#missionred

          The boisterous echoes funneled through the hallways of Altgeld. I retreated to the solidarity of the second-floor bench after my class had concluded. The sounds of electro-acoustic compositions had permeated my colleagues’ brains like an infectious parasite. With little resistance I decided to subject myself to the parasite that had laid earworms into my classmate’s heads. I discovered a doctoral thesis written about electro-acoustics and trombone and was content with delving into something I did not know much about.  

           In my research I discovered both “Mission Red” which sounds like a progenitor of the modern electronic music we have nowadays. However, “Mission Red” was performed by none other than Mike Davis. “Mission Red” has some challenging passages and personally reminds me of Weather Report. I believe that sometime in the near future I would like to start looking at this composition.   However, in addition to being exposed to “Mission Red” I was also exposed to a composition called “The Smell of Wet Dogs After a Summertime Rain.” I too am also fond of this composition and the groove section in the middle sounds nearly identical to Nine Inch Nails “Closer.” After listening to “The Smell of Wet Dogs After a Summertime Rain,” I decide to listen to an instrumental version of “Closer” and with the tight schedule I was on I decided to start my ear-training for the day and serendipitously started going through my ear training regimen with music in the background. Thus, introducing a new avenue of strangeness and adding a new challenge into my routine.

           Monday evening featured the improvisation unit The George Sam’s Experience and at that particular juncture felt par for the course. Once again, the compositions performed were improvised by the ensemble. Honestly, I thought having the ability to complete creative control was interesting they could their compositions anywhere. I thought some of the spontaneous music created sounded similar to film music. I though George Sam’s utilization of the trumpet was interesting often times he articulated a note and then pulled the horn away from his mouth to create a strange kiss like noise.

           What I found truly admirable was this ensembles ability to share the stage with other performers. Throughout the performance they brought Dr. Mandat on stage to improvise with the group and then brought the improv unit to also join them in creating something impromptu. I could tell that my opinion on The George Sam’s Experience was somewhat different than my colleagues who had a hard time rationalizing the idea that this group was creating music. I like that the festival had a spectrum of creative control anything completely improvised and ephemeral to creative compositions with a bit more structure, but just as eccentric.

           Tuesday’s concert was the emerging composers of the school of music. I had the opportunity to play for the brass fanfare, but due to the layering of the instruments I had difficulty with the opening rhythmic ostinatos. However, the rest of the piece went well despite having difficulty with the opening and finding a rhythmic anchor. I really enjoyed listening to the other compositions of the concert which featured anything from electronically aided compositions to phunny works such as “D- F# - A -See#” in which effective pauses were used brilliantly to create a chuckler of a composition. The concert concluded just like another swift day in the middle of the desert and what was on the horizon for tomorrow evening was truly unique, arcane, and insane.

           Dr. Mandat’s recital was an unforgettable esoteric eclectic experience. I had the opportunity to hear a few of his compositions at the clarinet studio recital last semester. The recital started exactly as I expected. The opening composition started simulating the deep abyss of the cosmos. “Stargazing” featured the clarinet studio scattered across OBF emulating the sounds of a cool breeze on a warm night, looking up to the stars, and questioning if we are alone in the universe. Occasionally, certain performers were highlighted with a spotlight which I took as either moonlight and or other celestial bodies drifting in the nights sky.

           Last semester I had the opportunity to hear the next two compositions on the program, including, “Ruff’em Up” an awesome groove inspired lick fest on the bass clarinet. I really enjoy the energy behind the composition and his stage presence is just as vibrant. He seems to have the ability to phase in and out of the zone.  The next composition, “Absurdities and Incongruities” featured strings which I thought was a great addition to the program. I really enjoyed the cello part of first movement of the composition the ostinato sounded sly.  I conjured up the thoughts of a rogue skulking in the shadows and prowling through a haunted mansion in search for the most prized jewels guarded by a sinister undead necromancer. A brief intermission took place and I was excited for the next work to start.

           My colleagues had informed me that Dr. Mandat hooks himself up to a motion sensor camera and can manipulate frequencies while playing his clarinet. With that in mind I was getting read to experience this arcane sorcery firsthand. What I witnessed was truly one of the coolest musical experiences. I was blown away how artful Dr. Mandat was able to manipulate sound waves using motion capture technology. It reminded me of certain film scores that were just starting to utilize electronics in the 1950s a la Forbidden Planet. It was obvious that Dr. Mandat had spent some time learning how to manipulate certain frequencies without getting too loud. There was a finesse with how he moved which prevented the electronics from getting too loud and aggressive. Interestingly, he was not afraid about how eccentric he looked on stage he was putting himself out to the world as a master of clarinet mysticism and arcane brilliance.

           I walked away from the concert extremely content with the opportunity I had. I also feel lucky to have watched something so dang cool and to have a professor like that on campus. Once I had a few moments to digest what I had witnessed it reminded me of an area of interest that I started doing some research in 2015 called cymatics.

           Cymatics is a way to make sound visible. This is achieved by imprinting vibrations through a membrane. The patterns that are created are varied by certain tones, low frequency tones tend to make less complex pattern on the membrane while higher frequency tones create much more intricate patterns. These patterns are so interestingly complex that they express six dimensional shapes. What makes this so intriguing is that it shows the ability to discern certain patterns, not just in the migrating sound, but in the interplay of sound. It is the animating principle of vibrations, interacting with a substance. These experiments provide a physical representation of the creative and transformative potential of vibration, sound, in this case, which is readily seen, heard, and understood that is scientifically verifiable and repeatable. We can use this to recognize certain universal principles.

Might be time to see if anymore research has cropped up in the past few years about this area of interest. Nonetheless the recital was superlative and I felt fortunate to have had such a great experience. I cannot wait to see what the festival brings next… that’s right Augusta Read Thomas, or as I thought of her as ART