Joseph Van Hassel, snare drum

"fzzl" fuses the acoustic and electronic through the use of a small transducer attached to the bottom of the snare drum.  This allows electronic sounds produced by the computer to resonate through the drum rather than separate speakers.  Using a contact microphone attached to the top, the drum is used to trigger and interact with all sorts of electronic modifications and extensions of its sound.  The piece was written while I was studying West African dance-drumming which inevitably found its way into the piece, along with a healthy dose of electronica and hip-hop.

fzzl (2011) for snare drum and live electronics

Performed by the Now Hear Ensemble, from their album "Made in California"
Amanda Kritzberg, clarinet; Joel Hunt, alto saxophone; Anthony Garcia, percussion; Jonathan Morgan, viola; Federico Llach, double bass 

In "Ghost in the Machine" the entire ensemble is fused into a single robotic entity, playing tightly interlocking patterns of percussive sounds. Another aspect of this hybrid man-machine is live electronics; controlled by the performers and played back through percussion instruments. These instruments are conceived as extensions of the live performers, and are not actually physically played by anyone. Through the course of the piece the performers gradually introduce a very slow chord progression with glacial melodies spinning out of it. The vibraphone, with its combination of percussive and melodic qualities, is the link that holds this crazy contraption together.

Ghost in the Machine (2013) for five players and live electronics

The work deals with the different types of veils or disguises, which we all use to hide our true intentions to varying degrees. Musically this is represented by a sensuously romantic harmonic progression that gradually attempts to reveal itself through the course of the piece. Noisy electronics attempt to mask or camouflage this progression, which is forever struggling to break free. 

All of the electronics are built from sounds sampled in real-time from the piano. In the first section of the work, the computer responds to the sharp attacks of the piano with colorful rhythmic patterns built from the very sound that triggered the pattern. In this way the music can have a regular pulsing rhythm, without resorting to a continuous sequenced patterns, to which the pianist merely plays along. The electronics truly act as an extension of the instrument, creating a hybrid entity in which both elements are necessary for the music to make sense.

As the piece progresses, the underlying harmonic progression gradually becomes more prominent, again enhanced by electronics that increase the sustaining ability of the piano. As the piano moves increasingly towards an ecstatic outburst of romanticism the electronics become increasingly noisy and aggressive.

Camouflage (2011) for piano and live electronics

Live performance on July 28, 2014 at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival at MASS MoCA. North Adams, MA

Ken Thomson, bass clarinet. Emileigh Vandiver, cello. Tristan Kasten-Krause, double bass. Stuart Fisher, electric guitar. Jani Parsons, piano. Jeffrey Kolega, percussion.

Balance of Power (2014) for bass clarinet, cello, bass, electric guitar, percussion, and piano

World Premiere of Balungan (2016) for wind ensemble and electric guitar. May 6, 2016
UC Santa Cruz Wind Ensemble. Dan VanHassel, guitar. Nathaniel Berman, conductor

The word “balungan” refers to the basic underlying melody of a Javanese gamelan composition from which all the individual parts are derived. This piece is constructed similarly, with a long slow melody beginning very high and gradually descending over the course of the piece. All of the pitched instruments are playing parts following or elaborating on this basic melody. The non-pitched percussion are following an opposite trajectory, starting low and gradually moving higher. The guitar is the wild card, in the beginning leading the pitched instruments but eventually diverging.

Balungan (2016) for wind ensemble and electric guitar

World Premiere of Distill (2014). April 16, 2016
UC Berkeley Symphony. David Milnes, conductor. Dan VanHassel, guitar.

"Distill" is not a concerto in the sense of a traditionally virtuosic showpiece for the soloist. Instead, it marshals the power of the electric guitar to create a huge variety of tone color and texture, ranging from intense noise to the purest harmony, a power also shared by the symphony orchestra. These two sonic forces interact with each other in a slowly evolving soundscape based on an underlying chord progression. Over the course of the piece, this chord progression becomes progressively simpler until eventually it is distilled to its barest essence, that of a single note and its overtones.

Distill (2014) for orchestra and electric guitar

Performance by Ignition Duo from their album Ablaze Amidst the Horns.
http://ignitionduo.bandcamp.com/releases

Coming out of rock music as an electric guitarist, I am very interested in music that transforms the sound of instruments through a highly personal and idiosyncratic approach. Even when, as in Reverie, this approach involves eliminating virtually all references to a traditional "rock" guitar style. By removing the attack sound of individual notes with volume pedal swells and extending the sound through (nearly) endless delay loops, the piece becomes a gradually shifting soundscape of harmony and color with very few recognizable landmarks for the listener to grab onto. Despite this (or because of it) the music is very strictly structured; based on a progression of seven chords that gradually increases in speed through the course of the piece. One guitar is responsible for playing these harmonies, while the other elaborates on them by adding additional colors and playing long slow melodies on top of them.

Ablaze Amidst the Horns

Reverie (2014) for two electric guitars

From the album Correlates by Joseph Van Hassel
http://www.soundset.com/cd_detail.php?disc=749

Here Comes… is a short piece for solo marimba composed for my brother Joey to perform at my sister Laura’s wedding. Laura and I have very different musical tastes, so I struggled a bit to think of something I could write that she would appreciate. I ended up taking inspiration from The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”, a song that both of us enjoy. The piece is a perpetual-motion fantasy on rhythms and harmonies inspired by this song.

Correlates: Solo Percussion Commissions

Here Comes... (2013) for marimba

Pivot for viola and live electronics begins as an exploration of color and rhythm with the viola acting as a makeshift percussion instrument and electronics controller. At a certain point, pitched notes begin to appear and the piece shifts gears. A lyrical melody emerges, accompanied by a slow-moving harmonic progression created by electronic loops of notes from the melody. Using custom-designed software, the violist directly controls the playback of a variety of samples, combined with live processing that meld the acoustic and electronic into a hybrid super-instrument. Samples are taken from recordings of Steve Reich, James Brown, Helmut Lachenmann, Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, Ravi Shankar, George Lewis, Sly and the Family Stone, Dan VanHassel, John Luther Adams, and Buddy Rich.

Dan VanHassel

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