SEAMUS

Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States

  • Conferences
    • 2023 Conference, April 7 – 8, NYC
      • SEAMUS 2023 Conference Schedule
        • Student Awards Recipients 2023
      • Discounted HOTELS with SEAMUS2023 Conf rates
        • Conference 2023 Maps
    • 2023 Conference Rhizome Host Events
      • 2023 Call
    • Past Conferences
    • Future Hosts Interest Form
      • How to Host a Conference
  • Opportunities
    • CREATE grants
    • ASCAP/SEAMUS Student Award
      • FAQ
      • Previous Student Award Recipients
    • Allen Strange Memorial Award
    • SEAMUS Award
  • Works
  • News
  • Newsletter
    • Most recent Newsletter
    • Newsletter Archive
  • Members
    • Election 2023
    • Music from SEAMUS
    • Electroacoustic Miniatures Series Downloads
    • Member Directory
      • Edit Profile
    • Membership FAQs
  • About
    • History
    • Officers and Staff
      • Past Presidents
    • Why Join?
    • Inclusion and Diversity
    • Bylaws

Composition for S#|††¥ Piano, Drum Samples, Concrète Sounds, and Processing

2015-12-17

for crappy piano and live electronics (via MAX/MSP)

Composer: Christopher Chris Bailey

Year of Composition: 2013
Instrumentation: piano
Type of Electronics: Live

Number of Channels: 8
Duration: 12:43
Video Component: None

Recording

(Originally written for 8 channels, can also be performed with 4 or even 2 channels)

Composition of this piece was funded by an Allen Strange Award from the Washington (State) Composers Forum. As per a request from Shiau-Uen Ding, my goal was to combine my interests in musique concrete, electronica/techno, and live computer music as part of a large-scale solo piano work.
I decided to work with a shitty piano as sound material. The shitty piano has interesting kinds of indeterminacy associated with it. You know that some notes are going to be “out”, but you’re never sure which ones. The details of this composition, though always following the same basic dramatic and formal outline, are always different at each performance. Every shitty piano is different. The musique concrete sounds can be re-realized in different combinations at each performance. Because shitty pianos are unreliable in producing exact pitches, I notate much of the piano part in a “graphic” way, specifying only general contours. Thus, the piece is mostly a “percussion” piece, largely devoid of melody and harmony, but chock-filled with funky rhythms and general joyous chaos and cacophony.

Login to SEAMUS

Join Us!

Membership in SEAMUS is open to all interested parties and brings lots of exciting benefits. Click the button below to join. Click here to renew your membership.
Join Now!

Connect with SEAMUS

  • Email
  • Facebook

© 2023 SEAMUS, All Rights Reserved · Site Design by Punkt Digital · Policy Statements

  • Contact Us
  • Board Officers & Staff
  • Policy Statements