“Four Dimensions” a success in Russia!

March 18, 2023

The original version

Commissioned by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, premiered at Full Sail University April 2012 conducted by Maestro Dirk Meyer

Four Dimensions is a seven-minute “concert of the future” merging orchestra with music synthesis. An EWI (electronic wind instrument) and a laptop musician perform as members of the orchestra. Game sound expert Marc Pinsky organized my 72 pre-rendered, synthesized composed as a section of the orchestra (available in stereo and 5.1 surround) using Max8 software. Divided into Dimensions Zero through Four, the music is meant to inspire insights into what dimensional space is. Like the 2012 premiere, a visual element also helps to incite connection. Similar to the brilliant real-time computer art by Nathan Selikoff, Russia’s TEMERA also presented synchronized video.

Interested in learning more about the music and seeing the scores? CLICK HERE

The TEREMA Russian folk orchestra Version!R

A surprise greeted me in the email when I was contacted by the Russian conductor of the controversial folk orchestra TEREMA (“folk-lore), Долгов Андрей (Andrey Dolgov):

“November 24 in St. Petersburg, in the concert hall “Music-Hall” will be a big concert, the concept of which is a combination of acoustic and electronic sound. The concert will feature two orchestras. One is the orchestra of Russian folk instruments “Terema”. The second is a string orchestra. This large combined orchestra is the base group for the concert. In addition, many soloists will take part in this performance.”

“While preparing for the concert, I found on YouTube a recording of your composition “Four Dimensions for Orchestra, EWI and Laptop”. This music fits perfectly with our concept. We also found a musician playing EWI.”

This wasn’t the first time Maestro Dolgev combined such forces. Here is their 2021 concert of Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina’s “Concerto for Two Orchestras TEREMA, known for pushing genre boundaries into classical and jazz performed Four Dimensions in St. Petersburg, Russia on November 24th. I recently received their video.

The results are fascinating.:

Orchestra composition:

Small domras 3 Alto domras 3 Bass domras 3

Flute (piccolo flute), Oboe, Clarinet Bb

Electronic wind instrument (EWI), 2 Bayana

Timpani

Percussion 1: Crash Cymbals, Suspended Cymbal, Triangle, Crotales, Bongos (shared), Handclaps

Percussion 2: Snare Drum, Large Gong, Handclaps

Percussion 3: Bass Drum, Tambourine, Bongos (shared ), Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Handclaps

Electronics triggers

Gusli keyboards

Balalaika prima Balalaika second Balalaika viola Balalaika Double bass

piano

Violins 1 Violins 2 Violas Cellos Double basses

What a thrill it is for any composer to hear their work, but doubly so if it is a sizable one, triply so if the performance is a surprise from another country – and quintuply so if it is played on a new world of instruments!

I hope you enjoy comparing these orchestras as much as I have! Be sure to check out more of TEREMA’s videos.

Why would anyone be interested in hearing Distance Music?

September 3, 2021

Wouldn’t it be fun to step into a vast musical environment, full of sounds from across the distance, echoing through the streets and woods – that change their rhythms and order as you walk? To be surrounded by a melody that is created by where you choose to stand? To be a part of an audience that looks more like kids in an easter-egg hunt than a classical concert, exploring the landscape and sharing favorite locations? And finding little gems of precision musicianship and improvisation along the way – all with acoustic instruments and no mics or loudspeakers.

Maybe you’ve noticed how thunder arrives 5 seconds per mile after its lightning strike, or that you have to wait for the boom of a high 4th of July firework, or that the drummers’ sticks don’t match up to their sounds at the halftime show? If you could go back in time to re-live any of those experiences from a different location, you would hear different timings of those same events. Why? Since sound travels at a constant speed, the further you are from the source, the more time it takes to reach you. Distance Music exploits this natural phenomenon to construct this new music experience.

Like a book or movie, music is a story that runs along a planned route, created by its author, director, or composer. Distance Music is more like a modern computer game, where the composer, like a game designer, creates an environment that gives agency to the player, or in this case, the listener, to make their own storyline. Audiences engage by exploring the conditions set up for them by choosing where to walk in its vast concert area, measuring from the hundreds of feet to the tens of acres. The music they hear is the product of their exploration. A stage becomes irrelevant because there is no “best place” to listen to the composer’s intentions.

The music has two distinct layers. “Shifting Ground,” which is created by machines and heard across the concert site. “Musician Bubbles” feature live musicians synchronizing with the shifting ground at specially chosen spots.

The shifting ground layer is the most prominent. It is a repeating group, or “constellation,” of notes created by a group of loud, remote-controlled, acoustic machines called “Sounders.” They each play a loud, short tone exactly together, which, moving at the speed of sound, reaches each listener in turn from closest to farthest. The constellation heard by each person comes from the length of time each note takes to get to them. Musical change of the shifting ground occurs only in the listeners’ perception by walking to a different place. A couple standing together catch a nearly identical shifting ground. The further apart the two listeners are, the less similar their constellation will be. If someone refuses to walk, they’ll hear the same constellation pattern repeated throughout. (not recommended!)

The sounders are Nathan AirChime train horns, powered by compressed air stored in heavy, high-pressure cylinders. A battery-powered telemetry system sends instructions to each sounder via digital radio.

What makes this “Music” – instead of just an engaging experiment? The answer lies in how the sounders are positioned and the inclusion of live musicians. By placing sounders at the same, exact distance apart (or doubled, tripled, etc.), every place in the shifting ground sharing those distances will have a rhythmic beat. Lots of these points exist throughout the concert area. Audiences will repeatedly find constellations with beats, gradually lose them, and then find different ones again as they walk. The composer can put a soloist or ensemble on any of these spots, and by calculating the location’s constellation, a score can be developed. They are named “musician bubbles” because hearing them over the shifting ground will only happen when they are nearby. They allow composers and performers to take full advantage of traditional composition and performance techniques for an all-around musical experience.

What ever happened to Distance Music and the TRAIN HORNS?

April 27, 2021

Whatever happened to Distance Music and the Train Horn concept?

Tons.

I want to catch up with you on the progress made since my October 2014 attempt at Lake Eola for 30 musicians and 7 train horns on swan boats (Wow, it’s been 7 ½ years!). Since then, I’m happy to report that the project has:

Vastly improved, custom radio telemetry from Mike Gerstweiler of Pribusin, Inc
Redesign and fabrication of the whole Distance Organ apparatus., thanks to Pribusin, Inc.
Budgeting to expand from 7 to 9 separate apparatuses (pitches)
Creation of a Unity application for the design and demonstration of installations, thanks to my son, Christopher
Identified technology to bring on-the-ground geo-positioning accuracy to within 1 meter anywhere in the US or Europe
Acquired twelve 5W Motorola walkie-talkies for ground control and communications

Most importantly, my biggest win is you – for supporting me through it all, encouraging me to not give up on this oddly disruptive approach to the musical experience. I haven’t thanked you nearly enough! THANK YOU!

Here are My Current Challenges:

1. The note durations from the horns need to be as short as possible: under 125ms
2. Some of the Train Horns need to be tuned
3. The telemetry is fast, but early tests reveal too short of a range

I need your help in finding solutions! Please let me know if you have an interest in acoustics, geometry, code writing, pneumatics, or radio and would like to contribute your ideas on how to SOLVE THESE CHALLENGES. Email me at info@keithlaymusic.com

I look forward to working with you. This will be fun! I have a second set of active ear protection for you for experimentation…..

Keith

for Earth Day

April 21, 2021

...Keith Lay’s unapologetically emotional Earth Caoine (1995), an extended cathartic wail of a piece essentially grieving for the environmental concerns of the planet.

Ken Smith

Review

April 22nd is Earth Day

Take nine minutes over the next few days to grieve over any loss you feel – or hurt to nature on your mind – with “Earth Caoine.”
Maybe for the rivers or the seas.
Maybe for the lack of stars in your nights
or the stresses on so many things alive.

Listen to how Richard Stoltzman’s clarinet can guide you through loss:

1) cries

2) flowing

3) questioning

4) extreme ANGER

5) accepting

Music and Why I Compose

March 18, 2021

Music and Why I compose

Music occurs within a listeners’ consciousness when they pay attention to changes in relationship or proportion. There is music in what we hear, of course, but also music in what we see, taste, smell, and feel. There is music from within our memories and bodies. Listening integrates mind and body into balanced, energetic cooperation.

My goal as a composer is to design and produce packages of time and space for listeners that inspires well-being. My goal is to offer music experiences that are more than beautiful, fun, or clever and possess additional qualities which catalyze everyone involved, the audience, myself and musicians, to connect our inner nature with outer nature. Since the mid-1990s, I’ve come to realize that creating such musical experiences that induce well-being or a spark of enlightenment brings me joy and a sense of purpose.

I want my concerts to be a life-affirming experience that invites all ages and backgrounds into a larger, more richly varied world through deeper listening. “Deeper” listening meaning that we expand beyond normal boundaries and connect to the whole of our environment and beyond.

News - Classic