*Stereo reduction
For this piece I wanted to put into practice three compositional ideas. The first was rooted in the frequency domain and involves mapping a two-dimensional representation of the human body and central nervous system to the frequency spectrum. Higher frequencies would correspond with the head and brain region, and the lowest frequencies to the nerves and tendons of the feet. By combining this mapping with gestures and techniques drawn from movement, stasis and constructed sound objects, I could map the physiological locations of the chronic pain I experience to specific ranges in frequency, and mirror the movement of pain to gestural movement in the frequency domain.
The second compositional idea, building off the first, is temporal. I wished to explore linear mapping of real-time to compositional time periods. For this piece I’ve compressed an 8 hour period into 8 minutes, so a 1:60 scale of real/compositional time, but the intention would be to develop techniques to aid in the composition of longer works that would move closer to the 1:1 ratio, allowing for daily events and phenomenon to be mapped compositionally to gestures of equal duration within the composition. Examples would include events of irregular duration, such
as migraines and joint pain, but also repeated phenomena such as the division between day and night. This mapping of wide-ranging occurrences will result in a rich combination of goal and non-goal-directed linear time as well as more static “moment time” and plastic or sculptural “vertical time.”
The third compositional idea I wished to explore was aesthetic. Despite being influenced by the approaches and writings of composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Luc Ferrari, Bernard Parmegiani, Francois Bayle and others at France’s pioneering Institut National de l’Audiovisuel’s (INA) Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM), I haven’t borrowed from the electronic music aesthetic that developed during the heyday of their research into spectral and computer-assisted acousmatic composition. In a challenge to myself I decided to borrow from these aesthetics and fuse them with the compositional patience and contemplative listening experience created by Eliane Radigue in her electronic works.
Full documentation available here.