Fete de la Musique (June 22nd, 2021)

In reflection of this years’ previous group work, I have found myself on a path I am enjoying quite a bit. Group work I have participated in throughout the year has proven to be tricky for its’ circumstances, but influential in practice. Throughout these experiences, I have somewhat found my footing where I know my strengths and weaknesses now. Throughout the radio show, album, and performance briefs, I have consistently played a prominent role in the concept culmination behind the body of work. Doing research, and writing a thesis, and translating that through sound (literally or abstractly) is a process I feel much more comfortable in, and I can thank part of that to the process of working in a group. Working from this point, I can reflect and see the areas I want to focus on more, for example, getting more experience with the equipment, creating immersive experiences, performance (dance-floor music as a module, I love that), etc. 

When I started planning this portion of my project, I was already moving in a direction towards performance/video work with sound and how I could incorporate it, but when Jose introduced the idea for a sound performance with one week to prepare, I shifted a lot of my ideas and effort towards said performance. Deconstruction piqued my interest when I began researching for a blog post, its’ unmatched minimalism, and deep philosophical background is something I felt I could use in my work with sound. (writing example seen below)  

In early April, I received an opportunity to submit to collaborate with an LCF fashion student for World Music Day. For this celebration, they challenged us Sound Art students to submit pieces of work for the fashion students to choose and respond to through fashion. With this project, they want to create a video piece of the sound and apparel together. For the piece I submitted and was selected for, I wanted to translate the feeling of gazing at something intently into sound. In a way this was a playground for me to play with the concept of deconstruction. What feeling can I create sonically that WILL be translated into a physical garment? When I started putting this piece together, it felt like I had to make something runway-ready as well which was an interesting catalyst for my work process. A runway shoe recently that had caught my eye for its’ sound and visuals was the 20201 Spring Summer Mugler collection. Not only were the garments in this collection highly expressive and unique, but the sound and visuals paralleled this perfectly by delivering a sense of illusion and fascination.

I experimented with Max/MSP to create the intro washing sounds, originally I used harp samples because it felt like a sonic leitmotiv in the representation of beauty, but I soon changed and tried to replicate it in my vision for my comfortability of sampling. I mimicked the midi patterns of glissandos and instead of a harp, I used synths I put together digitally.  After these rushing, washed-out synths, I wanted to shatter that feeling with something heavy. From a modular beat I made using the ARP2600 software, using the Push 2, I tracked the beat and replaced each drum with samples taken from tapping and kicking things around my room. Responding to this percussion is just a fatter bass I felt was appropriate to assist the intensity of the piece. The sonic layers towards the end were also create through Max and Spectral Stretch. Though this piece came out how I wanted it, my process of work was very unorganized and unrealistic, over time I hope I can pare the time it took to produce this piece or find a more manageable method that suits me more. 

In this submission, I found myself very torn because I found it difficult to show all of my interest for next year in one piece. Though I often focus on experimental composition and sonic world-building, I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone and make something more much more experimental (for myself). I titled this piece Gazing because it is essentially the feeling I wanted to translate sonically. This was my first active attempt in creating something ‘deconstructed’, focusing on the intent of a single sound and what it can demonstrate beyond its’ waveform. Letting the mind do the work. 

This is the manifesto I wrote for my groups’ performance and I have found it applicable and representative of my thought process towards deconstruction. 

Erect a structure of your belief

Suspend into your thoughts 

Brick by brick 

Thought by thought 

Examine your surroundings 

Feel the architecture 

Run your hands along the walls that hold you in 

Linger in that space 

What did it take to get here? 

How much will it take to bring it down? 

What can I release? 

Resist the details 

Light the match

Absorb the orange glow

the inferno from within 

Demolish the unwanted 

Turn destruction into a manageable method 

Burn your own bridges 

Look back into the void that once looked into you 

Acknowledge the rest 

Let the demolition pave your way 

Use both hands to hold onto what you know 

Ash 

to fertile soil 

fertile soil  

To a bountiful harvest 

Believe that anything built 

Can be demolished 

And turned anew  

Cobussen, Marcel. “Deconstruction in Music : Deconstruction: Between Method and Singularity.” Www.deconstruction-In-Music.com, 2002, www.deconstruction-in-music.com/deconstruction/deconstruction-between-method-and-singularity/230. 

Sunarto, Dr. “Deconstruction in Music.” Aesthetics Philosophy, 9 Oct. 2018, sunartofilsuf.wordpress.com/2018/10/09/deconstruction-in-music/.

—. “Deconstruction | Criticism.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 27 Sept. 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/deconstruction.

Mugler (2021). MUGLER Fashion – The Spring Summer 2021 Collection. [online] Mugler. Available at: https://www.muglerusa.com/spring-summer-2021/spring-summer-2021.html 

Stewart, L. (2012). 5-Stage Demolition Process Guides Implosion of 5-story Building. [online] For Construction Pros. Available at: https://www.forconstructionpros.com/equipment/article/10730865/5stage-demolition-process-guides-implosion-of-5story-building.