Wires
“Wires in an ADI System 100”, photographed for the Ann Arbor News and published on May 30, 1985
The photo above is the basis for a new, short piece of mine for stereo electronics called Wires that will premiere on Thursday of this week at this free event hosted by the Ann Arbor District Library’s branch in downtown Ann Arbor.
The AADL asked me to write what would become Wires as part of a project called Scoring the Archive I designed in collaboration with library staff for my current composition course at the University of Michigan. This term, one of my students’ creative projects has involved composing their own short works for stereo electronics that respond to, or are inspired by, similar images from the library’s photo archive. They have all done a fantastic job and their music will be the centerpiece of Thursday’s event, as well as the corresponding photo exhibit that the library will display until January 31.
Wires was a thrill to compose. As I introduced on this blog in October of 2021, creating more music using electronic tools has a new emphasis of my creative practice. Since that post, I have explored and experimented with a variety of new hardware and software, and released around a dozen new recordings of composed works and improvisations, including three multimedia pieces I created in partnership with local nonprofit Embracing Our Differences last spring and premiered on YouTube in June. You can find more multimedia works like these on my TikTok page.
To create Wires, I used my standard hardware and software set up with the added supplement of two pedals I borrowed from the Ann Arbor District library’s music tools collection. This amazing resource for musicians in the Ann Arbor area includes a range of instruments, recording equipment, and other accessories, like the Red Panda reverb and Dunlop chorus pedals I used to make sounds I incorporated into Wires. You can see me demonstrate these pedals in recent improvisations I shared on my YouTube channel.
Wires reflects its source image by embracing classic synthesizer sounds reminiscent of the analog age; and, as you can see from the above videos, many wires were used in its production. I am also excited for the ways I was able to use my Korg SQ-1 step sequencer to create riffs that fluidly slow down and speed up and, when stacked on top of each other, create textures that, I hope, recall the characteristic densities of Conlon Nancarrow’s player piano compositions.
To hear Wires, you’ll need to come to the Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown branch on Thursday at 6 PM, or visit the Scoring the Archive exhibit on the branch’s lower level before January 31. Each printed image features a QR code that links to the accompanying music. I also plan to share Wires digitally before the end of the year.
