Urban Arts Workshop Fall 2020, Open Arts, NYU

Ryan Paz Beatbox Sample Final Mix

This project was mostly inspired by Joseph Mitchell’s Street Life , a short piece of writing in
which he discusses the beauty of wandering and observing various moments throughout the city
of New York. He pauses and notices even small vines growing through the pavement, or the
smells that encapsulate different areas as a result of their various cultural roots. It seemed to me
that this was a man who truly enjoyed the city and all it had to offer, and I wanted to do the
same. I found, however, that the most distracting element of the city, which did not allow me to
fully immerse myself in it, was the abundance of noise. Much like Mitchell, who sees a weed
growing out of the street as an adornment, as opposed to a flaw, I decided to take these sounds
and noises, forgetting about their mundane qualities, and using them as the basis for a musical
composition. Taking drum samples from milk cartons or tables at restaurants, I assembled an
eclectic selection of sounds that are heard on a daily basis and mostly thought of as noise.
Incorporating a guitar recording from a street performer and a bassline played by me, I attempted
to create a piece of found materials , which in this case were sounds, in a similar manner to
Robert Rauschenberg’s Combine works.
-Pepe Leyte

Urban Sonic Composition by Pepe Leyte

Interdisciplinary Practice and Experimentation

Collaborative Arts NYU

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