Retelling (2006)
electronics (manipulated speech)
Ilmar (2004)
a theater piece for oboe, electronics and video
Rug Beating Music (2004)
oboe and electronics
The Wild and Exotic Dreams of Mortimer Johnson (2003)
electronics (manipulated accordion and car sounds)

Retelling

I. 30-Second Life
II. Favorite Word
III. Star Wars

electronics (manipulated speech)
(2006)
3 minutes

listen:
30-Second Life
Favorite Word (note: this clip includes profanity)
Star Wars

About the piece:

I love the way people tell stories. The different phrasing, inflections, emphasis and all the ahhs and umms that people interject often end up being more interesting than the plots. I have wanted to build a piece around this idea for some time, but I have yet to find the right way to do it. Here are three short excercises in which I combine several people's responses to a few simple questions: "Give me a thirty-second summary of your life," "what is your favorite word?" and "describe to me the plot of Star Wars." I feel that the composite answer created by juxtoposing the responses gives one a very different feeling than just listening to the individual responses would. There is something about these multiple perspectives on a single topic which seems to yield an illuminating, truthful response. The combination of answers is also often quite funny. 30-Second Life was chosen for inclusion on the 2006 Pacific Rim Mix of the 60x60 project.

Music