Electrobot
SKU:
$50.00
$50.00
per item
Electrobot, like the other pieces in the “bot” family, deals with hocketing across the ensemble, metric modulation, and the somewhat unfortunate circumstance that each instrumental part makes very little sense out of context; one really needs to grasp the whole before each individual’s contribution can be unraveled.
This latter circumstance is truer of Electrobot than of any other piece in the series. Each of nine notated pitches (Db-Eb-Gb-Ab-Bb-Db-Eb-Gb-Ab, the members of a black-key pentatonic scale) triggers a sample: a warbling, arpeggiated synthesizer line, a kick/snare/hi-hat pattern, or a long, held tone. Each sample has its own rhythmic profile, its own groove, so without staying completely true to the written tempi the samples won’t synch up and the piece falls apart. Adding to the complexity, the notated pitches don’t correspond in any traditional way to the pitches of the tones eventually triggered. There are even cases in which two different notated pitches trigger samples at the same sounding pitch level, cases in which playing up the controller keyboard actually triggers sounds that descend in pitch.
This whole work, then, might be imagined as an experiment in dissociating notation from its attendant sound. Despite this seemingly far-out concept, however, Electrobot owes much of its vocabulary and aesthetic to so-called "Intelligent Dance Music."
Price is for physical score plus digital parts and audio files. Contact me for other options, including digital-only bundles and student discounts. Thanks.
This latter circumstance is truer of Electrobot than of any other piece in the series. Each of nine notated pitches (Db-Eb-Gb-Ab-Bb-Db-Eb-Gb-Ab, the members of a black-key pentatonic scale) triggers a sample: a warbling, arpeggiated synthesizer line, a kick/snare/hi-hat pattern, or a long, held tone. Each sample has its own rhythmic profile, its own groove, so without staying completely true to the written tempi the samples won’t synch up and the piece falls apart. Adding to the complexity, the notated pitches don’t correspond in any traditional way to the pitches of the tones eventually triggered. There are even cases in which two different notated pitches trigger samples at the same sounding pitch level, cases in which playing up the controller keyboard actually triggers sounds that descend in pitch.
This whole work, then, might be imagined as an experiment in dissociating notation from its attendant sound. Despite this seemingly far-out concept, however, Electrobot owes much of its vocabulary and aesthetic to so-called "Intelligent Dance Music."
Price is for physical score plus digital parts and audio files. Contact me for other options, including digital-only bundles and student discounts. Thanks.