Fall updates
Hello all,
Hope this message finds you well, warm, and with spirited company.
So much to report! Going back to graduate school has been really enlivening for me. Some highlights:
- a lecture on plants, the energetic dimension, and tuning in to the vibrations of the earth
- conducting a fellow composer's piece for small ensemble on their recital
- singing an all-Charles Ives concert to end a Charles Ives festival week here at IU
- playing viola at elementary schools for an opera outreach program
- brainstorming a workshop idea that uses musical games/meditations to help people access spirituality
Composing-wise, things have really been flowing with all the energy here, and I've finished a 15 min. piano work that I hope to share (a part of) with you all after a performance in December!
I've also learned a lot about electronic music making, and got really into improvising with a keyboard sampler - a single sound file is sped up and slowed down to achieve different pitches on the keyboard (middle C is the original file). It's wild what you can do with non-pitched sounds like a scraping cup and rattling dice. Piece description below.
If anyone wants to talk about using Logic on mac, I'd love to compare notes.
Finally, I published my website today - you can check it out at wehawkinscomposer.com. Looking forward to adding more to it in the future!
Improv Sculpture No 1 - Oceans of Europa for fixed electronics
Oceans of Europa explores the subconscious synergies between five improvisations recorded within a two-hour span. These five energetic journeys on the keyboard each used one of five mostly un-pitched sounds taken from everyday items - plastic cup scrape on table, dice in a box, hole-puncher, aluminum foil, and penny on a glass vase. Each improvisation represents my first encounter the respective sound on the sampler keyboard, enhancing the organic and subconscious nature of the experiment.
The chaos resulting from their simultaneous, unaltered timelines reminded me of complex plate tectonics sped up much like a time-lapse of a growing plant. I carved down the complexity, sculpting out the synergy of a single space, a churning sea beneath icy tectonics, if you will.
Listening note: WARNING this won't sound like music as you know it (probably). For adventurous listeners only :P. Think of it more like the soundscape for a movie set on a strange planet. That said, it still uses the same compositional techniques I employed in my symphony, just much more abstract (no melody or harmony). More of a cool space to explore than something to relax or put on in the background. LISTEN WITH HEADPHONES
Love,
Will
