#map of trees

The graphic music score (drawn with the help of my talented wife) for Ashtottara Shatanama, the opening track of my prepared piano album Map of Trees (2013). The idea here is that the piano is prepared in a certain way (lower strings with rubber doorstops, middle strings with screws, upper strings with plastic combs) and that each tree is interpreted as a sonic event by the performer. Though each performer will realize the score differently, the distinct piano preparations combined with the clusters of similar and related trees give each performance the same overall sound world and outline.

In March 2021, as part of my ongoing recording project The Infinite Well, I'll be revisiting the parameters I set up in this piece and pushing it to the limits.

Check out more of the score, liner notes and listen to the full album here : https://www.rmichaelwahlquist.com/map-of-trees

You can also find Map of Trees on Spotify, Amazon music, or Apple music.

Okay, listen to this, and then see if you believe that every sound was made live on a piano with no digital effects. I have several audiences full of witnesses who can attest to it! The trick is playing with one hand on the keys and one hand inside the piano, directly on the strings...

Sidenote: this track from my Master’s Thesis project was the first time I addressed the Fall of Adam and Eve in my music. I’m currently working on a cantata called Redeemed from Fall which covers the life of Adam and Eve after the Fall. (I might have considered After the Fall for a title if that hadn’t been taken by some movie a couple years back.)

Spring Tension Rites from my piano album Map of Trees.

Have you ever heard a piano sound quite like this?

Text score for Taiga Liturgy from Map of Trees | mechanical pencils and piano

Previous post is the audio for the piece!

Available on Amazon, iTunes, and CD Baby etc!