SOME PROGRAM NOTES

Possible Spaces no. 1 - 12

A series of electroacoustic journies through various compositional spaces. Inspired in part by F. Bayle's "Espaces inhabitables" where the sonic imagery evokes the spaces of Jules Verne, the interior and exterior 'spaces' in my work explore other possible compositional environments and attitudes.

PizzA

The title of this scherzo-like composition can be pronounced in two ways. The second pronunciation is the musical directive to a string player---pizz on the pitch 'A'. The sound of string pizzicatos permeates much of the work and eventually provides the concluding gesture, repeated pizzicatos on the pitch 'A'.

For DL:

One of a series of pieces written for deceased colleagues (others: For G:, For L:, Pour M:, etc.). The DL in this instance refers to New Zealand composer, Douglas Lilburn (1915-2001).

RESEARCH PROJECTS

During the 1960s and 70s, I had the pleasure of collaborating with Hugh Le Caine, researcher at the National Research Council, Ottawa, Canada. In addition to working on enhancements to his Multitrack Tape Recorder, we worked together on the design of the Serial Structure Generator and the Sonde. These projects are described in the literature:
"A Preliminary Report on the Serial Structure Generator": Perspectives of New Music: vol. 6, no. 1, 1967.
"The Sonde; a new approach to multiple sine wave generation": Journal of the Audio Engineering Society; vol. 18, 1970.

During my tenure at the University of Toronto several projects were realized in collaboration with James Gabura --- the computer programs known as PIPER, PISTON and MOZARELLA.
PIPER effectively put four voltage control oscillators under the control of a computer. PISTON was a computer program for harmonizing simple melodies in four parts. MOZARELLA was a real-time, stand-alone implementation of the Mozart Dice Game on a Yamaha CX5 computer.
Information on PIPER can be found in:
"Digital Computer Control of Sound Generating Apparatus for the Production of Electronic Music": Electronic Music Review: vol. 1, no. 1, 1967.
"Computer Control of Sound Appartus for Electronic Music": Journal of the Audio Engineering Society: vol. 16, no. 1, 1967.

TOOLS

The audio samples in my compositions can be 'found objects', be drawn from sample libraries or designed in soft synths. Often, they are massaged with the available VST plug-ins. My primary tool for sound manipulation, however, is Robert Fraser's Soundshaper, a GUI for the suite of functions comprising the Composers Desktop Project.

INTERVIEWS
1) An early (Spring '93?) oral interview recorded by Ned Bouhalassa.
2) An excerpt from a longer video interview recorded in 2008 by Eric Chasalow for the Brandeis University "Video Archive of the Electroacoustic Music".

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