Composition for the Chesapeake Bay Youth Symphony (Annapolis, MD) with live electronics.
Movements:
I. Ice flows on the Upper Susquehanna
II. Chesepiooc (Native Names)
III. Harborplace Soundscape
IV. Heron Sea
V. Submerged Islands
Program Note:
The Chesapeake Bay is one of the most tangible examples of how distant communities are
interconnected. In this composition, I consider the Bay from the
perspectives of watershed geography and drainage, Native names
associated with various rivers and creeks, industry and shipping,
remembrances of watermen, erosion and vanished islands. “Five Levels
of the Watershed” evolved from a workshop that I held with a group of
students from the Chesapeake Youth Symphony Orchestra. Some excerpts
from "Heron Sea", by the sailor-poet M. Kei, were provided to the
students along with some harmonic structures. The students responded
to particular images in the poem and wrote some phrases of music for
their own instruments, which I incorporated into the final score. A
live electronic part incorporates processed samples of the CYSO
students improvising and performing their phrases composed during the
workshop, field recordings, and spoken word excerpts related to the
Bay.
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Live recording and mixing by Bob & Crys Keiser, Crystal Photo Memories
Note: the electronics were not mic'd in the live performance, having microphones placed only in the air above the orchestra. Post-performance I have added in the portions of spoken word by M. Kei in the "Heron Sea" section (which can also be heard distantly in the live recording).