Disquiet Junto Submissions

Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.com and at disquiet.com/junto, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time.

This project was posted in the afternoon, California time, on Thursday, April 21, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, April 25, 2016.

These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):

Disquiet Junto Project 0225: Serial Composition
Sight read a late-1940s painting by Argentine artist Lidy Prati as a graphically notated score.

This week’s project takes as its subject a painting recently posted by art critic Blake Gopnik. Seen here, it dates from around 1948, he writes, and is by the Argentine artist Lidy Prati (1921-2008). In his description, Gopnik references Piet Mondrian, whose music is often associated with musical scores. Both the grid-like structure of Prati’s piece and its title, “Serial Composition,” suggest it as the subject of sonic investigation. Gopnik connects the piece to computers: “[I]t speaks of a system that can generate them. Computers and their algorithms seem on this painting’s mind, at a moment when computers still filled entire rooms with vacuum tubes.” (Note that as I was researching this project I came across work by Marcelo Gutman, who has created colorful score tributes to Prati.)

These are the steps for this week’s project.

Step 1: View the circa-1948 painting “Serial Composition” by Lidy Prati at this URL:

http://blakegopnik.com/post/142806762364

Step 2: Consider it as a musical score. Think about the sort of musical composition that “Serial Composition” might be.

Step 3: Record yourself performing “Serial Composition” as a graphically notated musical score.

Step 4: Upload your completed track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 5: Annotate your track with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 6: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

Deadline: This project was posted in the afternoon, California time, on Thursday, April 21, 2016, with a deadline of 11:59pm wherever you are on Monday, April 25, 2016.

Length: The length is up to you, though between two and three minutes feels about right.

Upload: Please when posting your track on SoundCloud, only upload one track for this project, and be sure to include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.

Title/Tag: When adding your track to the Disquiet Junto group on Soundcloud.com, please in the title to your track include the term “disquiet0225-serialcomposition.” Also use “disquiet0225-serialcomposition” as a tag for your track.

Download: It is preferable that your track is set as downloadable, and that it allows for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution).

Linking: When posting the track, please be sure to include this information:

More on this 225th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Sight read a late-1940s painting by Argentine artist Lidy Prati as a graphically notated score”) at:

http://disquiet.com/0225/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Image originally posted (and viewable in larger scale) at

http://blakegopnik.com/post/142806762364


Disquiet Junto Project 0225: Serial Composition

Piano Pieces

My first go at the Disquiet Junto challenge.   
The first thing I did was create a shifting 'cloudlike' top level. I did this using three detuned oscillators,  fed different sequences and put through a long cloud reverb in the Strymon BigSky.  For the 'firm bottom' I used the Dark Energy synth, feeding it a slower sequence of notes, but giving it more frequent rhythmic / percussive changes to filters and amplifier.  This had no reverb applied, just echo, to keep it firm and to avoid muddying the reverb cloud. As this is a piece for a possible dance performance, I included a rhythm pattern, which is purely white noise put through a filter that is rapidly opened and closed to varying degrees. This was put through a panner that sends it to different echos to make it more interesting than just a straight rhythmic pattern. This was a single live take, no overdubs. 

Disquiet Junto Project 0222: Bounded Foundation
The Assignment: Compose a piece for contemporary dance — with a “soft top” and a “shifting bottom.”

This is the second project we’re doing with artist and engineer Paolo Salvagione for an extended piece of choreography he’s working on. The result of the project is intended for potential use as a sonic backdrop for the dance performance, and also as a form of research into the materials and ideas being explored by Salvagione and the dancers. (Audio produced for this Junto project will not be used by Salvagione without its composer’s permission.)

Step 1: You will be creating a short, roughly four-minute piece of music. First, take into consideration the setting. Visualize that the piece would be performed by a young solo female dancer. She is dancing in a large space. The sounds of this Junto are the only sounds accompanying her movement.

Step 2: Your piece should have two perceived “levels.” The “top” level should be soft and cloud-like. The “bottom” level should be firm but ever-shifting.

Step 3: Make a piece of sound/music roughly four minutes long that meets the criteria of Step 2.

Step 4: Upload your completed track to the Disquiet Junto group on SoundCloud.

Step 5: Annotate your track with a brief explanation of your approach and process.

Step 6: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.

http://disquiet.com/2016/03/31/disquiet0222-boundedfoundation/

Bounded Foundation (disquiet0222-boundedfoundation)

My attempt at this week's Disquiet Junto - I stuck with a Steve Reich feel. First I came up with a five-beat phrase that I felt was interesting and was not too difficult to play steadily at a reasonable speed. I then created a basic sound on my modular, using ring two ring-modulated oscillators tuned an octave and a fifth apart.  I varied the settings with each take, adding a bit of modulated reverb on some and leaving others dry.  I then faded some of the takes in and out, leaving others to start / finish abruptly.  There are six layers here, any more was just getting muddy. The title is because the effect reminded me of my honeymoon in Salzburg, my wife and I were sat at a restaurant on Mönchsberg, overlooking the town, and the church bells starting ringing out from the various churches. There was an amazing phased sound as they drifted in and out of time with each other, it lasted a good few minutes.  

http://disquiet.com/2016/04/07/disquiet0223-layeredsameness/

Honeymoon Bells Surrounding Mönchsberg (disquietjunto0223-layeredsameness)

I played around a bit more with the Disquiet Junto 223 file - layering pitched-up and reversed copies over and over, and then bringing in and out the different pitched versions as the track plays. I also slowed it all down to half speed, and smothered it in reverbs to smooth out the ringing.

Layered Sameness 2 (disquietjunto0223-layeredsameness)

(A newer more 'radiophonic' version , with added 'Arctic' melody originally written by Delia Derbyshire and tons of reverb is here: https://soundcloud.com/ikjoyce/arctic-disquiet0224-coldembrace) 

This week's Disquiet Junto project is to make a track using a field recording of the fridge... http://disquiet.com/2016/04/14/disquiet0224-coldembrace/

I took two recordings - one from down the back of the fridge, and the other from inside the fridge.  I then layered multiple copies of both recordings in ACID pro, and changed the speeds of each so that the pitch of the  hums created nice harmonic textures. Finally, I added a little EQ to each to highlight certain tones, and then used volume curves to fade the notes in and out.  There is NO reverb on this  (in reference to this: http://disquiet.com/2016/03/11/rimbaud-scores-ryman/#comments) - I used only the dry recordings! EQ was the only effect, and that was used sparingly just to highlight specific tones.

To me it sounds a little like an impatient Eliane Radigue piece!
 

Cold Embrace (disquiet0224-coldembrace)

I played a melody called 'Arctic' written by Delia Derbyshire (found in the archives at the fabulous WikiDelia.net -  just a scrap of manuscript - http://wikidelia.net/images/a/a4/DD115523.jpg )  on the BassStation2 using a sound I made specifically for this melody, over the top of my Disquiet Junto 'Cold embrace' track which is made entirely from two recordings of my fridge. I then added an enormous amount of multiple reverbs to it.  I hope Delia would have enjoyed the use of a fridge to add a soundbed to her Arctic melody :-) 

The soundbed of fridge hum with no reverb is here: https://soundcloud.com/ikjoyce/cold-embrace-disquiet0224-coldembrace

Arctic (disquiet0224-coldembrace)

This week's Disquiet Junto project: Sight Read a painting as a graphical score. 

I examined the painting, noting the different types of symbol. I interpreted them thus:  
Black = Octaves and fifths
Red = Minor chord
White = Major chord
Horizontal line = broken chord (i.e linear) 
Vertical line = chord stab
Square = Held chord with broken chord underneath.
Where there were two lines above each other, I played two lines together. 

Examining the score closely, and you will notice that the third vertical line on the fourth row is actually more to the left than the other vertical lines - in that way I realised that each black line is three units long (hence the broken chords being three notes long). Each stab occurs at the third unit of a block of three , except that one on the fourth line that is on the first position. That is what gives rise to the unusual little syncopation just before the two major chords. 

This recording is of me literally sight reading the score at the piano.
I have tried a different one without the gaps as well, but I made a mistake so I need to re-record it when I have time. 

More on this 225th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Sight read a late-1940s painting by Argentine artist Lidy Prati as a graphically notated score”) at:

http://disquiet.com/0225/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Image originally posted (and viewable in larger scale) at

http://blakegopnik.com/post/142806762364

Serial Killer (disquiet0225-serialcomposition)

This week's task was to transform the image attached to this track into a graphic notation. There were 12 symbols, so following the concept of Serialism,  I transposed each symbol to a note within an octave, which I played by hand into Ableton Live via Push. I used Operator for playback and then to add embellishment I found an old piece of audio from my archives, which I hosted in the granular sampler the "Mangle", which was automated semi-randomly and triggered by the same midi notes. Some compression was added to the Operator track to add kick to the sound and some delay was added to the Mangle track to add atmosphere. Finally I used instances of Eventide's UltraChannel plugin on each channel and the master to add some depth and texture.

More on this 225th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Sight read a late-1940s painting by Argentine artist Lidy Prati as a graphically notated score”) at:

http://disquiet.com/0225/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Image originally posted (and viewable in larger scale) at

http://blakegopnik.com/post/142806762364

+*~ism [disquiet0225-serialcomposition]

This week's Disquiet Junto project: Sight Read a painting as a graphical score. 

(A stretched and pipe-organesque version of this is here: https://soundcloud.com/ikjoyce/reinterpretation-reinterpreted)

This is my second reinterpretation, and is a more reflective piece. 
I examined the painting, noting the different types of symbol. 
For ths version, I interpreted them thus:  
Black = Octaves and fifths (A and E)
Red = D minor 7th chord with A bass.
White = A Major
Horizontal line = broken chord (i.e linear) 
Vertical line = chord stab
Square = Held chord with broken chord underneath.
I played an almost continuous three note broken chord in the left hand throughout, adjusting slightly towards the end.

Examining the score closely, and you will notice that the third vertical line on the fourth row is actually more to the left than the other vertical lines - in that way I realised that each black line is three units long (hence the broken chords being three notes long). Each stab occurs at the third unit of a block of three , except that one on the fourth line that is on the first position. That is what gives rise to the unusual little syncopation just before the two major chords. 

This recording is of me literally sight reading the score at the piano.

More on this 225th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Sight read a late-1940s painting by Argentine artist Lidy Prati as a graphically notated score”) at:

http://disquiet.com/0225/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Join the Disquiet Junto at:

http://soundcloud.com/groups/disquiet-junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Disquiet Junto general discussion takes place at:

http://disquiet.com/forums/

Image originally posted (and viewable in larger scale) at

http://blakegopnik.com/post/142806762364

Reflective Reinterpretation (disquiet0225-serialcomposition)

This week's Naviar Haiku was a little different for me, as it was one of my own poems being set! I have never tried setting them to music before (I had actually forgotten I had written them until recently), so this is my attempt. I am really looking forward to hearing what everyone creates! 

My track was created using multiple ad-libs on the BassStation2, plus some piano, and a little bit of Dark Energy. 

Poem by ikjoyce: "Hush descends / Darkness envelops all: / Dreamers soar" 

http://naviarlab.tumblr.com/post/143476960738/naviarhaiku121-hush-descends 

Dreamers Soar (Naviarhaiku121 - Hush descends)

For this week's Naviar Haiku, I improvised at the piano, imagining looking at the rippling waters below. I tried also to represent the bridge as a rising and later falling motif. This is the best performance I did, but annoyingly it was recorded too hot and distorts :-(  So - here is another recording which is cleaner but maybe not as interesting in my opinion : https://soundcloud.com/ikjoyce/the-river-naviarhaiku122-mid-point-of-the-bridge-take-2

Poem by r-d-w: "Mid-point of the bridge / I hover above / the river's currents"

http://naviarlab.tumblr.com/post/143836265323/naviarhaiku122-mid-point-of-the-bridge


The River (NaviarHaiku122 - mid point of the bridge) Take 1

For this week's Naviar Haiku, I improvised at the piano, imagining looking at the rippling waters below. I tried also to represent the bridge as a rising and later falling motif. Annoyingly the best performance was recorded too hot and distorts :-(  So - this is a different take, which is cleaner but not as interesting in my opinion. 

Poem by r-d-w: "Mid-point of the bridge / I hover above / the river's currents"

http://naviarlab.tumblr.com/post/143836265323/naviarhaiku122-mid-point-of-the-bridge


The River (NaviarHaiku122 - mid point of the bridge) Take 2

This will be my place for Naviar Haiku and Disquiet Junto entries.
-Experiments may appear on YouTube from time to time: 
https://www.youtube.com/user/ikjoyce
-Albums will be released on Bandcamp: 
https://ikjoyce.bandcamp.com/

New album "The Endless Solitude Of A Skylark's Song" now available:
https://ikjoyce.bandcamp.com/album/the-endless-solitude-of-a-skylarks-song

Album 'Selene' now available on Cassette / Download from Naviar Records: 
https://naviarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/selene 

**Albums now available on iTunes, Amazon, Deezer, Spotify, and Google Play**  

I make electronic ambient and drone music using modular synthesis to explore themes of nature, space, isolation, man/machine interaction, and the borders of the sleep/wake cycle.