This is another piece designed for headphones. I like the intimacy of being present with and listening to sound through headphones so I make pieces designed for that experience. 'Headphone Braneworld' is in part a description of why this way of listening to or consuming sound is so meaningful to me. 
This piece has emerged from an experiment and walking and thinking but I love it, so here it is for you all too. 
Listening through a speaker is a different experience to headphones.
Maybe try both and hear what happens.

What I Feel When I Hear You Say Silent Threads Is Something Like This(Headphones only)

An unaccompanied piece for solo Treble recorder. Here performed by the wonderful Sibelius. Live version once I've figured out the breathing...

Monologue 2 For Treble Recorder

A piece put together from sound recordings of the mark 1 version of Ben Martin's Solar-Electric Pythagorean Mono-Harp. The sounds come from a  Suzie Shrubb having a play. As the intensity of sound is dictated by the strength and direction of the suns rays, each piece is a collaboration with the sun.

Collaboration With The Sun- The Solar Electric Pythagorean Mono-Harp

I feel like Test Pilot when he says "man, i hate writing descriptions.. okay HERE IS A VIDEO OF ME PLAYING TECHNO MUSIC." Although I don't hate writing descriptions... this one is a little bit self explanatory. Here is a recording of me playing a piece for solo piano that I wrote. Although for context yesterday and today are the first days I have not had a migraine for six weeks and this piece has emerged from a combination of the relief at not being in continual pain and the energetic space of not being in a collaborative creative space that I would usually be with at the time this piece emerged. It's a bit like what happened instead- or what emerged from that energetic space of being in not being. 
The piece is for Solo Piano or Harpsichord.
Please get in touch if you want the score.

Vendredi

A piece for solo keyboard written in the tradition of minimalist/classical/pop. After my friend David Pollock showed me that the pieces I write for piano are possible on the harpsichord,  I have started to open up these pieces for performances on any kind of keyboard instrument. I am a pianist so I perform and record them on my freshly tuned (thank you Anva Luc!) piano. 

Aphex Twin fans please note my homage to his solo piano works in the title. 

Please contact me if you want the score.

Jeudi 15 (When You Become My Score)

This piece emerged from conversations with particle physicist George Redlinger and is dedicated to him. It explores phasing, patterns and symmetry. It is not a representation of how particles behave, but more an expression of these concepts as they are understood in terms of Western music, inspired by particle interactions as described by physics. An additional dedication goes to my friend the piano tuner Anva Luc who tragically died in December 2021. He was the last person to tune my piano. You will possibly be able to hear that my piano needs retuning.  I am reluctant to do so since his touch and presence lives on in the resonances of my piano that are now captured in the recording of this piece.
A score for this piece is available and you can contact me through here or through the usual channels for a copy if you like.

Tessellations For Solo Piano

This piece is the song of pulsars in the 47 Tucanae globular cluster as we hear them on earth. 

The 47 Tucanae globular cluster
situated in the region of the Tucana constellation approximately 15,000 light years from earth.
A pulsar is a spinning neutron star emitting a beam of radio waves. these spinning stars behave like
lighthouses, constantly blinking their radio signals into the cosmos. Pulsars in 47 Tucanae spin at speeds up to
hundreds of times per second and these radio signals can be rendered directly as an audible tone.
Cosmic scintillation refers to the interference these pulsar signals are subjected to as they travel through
space debris such as gas, cosmic rays, dust and atoms. We humans detect individual pulsar signals arriving on earth at different times and for different durations, which are set at random by their journey
through the interstellar medium. The musical analogue of this results in a constantly sounding and ever changing chord.

The piece will last for up to billions of years, and over periods of millions of years the chord will gradually change as the pulsar's rotation rates slow down. This three hour version of the piece is not even a mere blink in the eye of this seemingly vast cosmic scale within which we live.

This version of 'a tintinnabulation of cosmic scintillation' was created for Shrinking Space's 'Creatures of the Night', an evening exploring the science of night through art as part of the British Science Festival in Swansea 2016. The piece was installed and played throughout the whole of Plantasia in Swansea with the pulsars playing the part of the 'creature's' of the night. I am deeply thankful to:

Graham Elliot
Alan Barr
Rebecca Cooke
Anna Creber
Amber Creber
Jess Butcher
Sophie Bosley, 
who provided the tones collected and used to make this soundscape.

And lastly but by no means leastly to Kirstie Howell who worked with me to create to sound design for the Plantasia show and was brilliant throughout the whole process.

3 hr a tintinnabulation of cosmic scintillation

rajni shah and suzie shrubb sat at the piano with lyrics, voice and hands. we played and these songs emerged. these songs are improvised, experimental, explorative and personal so please forgive any technical impurities both in the playing and the recording… they are what they are.

3- Four Improvisations- Rajni And Suzie

Helix 4 Organ

Artist and Maker Ben Martin's prototype Solar Electric Pythagorean Monoharp. An improvised piece powered by the sun on the longest day 21.6.15.

Solar Electric Pythagorean Monoharp

a piece inspired by lucier's 'i am sitting in a room'.
the collected acoustic signature of a space.
a sitting room to be exact.

we are in a sitting room

outside a community shop in a little village in gloucestershire there is this old beaten up piano that has been left there to face the elements. slowly it deteriorates and people bring their children with them to make music on it. it has been prepared by its interaction with wind, rain, snow and sun, but for the player it is impossible to know how exactly it has been prepared. every note is an encounter with the delight of unexpected discoveries and happy accidents. hence the name of this my first improvisation with it: 'the unprepared piano'.

the unprepared piano

Light Sources

'a tintinnabulation of cosmic scintillation'- suzie shrubb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
the pitches in this piece correspond to those produced by pulsars from the 47 tucanae globular cluster
situated in the region of the tucana constellation approximately 15,000 light years from earth.
a pulsar is a spinning neutron star emitting a beam of radio waves. these spinning stars behave like
lighthouses, constantly blinking their radio signals into the cosmos. the pulsars in 47 tucanae spin at speeds up to
hundreds of times per second and these radio signals can be rendered directly as an audible tone.
cosmic scintillation refers to the interference these pulsar signals are subjected to as they travel through
space debris such as gas, cosmic rays, dust and atoms. we detect  individual pulsar signals on earth through radio telescopes from the
47 tucanae cluster at different times and for different durations, which are set at random by their journey
through the interstellar medium. the musical analogue of this results in a constantly sounding and ever changing chord.
tintinnabulation is a musical term simply meaning the repeated use of the same chord in different
inversions or guises.
this piece uses the pitches produced by the pulsars, and the scintillation they undergo as they travel
through the cosmos, as the generative starting point.

this version of 'a tintinnabulation of cosmic scintillation' was created for 'creatures of the night', an evening exploring the science of night through art as part of the british science festival in swansea 2016. the piece was installed and played throughout the whole of plantasia in swansea with the pulsars playing the part of the 'creature's' of the night. i am deeply thankful to:

graham elliot
alan barr
rebecca cooke
anna creber
amber creber
jess butcher
sophie bosley

who provided the tones collected and used to make this soundscape.

and lastly but by no means leastly to kirstie howell who worked with me to create to sound design for the plantasia show and was brilliant throughout the whole process.

a tintinnabulation of cosmic scintillation

An extract from four people in a room playing.

i still have to tune up

Demo of this first draft of 'Many Pianos' played by Sibelius software.

Many Pianos

This is the song of galaxy 3C-295 as we hear it here, on Earth.

Other locations in the universe would hear a different song.

This galaxy is 5000 million light years from us on Earth, and is travelling away from us at almost half the speed of light.

The song of this galaxy is subtle and quiet, travelling to us as it does through such a vast distance. Astronomy and particle physics measurements need to take steps that filter out excess noise from the universe and therefore we also need to filter out the noise around us to hear this song. Use headphones to hear it's voice reverberations, close your eyes and focus your listening sense into the vibrations of your eardrum. Maybe listen to it at night in the dark.

You hear the song as it travels through our field of hearing, and then away, forever out of reach of our ears.

Galaxy 3C- 295 is found in the constellation of Bootes. If you live in the northern hemisphere you can see this constellation move across the southern part of the sky.

The Song Of 3C - 295 (Listen with headphones)

Prelude in C Minor. This is a Sibelius playback version so please forgive the sound and musical quality and the trills. Special apologies go to any harpsichord players out there, but I couldn't resist pretending for a little bit. I know it's a complete travesty. A live version with piano coming soon and then I'll take this version down. Please contact me if you want the score. 
I have unravlled the lovely knots in the Fugue which accompanies this Prelude and it's above this Prelude in the stream.

The Hofstadter Prelude In C Minor- Sibelius Harpsichord

The Fugue that can accompany the Prelude if you like. This is a Sibelius playback, so please forgive the harpsichord. It will take a while for me to put this onto the piano. Please contact me if you want to score.

The Hofstadter Fugue In C Minor- Sibelius Harpsichord

The Hofstadter Prelude performed live on piano. I have now taken the Sibelius harpischord version down from this Soudcloud feed in exchange for this version. This recording is not the definitive version by any means and I'll be changing it as it evolves with me. I'd also be delighted to share anyone else's version should you wish to make one.

The Hofstadter Prelude In C Minor - Live Piano

This piece is designed to be listened to through headphones and/or at a low volume setting on your chosen listening device. Headphones are the composer’s recommended method of listening. The piece is deliberately quiet and muted. The invitation is to listen carefully and intimately. 

'some things constrict through their expanding' is my submission for TELEPHONE. "TELEPHONE is a global art project based on the children’s game Telephone (also called Operator, Grapevine, Telefono Roto, Dengon, Stille Poste, Telefono Descompuesto, Phonebook), in which a message is whispered from person to person. In this game, the message is whispered from art form to art form. A poem could become a painting, and then music, film, and dance. Each completed artwork is assigned for translation to numerous artists around the world, so the game branches out exponentially."

Anyone interested in taking part can find out more here:  
https://phonebook.gallery/

With special thanks to the brilliant Mike Saunders at The Playroom, Arundel
https://playroomarundel.co.uk/

some things constrict through their expanding (listen through headphones)

This is a work in progress of an uncompleted work. It's for voices and I think strings/winds/percussion and organ..... It's a recording of a Sibelius 7 playback and the quality of recording is terrible and at certain moments the speaker can't cope!  But hopefully the music isn't terrible. It gives me something anyway, and hopefully you too. I'm so excited about where it goes next!

The title 'The Three Sisters' refers to the three stars in Orions belt: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka, which are known collectively by this name in some cultures. This piece is also dedicated to my brother and sister, for we are siblings three.

The Three Sisters- Unfinished Work in Progress

2022 Guest Composer at Fermilab
https://www.causeweb.org/voices/2021/program/music-of-atoms

suzieshrubb

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