Song from Twenty-Eight Rooms

for laptop ensemble

Written for TempWerks
Dedicated to Arthur Jarvinen
Premiered Saturday, September 22, 2012 at Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles, CA

Notes

In preparation for performing this piece, each player collects field recordings of ambient noise from seven different rooms. Each room must have a hum or noise profile that is at least vaguely pitched, and distinct from the other rooms. During recording, each room must be empty and intermittent types of noise (people talking, foot traffic, animal sounds, etc.) should be avoided if possible. Each recording must be at least seven minutes.

In performance, each player must be equipped with some method of sample playback (laptop, mixer, etc.) that allows the player to fade recordings in and out, to immediately start and stop their sound at two different volume levels (full and half), and to crossfade between two different recordings.

During the course of the piece, the combined room ambiences eventually become melodic and harmonic ingredients. Toward the end, the performers must be quite virtuosic with their electronic setups.

Score

For full score and sample electronics patch, contact the composer.

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