*Stereo reduction
5.1 channel comprovisation.
Voice and electronics: VAIU (Valentina Plata)
Electronics: Pat McMaster
Category: Composition
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First Time (2024)
*Stereo reduction
First Time invites the listener to boldly plunge “ears-first” into a guided, aural adventure through mysterious, mind-bending soundscapes where not everything is as it seems. Premiered at Octophonic SFU-Concordia Exchange Concert, Vancouver, B.C April, 2024. Detailed composition notes here.
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These Are Not My Memories (2024)
Soundtrack commission for contemporary dance choreographer Liam Gover.
Voice: VAIU (Valentina Plata). Electronics: Pat McMaster. Field recordings: Liam Gover.
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VLCN (2023)
*Stereo reduction
Mixed performance for octophonic electronics and voice with visuals and laser projection. Inspired by the lifecycle of the Paricutín volcano which erupted in 1943, 150km west of Morelia. Exploring themes of transmission, interference and harmonic relationships. Featuring Pat McMaster and the Morelia Field School Choir.
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D1 (2023)
*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.
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WHY AM I DOING THIS TO MYSELF? (2022)
Multichannel reactive audiovisual installation. Documentation available here.
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The Silence Études (2022)
My aim was to produce a series of études which would explore different branches of thought relating to how silence is perceived, how it can be used within a compositional framework, and the performance considerations for barely audible or inaudible works within the noisy spaces filled with people that we find ourselves in typically when listening to electroacoustic music produced in an academic context. I wanted to challenge myself to work at the very limits of my hearing and to include a wide range of sound sources and compositional methods while doing so. With the readings I had done on silence, the anti-noise or noise-pollution social movements, and the anthropocentric focus so prevalent when relating to sound, I prepared a bath of ideas and perspectives in which to soak in, and which allowed me to freely move towards different areas of exploring these concepts made possible through the experimentation I would embark on. Full documentation available here. The three études below are stereo reductions.