Harmonizedmotion!!

Adam wrote me last week to tell me he had won first place. He notes that “…some folks even said that they ‘had never seen a choreographed flower stick routine'”.

Here’s an mp3 of the final mix, which we adjusted to soften some of the ending cues, and we slowed the tempo a little as well. The groove changed significantly, in my opinion.

I’m looking forward to seeing the video of Adam’s performance. I’m also pretty sure we’ll put together a longer version and make a video. Stay tuned.

As a result of this collaboration, I’ve started investigating poi a little. I’m fascinated by it – I fell in love with watching it one summer evening in Barcelona with my pal DJ Fizz. (Note to the universe: if you can, tell Fizz to drop me a line.) But during my investigations, I read this cautionary tale about fire breathing. I recommend it if you think you want to play with lamp fuel in the future.

I’m working on a tight assignment – under two minutes of music for a devil sticks performance at the 2007 IJA Festival.

This piece is commissioned by Adam, one of Johnny Blazes’ friends and co-performers with the Ocircus Summer Tour of 2007. When we’re through tightening it up, there’ll be a video made of the piece which will be shared somewheres, probably here at sendai77.com.

Since the piece is largely textural, I used a technique that I’m sort of calling “planned stochastics”. Basicallly, I enter a lot of notes into my favorite midi editor or notation program. I have a scale or mode in mind, and I quickly write lots of notes within a given register and tessiatura. I repeat this technique in different registers and with different note densities and generate as many tracks as my poor little brain can stand at one sitting. Very often, melodic motives will somehow automatically replicate themselves through the filter of my ear. Sort of like crossing Phillip Glass with Johann Bach.

Then, I import the notes into Reason, and spend the rest of the day and night creating synth sounds and samples. Lots of cut-and-paste and reacting to the raw materials I’ve created. Often, I’ll go back into the midi editor and create more material, and I’ll also play static texture into Reason directly.

The thing I like about fulcrum is the way the space opens up from time to time. I think I’ve managed to capture some of the pure joy I’ve observed in Adam as he plays the sticks. At least, that’s my sincere hope.