"All The Sound We Cannot Hear" is a meditative piece for fixed media or electronics. In this piece, I tried to create a consistent sound world for the listener to get lost in. There is always something new I notice in every listen. "All The Sound We Cannot Hear" is a maximalist piece and used additive synthesis to layer on drones and other sampled material from Absynth and other similar programs. 

The title was inspired by Anthony Doerr's book, "All The Light We Cannot See."

All The Sound We Cannot Hear

"Quiet Music" is dedicated to Lloyd Rodgers, my former teacher. In his series of "Quiet Music" for his trio, "The Lloyd Rodgers' Group," he used a lot of great contrapuntal techniques within the context of his infamous spatially notated scores. In my version on "Quiet Music," I tried to convey the essence of what Lloyd was doing, but with a larger, rather infinite electronic compositional world that he taught me about, back when I was his student.

Quiet Music

This 30-second commercial was commissioned by Oliver Winery for their Camelot Honey Mead. Written in 2017, it explores a mysterious fantasy sound world, full of men in shining armor and giant top-hat-wearing bees, where this special mead is produced.

Oliver Winery Commercial - Honey Mead

Instrumentation: Fixed Media

Music is bound by the listener’s perception of time, usually in a linear fashion. My piece Ever Be Deconstruction sets up a soundworld in which many “times” or “tempos” happen at the same time but at different rates and in different places. It ultimately proposes this question: Can anyone exist outside of time? And, if so, what would music sound like? 

We as listeners will ultimately perceived this piece “in time,” and that is fine. What I hope to accomplish with this piece is to stretch the limitations and normal way of perceiving music in time. Layering different tempos is not, if fact, a new idea, but I use it here as a way to create something beautiful while questioning the listeners preconceived idea about time. 

Technical specs:
This piece would sound best with an 8-channel, circular set-up, however, the version I am submitting is in Stereo, and that is fine for a performance if necessary. To create this piece, I used different spectral analysis techniques where I ran short bits of pre-recorded sound files through a spectral analyzer. I was then able to bring out certain harmonics or overtones to change the overarching harmonic structure throughout. I also ran the same sound files through a granular synthesis software that chopped up the sound files into millisecond long grains, and spat them back out with minute changes that were the result of some minor preconceived coding. Using Protools, I then assembled the sound files to create a loose Rounded Binary or Ternary structure for the sounds to fit into. I then used other delay and feedback processes to blend certain sounds together as well as balance each sound to create a consistency throughout while controlling secondary parameters: dynamics, articulations, etc.

Ever Be Deconstruction

INSTRUMENTATION: 2 BASS CLARINETS

You know that water is essential to life, but you may not know the fear and uncertainty one is faced with, when water finally runs dry. The impetus of awareness for this piece thus came from a visit to San Louis Obispo during the 2015 drought in California. Water rations were implemented, the plants had dried up, and many of the wildlife were leaving for a more suitable habitat. 

The downward contrapuntal lines of the Bass Clarinets parallel the depleting level of water until the player reach the bottom register of the instrument, then turns around and plays upward spiraling lines in a somewhat strict palindromic mirror of what we just heard.

S.L.O. Down

Interview with composer - performer Craig Michael Davis

1 Track Podcast

1 Track Podcast #48 (S4E9) - Craig Michael Davis

War Against the Soul recorded by the IU Symphonic Band under Maestro Eric Smedley.

War Against The Soul for Wind Band

Nuclear Weapons was commissioned by and premiered at the Oregon Bach Festival in 2018. This percussion quartet includes Marimba, Vibraphone, and Glockenspiel. 

Nuclear Weapons was inspired by original 1930s footage of the testing of the atomic bomb in the deserts of the United States of America. Recently declassified by the Lawrence institute, these films provide a looking into the past at the beauty and power that man can create, while foreshadowing the death and destruction that a bomb, of this caliber, can create.

In 2018, the idea of a nuclear war is still at hand. Though the bomb was invented more than 80 years ago, we still have not yet fully understood its capabilities, nor care enough about the potential lives it can destroy.

Nuclear Weapons for Percussion Quartet

"Reflected Light" for Cello and Electronics was written by Craig Michael Davis for cellist Christy Oscar. This maximalist electronic sound world represents light bustling around, whereas the cellist interacts with these electronic sounds, at times playing melodic lines, weaving through the chaos, and at other times playing a mere accompaniment role. The middle of the three sections represents the most clear interaction between the cellist and electronics, where large chords are created in the electronics (with sampled cello sounds) that are "reflected" by the cellist. On many levels, light can be a metaphor for truth and love. Though abstract and metaphorical, the listener can make connections about the relationship between the solo cellist and the "light"(electronics) that fills the entire piece from beginning to end.

Reflected Light for Cello and Electronics

'Work in Progress' is written for full symphony orchestra with winds in 3s. 'Work in Progress' was inspired by a quote from Leonardo da Vinci: “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” In that regards, this work represents the beautify and freedom in realizing that a work of art is never truly finished. In that fashion, the composer took one fundamental musical idea - 'a scale,' and arranged it in an ever changing kaleidoscopic fashion.

Work in Progress for Orchestra

Craig Michael Davis is an internationally known composer, conductor, pianist and piano technician from California who currently lives in Bloomington, IN. He performs with “The Craig Michael Davis” Contemporary Music Ensemble, which he founded in 2012.

Receiving a Master’s of Music in Theory and Composition from the New York University, Craig studied with Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, and Justin Dello Joio. Craig’s most recent work Re-Creation for string orchestra, based on the creation account in the book of Genesis, was performed by the L’viv Philharmonic Orchestra, in May 2015. 

Since 2009, Craig has conducted various full and scratch orchestra-type ensembles, including the Broadway Chamber Players, the New Music Ensemble at California State University, Fullerton; the Fullerton Choir; and The White Noise Contemporary Music Ensemble. These ensembles have curated music from the Renaissance through music of today including David Lang, Louis Andriessen, Terry Riley, Kyle Gann, Lloyd Rodgers, and Frederic Rzewski.

His writing has earned a number of awards and residencies, among which include the 2015 Fairbanks Alaska Music Festival Residency, The 2013 Alan A. Mannason Award for Composition, and the 2012 Henriquez Award for Composition. His music has been played in the United States as well as in Europe. Most recently, his works have been performed by the L’viv Philharmonic Orchestra in L’viv, Ukraine; by the JACK Quartet in New York; and at various new music performance spaces in New York City. Craig’s music is published through Jack Harrison Publishing Inc.
Some of his music can be heard via www.CraigMichaelDavis.com

Craig Michael Davis

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