Shape Study: Music for Metamorphoses for fixed media was written at the end of 2008 for the Lewis University Theater Department production of Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses. An adaptation of Ovid’s eponymous narrative poem, this production of Zimmeraman’s play was directed by Dr. Kevin Trudeau. Although the composition is, on one hand, intended to serve as a prelude to the production of this play, it is also hoped that the work stands by itself as an independent electroacoustic composition. 

Structurally, this composition reduces the distances between traditional foreground, middleground, and background musical layers, thus clouding these dimensions. Yet at the same time, this work strives to present a clear and logical dramatic shape by assembling spectral, dynamic, and spatial elements.

More Information: http://bigcomposer.com/data/notes/ea_metamorphoses.html


Shape Study: Music for metamorphoses

A falling star has nothing to do with stars. It is caused by tiny bits of dust and rock called meteoroids that swipe across Earth’s atmosphere and burn up. The trail of light thus created is a meteor. Since the ancient times, humans have been fascinated by changes in the unreachable sky. Falling stars, especially, have motivated countless myths, the most common being that one’s wishes can be granted.
 
On the contrary, the “falling” of a star depicts the death of an important person in Chinese Mythology. In Ancient China, each emperor was accompanied with a professional “star interpreter” who served to predict the kingdom’s future by studying the messages from God. It all seems mythical today, where myths and legends are largely despised by modern science. But if the Moon can exert tidal force on the Oceans, whereas Man is composed mostly of water, a meteoroid approaching close to Earth’s surface must affect the living beings in ways we are yet to understand. Perhaps the creation of this composition is infused with hidden meanings from such phenomenon.

Falling Stars

Performance by Mnemosyne (Michael Miller, 
Ted King-Smith,  Russell Thorpe and Eli Hougland) with Paul Rudy, piano.

As I reached middle life, I discovered there is another way of living than the one I had been taught by late 20th-Century Western society: one that allows, rather than restricts. It requires a focus on what I want, rather than what I don’t want, and is based on abundance, not limitation: it creates, rather than destroys. I learned this way partly through reading other people’s accounts (Deepak Chopra’s 7 Spiritual Laws of Success, and the 7 Hermetic Principles to name a few), but also by watching the forest go through its annual cycles. Through intellectual understanding and mysterious experiences, both of which led me into the architecture explored here, I have found that practicing these principles radically changed my life. While these laws are constant, my experience of them is not... so I offer them here for contemplation in performance and sound. The performer is encouraged to interact with each “law” sonically, by listening to a fixed media (the “laws”), and responding from their own heart, mind, emotion, body and spirit. Listening inwardly and outwardly becomes the most important aspect of performing the Seven Spiritual Laws of Life.

1. Anything is possible in a Universe full of unlimited potential (Start timings, 0:00-may be longer: adjust subsequent timings accordingly)
2. Giving is receiving and both express an exchange of energy that creates flow (2:00)
3. Energy given returns in like fashion (5:49)
4. Nature’s wisdom illustrates following the path of least resistance (9:53)
5. Inherent in every intention and desire are the mechanics of its fulfillment (13:43)
6. Observing without judgment is the highest form of freedom (17:20)
7. Everything has its own purpose, and everyone, their own unique path on which they travel at their own speed toward this purpose (20:40)

I am indebted to the many wise teachers I have had on this journey, for helping me see and experience these things in everyday life, and to JoDee Davis for her trombone sounds!

Seven Spiritual Laws of Life

Fort Hays State University New Music Festival, November 3, 2018. Paul Rudy, Electronics and Jim Pisano, Tenor Sax.

Fort Hays New Music Festival 2018

New Horizon with Jim Pisano

Ambient P was composed in response to David McIntire and Irritable Hedgehog's Putney Project. The work is unique in my output up to this point. David’s challenge gave me the perfect opportunity to explore an style of composition that I have been interested in for some time. Ambient P uses material derived from David's early exposure to the EMS VCS-3, also know as the "Putney."

Ambient P

Mike McFerron is professor of music and composer-in-residence at Lewis University and he is founder and co-director of Electronic Music Midwest (http://www.emmfestival.org). His music can be heard on numerous commercial CDs as well as on his website at http://www.bigcomposer.com.

Shape Study: Music for metamorphoses

mike-mcferron