Live Performance 2022 - Miami, FL
Composer: Sydney Doemel
Performers: Sydney Doemel, Melissa D'Albora, Jack DeBouter, Wynne Owre

Venerate

(2015)
This was written for the 2015 Charlotte New Music Festival speedwriting contest. It is based on the North Carolina murder ballad, "Wild Bill Jones." 

Jason Neukom - violin
Hannah Whitehead - cello

"As I went down for to take a little walk
I came upon that Wild Bill Jones
He was a walking and a talking by my true lover's side
And I bid him to leave her alone

He said my age is twenty-one
Too old to be controlled
I pulled my revolver from my side
And I destroyed that poor boy's soul..."

Blood Feast Bill (for violin and cello)

An excerpt of the piece "Chronostasis" produced by Studio Akustische Kunst of WDR.
First broadcast: 13 March 2009, on WDR 3.

Awarded a Silver World Medal in the category „Best Sound“ and a finalist certificate in the category „Best Editing“ at New York Festivals Awards for Radio Programming & Promotion 2009

All tracks are available at Bandcamp.

"The clock is one of the most important technical developments of humankind. Few other inventions have had such a shaping influence on our everyday life. The clock’s proverbial ticking is deeply ingrained in our consciousness. It marked time for industrialisation and scientific progress, as well as being the first mechanical musical instrument, preparing our rhythmic understanding for the machinelike precision of modern music. In chronostasis, the sound of time becomes audible via the many-voiced ticking of a whole array of antique clocks. The simplest rhythmic information, the pendular motion of a clock mechanism, gives rise to a complex tangle of overlapping patterns and pulses. For a moment, in the ritual of constant repetition, time seems to stand still. (The term ”chronostasis“ refers to a perceptual illusion that causes the second hand of a clock to appear to stand still for a moment. Apparently, when the gaze moves quickly to a clock face, the mind prolongs its perception of that initial moment beyond what is actually seen.)"


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Chronostasis Excerpt

Cam $ol0 + Buice + Dirty Laundry Boy ~ Mummy's Tomb (prod. DLB)

Portal feat. Avon & Cam $ol0 (Prod. DLB)

The Gate was conceived in conceptual collaboration with dancer and choreographer Ashley Bowman.  Ashley and I had been speaking for a few years about writing a piece for string quartet and electronics for the specific purpose of being choreographed.  Since the first piece we had ever worked together on was In My Mother’s Garden, we decided to revive the garden theme for this piece as well.  As such, The Gate is a programmatic journey through gardens.  However, these gardens do not merely consist of flowers and plants.  The journey takes place as if in a dream where the rules of reality, while present, can be bent, broken, and completely disregarded.  The settings and situations are based on my own reoccurring dreams.  

The journey begins with the character in a “labyrinth” or maze garden.  Tall hedges prevent any sense of bearings.  The journey consists of decisions en route to the middle of the labyrinth.  Once the character has reached the middle, they find “the gate.”  A decision of whether or not to pass through it looms and is musically represented by a chord which will return in fixed pitch and register assertion; a chord that presents a question.  The character passes through the gate which leads downward; underground.

The character is immediately ensnared by many vines, aggressively pulling the character downwards.  At first, out of shock, the character does not struggle.  Then, when their fate is realized, the character begins their attempts to escape.  The vines will not release.  The clash becomes more violent.  Fear pervades the character.  Not only do they see their doomed fate before them but, they are battling an opponent completely foreign; an opponent without logic or reason.  After many escape attempts (represented musically by the first violin), the character, exhausted and ready to submit to the end, makes one final attempt to break free and does so.  Now, a chase in dark tunnels ensues.  Just as the vines are about to assail the character, the character leaps out of reach and into space, suspended, without knowing what lays before them.  

The character wakes in a room, the first garden, empty except for objects hanging from the ceiling.  No section of ceiling is exposed as pieces of wood, metal, and glass are suspended in a close grid resembling wind chimes.  The character begins to explore the space, apprehensive at first and then more playfully.  They touch some objects at one end of the room which creates a wave effect throughout the space.  A hole in the floor opens revealing clear, blue water.  The character jumps in.

The second garden, an underwater garden, is cultivated by its inhabitants; fish, crustaceans, rays, etc.  Though the character is human, they possess the ability to breathe underwater and swim effortlessly.  The character dances among the surroundings while sunlight streams down from the surface.  

Just as in the dreams, the surroundings immediately change.  The final garden is that of memories.  The character finds themselves in a dark empty room with many flickering projections of memories.  Home sick and alone, in a unfamiliar place, the character yearns for the security of home.  Musically, the movement is almost completely made up of a single sonority.  

The character sees emotional memories and starts looking for a way out of this garden.  In this search, hints of the vines return.  Suddenly, the room lights up and the character is surrounded by the vines.  The chase begins. 

The final iteration of the question chord appears and unlike the previous occurrences, it is now resolved.  The resolution is built from the same sonority of the third garden.  The sonority of memories of home become the sonority of home as the character escapes and returns back to reality; waking from a dream.

The Gate

I. labyrinth
II. down the rabbit hole
III. Garden I: suspended from the ceiling
IV. Garden II: light below the surface
V. Garden III: memories on the walls and on the floor
VI. in pursuit

The Gate

Poisoned Arrow

This piece was written in the Summer of 2020. It explores the internal issues that we all face in our day to day lives, seemingly on our own. Our perceived inability to discuss these issues is what prevents us from finding support through them. The song discusses a storm, symbolizing these struggles, as the narrating soprano warns us of it. The nature of this storm remains consistent, although its sounds develop into discernible patterns. Despite our ability to recognize these patterns, the storm ultimately ends in silence. Through our inability to discuss them, we find ourselves facing them alone.

The musicians you hear in this recording are:
Amie Adams - Soprano
Jenna Eschner - Bb Clarinet
Lauren Henning - Bassoon
Holly Zimmerman - Violin
Hannah Mohr - Piano
Johnny Viviani - Timpani
and myself on Cello

Venerate

Sydney Doemel

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