Four Folk Tales

Classical Works

Synchro (Cicada) came about after reading about the incredible emergence of Brood X, the latest Cicada brood to emerge in the spring of 2021. This rare event, occurring every 17 years, is rivalled in its visual impact only by the cacophonic song produced by the rapid buckling and unbuckling of drum-like tymbals in the Cicadas’ abdomen.

Aside from the incredible sounds produced by the insects, the precise synchronicity achieved between billions of individuals, measurable down to the day, interested me greatly, and is a factor I attempted to explore in Synchro (Cicada). Synchronization between extremely fast-moving parallel drum-machine beats to create a cohesive structure at both the micro and macro level was an attempted goal throughout the piece.

Micropolyphony was also employed as a means of applying line and gesture to repeating ostinato figures and textural material, in order to shape a larger sense of form throughout the piece.

Synchro (Cicada) for Jaw Harp, Shaker, and Analogue Drum Machine

Four Hindu Folk Songs is a set of pieces based upon four Hindu legends that I found to be intriguing for either their fascinating descriptions, or philosophical content. 

'The Mountain on a Finger' tells the story of a village of people who choose to follow the God Krishna, instead of Indra. Indra causes a rainstorm to flood the villagers, but Krishna saves the villagers by lifting the entire mountain on his finger, and uses it as an umbrella. 

'Two Frogs' tells the story of two frogs who fall into a vessel of milk. The one frog quickly gives up, but the other keeps swimming, until its legs turn the milk into butter and it escapes. 

'The Blind Men and the Elephant' tells the story of a group of blind men who touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement. 

'A Meeting with Death' tells the story of a father who offers his son up as sacrifice to the God of death (Yama). In Yama's kingdom, the boy asks for three wishes: that his father be pleased with him, that he goes to heaven, and that Yama tell him the secret of life and death.

Pianist: Sherry Du

Movement 4: A Meeting With Death

Movement 3 The Blind Men And The Elephant

Movement 2: Two Frogs

Four Folk Songs is a set of pieces based upon four Hindu legends that I found to be intriguing for either their fascinating descriptions, or philosophical content. 

'The Mountain on a Finger' tells the story of a village of people who choose to follow the God Krishna, instead of Indra. Indra causes a rainstorm to flood the villagers, but Krishna saves the villagers by lifting the entire mountain on his finger, and uses it as an umbrella. 

'Two Frogs' tells the story of two frogs who fall into a vessel of milk. The one frog quickly gives up, but the other keeps swimming, until its legs turn the milk into butter and it escapes. 

'The Blind Men and the Elephant' tells the story of a group of blind men who touch an elephant to learn what it is like. Each one feels a different part, but only one part. They then compare notes and learn that they are in complete disagreement. 

'A Meeting with Death' tells the story of a father who offers his son up as sacrifice to the God of death (Yama). In Yama's kingdom, the boy asks for three wishes: that his father be pleased with him, that he goes to heaven, and that Yama tell him the secret of life and death.

Pianist: Sherry Du

Movement 1: The Mountain On A Finger

Resonance | Texture | Pulsing

An exploration in textures and spectral timbres, the piece should be played freely and not bound by any sort of metric time structure. The concept of the piece is based around the mathematical object, known as a Mobius Strip. 

This is a shape with only one side and one boundary and has the mathematical property of being unorientable. The piece attempts to explore the strange symmetrical properties of the Mobius strip sonically, by exploring symetrical melodic figures, patterns, and larger sections of the piece.

Performed by: Anthony Thompson

Möbius Fragments

An examination of the increasing permeation of technology in all aspects of our lives. The piece is composed entirely out of manipulated recorded sounds by the cello and violin, combined with live performers. No synthesized sounds were used.

Violin: Ilana Waniuk
Cello: Amahl Arulanandam

Solid State

Aphantasia — a non-functioning mind's eye.

Fanton Clerc - Violin

Ana Mora - Piano

Fantasia Aphantasia

Performed as part of the 2020 1:2:1 livestream concert

Composed by: Steven Webb

Performed by: Camilla Caldwell

Coded | De(c)oded

Contemporary Music Composer | Sound Designer