I heard a concert pianist, an old man, being interviewed on the radio. When the interview was over, he said he had one more thing to say, he wanted to talk about death and why he is not afraid of dying. His wife had died several years before and he was looking forward to the day when he would lie buried next to her. He didn’t care that they couldn’t converse or interact, he just wanted to know that he was by her side. That sentiment was the starting point for this music.

Deep Sleep

Transition 6 Uplifting

Transition 5 Insecurity

Transition 4 Synchronicity

Transition 3 Reboot

Transition 2 Containing

Transition 1 Conversation

KETAMYTH, Rhymes With Opera (excerpt)

University of Idaho Lionel Hampton School of Music Graduate Analysis Faculty Lecture Series with Ruby Fulton, Leonard Garrison, Daniel Pinilla and Mark Thiele

FLS 1 Q&A Garrison Carter

FLS 3 Q&A Garrison Varèse

FLS 2 Q&A Pinilla

FLS 4 Q&A Thiele

Julia Sheriff, piano; Rob Neubauer, electronics; Ruby Fulton, composition

cycle loops

Wait

Live recording by Shenandoah Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Tim Rivenburg, conductor
Andriessen 75 La Giro, April 12, 2014

Junk Pop

Junk Pop (excerpt)

live performance by Volti with Robert Geary, conductor

the ballad of james parry

"all night, all day" live recording by New Keys (Regina Schaffer, Kate Campbell, Anne Rainwater, Anthony Porter) at the San Francisco Center for New Music, 10/8/15

all night, all day

ABOUT RUBY FULTON

I write music which invites listeners to explore non-musical ideas through sound. My musical portfolio includes explorations of mental illness, Buddhism, philosophy, psychedelic research, addiction, and chess strategy; and profiles of iconic popular figures like the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and musicians Syd Barrett and Whitney Houston. I have collaborated on interdisciplinary projects with thinkers and makers in the sciences and literary, movement and visual arts. 

I'm a multi-instrumentalist, performing on and writing for violin, trumpet, and keys. Much of my work falls into the category of concert music, written for ensembles ranging from duos and trios to full orchestras, choirs, and wind ensembles. I also write music that I perform myself, using loops and samples to become a one-person orchestra. Whatever musical genre or instruments I choose, my music reflects the rhythms and pulses of daily life, and the world around me. My music has been performed by the Boulder Philharmonic, the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Holland Symfonia, Volti, and Newspeak; and programmed on the Bang on a Can Marathon, the Guadeamus New Music Festival, and the SONiC Festival. 

I teach composition and music theory at the University of Idaho Lionel Hampton School of Music. I hold a doctorate from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, with additional degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Boston University. 

WEBSITE: www.rubyfulton.com

ROAD RANGER COWBOY
Live recording by Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Vladimir Kulenovic, conductor

Road Ranger Cowboy is an imaginary take on the larger-than-life perspective of a cowboy whom I encountered in real life at a truck stop in Waterloo, Iowa. He was a thin, elderly man with long white hair, dressed from head to toe in ornate western cowboy clothing, complete with a ten-gallon hat and a shining set of spurs. Since we were in a fairly urban area, just off a busy interstate, with no horses in sight, I wondered why he might be wearing such a costume, and I invented the narcissistic character of the Road Ranger Cowboy. I researched
the effect which severe narcissism has on the processes in the brain, and learned that the narcissistic mind blocks out the majority of sensory input, filtering out everything except the information which bolsters their fantastical self-image. My piece begins with a simple country western tune, which represents a "normal" view of life. Gradually, the music is pulled apart and distorted, as only a few pitches are selected by the cowboy's narcissistic
system. Although the tune is in A Major, the cowboy's filter eventually plucks out
the notes of a B-Flat Major scale, just in time for a grandiose version of the tune, which is reality as seen through the cowboy's perspective. The piece ends with a solo flute, representing the loneliness of this dystopian American hero.

Road Ranger Cowboy

"I'm Sorry Not Sorry" commissioned and performed by the Witches - Ledah Finck, violin and voice; and Louna Dekker-Vargas, flute and voice

I'm Sorry Not Sorry

Broken Telescope

Wired

You Me & Pedro

1 in 10,000 is about the famous Idaho star garnet and unfolds in 4 continuous sections: I. Emerald Creek, II. Grinding and Polishing, III. The Star, IV. Being Here. The pre-recorded electronics include snippets from interviews about the stone with geologists Emily Forsberg and Mickey Gunter; Bill Mabbutt and Mogley Samter from Moscow's rock shop, Gem State Crystals; Rachel, a National Forest Service employee from the Emerald Creek Mining area; and the most dedicated rock hound I know, my dad, Brian. This project was supported by a Seed Grant from the University of Idaho Office of Research and Economic Development. 1 in 10,000 is dedicated to Al Gemberling and the 2018 University of Idaho Wind Ensemble.

Live recording by the University of Idaho Wind Ensemble with Al Gemberling, conductor. Mixed by Mat Leffler-Schulman of Mobtown Studios, Baltimore, MD

1 In 10,000

Without Water, There Is No Life (excerpt)
for chorus, brass ensemble, and electronics

Composed for the Mountain Time Arts 2018 outdoor public art production “Cherry River: Where the Rivers Mix,” about the movement to rename the Gallatin River back to its original Indigenous name, the Cherry River

Features recorded audio interviews with geomorphologist Karin Boyd; Native American Studies scholar and member of the Crow tribe, Shane Doyle; and visual artist Jim Madden

Recorded by the 2019 University of Idaho Jazz Choir with Dan Bukvich, conductor

Without Water, There Is No Life (Excerpt)

Patrick Jones, alto saxophone
with prerecorded electronics
Live recording from Washington State University Festival of Contemporary Art Music, 3/2/19

Wind Telephone Live From FOCAM

Philippa Thompson, spoons
Mellissa Hughes, soprano
Taylor Levine, ukulele

The End, live from the 2012 Bang on a Can Marathon

recorded by Aaron Hynds, tuba

"Breathe" is a musical response to the turmoil resulting from the 2014 grand jury decisions in Ferguson and New York, in which the juries failed to indict the white police officers responsible for the highly publicized deaths of two black americans, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Chants of "Hands up, Don't Shoot" and "I can't breathe" filled the streets of Baltimore and cities across the country. Then 21-year-old Morgan State University student Joseph Kent emerged as a leader in the Baltimore protests, leading the crowd in a low calming protest song that takes the gospel song"Wade on the Water" but changes the words to "I gotta feeling/ I gotta feeling/ I gotta feeling/that somebody's trying to hold us back/ ain't gonna be no shit like that." That's how "Breathe" begins.

rubyfulton

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