Some Fat Beats for Alvin

Some Fat Beats for Alvin

Flute (alto + picc.), bass clarinet, violin, cello, percussion, laptop; 2017 (18')

 

 

The piece is inspired by the genre of Drum n Bass (subgenre of Electronic Dance Music) and the music of American experimental composer Alvin Lucier. The attempt I'm making here is to connect these two radically different music worlds by observing the phenomenon of beating frequencies that result between the string players and electronically generated sign waves. Throughout the course of the first half of the piece I gradually transform these beating frequencies into actual beats that start to formulate a Drum n Bass beat towards the climactic point of the piece. The second half of the piece approaches sign waves and beating frequency patterns from another angle - not as much as a rhythmic phenomenon but rather as building blocks for constructing timbres.

 

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