Oikos / Ecos (2009)
duration 11:00
voice and computer (Max/MSP) or voice and cd (EA)
Commissioned for Janice Jackson with funding provided from the Nova Scotia Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage.
Listen to short excerpt of this work:
Program Note (shorter)
The title Oikos / Ecos translates from Greek and Latin roots as our house. And more particularly, in the ecological sense, our planet earth. Text for this work is derived from my own gut reactions to headlines from one moment in 2009. For example, my reaction to the headline: “British family sues over Whistler gondola collapse”, was: “we live in litigious times”. I think of the work as reflection on our current time and place in history, as well as a commentary on our own social media commentaries. The musical line is torn between melodious, at times highly virtuosic coloratura writing for the singer, and more abstract improvisations with the soundtrack. In this way a clear distinction between pre-recorded material, live processed material, and the actual singing voice is deliberately blurred. Oikos / Ecos was premiered by Janice Jackson on January 22, 2010, in Denton Hall, at the 2010 Acadia New Music Festival ‘Shattering the Silence’.
Program Note (longer)
The title Oikos / Ecos translates from Greek and Latin roots as our house. And more particularly, in the ecological sense, our planet earth. Text for this work is derived from my own gut reactions to headlines from one moment in 2009. For example, my reaction to the headline: “British family sues over Whistler gondola collapse”, was: “we live in litigious times”. Or my reaction to the headline: “Suicide car bombings rock northwest Pakistan, killing at least 16 and wounding about 150”, was: “ we live in fearful times”; and so on. In the work, you do not hear the headline, only my reaction to it. You also hear how many comments were posted about that headline. In this way I think of the work as reflection on our current time and place in history, as well as a commentary on our own social media commentaries.
The musical line is torn between melodious, at times highly virtuosic coloratura writing for the singer, and more abstract improvisations with the soundtrack. In this way a clear distinction between pre-recorded material, live processed material, and the actual singing voice is deliberately blurred. Max/MSP is used to not only control a prerecorded soundtrack, but also for live processing. Processes include sampling and looping, various filters, a vocoder, pitch shifting, and other interesting effects; including elements that track pitch, dynamics, and harmonics, and subsequently use this information to process the live voice. During the work effects are shaped as part of the orchestration of the work; density of material is controlled to coincide with climactic moments, and to follow the shape of the notated score. My working method was very much experimentation, and exploration, in a close collaboration with Janice Jackson. Her voice is used extensively on the soundtrack.
Oikos / Ecos was premiered by Janice Jackson on January 22, 2010, in Denton Hall, at the Acadia New Music Festival ‘Shattering the Silence’, in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Funding was generously provided by Nova Scotia, Tourism, Culture and Heritage.
Links: Janice Jackson
Media Details
Laptop computerAudio Interface
Mixer
2 Monitors
Microphone for the singer
