Another idea taken

I think the choir is a sadly untapped resource as far as sound capabilities. I mean imagine the variety of sounds that someone like Bobby Mcferrin can accomplish with his voice and multiply it by 60. Endless possibilities. It highlights one of the true challenges of composition, perhaps the greatest challenge: imagining and sculpting a sound that has never been heard before. This is why I like composing electronic music, I experiment with sounds, move them around stumble on something great and then craft the work. How I wish I had a choir in my basement, on which I could call to try out new ideas: "Okay, altos I want you to click your tongue against your front teeth randomly, tenors sustain an 's' sound according to this notation...." Now you have some understanding what the term "Experimental" means when it comes to early twentieth century composition.

Now to illustrate some of the possibilities of "choral sound-design."
and for those of us with dial up, some .mov, and .wmv files here.
check out the "making of" videos on this blog as well.

The Dayjob

So I stumbled across Sequenza 21 a couple months ago and have been a fan ever since. So here I am, fresh out of grad school with a degree in composition looking at a blog featuring an experienced contemporary composer. This is what I read: (paraphrased) Don't get a BM in composition. Get a worthwhile degree, a decent job and compose nights and weekends.

Wow. So much for all my dreams and lofty hopes. So much for all that tuition I paid and continue to pay...

When I think about it, though, perhaps he has a point. I mean having a day job might be ideal for a composer. If I want my music to be truly independent, my own voice, then I should not rely on others to pay me according to how much they like the sound. I don't need to have credentials and publications and awards in order to write great music. Someday I will plunge into the highly competitive world of academia, but not right now.

When I was an undergrad, I told a professor I was interested in teaching higher education someday. He said, "Well, someone's gotta do it."

I didn't understand what he meant at the time, but after helping my supervising prof get her tenure, and witnessing the irrelevant hurdles required, I think I know exactly what he meant.

So that's where I'm at. I'm helping my dad with his small business in a small town in rural Pennsylvania. I have composed more things in the last six months that I like personally than I composed in my final year at school. I spend quality time with my wife, daughter and newborn son.

Mission accomplished, so far.
I'll keep you posted.

Between the Lines

When I was recording my flute and electronics piece, Oasis, I fell in love with the sound of cracked notes, and the unintentional whistle tones produced when the flutist played extremely quietly. As I mixed the piece I tended to emphasize the breath sounds and all of these other "noises" that inevitably occur with live playing. I know the reason I was drawn to these sounds so much... normally in my electronic world they are absent. So much of my time in mixing and recording my files is spent on the making it sound like a realistic performance, adding the imperfect human element. Detuning, adding noise, finessing the vibrato and performance techniques.
Since then I have based entire compositions on these often unwanted sounds or "noises." My Digital Construction suite includes sounds of a bowed violin. Don't get the wrong impression though, I bowed every surface of the violin except for the normal position. The strings behind the bridge, the strings by the posts (listen to the end of #2, it sounds like a creaky swing-set) the bridge itself, the neckpiece, the posts etc...
I like to think of these sounds as those which are beyond the notation, impractical to place on the lines, between the cracks of our steadfast notation system:
Between the lines.

About me

I compose Electro-acoustic music.
You can listen to some of it here:
www.tedsmoker.com

Thanks for reading,
Ted Smoker