Rug Beating Music

oboe and electronics
(2004)
4 minutes

Premiered by Sonja Thoms
October 31, 2004 - Houston, Texas

About the piece:

Several times over the past 10 years I have gone to visit my mother's aunt and uncle, Helju and Uno, on their small farm in southern Estonia. Helju used to complain about the techno-pop music that the neighbors were constantly blasting. She called it "vaiba kloppimine" or "rug beating" music, implying that all it was good for was as an accompaniment for beating the dust out of rugs.
The initial impetus for Rug Beating Music came from this image of techno music blaring through the pastoral setting of my grand-aunt and uncle's home. The piece has a slow introduction and a few other moments of calm, but mostly it is infused with driving techno-style beats over which the oboe plays fast, virtuosic runs. The oboe's sound is processed live through a ring modulator giving it a rougher, slightly distorted sound, almost as if it were an electric guitar.
Everything you will hear in the electronic part of the piece originated in some sound that Sonja made with the oboe. These were recorded and then processed using Pro Tools and Peak digital editing software. For example, the principal techno-ish texture of the electronic part is derived primarily from oboe key clicks, some of which were shifted in pitch or filtered to allow for a wider variety of beats.