NOVEMBER 21, 2002

Notes

Harry’s Wondrous World displays American composer John Williams’ stock-and-trade-style of film music composition. In many of his scores, the composer culls a stylistic mixture of late 19th- and early 20th-century figures such as Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Copland. This culmination results in the lush, Neo-Romantic music listeners have to come identify in Williams’ scores. Tonight’s arrangement was created by Kristin Marland.

American writer Edgar Allen Poe’s The Raven represents a poetic venture into a dark and disturbed mind. Poe’s famous 19th-century text is recited amid an ambient and quasi-aleatoric musical setting in a new arrangement by Justin Hochella. In order to create a dark and mysterious atmosphere, instruments such as ‘Toy Boxes,’ Vocoder, Micromoog and Digital Synthesizers are implemented. The text acts as a kind of melodic vehicle, while the surrounding sounds and musical fragments are performed to convey emotions evoked within the poem.

Wo soll ich fliehen hin by J.S. Bach is one of the German composer’s many chorales for 4-part choir. Tonight, the work is performed aleatorically. Stems and bar lines have been omitted from the score so that only the original noteheads remain on the staff. Each performer plays at a self-determined, fluctuating tempo, and changes voices throughout the performance. Each person plays the score three times, and is then finished.

Take Five is a standard in American popular jazz music. Paul Desmond’s tune was made famous by the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s recording from their late 1950’s effort Time Out. The steady 5/4 time signature represents the Brubeck Quartet’s eclectic affinity for rhythmic asymmetry, as well as their ability to make it groove. Solos by Justin Hochella and Bill Osborne are featured.

Elevensong is adapted from a movement out of a collection of piano works entitled November Suite. The ‘A’ section of the piece begins with a steady romp in 11/8 time, which culminates in a fermata introducing the ‘B’ section’s sudden shift to Adagio tempo and 4/4 time. Quartal harmonies work their way into 3/4 time and a quiet cadence, which in turn gives way to a reprise of the ‘A’ section.

Jazz composer Horace Silver emerged as a premiere American artist during the ‘bop’ movements of the mid 20-century. Nutville is characterized by its catchy Latin groove and simple melodic lines. Solos by Bill Osborne and Justin Hochella are featured.

Erik Satie’s delicate Gymnopedies typify the composer’s precursion of the minimalist style later brought to fruition by composers Philip Glass and Steve Reich. The simple melody works atop a static but harmonically shifting chord progression, during which different electronic textures are featured.

Frank Zappa’s Dangerous Kitchen is an atonal, arrhythmic, and improvisatory musical experiment. Originally recorded on the composer’s Man From Utopia album, the piece changed each time it was performed live by Zappa’s ensemble. The ridiculous lyrics reflect Zappa’s omnipresent sense of musical humor, as well as the random, improvisatory nature of the piece.

Writer Chris Federico writes:

"The Dangerous Kitchen" represents the composer at his most artistically harmless, despite the unorthodoxy consistent with his more stirring pieces. One of the most transparent lyrical examples of his penchant for turning workaday objects into menacing, secret-shielding accessories of psychologically murderous commodity life, it doesn't offer much to grasp once the novelty's recognized. Frank's voice often sounds hilarious, though; he's capable of riotous intonations. The song was recorded onstage without Steve Vai's vocal-tracing guitar line; he subsequently transcribed Frank's singing note for note and overdubbed his part in the studio. Frank has given the term "meltdown" to his style of sprechstimme. The free vocals and dead-on guitar make for a great contradiction that wasn't lost on the composer: improvised vocalism paralleled by calculated musicianship. It could be part of the general Zappa breakdown of the contrived barrier between that which is foolishly perceived as high art and low; in Ben Watson's words, the pairing of flippancy with preciseness "begs all sorts of questions about value" concerning our cultural snobberies and parceled perceptions of art.


Your Disintegration is a song originally written several years ago by composer Justin Hochella in an arrangement consisting of two guitars and vocal. Tonight’s performance takes advantage of several software programs including Cubase VST 5.1 and Propellerheads Reason 2.0. Guitar is still utilized much in the same fashion, but provides a more "industrial/rock" element in this arrangement. Unlike a lot of electronic-dance music "performed" today, this piece contains central real time performance on synthesizer and guitar, as well as voice. The overall tone of the piece is derived from emotional feelings of victimization conveyed by the rising tides that occur throughout both musically and lyrically.

What is a Toy Box?

During the Spring 2002 semester, the Digital Ensemble constructed two electronic instruments that have been affectionately labeled ‘Toy Boxes.’ Each started as a rectangular block of wood, and was modified by sand paper, paint and the addition of various ‘found’ objects that were affixed to the instrument via nails, screws, strings and wood glue. Then, tiny piezo transducers (small, microphonic elements) were placed on them in strategic places. The piezo wires are then soldered to electrical cabling, the signals of which are amplified to produce a variety of timbres and overtones. One of the Toy Boxes is a percussion instrument, and the other a stringed instrument. While they may be played acoustically, tonight’s performance obviously demands their amplification. The Toy Box project was inspired by composer Mark Applebaum’s (Stanford University) construction of the Mousetrap, a similar but larger instrument made from various pieces of hardware attached to a small wooden table.

Personnel

Justin Hochella – Analog and digital synthesizers, Drum Machine, MIDI guitar,
Toy Boxes, Vocals/Vocoder
Kristin Marland – Analog and digital synthesizers, MIDI Mallet Controller
Bill Osborne – Toy Boxes, MIDI Mallet Controller

John Hildreth - direction, analog synthesizer, electric guitar, and all arrangements except where indicated

Special thanks to Steve Helm for live audio production, and also to Phil Lewis and Mike May for live video cameras. And, thanks to Doug Mead and the Preston Hall Staff for their support