Program notes: All of the musical material in Ich bin ein(“I am a”) is derived from a speach given by JFK at the Berlin wall on June 26, 1963, where he confirmed American support opposing the wall that surrounded and imprisoned all of West Berlin: “Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis Romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'... All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner!'” In my efforts to capture something musical from these simple words, I discovered “choppy JFK’s” via the RTcmix program and chose to use them as a constant thread that would underlie pitched choral sounds. As I ran the 6-second audio file through the “Granulator” MAX patch (designed by John Gibson), I discovered various fascinating ways to transform the ordinary (and somewhat monotone) speech into music. The composition of these ideas and sounds is what you will hear.
Program notes: This work evokes the imagined sounds of a clock tower consumed by a large water fountain. Water clocks, in fact, did exist in ancient civilizations, but these inaccurate mechanisms are not what I am trying to depict. I am exploring that wonderful and mysterious sound of blurring sonorities after a series of clock tower bells have been struck and the music that water might shape from them. A single sample of bells tolling at the 1 o’clock hour on the campus of Indiana University was my source recording. Riverrun, Nanosampler and eVerb plug-ins via Digital Performer were vital in the creation of this piece.