Disquiet Junto Project 0226: Bucky Ball
Compose music for a fictional greatest-hits collection of the electronic music of R. Buckminster Fuller.

This is an early tape piece created by Fuller in the 1950s; a collage of electronic sounds and musique concrete from the period when he was influenced most by Cage and Stockhausen. There are moments that are reminiscent of Oram, Babbitt and Varese. 

The title “Pentagonal Transmigration” is a Fullerism referring to the movement along the edges of intersecting polygons. Specifically, the movement from one adjoining vertex to another. 

Analysis:
Fuller based the structure of the piece on the idea of interconnected polygons where sounds follow the movement between adjoining vertices. Each vertex is associated with a unique sound. Movement from one vertex to another causes a short segment of sound to be heard. 

[Created from excerpts of classic electronic music pieces of the era. Composers include: Cage, Stockhausen, Varese, Ussachevsky, Messiaen, Babbitt, Barron (Louise and Bebe), Maxfield, Oram and Xenakis. A total of 20 sounds are played in a Pure Data patch that follows the path of adjoining vertices in a 20-fullerene. This was done twice, the second time following a different path. Edited in Audacity.]

Creative Commons license granted.

More on this 226th weekly Disquiet Junto project (“Compose music for a fictional greatest-hits collection of the electronic music of R. Buckminster Fuller”) at: http://disquiet.com/0226/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: http://disquiet.com/junto/


Pentagonal Transmigration [disquiet0226]

Disquiet Junto Project 0231: Field Complement
The Assignment: Compose a piece to align with, from memory, 60 seconds of everyday sound.


The field recording is a group of children at a local beach with occasional sounds of wind and traffic. I derived the timing notes back in my studio by putting the audio into Audacity and noting the time and shape of some particularly loud utterences as well as a car passing by.  

The composed piece is a tone recorded on a reel to reel tape recorder. I moved the tape by hand back and forth across the playback head while referring to the notes trying to catch specific moments and shapes and adding a bit of improvisation in between (sort of a human voltage follower). Some came out well, some not at all. The output of the recorder went through a voltage controlled delay modulated with a stepped random voltage that roughly grainularizes the sound. I aligned the tracks so the composed piece follows a bit behind the field recording. Sounds like electronic seagulls.

Equipment employed: iPad (for field recording), Ampex 601 tape deck, voltage controlled delay (Ray Wilson design), Wogglebug (for random, stepped modulation). Assembled in Audacity. 

Creative Commons license granted.

More on this 231st weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Compose a piece to align with, from memory, 60 seconds of everyday sound” — at: http://disquiet.com/0231/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: http://disquiet.com/junto/

Field Complement [disquiet0231]

Disquiet Junto Project 0238: Magnifying Contact
The Assignment: Record a piece of music, emphasizing the sounds of production over the music itself.

Open the case, assemble the instrument, check the reed, wind up the metronome...

Got out my bassoon and recorded the first thing that came out. I wanted to start the piece with the sound of the bassoon fading into a dreamy texture. I captured a few notes and stretched them to make a long A minor drone to go under other sounds.  The minor second (e to f-natural) ended up sounding really dark and mysterious. Layered the notes and faded them in and out using the envelope tool in Audacity. 

I went back and recorded a bunch of key clicks and instrument noises and stretched them a bit to blur the sound. They came out sounding like gasps! Added an intro and ending.

This turned out sounding really different from my original plan but I went with it. A bassoon in need of exorcism. Use headphones for maximum heavy breathing. 

Recorded on a Zoom H5. Edited in Audacity. 

Thanks to carroll27 on Freesound.org for the metronome sound. 

Creative Commons license granted. 

More on this 238th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Record a piece of music, emphasizing the sounds of production over the music itself” — at:

http://disquiet.com/0238/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/


The Performance, "Strumento Infestato" for bassoon and processed sounds [disquiet0238]

Vocal Cuts [disquiet0266]

Disquiet Junto Project 0266: Vocal Cuts
Use segments of your own held vowel to make music.

I used the sound "urrr" as the source. Recorded a few seconds onto magnetic tape creating a tape strip about 3 feet long. Identified 3 distinct sounds on the tape: beginning attack, middle sustained sound, and ending aspiration. I manually moved the tape across the playback head pulling out bits of the different sounds. I controlled the amplitude and timbre by moving the tape closer or further from the playback head. Ran the tape machine through a long delay with feedback to build up layers of sound. 

There are 4 parts to the track: the opening attack sound; long, low sustained sounds with fast fragments (the later created by pulling the tape quickly with no hold-back tension so the tape randomly contacts the head); a fast "scratch" of the opening sound; and the final aspiration. Sounds like feral cats.

Vowel sound recorded on an Otari MX55. Tape strip played on an Ampex 601. Recorded with Audacity. 

More on this 266th weekly Disquiet Junto project, “Vocal Cuts: Use segments of your own held vowel to make music”: http://disquiet.com/0266/

Image associated with this track is by Dean Shareski and used thanks to a Creative Commons license:flic.kr/p/95EKhx creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/. Ampex image thanks to Jordan Audio Consultants.

Vocal Cuts [disquiet0266]

Black Rain [Gomel 1986]
Submitted to Naviar Records/Clouded Lands Gomel 1986 project.
 
Artillery shells carrying silver iodide explode over Gomel seeding clouds to precipitate radiation from the atmosphere before it drifts towards Moscow. It was described as black rain. Alerts and news bulletins follow. The final voice is Gorbachov's announcement of the disaster. 

You Tube news compilation excerpts were from NewsFromUkraine.  Distant artillery sounds thanks to: Aegersum on Freesound.org.

Black Rain [Gomel 1986]

Kallmyer Bells [disquiet0284]
Disquiet Junto Project 0284: Creative Commonfield
Make ambient music from the sound of clay bowls.

Created with Samplr and Borderlands on an iPad. Recorded and edited in Audacity. 

More on this 284th weekly Disquiet Junto project — “Creative Commonfield: Make ambient music from the sound of clay bowls. — at: https://disquiet.com/0284/

More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Kallmyer Bells [disquiet0284]

harmattan moon
a leafless tree leans on
its shadow

Haiku by Celestine Nudanu.

Photo by: keepingeyesfixed.blogspot.com

Harmattan Moon (naviarhaiku185)

Looping Around Town (naviarhaiku186)
Naviar Haiku 186

looping around town
like an unfurled grey ribbon
trucks on the highway

Tape loop improvisation using the sound of a truck on the highway. Created with an Ampex 601, delay pedal and a bit of modular synth sound. Haiku by Greg Pritchard. Original truck sound by arnaud coutancier on freesound.org.

Looping Around Town (naviarhaiku186)

2017 Solar Eclipse [disquiet0292]
Disquiet 0292 Eclipse Music

My interpretation of the 2017 solar eclipse (includes Baily's Beads at 2:30).
Created with a modular synth and delay. Edited with Audacity. 

Photo by: Arief R. Sandan (Ezagren)

More on this 292nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Eclipse Music: In coordination with St. Louis Art Hack Day, make some solar-inspired tunes — at: https://disquiet.com/0292/

2017 Solar Eclipse [disquiet0292]

Chasing Echoes (naviarhaiku187)
Naviar Haiku Flood Waters Recede

Flood waters recede
Narrandera eucalypts reflected
Which way is up?

A collaboration with curator Jason Richardson and the Western Riverina Arts with a poem by Julie Briggs.

Chasing Echoes (naviarhaiku187)

Naviar Haiku 190, Disquiet 0295
Poisoned Waterhole, for 2 pianos (naviarhaiku190)[disquiet0295]

For Western Riverina Arts and the Crossing Streams project.

Poisoned Waterhole:
Violent disregard echoes.
Keenly felt today.

Poison Waterhole Creek near Narrandera owes its name to a tragic story (one of many) which happened when Europeans claimed the land, 200 years ago. In the 1830s, several groups of Aboriginal families used to camp by the waterhole. Annoyed and eager to get rid of them, the local homestead owner poisoned the waterhole, killing many of them.

Haiku by Peita Vincent https://www.frankandearnest.com.au/our-story. Image by Jason Richardson http://bassling.blogspot.co.uk.

Poisoned Waterhole, for 2 pianos (naviarhaiku190)[disquiet0295]

Naviarhaiku191 – Springtime in Edo
Edo Spring (naviarhaiku191)


Springtime in Edo,
Not a day passes without
A temple bell sold

Haiku by Takarai Kikaku http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv4n4/renku/springtime.html
Picture by Tim de Groot https://unsplash.com/@timdegroot

Nature sounds recorded at Pinnacles National Monument on May 3, 2017.

Thanks to RTB45 and pashupati_007 for the bell sounds on freesound.org and Soul Candle on You Tube.

Edo Spring (naviarhaiku191)

OMG! The 2017 Total Eclipse [disquiet0292]

My interpretation of the 2017 total eclipse of the sun (includes Baily's Beads at 2:30). Originally created for disquiet0292, revised August 28th, 2017.

Created with a modular synthesizer and delay. Crowd sounds recorded at Dixie Butte, John Day Oregon on Monday August 21st 2017. Edited with Audacity. Thanks to the anonymous kalimba player who let me record his music. Use headphones for maximum experience. 

Photo by: Arief R. Sandan (Ezagren)

More on this 292nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Eclipse Music: In coordination with St. Louis Art Hack Day, make some solar-inspired tunes — at: https://disquiet.com/0292/

OMG! The 2017 Total Eclipse of the Sun [disquiet0292]

A Gathering: Five Improvisations for Tenor Saxophone and Piano (naviarhaiku193)
Five improvisations or "gatherings" inspired by the Haiku:  

Now gathering,
Now scattering,
Fireflies over the river.

Haiku by Natsume Sōseki
Photo by Anton Romanov

A Gathering- Five Improvisations For Tenor Saxophone And Piano (naviarhaiku193)

"Disquiet 300" for Piano, Wind chime, and Oboe Obbligato [disquiet0300] 
For the Disquiet Junto 300th project.

Disquiet Junto Project 0300: The 300th Project
3 chords x 100 seconds

Three note chord: B-flat, F and G, strummed and plucked inside a piano, played on a wind chime and again on the keys of the piano. Piano and wind chime were looped in Samplr. Oboe obbligato improvised over the tracks. The piano is used twice but the sounds are completely different. 

More on this 300th weekly Disquiet Junto project (3 chords x 100 seconds) at:
https://disquiet.com/300/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:https://disquiet.com/junto/

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