And Yet It Moves

I thought I'd talk a little bit about my doctoral thesis project in the works (well, the main one, at least). I haven't done something quite like this before, so it's probably good I write down the working process and figure it out as I go along. The piece, titled 'And Yet It Moves' is a 15-minute-long epic music video of sorts, and it features three locations on the CU Boulder campus: the Observatory, Old Main, and Norlin Library.

I've written/conceived of music for each section, which will then be recorded and layered on top of one another. Then, the recording will be 'lip-synced' of sorts into a music video, though the videotape will be much more abstract than a traditional concert video. I'm considering it more like a sound and image "collage" like my sound pieces for Origin of the Sun and Moon rather than a tried and true music video with narrative or a concert video showing all the little details of performance.





The three sections of the work all center around the concepts of learning and discovery, and of motion. Firstly, the motion of the sun-- the Observatory piece is about the chemical composition of the Sun and all of the elements in the Sun that give us the visible spectrum.

The section in CU's first building on campus, Old Main, is about the movement of human bodies in time and tells abstractly the story of Mary Rippon, CU's first female professor. Rippon, a foreign language professor, had a secret child with one of her students, and kept the whole affair (and the baby) secret from the University. This story takes place at a time when it was illegal to be a female professor and be married, let alone be a mother. Apparently at the turn of the 20th century, people (likely men) thought that all the intellect would get drained out of a woman if she were not single and childless. I digress. Rippon ended up taking a sabbatical and had the baby in Germany, and her husband/student Will took a boat to Germany later to pick up the baby at a care center. The child was raised as Mary's 'niece' for her whole life, and didn't know that her Aunt was her MOTHER until the baby was something like 60 years old. CU didn't know about this story until the 1990's, and I thought the story was too delicious not to tell. I set Mary's and her husband Will's texts into choral works for the piece.

The third "layer" is in the main Library on campus and is a very John Cage-like piece, with only minimal instructions and very little music score to be seen; people will take books off the shelves and read them in different tempos, and they'll throw papers in the air and generally have a good time being academic. Graciously the staff and faculty from all three buildings were very encouraging about me using their spaces.

I guess it's a bit of a love story, a swan song, to my time as an academic. My (ridiculous number of) years studying in the collegiate settting are coming to an end within a year or so, or so we hope if I can finish everything on time. I think I've selected a few places which have inspired me throughout the years, in one way or another, like the areas of science, and poetry, and architecture, and there's even some electronic music in there too. I like the idea of the large-scale "solar" section in contrast with the "human" section and the "neurological" section of thoughts flying around in the library. If it all works, it should be a really fun time.

Recording everything will be done in a million tiny pieces and then stuck together like a puzzle. Videotaping will probably be the same way, so in a way it is very much like a collage. And recording sessions start soon so I best get to typesettin'!

Pendulum New Music

As if you thought I needed something else to do- maybe a new hobby, some more time spent thinking about music, or just something to keep my fingers occupied from drawing inane comics- I also write a monthly blog post over at the University of Colorado at Boulder's 'Pendulum New Music' blog. Pendulum New Music is a series put on by the composition students and faculty at CU Boulder to showcase new student works. I write a post before every concert with a sneak peek of what's to come, or shedding some light on perhaps unfamiliar topics in music, like electronic and multimedia works. Every month videos are also posted of all the performances, so you don't even have to be in Boulder to listen in. Check it out here!

News and Clips

Too much has been happening in this composer's life. For one thing I've been taking time for myself, which is keeping me sane. Literally. For a while after Christmas I thought I was being pulled in all different directions- I had said "yes" to a lot of projects that I should have said "not right now" to, and it totally took a toll on my body! Luckily I am coming back to reality once again, and the creative juices are beginning to flow once more.

In the news, I've had a few new works performed or documented lately.
Two clips of "Tame Your Man' are up on YouTube, but you can watch them here! Each clip is about three movements' worth, enough to give you a general sense of the piece.




I had the premiere of my first electro-acoustic work on the Pendulum New Music Series concert this past week. All I had to do was push "play" but that went well. It's a work that creates an atmosphere like slowly drifting icebergs in a glacial lagoon. I learned a lot about the program Abelton Live to create the piece, and I hope to work more with that in the future- it's good for both audio effects, and should I want to become a sweet beat-droppin' DJ I could cue up jams and add beats and samples in Abelton as well.

Upcoming on March 20 is yet another premiere of a work, this time for a duo of a guitar and a nykelharpa. You might be wondering what that instrument is, and in short it's a Swedish stringed instrument that sounds like a fiddle, but it works more like a hurdy-gurdy. You can read up a little on the nykelharpa here.

In non-music-related news, my boyfriend has said two more things in his sleep: "2 4 8", and "snowin' so far". I had a dream the other night that I was being held against my will, but I got released through a cunning game of music trivia, and my winning question to my weird captives was that I could sing a melody from Verdi's opera La Traviata and they couldn't guess what opera it came from. In real life, I don't know if I could even think of a melody from La Traviata, let alone but thank goodness my subconscious self knows the way out.

Merry Christomas

Happy Holidays. May all your gifts be wrapped.

Fantasy Draft

This is what I envision when I think of a 'fantasy draft'. None o' that football nonsense! Of course, maybe also a draft beer would be nice too. But I like the idea of a magical gust coming in from under the door, whisking me away to a nonsensical place of wonder, and maybe there would be Harry-Potter-like music playing along with it.

Goodbye Scissors

In the tradition of my Goodbye Pencil Sharpener and Goodbye Stan, Sexually Abiguous Cockatiel posts, I've had to bid adieu to an old friend, a pair of yellow and white scissors that I've had since second grade. I took them to college and they were amazingly useful for crafty projects (they cut paper with out cutting you!). My roommate and I bonded that we both had brought the same pair of kid's scissors to college.

The college years have since passed. The time had come where the safety scissors no longer cut, and I got a pair of fancy titanium scissors for the holidays, which cut like butter and are guaranteed for 10,000 magical slices. So I bid you a fond farewell, friend, you've served me well. May you rest in peace, dreaming of classrooms full of screaming second-graders, and piles of colored construction paper, miles high.

Tame Your Man Tug-of-War

Promo image for TAME YOUR MAN, which I'm raising money for through Kickstarter. Consider donating even a small amount today, every bit helps! I can't guarantee the final project will have a tug of war, but it will involve a whole lot of music, and a whole lot of rope.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tameyourman/tame-your-man