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Tin Rain | A Nightmare (2007)
For Performers, Tape. and Video (excerpt)
The Short: A 7 minute multimedia performance for people and robot.
The Long: An audio-visual piece written for an ensemble of composers at NYU. It is scored for four players with DVD and is a depiction of a nightmare I had as a child. Some of the notation is different and in some parts the score functions more like a set of dramatic directions which create a structure for improvisation. The video part is fragmented and dark, but the source material is mostly cartoons, animation, words and shapes. The visuals only really kick in around the three minute mark. I initially wrote the piece to be an structured improvisation with acoustic instruments and later decided to add visuals and transform the performance space into the actual dream. Man vs. machine, told through the eyes of a child. I consistently find myself thinking about these issues while I’m making pieces, the integration of digital and analog ideas, the sacrifices that come with precision, and human emotion conveyed through electronic means.
There are only a few instruments that are specified in the score, namely four heavyweight chains. The performers are encouraged to supplement the standard sound arsenal with found objects, musical toys, radios, television sets, and even triggering devices if they so choose.
Program Note
A nightmare dialogue I had during a rainstorm when I was five and the only thing I could think about was how to get on the good side of the robots that were inevitably going to take over the world.
...and so began the sad and robotic thoughts of foreign lights and sharp tin rain.
