short video from the performance on June 3, 2018. the piece consists of 9-tone ‘chains’ which must be arranged in a harmonic lattice structure (this performance uses the (2,3), (3,5), and (5,7) planes—an x,y graph where each axis represents a harmonic ratio).
video by Ian Byers-Gamber
The 14th season of Dog Star Orchestra begins Saturday June 2. On Sunday June 3 at Human Resources in Chinatown, I will present a new piece lattice chains for an 8 channel modular sound system designed with Janie Geiser, Eric Heep, and Cassia Streb. Eric Heep, Sepand Shahab, Stephanie Smith, and Cassia Streb will also be presenting pieces.
Info on all concerts can be found at dogstarorchestra.com
SOUND HOUSE is a work-in-progress excerpt of a new work conceived and created by John Eagle, Janie Geiser and Cassia Streb. Sound House is a performance/installation centered on a series of tasks that shape the sound in the room. The tasks, based on a set of instructions, are enacted by a group of 8 artist/performers manipulating objects, controllers, microphones, speakers, walls, and wooden puppets. Their actions are specific and interdependent and emerge from several areas: the history of the Minuteman Missile project, bricklaying/construction, sound generation, time and its measurement, and object/task performance (the performance of the real).
In June, I performed Tom Johnson’s Nine Bells, a nine movement piece which uses various patterns for the performer to walk through a 3×3 grid. The tuning system I employed placed the bells on a plane of harmonic space with one axis in fifths (3/2) and the other in pure major thirds (5/4). The image below shows my tuning scheme overlaid with Johnson’s hand drawing (first movement). This video shows the ninth movement, which has a triangular pattern that approximates a 45-45-90 triangle, which when reduced has sides of 1, 1, and √2. Using steps as the unit of measurement, Johnson represents this with a triangle of 5, 5, 7 (just short of 5√2). This movement uses only the 4 outer bells forming a square. As the triangle’s orientation changes, the exact dimensions remain intact while the resultant chord changes each time (a total of 4 possibilities).
Thanks to Janie Geiser and Automata for filming and hosting.
Paul Muller with a nice writeup on one of the Dog Star concerts this past June.
Two new events planned as part of this year’s Dog Star Orchestra festival. June 4, I’ll be playing Tom Johnson’s Nine Bells on a specially-tuned set of bells I’ve built. June 14, Isaura String Quartet will perform ‘rhythm color #3’ alongside the Southland String Quartet performing works by James Tenney and Tom Johnson.
Check out the shows section for more info.
Isaura String Quartet will be premiering my piece “parallel lines (do not intersect)” on their final concert of their summer series. For the concert they asked 7 different LA composers to reimagine Blondie’s “Heart of Glass”. My piece, which borrows its name from Blondie’s album title, begins with a chorale, of sorts, in two separate 3-limit harmonic spaces (4ths, 5ths, and octaves)—a kind of harmonic parallelism. The concert will be followed by pie and drinks to celebrate the final concert.
Click here for more info and email isaurastringquartet@gmail.com to RSVP and receive directions to the location in Eagle Rock.
aaron bresley – still: (sky/light) for two players and still: (blur) for one player: part of an ongoing series that seeks to explore a particular relationship between perception and determination, especially in terms of distance
john eagle (with andy young) – tuning #3: ear-training exercises in untempered space
Saturday, May 9, 2015
8 pm
the wulf
1026 s. santa fe ave. #203, los angeles, ca 90021
I have had the pleasure of working with Randolyn Zinn and The Living Room Theatre on a few projects. They have developed their own type of site-specific theatre at the Park McCullough House in North Bennington, VT over the past couple summers. I have contributed music for this summer’s production of Chekhov’s ‘The Cherry Orchard’. The score sets abstracts from Bartók, Scriabin, and Russian folk tunes against field recordings and various types of resonators and feedback engines.
Opens July 31. Reservations required.
Click here for tickets and info.
A new piece for two writers will be presented this Friday at the wulf, along with new pieces by Todd Lerew, Chris Schunk, and Danny Wood. The piece utilizes excerpts from Søren Kierkegaard’s diaries including an entry labeled: “Something about my Punctuation” (1847), which discusses something of K’s unusual rhetorical style.
7.11.14
8 pm
the wulf
1026 s santa fe ave #203
los angeles, ca
