V. Editor,

IV. Dear Shithead:

III. Ed:

II. to whom it may concern:

I. Dear Sir:

Course of Empire takes its title and theme from a series of paintings by Thomas Cole. Over the course of these five paintings, an imaginary city rises and falls. A large boulder atop a cliff watches the scenes unfold: a wild and untamed landscape in the first painting; an agrarian, peaceful, arcadian state in the second; a decadent celebration in the third; the sack and destruction of the city in the fourth; and the ruins in the last.

I tried to work unifying musical motives throughout the quintet. The first movement, The State of Nature, begins with a twelve-tone texture. There is no sense of tonal hierarchy or pitch center. The music is in a state of balance, adhering to a natural system not discernable to the listener. The bassoon introduces the main motive representing the cliff, a pastoral sort of hiccup.

The second movement, Daydreams of Arcadia, begins with and develops the cliff motive, and has a more defined tonality. There is more action throughout the movement, as we’re led to the peaceful beginnings of civilization. The Empire motive, a series of syncopated chords, shows up toward the end of the movement: This is the beginning of the end, where our imaginary city makes the change from existing in harmony with nature to conquering it.

The third movement, Fulfillment of Empire, begins with a cliff motive that has been added to, almost to the point of unrecognizability. Scenes of empire are shown musically, from a grand parade, to a show of naval forces, to the temple that occupies most of the painting. The Empire theme returns, expanded upon, but somehow sounding a little overextended.

The fourth movement, The Fall, alternates between unfriendly chords (and noises) and the Empire motive. Every iteration of the Empire motive gets a little weaker, as the foundations of the civilization are destroyed. The movement ends with a lone flute.

Movement five, Redemption, features some scenes that are familiar, but are now in ruins. The movement slips slowly back into the twelve-tone texture from the beginning. The Empire motive, or something like it, makes a brief appearance and passes through the ensemble, starting in the upper voices and sinking into the lower.

Course Of Empire

I’ve written pieces about daydreaming before—nostalgic, yearning reveries. This isn’t that kind of daydream. This is the sort of overstimulated thinking process with too many ideas and not enough time, jumping from thought to thought, sometimes speeding through motives just to get to the next one, and occasionally taking a breath and restating the theme. It’s a musical distraction, and it has rhythms only a saxophonist could live (my apologies to the accompanist).

https://kylevanderburg.com/music/head-in-the-clouds/

Head In The Clouds

It happens to all of us: You’re in the middle of something, maybe even something important. You lose focus for an instant, and you find yourself on a new train of thought, along for the ride. Your default mode network takes over, and now you’re in a daydream. Maybe you’ll end up on a beach, or an alpine village. Maybe you’ll find yourself on the metro in an unfamiliar town. Or maybe you’ll be attacked by a cacophony of unfamiliar noises, with brief returns to the here and the now. But there’s no escape: When your mind wanders, it brings you along.

https://kylevanderburg.com/music/you-cant-outrun-your-daydreams/

You Can't Outrun Your Daydreams

Carving A Name

Thin Bright Lines-8bit Version

This sonic haiku explores two opposing worlds. The first is the world of formula, machinery, and civilization. What starts with city life and industry gives way to automation and propulsion, leading to the gentle sounds of a sea of broken glass. The listener is then transported to the world of solitude and freedom, shedding pressure as footsteps in crisp snow walk into the distance. The work is, at its heart, an invitation to contemplate the chasm between process and choice.

Automation and Autonomy

Crosswinds represents a melding of the traditional woodwind sound of the clarinet with digital live electronic techniques, and the piece explores the potential for this relationship in three parts. 
To begin the piece, the stage performer breathes through the clarinet, which serves to inform the electronic elements to come. This initial breath is captured by the computer program and is modified and reduplicated to create the sonic tone of a soft wind always present beneath the piece to come. This is the first step in uniting the digital and woodwind elements, as the same breath which animates the clarinet also activates the electronics. 
From this most fundamental element, the breath becomes a single sustained note from which the computer will generate all of its subsequent tones. The impression is one of a mentor relationship, where the traditional instrument provides the tools and the support for the electronic elements. The disposition is contemplative, though it alternates between a subdued easiness and a playful mystery, as if to introduce the digital aspects to the range and variety of the clarinet’s moods. The rapport between the two is hesitant in the first part: the electronics contributing a subtle reverb as the performer teaches the computer dexterity through a number of broad leaps, hinting at but never fully embracing the main motif.
As the theme becomes more self-assured, the digital element now produces its own tones, parroting the clarinet melody to signal its readiness to be an equal partner in the conversation. As the clarinet begins the second part of the piece, the computer now provides a harmonizing undercurrent each time it is invited to do so by the performer. 
In the third part, the electronics play counterpoint to the skill of the clarinetist, the two elements intricately entwined. From the elemental sound of wind first produced by the performer and perpetuated by the computer, the piece concludes in a celebration of the relationship built between the two, and the main theme is fully expressed as the two take it in variations.

Crosswinds is, in many ways, an experience of the history of our music through the relationship between traditional clarinet and modern digital techniques: the common elements they share, the singularity of their own particular strengths, and the beauty that can be experienced when they collaborate.  

Program note by Walter Jordan.

http://kylevanderburg.com/compositions/crosswinds/

Crosswinds

Also for Soprano and Alto Saxophone

Joyride is a duet that oscillates from being loud and raucous when it thinks you're not looking to well-behaved and almost polite when it catches you watching. The back-and-forth motive suggests either a lack of control by either player or a complete abdication of any responsibility. Sure, there are some nice chorale-sounding moments, but even those get a little out of hand when in the hands of these two. Seriously, don't trust them. Years later, they'll look back on this and say "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

https://kylevanderburg.com/music/joyride/

Joyride - Clarinet and Alto Saxophone

Earmarks is a musical (and hopefully humorous) view of some of the issues in today's political climate, designed to make you make you laugh--or to make you think. And definitely to make you talk.

It starts out with Echo Chamber, where everything you hear is everything you want to hear. As we move more and more of our lives online, we're at the mercy of algorithms that try to deliver more of what we like--and give us options for removing that which we don't. The more time we spend in these echo chambers, the less we hear from dissenters. (The piano tries to come in with a new idea later in the movement, but is largely ignored).

The second movement, Filibuster, does what I initially intended. Although all three instruments do get to play, it's a lot of repeated, pleasant-sounding milquetoast stuff without a great deal of substance that never really resolves. And it has a repeat sign at the end that allows it to be played as many times as the performers wish. How long this movement is depends entirely on the whim of the pianist.

A swing state is a state with a similar level of support for both parties that can go either way during an election. Likewise, Swing States is a piece for saxophone and piano, and a piece for clarinet and piano, and it's a struggle to see who's going to win. Will they sort out their differences? Will we?

Political opinions--like works of art, scientific discoveries, and everything else of value--are only improved when they are allowed to be constructively criticized, discussed, and defended.

https://kylevanderburg.com/music/earmarks/

Earmarks - Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, and Piano

Creatures From The Black Bassoon

A pipe dream is an unrealistic hope or unattainable fantasy. The term comes from the fanciful, surreal dreams of smokers of opium pipes. I wrote Pipe Dreams not under the influence of opium, but rather at a time when I was uncertain about the future and doubly unsure whether my dreams were reasonable and attainable or, rather, a delusion. As such, Pipe Dreams is melodically obsessive and rhythmically fluid, pushing onward with an exuberant, overcaffeinated optimism.

https://kylevanderburg.com/music/pipe-dreams/

Pipe Dreams - Wind Ensemble

DSP Final Project, all sounds manipulated in MaxMSP. Source sounds from freesound.org: DoubleSteamWhistle.wav by HerbertBoland, bee-colony.flac by Erdie, rbh rain 03.wav by RHumphries, Sitar long.aiff by Kaiho

Drones

Composer and Sound Artist Kyle Vanderburg grew up in southeast Missouri where the Ozark foothills meet the Mississippi River valley.

Kyle Vanderburg

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