Ancient Chinese Enclosing Game: Compositions

The following compositions are extractions from iterations of The Ancient Chinese Enclosing Game Compositional Matrix. Compositions are extracted from the matrix using a variety of pseudo-random operations.

First matrix: The Ancient Chinese Enclosing Game

For the first use of the matrix all sounds were derived from readings from the text of an unpublished novel, The Ancient Chinese Enclosing Game, which depicts a time when the game was played in earnest. With one exception, titles relate to the music at the discretion of the listener.

1st Extraction: Sufficiency of Evidence 2002 3:00

 

2nd Extraction: Studs Gone Bad 2002 4:00

Mp3. Archived at Sonus.ca

Recording: DisContact! III

Broadcast: Acoustic Frontiers. CKCU-FM, 2003; Kalvos & Damien's New Music
     Bazaar, 2003; Elektra Radioshow for Experimental Music, Lewis University, 2004

 

3rd Extraction: Slow Danger 2002 5:00

RealAudio: 1:02

 

4th Extraction: Heartbeat, Seabeat, Earthbeat 2002 8:00

The title, from Charles Ives’ Essays Before a Sonata, reflects the cycles and rhythms of life striven for in The Ancient Chinese Enclosing Game Compositional Matrix. These cycles speak more to my experience than the quotidian variations upon them that so often dominate our attention; and thus rather than focusing on the surface drama in my music I choose to dig for underlying patterns that remain constant. The matrix consists of layers of musical material. The beginning of each layer equals the end so that they can be looped indefinitely. Each layer may be shifted independently in either direction by predetermined increments. In this way the structure remains constant while the contents shift: the earth rotates as the days shorten and lengthen, waves wash the shore as the tides ebb and flow, and our hearts beat as passions wax and wane.

 

5th Extraction: City of Rodents 2002 6:00

 

6th Extraction: Perfect Grooming 2002 7:00

Performance: SEAMUS Conference. University of Arizona, 2003

Second matrix: Direction of Gravity

For the second use of the matrix all sounds were synthesized. Except for 4th and 5th extractions, the titles of the pieces were inspired by films in the Unseen Cinema series.

1st Extraction: Interpolated Footage 2002 3:12

 

2nd Extraction: A Mile Below the Cows 2002 4:48

 

3rd Extraction: End of the System 2002 6:24

 

4th Extraction: Direction of Gravity 2002 8:00

Performance: One, sponsored by the experimental Music Collective (eMC),
     Vancouver, Canada, 2004

 

5th Extraction: Ducks in Motion 2003 1:00

Recording: 60X60

Performance:60X60, sponsored by Vox Novus, Several venues in New York City;
     Bilgi University, Istanbul; Bucharest, Romania, 2003-2004

Broadcasts: art@radio, WMBC, Baltimore, April 27, 2005; Elektra Radioshow for
     Experimental Music, May 5, 2005

Third matrix: Pin Drop

For the third use of the matrix most sounds were derived from recordings of a pin dropped onto a metal cookie sheet. Ambient sounds recorded from 5:30-6:30 am on a midsummer morning were edited and highly processed for one of the matrix layers. The inspiration for this iteration came from a preponderance of pieces at a recent conference composed in a "wall of noise" style. What happened to dynamic range? How about some quiet works!

1st Extraction: Exotic Fruits 2003 1:00

Recording: 60X60 (2004 - 2005)

Performance: 60X60 2004, sponsored by Vox Novus, Several venues: Under St.
     Marks, New York; Birmingham-Southern College, Alabama; Contemporary Art
     Museum of St. Louis; National University of Music, Bucharest; Sydney
     Conservatorium, Sydney, Australia; 2004 - 2006

Broadcast: Martian Gardens, WMUA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst,
     July 22, 2007

 

2nd Extraction: Hopheads with Icepicks 2003 3:00

 

3rd Extraction: Dogs on the Ground 2003 5:00

 

4th Extraction: Vehicles in Sync 2003 7:00

 

5th Extraction: Pin Drop 2003 8:00

RealAudio: 1:00

Performance: 3rd Rencontres Musiques Nouvelles, Electrolune Day, Lunel,
     France, 2004

How quiet? Quiet enough to hear a...

Usage note

The sound clips on this page are protected by copyright. If you want to use them as they are, or wish to hear the complete works from which they come, please contact me. However, if you want to sample from these sound clips and mutate, permute and mutilate bits and scraps for your own creative purposes, I encourage you to do so. In the end, it's all one big project.