Folwell School, Performing Arts Magnet Elementary is a public, magnet school located in Minneapolis that encourages students to become responsible, successful learners in and through the arts. With their strong dedication to the arts, Folwell School teamed up with local composer collective 113 for an extended residency project in the 2017-18 school year. Composers from 113 and professional string players met with Folwell School orchestra students (grades 5-8) beginning in October 2017 to teach composition and string techniques. In large groups, they listened to contemporary art music, discussed contemporary and traditional string techniques, improvised, and composed text-based music. In smaller groups, the students composed using traditional, graphic, and text-based notation and wrote poetry. As the pieces developed, the students performed the music as a large ensemble. 113's residency at Folwell School will culminate in a concert of student works performed by combinations of students, Folwell teachers, and professional musicians.​ 

The resulting graphic and text-based compositions written by the students at Folwell School were chosen as a group to be one of three winning entries to Zeitgeist's 23rd annual Eric Stokes Song Contest. Named in memory of late composer Eric Stokes, the contest is designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. A suite of selected graphic scores by the students at Folwell School will be performed by Zeitgeist at their annual Playing it Close to Home concert Feb. 23-24 at Studio Z. 
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Isaac Mayhew is a composer and trumpet player based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He holds a bachelor's degree in music composition from Lawrence University, where he studied primarily with Asha Srinivasan, Joanne Metcalf, and Benjamin Klein. Isaac, who is a recipient of the Pi Kappa Lambda Composition Award, has had works featured on programs both on campus at Lawrence and in the Appleton community. His piece Ataraxis 2.3 for solo bassoon and electronics, was premiered in June 2017 at the International Double Reeds Society Conference. His work may also be heard on the album Liquid Jungle by his brass quintet of the same name. Isaac strives to create music that has the capability to engage a wide range of audiences while maintaining a high level of artistic integrity, drawing influence and inspiration from the works of a great many composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Aaron Copland, Igor Stravinsky, Alan Hovhaness, and David Maslanka.

Isaac is one three winning composers of Zeitgeist's 23rd annual Eric Stokes Song Contest. Named in memory of late composer Eric Stokes, the contest is designed to encourage and celebrate amateur composers throughout the Twin Cities. Isaac's winning composition, On the Nature of Self, will be performed by Zeitgeist at their annual Playing it Close to Home concert Feb. 23-24 at Studio Z. 

On the Nature of Self is a piece that explores two contrasting (and competing) aspects to one's personality. There is the side of ourselves that we are the happiest with, the way that we wish to be seen by others, and the way we wish to see ourselves. This is represented by the Christian hymn All Creatures of Our God and King, which shares melodic similarities with the other major quotation--the Dies Irae, which also has Christian roots, but with very different connotations.
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Feb. 23-24, 7:30 p.m.  
Studio Z: 275 East Fourth Street, Suite 200, St. Paul
$15 / $10 students & seniors
Tickets/Info

With winning songs from the Eric Stokes Song Contest plus music by local composer Davu Seru, Zeitgeist's annual Playing it Close to Home concert celebrates the wealth of musical creativity found right here in our own backyard. The program includes music by Eric Stokes Song Contest winners Isaac Mayhew, Tetsuya Takeno, and students from Folwell School, plus the world premiere of Davu Seru’s new work Dead King Mother, which tells the story of a near-forgotten event in North Minneapolis and United States civil rights history that has been with Seru since early childhood.  ​

How long have the two of you been collaborating? What was your collaborative process like in creating this version of Stockhausen's POLES? 

Taavi: We have been playing together for five years. So far it has been mainly a flute/piano duo. But now we added electronics too and it really does open up even more repertoire and challenges. The process with POLES started with a three-week rehearsal period in Morelia, Mexico where we were in residency in the electro-acoustic music centre CMMAS. The piece is an open score so you would imagine that reading it would not maybe be so difficult but in reality it is a truly difficult piece to perform. It is written in  so called + - notation, a notation created by Stockhausen. To perform it you have to learn it from zero. It is really like learning a new language. You learn grammar, learn words, learn how to put together a sentence.


What is special about the Serge Modular Synthesizer? 

Taavi: It is indeed a special instrument. The instrument comes from early 1970s, and by now it has gained a somewhat cult status. First of all, of course, because its beautiful profound sound that still amazes musicians, but also because of its very clever interface. As I see it, interfacing with electronic instruments is a very important part of music creation process. It is a West Coast style synth meaning that it is possible to redesign it in countless ways; you have to make it your own to make music with it and find your very own language to communicate with it. The very instrument's previous owner was Michael Manion, a late composer who used to work as an assistant for Karlheinz Stockhausen. 


What was it like working with Stockhausen on the piece he wrote for you, Camilla? 

Camilla: It was a complete surprise. I had won a prize in Rotterdam playing his In Freundschaft, which I had prepared with the help of Suzee Stephens and the late composer Michael Manion, and before I was to play it in Cologne, I went out to Kürten to play it for Stockhausen himself. I had of course analyzed every note and could play it perfectly from memory, and this somehow impressed him so much that he began then and there to start arranging AMOUR for me. Eventually I returned and lived for a week in a cabin on his ground while he continued to work. When we met for daily work sessions, he’d ask me about range or fingering or intervals and we would discuss phrasing and breathing. The original version was for clarinet (Suzee Stephens), and several things worked differently when transposed for flute. I remember being impressed not only with his exactness, but also in his desire to make it natural for the flute. He didn’t want to create “difficulties for difficulties sake.” I also experienced for the first time the luxury of being at a “retreat” — living in nature with no outside distractions and allowed to just practice and read (notably Satprem on Sri Aurobindo) and then to enjoy stimulating conversations with Karlheinz and Suzee at mealtimes. I also got to browse in his record library (which included a great LP-set of the history of folk to rock!)


How did your interactions with Stockhausen influence the creation and performance of this version of POLES? 

​Camilla: My interactions with Stockhausen included a wide range of activities, from attending rehearsals of music from Donnerstag aus LICHT (where I first met the whole Stockhausen clan)  to working in his publishing company to learning other solo and chamber works. In the 80’s I attended every rehearsal and performance I could, later I participated in Montag in a studio part and then had a role on stage in 1993 for the opera Dienstag. Nothing he did was superfluous and this inspires us to respect all he has notated. At the same time, remembering him as a person, I remember him also as someone who could surprise with humor — and who introduced in his otherwise strictly formal compositions, the occasional “flowers for the ladies” (as he called a certain phrase in In Freundschaft) and who could also write “bagatelles” as gifts for friends (AMOUR).  If I were to summarize the influence all these interactions with him in one word, I would choose “awareness.” He himself was always aware of so many things that were going on around him. He listened and watched very precisely and demanded from his musicians this as well: an extremely high level of awareness concerning not just the musical notes, but every aspect of the creative and re-creative process. This we are trying to carry on with our realization of POLES.
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​This is 10th Wave's inaugural concert. How did the group come together?

Just about a year ago, 10th Wave was just a cool dream that we were bouncing off each other. Clarinetist Weily Shay, percussionist Eri Isomura, and I started having conversations about starting a new chamber music collective in the Twin Cities. It started as an idea to create a concert series that would present our favorite works of chamber music to audiences in a new way – different than going to an orchestra concert or a chamber music recital.
 
From that point Weily, Eri, and I began to have regular meetings to start planning what would eventually become 10th Wave, and here we are at the first concert. From that point, we reached out to musicians that we knew in the area to see if they were interested in performing with us. Now we’re here about to have our first concert. It’s surreal.
 

What plans does 10th Wave have for the future?

We’ve got a lot of exciting ideas on the horizon. We’re already starting to book some more shows in the spring. We’re calling these concerts Chamber Brews, where we take some of the music that we’ll be performing at our first concert along with some new stuff out into bars and coffee shops around the Twin Cities. Bringing this music out into unconventional concert spaces is one of the things that we’re most passionate about. We really believe in the importance of performing this amazing music for people who would otherwise never have the opportunity to hear it.
 
Aside from the Chamber Brews concerts, we’re busy brainstorming for our first full season, where we are hoping to play more concerts like this one.
 

Tell us about the program for Feb. 11th and what motivated the theme.

The core of our mission is about connecting with audiences and our community genuinely and authentically. Conflict | Perseverance came from something that everyone on the planet can relate to in their own way - struggling with and overcoming challenges.
 
We picked five pieces that deal with this subject matter in one way or another. Some of the pieces such as Golijov’s Mariel and Hatzis’s In the Fire of Conflict deal with subjects like death and violence. But there are other pieces, such as Kevin Puts’s And Legions Will Rise and Greenstein’s At the end of a really great day, that are about rising up to these difficult challenges and overcoming them. We want to take the audience through a musical journey of emotion with the hope that each person will be able to connect to the pieces through their own personal experiences.
 

10th Wave endeavors to create a unique musical environment. What should the audience expect that is different from the usual classical music experience?
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The most obvious difference at this first concert will be how the pieces are presented. We’re going to have some literature in the form of poetry and quotes being read aloud before each piece is performed. We’ll also have that literature projected as we’re performing the pieces so the audiences can process both aurally and visually along with the music. We want to incorporate different artistic mediums in our concerts to accompany the music and enrich the experience for the audience.

Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council will present an artist salon featuring rising performance poet Talia Young at Studio Z this Sunday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. Young will be joined by Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman for a lively conversation on ways in which spoken word has become an effective vehicle for social change and on the role of new media in advancing activism. Rimon Executive Director David Jordan Harris interviewed Talia Young for this preview of the event. 
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Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from?

I grew up in California then moved to Minnesota for the weather. When everyone in California asks why I am still in Missouri/Montana/Michigan I tell them I love it here, and I really do. I just graduated from Macalester College in May, where I studied Creative Writing. I am working a bunch of part time jobs this year and trying to figure out how to be an adult.

How did you begin writing and performing?

I experienced a poetry slam for the first time when I was in high school and was forever changed. The poets on the stage were teenagers like me, but they were so powerful and vulnerable in their storytelling. Sitting in the audience, I knew even though it scared me I would one day be on the stage. I was shy and slam gave me a way to share my voice. Slam Poetry has brought me closer to community, to language, and to myself. I started seven years ago and have been writing, performing and teaching poetry ever since.

What pieces will you be performing at the Artist Salon?

I've been working on new pieces for this Salon about what it means to be Jewish, what I inherited from my parents and grandparents, why I'm obsessed with learning Hebrew. I will also perform pieces about the body and illness, love, queerness, and the Bible. 

Tell us a bit about Heartland Marimba Quartet. Where are you from? How was the group formed?
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The Heartland Marimba Quartet (HMQ) is North America’s premiere marimba quartet and the primary performing ensemble of Heartland Marimba. HM’s mission is to reach an array of audiences to support and advance the classical marimba art form, its music, composers, and performers. Heartland Marimba began in 2014 through the vision and leadership of internationally acclaimed marimba soloist Matthew Coley (IA). In the fall of 2016, Coley assembled a group of highly accomplished marimba specialists from around the country to perform concerts of music by American composers with expressive mastery. These artists include Michael J. Jones (TX), Joe Millea (AZ), Andrew Veit (IL), and Abby Fisher (first call substitute, NY). HMQ regularly tours in the spring and fall to a variety of venues including universities, concert halls, churches, museums, and high schools to conduct concerts, collaborations, and educational events. The artists also serve as the main teachers and mentors at the annual Heartland Marimba Festival, an in-depth marimba academy for high school and college students as well as aspiring performers.  


What will you be performing at Studio Z?

HMQ’s program will showcase works written for Heartland Marimba, including Alex Orfaly’s Fôr Marimbas, Steven Simpson’s Fluidity, and the first movement of a new marimba quartet composition by our own Matthew Coley. Additionally, the concert will continue supporting the established repertoire for marimba quartet by featuring Kevin Romanski’s Fantasy and Michael Burritt’s Marimba Quartet.


HMQ and Heartland Marimba have very active music education programs. How does your work in education inform your work as performing artists?

Education of current student percussionists and marimbists, new and old audience members, and youth are all very important to HM’s comprehensive mission, and to the individual HMQ artists. We hope to inspire many generations with creativity and passion in order to continue the growth of the art form from year to year, but also to reach people and influence their lives in positive ways. We find the connection between marimba performance and a new audience is very immediate. Fortunately, marimba has the visual/physical component of performance on its side. We feel that programming can be fairly adventurous if there is a human/organic and relatable connection between what the audience is hearing and what they are seeing. It needs to make sense together and not be too contrived or too contained. And of course the music has to be performed in a highly artistic way. When you’re able to figure out the balance between the aural and physical the audience is entranced beyond expectations. It’s magical. At that moment we are able to educate and truly advance the art form, chipping away at making a real and sustainable future for the instrument and the artists.

As far as our summer festival of classes, lessons, and concerts for students and our initiatives in elementary music, we are fully committed to sharing what we have been fortunate to gather in our careers in order to benefit youth and up-and-coming performers. This is the most important thing we do as performers. These programs not only provide the foundation for what we hope will one day become full-time positions for the HMQ members but they are the heartbeat of what we do and why we do it. Some of our favorite concerts we’ve done have been at high schools and for small communities that have never seen or heard the marimba. Imagine being that person and seeing four 5-octave marimbas coming to life onstage! It would be amazing.


How does HMQ determine which repertoire to perform, and what is the rehearsal process like when preparing new rep?

HMQ seeks to inspire the next generation of American composers to write for marimba quartet in an effort to fill a void that currently exists in the repertoire. We perform works exclusively by American composers and aim for a balanced program of both new and traditional works. We also emphasize establishing new relationships with composers and actively pursue commissions of novel works for marimba quartet to enrich and diversify our set list. HMQ holds regular video conference calls in which every member weighs in on repertoire development. Once we have settled on a tour program, the sheet music is quickly distributed to all performers. Because we choose to memorize most of our program, members must practice diligently in their home state during the months leading up to a performance. If we are able to meet prior to a tour, we record our rehearsals so the audio may be used as a helpful practice guide. The final step is meeting for two or three days prior to the start of our tour for intensive rehearsals. These are often very intense periods, but the effort put in is well worth it!  
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How did the Fireside Five get started? 

I had played gigs with most of the members of the band before we formed our group, but never in a combo setting. I have always wanted to have my own jazz combo but was distracted for a few decades with family, university teaching jobs, summer music festivals and numerous freelance opportunities. I have a been faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Music since 1990 and have also had the opportunity to play many hundreds of "gigs" with the SPCO and the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as numerous Broadway shows at the Ordway Theatre. In a previous life, I played lead trombone in the North Texas State University One O'Clock Jazz Lab Band, ran my own big band (Mom's Jazz Band) in Dallas and worked as a studio and general freelance musician in Dallas and Fort Worth. In between Texas and Minnesota, I was a member of the Kansas City Symphony and taught trombone and jazz improvisation at the University of Kansas. I also taught and performed for a year in Australia, but that's a whole other story.   

As life began to slow down a bit, the Fireside Five was formed in December of 2014. We rehearsed a few times at my home and then played a number of times at the Underground Music Cafe in the Como Park neighborhood in 2015. We did one recording session at The Terrarium studio in Minneapolis in April 2015 to create a few demo tracks, and then everyone got really busy with life and other gigs. I decided to get the band together again earlier this year and this is the first of what I hope will be many performances together. 


What is the collaborative process like with the band? 

Since I'm fortunate to be working with some of the most talented and experienced musicians in the Twin Cities (or anywhere else), there is no lack of great ideas for music, grooves, arrangements, etc. We also have a myriad of horn combinations and colors to explore, with Brian Grivna on alto and tenor sax, clarinet and flute and me on trombone, euphonium and bass trumpet. We have not generated any original tunes yet, but we have come up with some interesting and unique approaches to many great jazz standards. 


You have an eclectic mix of jazz planned for this Thursday (dixieland, swing, bebop, bossa nova and beyond). Can you tell us a bit about what we'll hear? 

As all of the band members are a bit over fifty (I am pretty sure), there aren't many tunes that someone in the band hasn't played before. We do have a good time presenting very authentic performance of jazz classics, as well as taking new approaches to many standards. Our audiences can expect to hear everything from "Struttin' With Some BBQ" with Brian Grivna burning on the clarinet, the lovely bossa nova "Ceora" with flute and euphonium (think really big flugelhorn) and Coltrane's usually burning-tempo "Giant Steps" played as a loping jazz waltz... and just about everything in between. It would be great to have an audience of music lovers come out and enjoy an evening of diverse, inspired and swinging jazz! 

June 22  •  7:30 p.m.  •  $10 / $5 students & seniors 65+
Details

​The Fireside Five presents an exciting evening of jazz, including dixieland, swing, bebop, bossa nova and beyond. The band will include leader Tom Ashworth on trombone and assorted low brass, Brian Grivna on multiple woodwinds, pianist Phil Aaron, Gary Raynor on bass and Joe Pulice on drums.

What should we expect to hear at Studio Z this Friday? 

Casey Deming, Justin Meyers and I will each play solo sets. Casey will be presenting Tone Poems: Selections from Henryk Górecki's Symphony # 3 & Beatus Vir, Op. A deconstruction of Górecki's holy minimalism through the use of tape loops. Justin will present new electroacoustic compositions from a forthcoming record entitled “Struggle Artist.” As for myself, I plan on presenting new A/V work. I’m interested in the subjective experience of sound and visuals, so the performance will be more about the interplay of sound and light than trying to project any sort of specific narrative.

What is the story behind Nada? 

Originally I started Nada as a record label for releasing my own music and that of my peers. Since then it has grown to act as a general platform for the promotion of experimental, electronic, and electroacoustic musics and sound works in a variety of contexts (e.g. recording, radio, performance). The name Nada is actually a reference to a Sanskrit word, “Nāda" which means "sound" or the "universal sound." In this system of thought, the whole cosmos is simply a projection of sound alone. Interestingly, this idea can be found in scientific theories as well! In quantum theory there is a concept that the elementary particles of matter exhibit wave-like behavior under certain conditions. 

You traveled to India to study Hindustani classical music with Pandit Shivnath Mishra in 2010. How has this experience informed your music-making?

Around 2008-2009 I was listening to a lot of drone based musics (LaMonte Young, Phill Niblock, et al), which naturally led me to Indian classical music. At the same time, I was practicing seated meditation on a regular basis. I decided to study vipassanā meditation and Hindustani music in India in 2010. For Indian musicians, music acts as a medium for a deeper connection to the universe. They call it Nada Yoga or sound meditation. As part of my education, I had to do some vocal practice and sitar lessons. I never took much interest in developing any sort of technical virtuosity; I was mostly interested in theory and understanding the conceptual aspects of the music. 

I am certainly influenced by Nada Yoga’s philosophy. I encourage a voluntary and selective listening approach to my music. My hope is that my work can activate a heightened sense of awareness in the auditor.

Your music explores sound via research and artistic practice. What types of research have you been doing, and how does that play out in your music? 

My research interests are in electronic music, psychoacoustics, and philosophy of sound. I enjoy critical discourse surrounding sound and often use these ideas as starting points for musical composition. The computer is well suited for exploring such concepts, as it allows for the creation of sounds and their arrangement in a way that extends beyond what the human body is capable. Granular synthesis for instance allows for the creation of particles of sound on a micro timescale. Depending on the arrangement: a single particle may be heard as a point; a stream of grains as a line; and dense agglomerations as a cloud. 

May 26  •  7:30 p.m.  •  $8  •  Details
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Nada is a Minneapolis based organization interested in promoting experimental and subversive musics and sound works. For the spring 2017 season, Nada is pleased to host an evening of quadraphonic surround sound performances from local sound artists Justin Meyers, Casey Deming, and Michael Flora.

Your new work for Zeitgeist, earth sleeps below, is part of a body of your work that is inspired by Minnesota landscapes. What initially drew you in this direction? 

My interest in environmental music originated simply from a love of the outdoors and many hiking and camping excursions. However, it grew into something more important; a sort of documentation of our precious wilderness. Our climate is changing at an alarming rate. In fact, Minnesota is the second most-affected state in the U.S. (after Alaska) by climate change. And along with a changing climate, the land and its inhabitants are also quite visibly affected, driving efforts to document and preserve as much as possible. It occurred to me that our environment as it currently exists ought to be documented through art as well. While my music most certainly reflects the serenity and wonder of the wilderness experience, it also recognizes the fragile relationship that we all share and need to sustain. 

Describe the research you did prior to composing earth sleeps below.

Last year I wrote a large work for the Minnesota Percussion Trio entitled Land of Cloud-Tinted Water that explored the diversity of various wilderness areas throughout Minnesota. In preparation for that work, I visited numerous state parks and nature preserves throughout the state to collect field recordings; study their landscapes, inhabitants, geography, history, etc; and simply to experience each place. Voyageurs National Park was one of those places, and I visited several times, both during summer and winter. The summertime experience was ultimately featured in Land of Cloud-Tinted Water, but I was captivated by the winter landscape there and wanted to explore it further. I went back for another visit last February while I was in the process of composing earth sleeps below. 

earth sleeps below confines itself to a single harmonic world but explores a wide range within this world. Does this relate to Voyageurs National Park? If so, how? 

Voyageurs consists of a vast area of interconnected lakes. Through earth sleeps below, I imagined the music beginning at surface level on one such lake, and panning out to discover the multitude of surrounding waterways, all connected and flowing as one. 

Zeitgeist is also performing your work Black. Would you talk about how nature is reflected in that piece as well?

Black (2013) depicts a walk through the dense forests of the Minnesota Northwoods in the dead of night, emphasizing that with the absence of light (and light pollution from cities) we have a heightened sense of hearing, and with that, a heightened imagination for what might be lurking around. Surrounded by complete darkness, the sounds of the forest are magnified and the mystery of the wilderness intensified. ​

Katherine Bergman is a Minnesota-based composer who draws on literature, environmentalism, and found materials to create work that has been described as hypnotic and visceral. She has received commissions and performances from the Gustavus Wind Orchestra, The Dream Songs Project, the Minnesota Percussion Trio, and other leading ensembles and festivals throughout the United States. Katherine holds degrees from the University of Northern Iowa and Gustavus Adolphus College, and her composition instructors have included Mary Ellen Childs, Jonathan Schwabe, and Samuel Adler. Katherine is director and co-founder of Spitting Image, a collective of Minneapolis-St. Paul composers. More information at www.katherinebergman.net.

May 4-6  •  7:30 p.m.  •  $15 / $10 students & seniors
Details

Teaming up with Twin Cities composer collective Spitting Image, Zeitgeist presents new commissions by Spitting Image Collective composers Katherine Bergman and Daniel Nass plus Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung’s captivating work Spiral XIV “Nimitta.”

How long has the trio been working together, and how did the collaboration begin?

BB: BHZ has been together for two years. The collaboration started in 2014 when I met Mark in Prague at the Echofluxx Festival run by Dan Senn who I studied with in Canberra, Australia. Mark and I played in a large ensemble and decided we needed to continue collaborating so I was invited to the US for an artists residency at Marshall University with Edwards Distinguished Professor in the Arts in 2015 where I met Steve Hall. We did concerts, toured and spent many hours in the studio rehearsing and recording which resulted in the album Total Harmonic Distortion.

MZ: Yes that’s it. We both also have a connection with Dan Senn who runs Echofluxx. Dan and I both studied with Sal Martirano; I met him at Sal’s funeral and our paths have crossed many times since then.

What is your collaborative process like?

SH: We get together and talk about how to approach each piece. As works develop I can choose to react to the music or video complementing the current texture, or be more pro-active; developing ideas over time. This time around, I am playing more rhythm-based ideas than the last, and thinking more about large-scale form.

MZ: I’ve been performing with Steve since around 2008 or 2009 with my jazz trio; and we have always had a great sympatico. In the jazz setting each individual has a more specific role, but I was always very attracted to Steve’s sense of color, and his ability to place sounds in the “right” place. After I met Brigid, I was sure that this would all work very well. Brigid and I are both composers so we usually bring in material to work with. Brigid’s video work is also a great place to start when we are working on something new; the films often work as visual/graphic scores. I would describe our working/collaborative process as active; we don’t speak much in the beginning, and tend to put pieces together by reviewing rehearsal recordings and discussing approaches. After a certain point, works begin to blossom and grow. That part of the process is exciting because it reveals how much more there is to explore.

BB: The collaborative process is exciting and inventive. Mark and I came together with pieces to perform and Steve adds percussion to the sound world. Each piece we discussed and rehearsed with specific ideas. The overall ideas of most of my compositions when working with Mark and Steve was they added to the overall texture with gestures and in most cases a conversation between the ideas to accentuate the ideas.

What is the story behind your recent album, Total Harmonic Distortion.

BB: Total Harmonic Distortion is a combination of structured improvisations and scored works by Mark and I. The evolution of the works resulted from our openness to ideas and exchanging musical thoughts and sound worlds to each of the pieces. Mark and I had specific ideas to how we should approach Stretching G and Gloss. For Stretching G Steve and I were given gestures we had to enter at specific times keeping movement within the composition and punctuating the gestures played by Mark on processed/looped guitar. With Gloss the score was the video that included nine short movements with a fixed electronic part. The other four works all different were created through improvisational experiments pushing all out individual sound worlds experimenting with different combinations and changing the acoustic sounds electronic in mixing stage which was an exciting time as all the tracks were recorded over such a short intense time.

SH: On Total Harmonic Distortion we went into the studio, recorded and developed things on the fly. As pieces developed we added additional layers; I think this relates well to Brigid’s videos and soundscapes. Overall, I enjoyed the project immensely and am very proud of the end result.
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MZ: When I performed with Brigid in Prague, I knew from the start that we would be doing a record. So I started looking for a way to bring her to the U.S. Marshall University’s Edwards Distinguished Professor in the Arts program was a great vehicle making it possible for us to begin working together. On THD we came in with the pieces Brigid mentions above, and then tried some different approaches to improvisation to finish. Pop, Flaming Radio, Silent Endeavors and Total Harmonic Distortion are the result of that work. Brigid and I are both “workaholics” so we finished roughing out tracks on the last day of her residency; that was after teaching for a week, and playing five concerts on a mini tour. Further, we both think alike so the hours of editing were very productive.


Tell us about the tour you are concluding, and the program at Studio Z.

MZ: On tour we will play at Mansfield University in Mansfield, PA, University of Minnesota, SEAMUS National Conference, and Studio Z. I encourage folks to view the promo and BHZ: THD tracks on youtube. The material on this program is eclectic and is a great next step for the group. We are playing really well together and the new works are vibrant and dynamic. I am also very pleased that my dear friend Todd Harper will be joining us at Studio Z. His new work is really great and he is such a talented improviser. The last time we played together was in the late 1980’s with the Seekers of Beauty. So for me it is a bit of a homecoming, and I am looking forward to seeing old friends!

BB: The tour we will be traveling on a bus from Huntington, West Virginia to Minnesota. We are performing a varied program of works by Mark and me referencing many genres. Steve will be adding a wonderful array of percussion to intricate and thought provoking electronics and guitar by Mark, and I will performing bass clarinet, electronics and projected fixed and live video.