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March 2017 Salon previews

ComManD

Thaumaturgy

ComManD ensemble presents a composition of music and dance enhanced by technology. Accelerometer information is used to digitally shape and alter acoustic music. Movement, electronics, acoustics and improvisation blend together in both subtle and obvious ways in this work seeking to define it’s own poetics and artistic statement. It’s an attempt to present interdisciplinary work beyond the novelty of what the technology offers— greater than the sum of it’s parts—while simultaneously geeking out on new tech and ideas!

S. Eric Scribner

Tree and Stone

The piece I’ll be playing at the salon is an audience-participation piece called Tree and Stone. Since the piece is aleatory, it would work with another piece at the same time, so I’ll play a preliminary version of The Sherványa Nocturnal Music (share-VAHN-yuh), which relates to my fantasy novel Tond. I’ll hand out the scores and instruments for Tree and Stone and I’ll play the other piece on the piano.

Tond on Amazon
Tree and Stone on Youtube

Blake Degraw

Electronic Quartet for Humans

One of my primary musical interests is in conduction. Over the last few years I’ve been exploring alternative methods of guiding musicians through performances outside of merely waving a hand or baton at them as they read notated music. I will be presenting a piece called Electronic Quartet for Humans, performed on four saxophones, which makes use of pre-recorded audio tracks that the performers listen to through headphones during the performance, guiding their interactions with one another through various aural cues, as well as providing material for them to interpret through mimicry and deep-listening.

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