Farseer, for clarinet and quadraphonic interactive electronics and/or fixed media, is a culmination of the composer’s fascination with optics, visions, and, well, things-visual.  From considering the vast distances that we can now see with the aid of various lenses and other imagery devises, to the possibility of seeing into the future or past (via visions, hallucinations, or devices), the notion of distance and time having a “malleable” boundary for vision/knowledge/perception is central to the premise of the piece (listening is an analogue to seeing.)  By using the clarinet as the sound source for the fixed media elements, as well as having live processing of the soloist’s performance, it is hoped that the melding of materials will have the periodic effect of blurring the perception of source, timing, and space.

Farseer was composed with Grace (an algorithmic composition environment by Taube), Csound, Protools, and Max/MSP.  Farseer was composed for and with materials recorded from clarinetist Kyle Rowan.

Garden Music is a short musical visage inspired by rock gardens and the contemplation of life. It was composed using a modified FM Gong instrument in CLM and samples of plucked piano.

Garden Music was composed with the aid of GraceCL, an algorithmic composition environment, by Taube.

Absolute Zero is concerned with the “life” of the constituent particles of matter as they reach the invisible bonds of absolute zero.  Absolute Zero (noun) – the lowest temperature that is theoretically possible, at which the particle constituents of matter do not move or have minimal motion. Imagine these particles as “life forms.”   Consider the crowds, the struggle, and the panic that would be the result of such a event as absolute zero.   Imagine yourself rebelling against the approaching bonds of cold.

Absolute Zero was produced using Csound, Absynth, and Protools, and was realized in the Experimental Music Studios at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

2007

Edge Protocol, for two-channel electronic playback, is primarily concerned with the notion of the human mind under immense pressure or stress. The work is meant to convey states of mind of a person before they “crack.” However, this journey is not a one way plummet, but like the ebb and flow of life, has its more and then less contorted moments.

Edge Protocol was composed with the aid of GRACE (a algorithmic composition environment by Rick Taube) and sounds produced with the Kurzweil K2000.

2006

• Premiere: SCI Student Chapter concert, Atlanta, GA, 12.8.2006 – Kopleff Recital Hall

Shadowed Moon,  for 2-channel electronic playback – draws both structural and programmatic inspiration from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon. In a loose sense Shadowed Moon is a condensed commentary on Dark Side…, there is a section inspired by each track of the album, and as an arbitrary structural scheme every section of Shadowed Moon is proportional to it associate track on Pink Floyd’s album. Shadowed Moon is meant to convey a ominous mood toward the non-musical themes of money, greed, time, etc.

This work was used as a laboratory for exploration of time scale expansion, spectral enveloping, and frequency modulation. Shadowed Moon was produced with the Csound software synthesis system with the aid of CMask.