Date of Submission

Spring 2020

Academic Program

Music

Project Advisor 1

Sarah Hennies

Project Advisor 2

Matthew Sargent

Abstract/Artist's Statement

My senior project consists of two individual parts, completed at the ends of both semesters.

The first project, titled “Pull2”, is a fully composed piece written for piano, violin, cello, and live processed 4 channel electronics. It was performed on December 13, 2019 in Bard Hall. The players were Maeve Schallert on violin, Kate Gonzales on cello, Clay Hillenburg controlling the electronics, and I played piano. The playing was sparse and spacious, and the electronics held certain tones for long periods of time. This was achieved with a MAX patch which loops short moments of the audio from the instruments and then assigns that sound to a fader. The MAX patch is controlled by a series of midi controllers. The result is a sound as if the notes being played are infinitely sustained. The piece progresses through areas of differing tonality, dynamics and intensity, instrument range, and which instruments are at the sonic forefront. The performance was filmed and recorded and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nMNu2zvnYk&t=319s. The score is attached as well.

The second piece, titled “Wish 2”, finished at the end of the second semester, is an album of recorded electronic music. It is 7 tracks, ranging from 10-20 minutes each. Each piece is made with found sounds, midi instruments, software synth patches and field recordings processed with MAX Msp. I am interested in a plunderphonics-type concept of re-purposing and re-contextualizing found material, but instead of constructing it into a more traditional sound collage, I try to create music more in the realm of traditional ambient music, but with less traditional methods of creating sounds. Some other themes of the music include experimenting with traditional western notions of tonality, creating immersive locations and settings, popular music’s tropes, clichés and “cultural resonances”, and how the concepts of indulgence and fulfillment exist in music. The finished piece can be found on my bandcamp: https://nickfopeano.bandcamp.com.

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