June 30, 2016 at ShapeShifter Lab, NYC

Artist in residence Schuyler Tsuda performing live in part 2 of his 3-part instrument builder series at ShapeShifter Lab. In a performance he calls "Construction/Destruction," Schuyler builds a sound sculpture live using scrap metal and wire, while a contact mic, poweramp circuit and surface transducer create a feedback loop.  The feedback and resonance change as more metal and springs are added to the sound sculpture, and the sculpture is ultimately destroyed by the end of the performance.

http://schuylertsuda.com

Audio and video recording by ShapeShifter Lab
Audio mastered by Schuyler Tsuda

Schuyler Tsuda live at ShapeShifter Lab June 30

Ikebana, or Kado, is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. While on the surface an aesthetic art form, the practice of ikebana requires one to experience nature in a different way, from a new perspective. Beauty is found not only in the blossom but in the fragile, withering leaf. Asymmetry, found so commonly in nature, is valued over perfect symmetry. Empty space holds just as much importance as the plants themselves. Flowers are arranged not simply to create the beautiful but rather to place them in harmony with each other, in order to allow their natural beauty to emerge. The practice of ikebana opens a space for the practitioner and viewer to see and appreciate all the things in nature that we overlook and ignore in our daily lives.

Kado: The Way of Flowers is written for and dedicated to my dear friend and cellist, Andrei Kivu, who is one of the most warm-hearted and generous persons I have ever had the privilege of knowing.

Performer:
Schuyler Tsuda, solo cello

Kado: The Way of Flowers (2009) for solo cello

Normale is a composition in which the physical mechanics of"normal" tone production are deconstructed into its constituent parts and reassembled with very specific alterations of these parts, making the production of the tone impossible or just out of reach. As each of the performers strives to produce the simple, archetypal tone without "success," first with inquisitive exploration and moving towards furious obsession, an amazing and unexpected sound world emerges. While the extreme effort produces little in the way of ordinary tone, what is created during the process is something much more magical and profound. The journey becomes much more important than the goal, as their individual attempts move the performers en masse into a completely unexpected sound space. This piece is, in one sense, an imagining of the strange music that could have come to be if instrumental technique had developed in a different way, with small slivers of imperfection along the way.

Performers:
Schuyler Tsuda, flute
Schuyler Tsuda and Scotty Horey, vibraphone
Schuyler Tsuda, viola

Normale (2011) for flute, vibraphone and viola

Forced Vibrations and Resonance is a piece based on the sound and movement of a huge, suspended, steel plate put into complex vibration using a various implements such as mallets, bows and triangle beaters and various unorthodox techniques that I have explored in my own experiments with sound. The ensemble is treated as a meta- instrument, each providing, at any point in time, a component of the sound of the steel plate whether as a noisy, high-frequency attack, a low, rumbling decay or wildly interfering detuned harmonics. The sonic language, style and spirit of this composition is directly influenced and informed by my work as a sound sculptor and noise musician in the duo Shield Your Eyes (2008-2011) and more recently as a solo artist, where every performance is an act of secret ritual, obsessive manipulation and sonic alchemy.

Performers:
Schuyler Tsuda, clarinet
Schuyler Tsuda, piano
Schuyler Tsuda, violin
Schuyler Tsuda, cello

Forced Vibrations and Resonance

Jean Tinguely was a French-born, Swiss artist who designed and fabricated works of kinetic sculpture. Often involving complex networks of interlocking, moving parts, many of Tinguely’s kinetic sculptures would, over the course of a performance, “come to life” and eventually destroy themselves. The artist was famous for a performance entitled Homage to New York in which a large kinetic sculpture spanning an entire stage, set itself on fire during its New York performance while, to the delight of Tinguely, the flaming gears of the sculpture kept on spinning and firemen worked to extinguish the flames.

Performers:
Schuyler Tsuda, viola
Schuyler Tsuda, cello
Schuyler Tsuda, contrabass
Schuyler Tsuda, percussion
Schuyler Tsuda, built instruments
Michael Duffy, built instruments

Tinguely for strings percussion and built instruments

Piano Concerto (2006) for orchestra, Movement II

Les Automates Jaquet - Droz (2008) for 2 violas and 2 cellos

Schuyler Tsuda - sound sculptures
Mike Duffy - lap steel, piano tines, electronics

June 4, 2017 at why world, Minneapolis

http://schuylertsuda.com
http://michael-duffy.net
http://shieldyoureyes.bandcamp.com

Voltaic Pile