Category Archives: Composition

Running Expressions

Running Expressions is a real-time performance composition using bio-feedback and remote controllers. Written primarily in Kyma and Max/MSP, the piece captures live physiological data to create and control music within an 8-channel and video projection environment. The musical performance narrates a distance run, the psychological and emotional impacts of a running experience.

+ Download Documentation .pdf and the performance software (Max/MSP/Jitter, OSCulator, and Processing) files. (.zip, 11.5 MB)

+ Download Kyma performance audio files. (.zip, 45.3 MB)

+ Download Thesis documentation separately. (.pdf, 11.2 MB)

[Coded] In Passing

In Passing articulates the journey of an interactive dialogue between performers, where the germinal communicative motive becomes entangled as the conversation evolves. The clarity and complexity of the conversation between the performers takes form through video projection and live performance. The unfolding progression of this fluctuating relationship seeks to draw attention to interpersonal relationships.

with: James Bean, Emily McPherson, Mark Knippel, Mike Stephen, and Katherine Spinella

Sonic Dog Tags

Sonic Dog Tags is a set of compositions I composed using programs written in Python, Max/MSP/Jitter, and Processing. My programs retrieve biographical information of fallen service members from the Department of Defense RSS feed, map the information to musical parameters, and draw complementary visual sketches, collectively forming compositions unique to each service member.

Download source code examples.

The above video explains the compostional process. For videos/compositions of the individual service members, please click on the links below.

Tramaine J. Billingsley, Carlos A. Benitez, Rafael Martinez Jr.

Jessica Ellis

Jarod Newlove

Unresolved Peace

Unresolved Peace is a work for flute & electronics recounting  a sister losing her brother to war. Separated into three movements, the work reflects upon the process of being initiated into the Gold Star family. The work is dedicated to the Cleary, Henderson, and Winder families, to the wonderful Gold Star families with whom I’ve shared time, and to all whom keep open hearts. The poem “Peace” was written by Thich Nhat Hanh, 1968. This is the May 2, 2010 performance recording, with Allie Greenwood on flute.

+ Download the score.

AUU (And Uh Um)

Humans fill uncomfortable moments between thoughts, not with spaces of silence, but instead with principally three noticeable sounds: “and”, “uh”, and “um”. AUU explores the spaces between our thoughts, as well as the use of the three common words that mask these silences.

All sounds were designed using KYMA, and mapped to the Wacom Tablet for performance. Originally performed and recorded for 8 channels, this mix was balanced for stereo. Please wear headphones to take advantage of the full audio spectrum.

Vietnam War Sound Memorial

The Sound Memorial for the Veterans of the Vietnam War is a six-hour long composition, a reading of the names of the service members who died during the Vietnam War. The Sound Memorial is a fixed media work performed as an eight-speaker installation and is composed from 210+ voices and over 200 hours of recording. The memorial resurrects the service member’s names by propagating them within a defined space, allowing the name to reverberate within a room and take on a whole new life. The first audio excerpt is “Height of the War;” the movement attempts to capture the magnitude of American service members killed in action over the course of several months in 1968. Following this movement is the rest of the piece, playing sequentially from the beginning.

+ Download the score.

+ Project Site