"An inequality; wind flower" was premiered on October 15th at the Boston Conservatory. It explores microtonality through the use of harmonics on two guitars with opposing strings tuned a quarter tone sharp.

Ben Wylie - Electric Guitars

An inequality: wind flower

"Hum" was written and premiered at the Boston Conservatory. It is an exploration of the mains hum, the 60 cycle current produced by AC current. The performer uses a wah pedal to affect the harmonic spectrum of the hum and improvises over an electronic part that slowly crescendos as well as becoming more complex through additive synthesis.

Ben Wylie - Amplifier, Electronics

Performed by Boston Musica Viva 3/14/14 at the Boston Conservatory.

In Bridge, I attempted to translate certain acoustic phenomena into instrumental gestures. Some of these processes include shaping the spectrum of noisy vocal formants through the resonance of the mouth, translating that shaping into bow position and colored noise, notating the rhythm of beating between closely tuned pitches, and highlighting certain partials of overtone-rich noise. The title is a double entendre referring both to bridging the gap between acoustic property and instrumental gesture as well as the fact that the string players spend the majority of the piece with their bows on varying degradations of the bridge.

Bridge

"begin again in earnest" is a "concerto" for prepared electric guitar and large ensemble, it was written in early 2014. It was performed with the composer playing the guitar part on 4/20/14 in Room 401 of the 31 Hemenway building of the Boston Conservatory. The premiere was conducted by Indervir Singh.

Flute - Leia Slosberg
Clarinet - Chuck Fulong
Bass Clarinet - Steph Clark
Bassoon - Shelly Mohr
Trumpet - Jordan Kabat
Trombone - Cameron Perry
Tuba - David Vess
Percussion - Taylor Ambrosio-Wood
Violins - Hannah Bureau, Dillon Robb
Viola - Josh Newburger
Cello - Danny Hoppe
Bass - Andrew Harlan

begin again in earnest

Antiphons is an exploration of the first 65 partials of the harmonic series, noise, and spatialization. It is based on the spectrum of C, beginning with the low partials and proceeding up the harmonic series until it reaches 65, at which point the system explodes before reforming and returning to where it began.

Clarinet - Alexandra Spence
Cello - Clara Shandler
Piano - Cale Plut
Electric Guitars - Alex Mah, Ben Wylie
Homemade Instruments/Music Boxes/Cymbals - Annie Therrien Boulos, Lee Cannon-Brown, Paul Paroczai, Kıvanç Tatar

Antiphons

"Aliquot" was a collaboration between myself, the performing collective Dissonant Disco, and visual artist Emily Starkey. Emily designed a series of instruments based on furniture, this piece was written for a crib to which 24 guitar strings had been attached. Two people performed on the crib, while 2-4 people played monochords and cell phones while walking around the audience.

Ben Wylie, Emily Starkey - Crib
Maren Lisac, Alex Mah - Cell Phones/Monochords

Performed 3/27/15 at Astorino's in Vancouver, BC.

Aliquot

"Tool-Being" for Flute, Piano, and Tapes

Erin DuBois - Flute
Andrew D'Antonio - Piano

Recorded 5/29/16 at Rotary Records - West Springfield, MA

Tool-Being

Music for speakers and sine tones

Performed by 3 transducers, two tape recorders, two radios, one piano, one gong, and a powered speaker. No digital effects were used.

Acousmonium I

Acousmonium II
for re-tuned melodica and hacked tape recorders

Performed by Ben Wylie March 24, 2018 at the Sonic Boom Festival - Vancouver, BC organized by Vancouver Pro Musica.

Acousmonium II

Arms Against a Sea
for Bass Clarinet Quartet and Open Ensemble

Commissioned by Ecstatic Waves
Premiered 4/23/17 in Vancouver, BC

Bass Clarinets:
Mike WT Allen
Ridley Bishop
David Brown
Johanna Hauser

Open Ensemble:
Clara Sze - Flute
Andrew Chavez-Kline - Clarinet
Tegan Wahlgren - Violin
Joel Mackenzie - Guitar
Nicholas Marriot - Guitar

Arms Against a Sea

Written and performed as part of the Black House Collective Workshop at Oh My Ears 2019. 
Premiered Phoenix, AZ 2/2/19

Violin- Nicole Parks    
Violin- Kyra Davies
Violin- Jeffrey Young
Viola-Celka Ojakangas
Viola- Lauren Nelson
Cello  - Sarah Wilkins
Double Bass- Laura Dykes
Double bass- Will Yager

Flute- Robin Meiksins
Oboe- Wendy Grew
Clarinet- Ford Fourqurean
Saxophones-Russell Thorpe
Recorders-Hunter Long

Trumpet- Kenken Gordon

Percussion-Elizabeth Soflin
Percussion- Taylor Long

Four Stairs and a Window

"ripples, lilies" for double guitar orchestra
Performed August 24, 2019 at the Dominion-Chalmers United Church as part of the 21st Century Guitar Conference at the University of Ottawa.
http://21cguitar.com/

"ripples, lilies" explores the use of heartbeats and breath patterns to generate and control sonic material. Throughout the piece, these two elements are strictly tied to musical gestures: heartbeats are connected with plucked harmonics, while breath is connected with harmonic swells. The speed of musical development is determined by the performers' bodies; morphing and shifting as they drift through simple harmonic constructions.

ripples, lilies

scores/videos/more info at www.benwyliemusic.com

Ben Wylie

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