Tag Archives: empty cage

Gravity No. 1

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Empty Cage Quartet records in Brooklyn, NY, September, 2008

Empty Cage Quartet records in Brooklyn, NY, September, 2008

Gravity No. 1 is an 11-part open-instrumentation composition that was written in 2007. It was the subject of a presentation at the 2nd Annual Conference of the International Society for Improvised Music at Northwestern University in December, 2007, and funded in part by a Subito quick advancement grant from the American Composers Forum.

Subito quick advancement grant ($1,500) from the American Composers Forum’s Los Angeles
and San Francisco Bay Area Chapters

The composition was recorded in New York City by the Empty Cage Quartet in September, 2008. That recording (which is excerpted below) will be featured on an upcoming CD on Clean Feed Records.

Gravity No. 1 is the first in a series of compositions that examine my concept of gravity points. This system provides a method of selecting pitch and harmonic material via a conception of symmetrical intervallic relationships in which prescribed intervals above a given frequency are duplicated as a “mirror image” below that frequency. The notation is borrowed in part from musical set theory, where semitones away from a central pitch ‘0’ are numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. to 11 (the major seventh interval) and then the series starts over again.

In this composition the written material is designed to establish a systemic structure from which emergent zones of expanded group interaction become possible as new connections are discovered during an improvised performance (improvisation here having to do with the selection of material from the score as well as personal extemporization). The goal is to learn to channel temporary states of spontaneous musical activity into solidified sound-structures that are either derived from the composition or arrived at via the improvisation. As each new performance builds upon the last, these structures can be analyzed, catalogued and mapped, and the development of an ensemble consciousness can be measured against the decreasing degree of dependence upon the written material.

Download PDF: Gravity No. 1 (score + composition notes)

Excerpt – Gravity No. 1: Section 4

Gravity No. 1: Section 4 by kristiner

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Don’t Hesitate to Change Your Mind

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percussion

Kikuchi's percussion/electronics setup for the Stratostrophic session

Don’t Hesitate to Change Your Mind was written for the Empty Cage Quartet in 2006. It was premiered and recorded in Los Angeles in July, 2006 and released in 2007 on the CD Stratostrophic (Clean Feed Records CF103) – that recording is embedded below. A three-part video from the premiere performance at Cafe Metropol in Los Angeles is posted on YouTube: part 1, part 2, part 3.

Originally the composition was designed to feature the acoustic quartet plus two overdubbed tracks of electronics: one to process the percussion and another for the horns. Once the music began in the studio, however, it became clear that drummer Paul Kikuchi’s immensely gorgeous sound palette of drums, gongs, metal bowls, and amplified hand-made percussion instruments with applied electronic effects (ring modulator, delay, etc) were enough to supply all of the “extra” sound that was needed to make the composition work. There are at least two channels (panned L-R) of Paul’s electronics in the final mix (in addition to his acoustic percussion); in some parts a third channel of electronics (panned center) was added to create a more dense sonic field.

The parts for the acoustic instruments are based on several permutations of phrases inspired (rather indirectly) by Woody Guthrie songs. Periodic thematic sections for the full ensemble give way to several instances of structured improvisation for different instrumental configurations within the quartet.

Download PDF: Don’t Hesitate to Change Your Mind (score + composition notes)

Excerpt – Don’t Hesitate to Change Your Mind

Don’t Hesitate to Change Your Mind by kristiner

Creative Commons License