More on this 267th weekly Disquiet Junto project, “The Metronomic Society: Create a theme song for a fictional organization”:

http://disquiet.com/0267/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

llllllll.co/t/the-metronomic-society-disquiet-junto-project-0267/6449

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Disquiet Junto Project 0267: The Metronomic Society

project dirigent selections

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]

Metronomes are based around predictability. In group musical performance, metronomes are necessary for accurate timekeeping. Even if an actual device isn't available, at least one participant (usually the drummer) is responsible for ensuring that everyone knows how to count in: "And a one, and a two, and a three, and a four … rock and roll, hoochie koo."

Metronomes are also the spine of anarchy, because every form of resistance hinges upon our interpretation of constraints. In probability theory, Bayes' Law tells us that the likelihood of an event taking place can be determined by studying its conditions. The more evidence that is gathered, for example, the more likely we are to believe or not believe that something may or may not happen. Which explains everything about gambling and nothing about predicting weather.

For this short piece, Suss Müsik recorded a single percussive hit and replayed it by splitting the phrase and moving up one octave. The sequence was sampled and replayed with varying amounts of reverse-reverb. At times, the original phrase seemed to drown in its own echo before resuming its march. We went on for awhile and then stopped when it got tiresome, as all metronomes do at some point.

The piece is titled Bayesia and may eventually become a more substantial work. The image is an arrangement of clear acrylic blocks.

More on this 267th weekly Disquiet Junto project, “The Metronomic Society: Create a theme song for a fictional organization”:
http://disquiet.com/0267/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:
http://disquiet.com/junto/2

Subscribe to project announcements here:
http://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
llllllll.co/t/the-metronomic-society-disquiet-junto-project-0267/6449

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Bayesia [Disquiet0267]

release date: 10 -02 -2017           
More on this 267th weekly Disquiet Junto project, “The Metronomic Society: Create a theme song for a fictional organization”:

http://disquiet.com/0267/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

llllllll.co/t/the-metronomic-society-disquiet-junto-project-0267/6449

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

Natural Rhythms (disquiet0267)

This week's junto is to write a piece of music for the (fictional) Metronomic Society.  I took this to mean a society who's main focus is on the interaction between strict metronomic tempo and free-flowing rhythmic patterns. To become a member, initiates must provide a demonstration of this interaction. This is my entrance piece - for which I set up the 'Metronomicon' - a modular synth that takes it's rhythmic cues from a metronome in action, which it also samples the sound of. That sound is then mangled using rhythms generated directly from the metronome pulse, and also from a series of low frequency oscillators which are set up at different rates, totally independently from the metronome and from each other. An echo is used to emphasise the rhythmic patter, but this too is sampled and subjected to the same aleatoric disturbances. 
Somewhat fortuitously, the whole piece sounds as though someone is typing up the minutes of the previous meeting - which would almost certainly be produced on an old and very loud typewriter.

More on this 267th weekly Disquiet Junto project, “The Metronomic Society: Create a theme song for a fictional organization”:

http://disquiet.com/0267/

More on the Disquiet Junto at:

http://disquiet.com/junto/2

Subscribe to project announcements here:

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

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:

llllllll.co/t/the-metronomic-society-disquiet-junto-project-0267/6449

There’s also on a Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.

The Metronomicon (disquiet0267)

Zeitgeist (disquiet0267)

Head In The Clouds: The Cloud Appreciation Society [disquiet0267]
Disquiet Junto Project 0267: The Metronomic Society
Create a theme song for a fictional organization.

Noble clouds: cumulus ("fair weather" clouds, the humble cumulus humilis), stratus (dark and low) and cirrus ("mare's tales" or "fall streaks", the fastest clouds). Created with a small modular synth. Recorded and edited with Audacity. 

The Cloud Appreciation Society is actually a real organization. More on the Cloud Appreciation Society: https://cloudappreciationsociety.org

More on this 267th weekly Disquiet Junto project, “The Metronomic Society: Create a theme song for a fictional organization”:http://disquiet.com/0267/
More on the Disquiet Junto at:http://disquiet.com/junto/

Image by celin-web.com.

Head In The Clouds [disquiet0267]

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]

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]

Disquiet Junto Project 0362: Operational Surrealism
The Assignment: Make a piece of music informed by a key text from the art movement.

The Sewing Machine and the Umbrella for Piano and Percussion disquiet0362

Particles of Me for Mallets and Strings (naviarhaiku270)

snowing
through the blizzard
particles of me

haiku by Alan Summers www.callofthepage.org
picture by Ian Battaglia https://unsplash.com/@ianjbattaglia