Musical Therapy

I Just Want The Paper

Cast Away

This song made from scratch in a week live on my twitch stream. Shoutout to Gatin00b, CStrachn, MaGetzUb, Utr_K, Jivee, DinoCrys, Mika314, BakersHear, Tacticalcodemonkeys, best_generic_way, educational_lettuce, Kishan, beachmonkyesmusic, djorjano2346, serotta_cyclist, escobutt, bashbunni, Lana_Lux, S_T_P_1 for all their support.

w/e 2gether [demo]

CAPTCHA for Baritone and Piano
Duration: 16'
Text by CAPTCHA
Performers: American Modern Ensemble, Jesse Blumberg, baritone; Blair McMillen, piano
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1473
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/paterson_captcha_perusal
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/captcha-baritone-version

PROGRAM NOTES
CAPTCHA originated with an assignment I was given as a participant in the American Opera Projects (AOP) Composers & The Voice program. Throughout the year, we wrote a variety of arias and songs and were given various "challenges." Some of the challenges included using no more than four lines of text, using found text, using prose, and also trying to avoid the passagio (a term used in classical singing to describe where different voice ranges cross over, for example, where the chest voice and head voice cross). I neglected to incorporate any of the challenges into previous pieces, and I only had one song or aria left, so I had to incorporate all of the remaining challenges into a single piece.

For found text, I decided to use CAPTCHA texts. The term CAPTCHA (for Completely Automated Public Turing Test To Tell Computers and Humans Apart) was coined in 2000 by scientists at Carnegie Mellon University. A CAPTCHA is a program that protects websites against bots by generating and grading tests that only humans can pass. For example, humans can read distorted text presented as a graphic, but current computer programs cannot. To find interesting words and phrases, I spent many tedious hours in front of my computer loading CAPTCHA texts. Actually, what I ended using are reCAPTCHA texts, which are derived from a free version of CAPTCHA that uses combinations of real words from scanned books that need human confirmation and gibberish text.

I initially wrote one song entitled CAPTCHA, but later decided to compose an entire song cycle that incorporates the original song. Each songs uses a few key words (the few that are actually real words and phrases) as a springboard. I attempt to phonetically interpret the other words and phrases that don’t make sense, infusing emotion where none exists. Ultimately, my goal is to create an emotionally moving experience, despite the nonsensical nature of the words.

American Modern Recordings

CAPTCHA - I. duchenp Fled

This song let you feel light. Almost like birds flying in the sky.

LeichterSinkflug

The Essence of Gravity - for Mixed SATB Choir
Duration: 18’
Commissioned by Robert Geary and the Volti choir of San Francisco
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=902
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/the-essence-of-gravity

PROGRAM NOTE
In The Essence of Gravity, I use a few key words, phrases and phonetic sounds rather than an elaborate text. Since there are so few words, I designed the text myself, and it is made up almost entirely of onomatopoeia words. The word ‘gravity’ in the title not only refers to the force of attraction by which objects tend to fall toward the center of the Earth, but also to a sense of seriousness. Each movement reflects one or both of these definitions.

The first movement, Echoes of War, contains words and phrases that make me think of war. A type of weapon called a “gravity bomb” also inspired me. This weapon is delivered by aircraft and does not contain a guidance system; it follows a ballistic trajectory. Until the later half of World War II this described all aircraft bombs, and the vast majority until the late 1980s.

The second movement is entitled Love and Kisses. Although love is an undeniably heavy subject, this movement is intended to be much more playful than serious. Perhaps it is more about the emotional pull that people have on each other.

Before I composed the third movement, Infinite Oceans, I walked along San Francisco’s Baker Beach and Lands End. Although I’ve been to the ocean many times, I am always struck by the seemingly infinite-sounding tides and lonely-sounding foghorns I often hear in the distance. This movement is inspired by the gravitational pull of the moon, the primary force responsible for the ocean’s tides. This movement also alludes to the stories of the mythological Greek Sirens that lured sailors to their deaths with their beautiful singing.

Although many people might not think of machines as evoking a sense of gravity, they seem important in ways that may not be readily apparent. Without machines such as the Space Shuttle, we would not be able to explore outer space. For better or worse, they are integral to our modern way of life. In this sense, the fourth movement, Machines, pays homage to the machines that enrich our lives by allowing us to defy gravity.

Eternal Reflections

The Essence of Gravity - III. Infinite Oceans

Wind Quintet
Duration: 18'
Commissioned by Quintet of the Americas; Underwritten by the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=909

PROGRAM NOTES
All of the movements of this wind quintet are connected and inspired in some way by American icons, surrealism, collage, post-1950s imagery and suburbia.

The first movement, Andante, begins with the ending and ends at the beginning. Some instruments mimic others and just when you think an idea might go in one direction, it goes in another. I gleaned many of my ideas from studying cinematic character development and the unusual forms used in many modern films such as the 1994 film Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino.

The second movement, Suburban waltz-fantasy, contains quotes from 1960s-70s TV show themes: The Jetsons, All in the Family, Green Acres, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Brady Bunch and Leave It To Beaver. The movement begins with a waltz-like feel and two of the players mimicking “suburban chicken lady housewives cackle-gossiping across a backyard fence.” An obnoxious stray dog interjects with loud barking and then the movement takes off in a different direction. Some of the quotes are re-composed to sound like bird songs, others are textural and a few are so subtle that they are not easy to discern. Some of the parts even sound like they are mocking each other. This movement is a strange, surrealist collage.

The most immediate and obvious reference in the title of the third movement, Melting Clocks, is to Salvador Dali’s famous 1931 painting The Persistence of Memory in which there are images of melting or limp watches. I imagine a room full of clocks all ticking away, yet slightly inaccurately, the “baby clocks” a little faster than the “old grandfather clocks.” The middle section contains a few brief quotes form the first movement, and the “slightly melted” end of the movement brings back the cuckoo, but this time it melts as if it is in a house consumed by fire.

The fourth movement, Klezmeshugeh, derives its title from my combining the words ‘klezmer’—which is a combination of the two Hebrew words, kley and zemer, meaning ‘instrument of song’—and meshugeh, which is a Yiddish word meaning ‘crazy’. Essentially, this made-up title means “crazy instrument song.” In this movement, there are a few “wrong notes” that allude to the players pretending to sight-read. The end also concludes with a few thematic fragments from the second movement.

Wind Quintet was commissioned by Quintet of the Americas and underwritten by the American Composers Forum with funds provided by the Jerome Foundation.

Wind Quintet - I. Andante

Another acoustic track about teenage folly, loss of innocence and peer pressure

LYRICS:

When we were young we felt so strong
The songs we sung, the words were wrong

Tell us a story of your broken hearts
When the water turns black and the ocean parts
Follow your leader on up to the park
And we can all stand by as your eyes go dark

When you were young you grazed your knee
You couldn’t tell, they couldn’t see

Eyes Go Dark

Life On Molly

Was in a certain mood and this is what came out, a pretty basic chord progression so chalk this up the the 12th billion song that use these chords, put it's really all about where my melody takes you and the journey that my lyrics take you on.  So close your eyes an enjoy the trip.

BOO

Shad0ws

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