and the British Haiku Society’s Blithe Spirit.

I imagine myself sitting on a hill at night, watching as a train approaches. Passing me, I think of all of the lives on the train, each living in their own distinct worlds, alone but touching others. The train then fades into the night.

Night Train was written for Flute, Clarinet, Horn, Trombone, Vibraphone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.

Night Train
Night Train – Score

Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku294 – spring dawn

     spring dawn
     wind turbines harvest
     silver fog

This haiku was by Michael Baeyens, a young Belgian author of speculative and dark fiction, horror, fantasy and the supernatural, as well as haiku.

Considering the subject matter, I had to write this piece in the form of a round.

Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog was written for Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, Trombone, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.

Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog
Wind Turbines Harvest Silver Fog – Score

The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers

This piece was written in response to Naviarhaiku293

     Each time they roll in
     the beach waves break up
     the plovers

This haiku was by Shiba Sonome (1664–1726). She was a haiku poet and disciple of Matsuo Bashô. Reichhold wrote about her: “One sees that most of these women gained access to the inner circle around Basho by being related either by marriage or blood to one of his disciples. It is possible that Shiba Sonome was one of the few to be accepted as a poet on her own.”

The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers was inspired by Margo Kõlar’s “Ammuste aegade laulud.”

The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers was written for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, solo Violin, solo Viola, solo Cello, Violin, Viola, Cello, and String Bass.

The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers
The Beach Waves Break Up The Plovers – Score