My Score Movies
- tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
(initial writing November 14, 2014 - December 9, 2014; 'final' touches March 26-27, 2015; revision November 28, 2015; further revision December 7, 2021)
I define a "Score Movie" as a movie that provides the score for the production of its own soundtrack. I don't mean that the score is a separate item from the movie (although parts of it may be), I mean that the movie itself IS THE SCORE.
I don't mean that in some vague way the movie should be responded to as a score - in the sense of something like: 'Oh, it's an autumn scene so play some autumn music' or 'The couple are arguing so play some snarling music'.
I mean that the movie is specifically a score & that its being a score is central to what it is - not an ephemeral aspect or an after-thought or something considered to be intrinsic to all movies.
The closest example of a predecessor to these Score Movies of mine that I can think of would be the "Sing-Along with the Bouncing Ball" movies that inspired the 1st of these Score Movies. The significant difference, however, between this predecessor & my own work is that the Sing-Along movies have the sound-track provided & the Sing-Along score just illustrates what's already there. If the (v)audience doesn't sing-along the soundtrack is still complete unto itself. In my Score Movies the movie sound is not complete without the live realization of the score. There may be other closer example predecessors to my Score Movies but I don't know what they are & my knowledge of movies & music is extensive.
Furthermore, no-one else that I've communicated with has been able to provide me with a concrete exacting example of a predecessor either. As such, to the best of my knowledge, I am the inventor of Score Movies - a claim I will hold to until someone proves the contrary - by "proves" I mean that someone has to give me specific verifiable information - not make vague unscholarly statements such as "I'm sure somebody's already done that".
As of December 5, 2021, I finally found an example of someone who made what I call a "Score Movie" before I did. I haven't seen the work yet but I have a CD of a realization of its soundtrack. This CD comes with a booklet that describes the piece. It took me 38 years since I made my 1st Score Movie to learn about this one. The work is by Richard Lerman & it's called "Sections for Screen, Performers and Audience" & it appears to be from 1974 or 1975. It's a 16mm film. THEREFORE, I hereby give credit to Lerman as the 1st person to make a Score Movie (he doesn't call it that, I do) until an earlier example comes to my attention. Perhaps that puts me in the position of being the person who then developed it into a genre. Alternatively, since I didn't know about Lerman's piece until so much later, perhaps I could be said to've coinvented the Score Movie since my making them wasn't derivative of Lerman's having done so. Does that make this a Zeitgeist?
The Score Movies as presented on my "onesownthoughts" YouTube channel ( https://m.youtube.com/#/user/onesownthoughts ) are versions with the live soundtrack added - in most cases with the (m)usicians also shown. As such, the versions presented are possible realizations rather than the movies in their purist Score Movie form. People interested in getting copies of the actual Score Movie(s) for performance are encouraged to contact me, tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE, at:
idioideo at verizon dot net
Following is a list of my Score Movies in the chronological order of their making with the descriptions that accompany them on YouTube & Vimeo + some analysis, etc:
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"Sound Along w/ t he Bounding Ball(s)" - mid 1983
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/pGyS0t7vEQ0
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"Sound Along w/ t he Bounding Ball(s)" at Jefferson presents..., Pittsburgh, January 27, 2007 - LaDonna Smith's hat brim intruding on upper left
film: superimposition of close-up of title roll over mid-shot of player piano with drapery sample roll
"Sound Along w/ t he Bounding Ball(s)" - mid 1983 - tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: conception & direction, roll manufacture; Steve Estes: player piano & 16mm camera; Leanne Johnson: Norkin Grip - 4 versions, the most recent of wch is online & was finished December 24, 2009 - soundtrack featuring a combination of 4 different realizations of the Score Movie:
1. The Bunker, Montréal, April 19, 1986: Norman Yeh: violin, lyre; John Berndt: organ; Guy Boulanger: f/x
2. Time Out Hot Tubs, Boulder, May 10, 1986: Joel Haertling: electronic greeting card; Rick Corrigan: synthesizer
3. BalTimOre, mid1986: tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: voice
4. Jefferson presents..., Pittsburgh, January 27, 2007: LaDonna Smith: viola, vocals; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: slide guitar w/ f/x; Steve Boyle: percussion; Greg Pierce: acoustic guitar
"Sound Along w/ t he Bounding Ball(s)" is my 31st movie & one of my worst ones. Nonetheless, it has redeeming qualities. I like that its main subject is a player piano. I like that it was the 1st film where I used a hole-punch to punch out circles of film wch were then re-placed.
"Sound Along w/ t he Bounding Ball(s)": example of negative with hole-puncher punch-out technique
- the superimposition is a persistance-of-vision video optical illusion
I like that it's audience participatory. I like some of the superimpositions. I like that it was my 1st film in English AND French. I like that it was designed to be both front AND rear screen projected. After screening it while touring in 1986, I mostly 'retired' the film until almost 21 yrs later in 2007 when I brought it out in honor of being able to play with visiting veteran improviser LaDonna Smith @ Jefferson Presents in Pittsburgh. The version presented here combines 2 live soundtracks from my "6 Fingers Crossed Country T.Ore/Tour" in 1986 w/ the 'studio' vocals I added later PLUS the Smith gig. There are 2 prints of this film: one in negative in the Enoch Pratt Free Library collection in BalTimOre & my own print, slightly better edited, in positive. For this version I intercut a video transfer of the negative version w/ the JP projection version of the positive one. LaDonna (well.. mostly her hat) can be glimpsed on the left & Steve & Greg can be briefly glimpsed on the right when Gordon's camerawork pans to them (& when I adjust the brightness & contrast & otherwise key them in). The 16mm camerwork on the original film was done by Steve Estes. - December 24, 2009 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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"OUR" - 1992
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/u4nZGBPPOyM
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"OUR": tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE conducting the "Dispersal" CAMU (Cue Activated Modular Unit) in Normal's bookstore in BalTimOre
In 1992, Rebecca Barten & I decided to collaborate by making a 16mm film together. Rebecca & I were both making found footage films at the time & I was very preoccupied with the music group that Neil Feather & I had cofounded (with Courtney McCullough as the additional original member), whose name changed every time we played, that was the "Official" group for every occasion: hence, for simplicity's sake, The "Official" Project. I had also recently cofounded a used books, records, etc, store in BalTimOre called Normal's (which still exists). I shot footage of customers in Normal's performing the Official cues that were designed to trigger what we called CAMUs, Cue Activated Modular Units. I had one or two prints of this footage made & gave one set of cue footage to Rebecca. She then intercut it with found footage. I used the other set of cue footage to edit into the "Official John Lennon's Erection Homage & Cheese Sandwich" 16mm movie. Later that year, the Official Project went on tour in a quartet version (it was a big band at the time) & Rebecca went with us as the projectionist. When we projected an early unfinished version of the film silently during our tour we sometimes responded to the cues in the movie to trigger our playing. In this version of the film, I've edited the soundtrack to have a tighter connection between the cues & the sounds. I consider this to be the 2nd of my Score Movies where the visuals give specific instructions to musicians about how to play the soundtrack. MORE INFORMATION about those instructions can be found in the booklet that accompanies our Official Wafer Face Record. - November 17, 2014 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: experimental music, Official Project, Rebecca Barten, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Score Movie
What cues appear when & what they mean:
02:39 = Imitative Unison
"Imitative Unison" is in the "Miscellaneous" category in the MORE INFORMATION booklet. I don't remember which "Official" member it originated with.
"The cueing player circumscribes a section of the group or addresses theirself to the whole group & points w/ both thumbs to herself & then plays/performs. The so-circumscribed (or uncircumscribed) players then immediately try to imitate & play along as closely as possible the sound(s)/action(s) that the cuer is playing. It may be passed around w/ the thumbs as w/ the "Drelso" so that the person being imitated changes."
["Drelso/Hot Potato" is in the "Passing category & has 3 types. 2 of these ("multiple" & "single" originated with Neil Feather, the 3rd ("Pitch Specific Drelso w/ Blend") originated with tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE. I'll just present the "single Drelso" here to somewhat clarify the above entry:
"A player plays a phrase & points in the direction of another player. The 2nd player follows suit. The other players stop playing in the meantime & wait for the Drelso/Hot Potato to be passed to them. This ends when the player playing passes it outside of the players rather than to someone else."
In the version presented on YouTube the soundtrack is taken from recordings of realizations of the CAMUs that didn't directly respond to the film. As such, this portion of the soundtrack isn't exactly correct insofar as the players aren't imitating the film, they're imitating whoever cued the CAMU in the recorded situation.
One interpretation of the film might be that the film itself is cueing the "Imitative Unison" & that the players should, thus, imitate the film. As such, the players would then imitate the fighting clowns that follow the cueing.
02:42 = clowns fighting
03:57 = Pentatonic
The MORE INFORMATION booklet was written before the "Official" Project's 1992 tour. because of this, the cues developed on that tour & in any other time after the writing of the booklet probably aren't written down anywhere that I can remember at the moment. "Pentatonic", one the CAMUs I would've created, is very simple: play pentatonically - probably just the black notes on a keyboard & their equivalents on other instruments.
04:09 = Ordinary Spatial Conducting
"Ordinary Spatial Conducting" is in the "Conducting" section, subsection "Spatial". It probably originated with me but may've originated with Neil Feather.
"Using the cue stick or their hands, the conductor indicates who can play when by pointing to them. Often groups are designated by using an encircling motion. Subtleties of playing can be indicated by evocative gesture - ie: the conductor's dancing can become the other player's instructions."
The conductor here just specifies left & right groupings. There're no "subtleties". The pointing of the cue stick then shows which of the sides can play when.
04:32 = Hip Shake
"Hip Shake" is in the "Conducting" section, subsection "Coordinating":
"A player who shakes their hips prior to cueing something indicates that the players are to continue playing whichever CAMU(s) they're already in the midst of simultaneously w/ whichever new CAMU is being cued."
Since "Pentatonic" was the last CAMU cued that would mean that the players should either still be playing "Pentatonic" or might've segued into "free form".
04:36 = Tremolo
"Tremolo" is another one of my very simple CAMUs. Given that the "Hip Shake" preceded this & that the "Pentatonic" preceded that, the players should now probably be applying tremolo to whatever pentatonic they're doing.
"This is cued by a player's holding their hands in the shape of a "T" (as in a "Time Out" signal). The players then play Tremolo - wch for these purposes mean a quick reiteration of each note played."
04:37 = Ordinary Spatial Conducting (new conductor, faster)
The simplest progression here would be for the players to now be playing pentatonically with tremolo & only when the conductor points the cue stick to their side.
05:28 = Bass-Ackwards
This is in the "Disrupting" section. It's most likely one of my CAMUs.
"The players play their instruments in a way physically contrary to their usual position. Eg: drummers might play w/ their feet or w/ their sticks in their mouth, a wind player might hold the instrument up-side-down, a string player might hold their instrument behind their back, etc.. The purpose isn't so much to encourage expanded technique as much as it is to handicap the player."
Since no "Hip Shake" has preceded this, players are now potentially 'freed' from the tremolo pentatonic. Since there's also no longer spatial conducting happening, they can concentarte exclusively on the "Bass-Ackwards". However, another possible interpretation is that the tremolo pentatonic could continue through this (in a handicapped fashion).
06:17 = Ersatz Mancini (ignored - Bass-Ackwards continues)
The significance of the "8" here escapes my memory. My best guess is that it's meant to cue the "Ersatz Mancini", as in the composer Henry Mancini because that uses an octatonic scale. The implication of the film might be that the player cueing would trace an "8" in the air. However, in typical performance, that would've been cued by a player playing the "Ersatz Mancini" theme: C, #C, #D, E, #F, G, A, #A, C (ascending followed by descending) with each note played twice. The theme is played solo 1st, then in unison, then people improvise on the scale. The initiating player repeats the theme again, the other players play it in unison & the CAMU ends.
In the soundtrack to the YouTube presentation of "OUR", the "Ersatz Mancini" is ignored. That possibility might occur if the players didn't notice the cue. A strict interpretation would have the "Bass-Akwards" end while the "Ersatz Mancini" would begin.
06:45 = Hip Shake
Only certain cues would work following a "Hip-Shake" during the "Ersatz Mancini", such as the "Ordinary Spatial". Since that doesn't happen next, the "Ersatz Mancini" would be cut short without a restatement of its theme unless the playing had already segued into "free-form" which is potentially an option.
06:49 = Ascending/Descending (w/ Steel Gherkin)
Here's the link that'll take you directly to the part referred to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4nZGBPPOyM&t=6m49s . The "Steel Gherkin" was/is one of Neil Feather's simpler instruments. The CAMU is probably Neil's. This is under "Conducting", subsection "Tonal":
"This is cued by a player holding a metal cannister w/ slots cut in it called the "Steel Gherkin" & then playing a single note on it. If the Gherkin is held upright then the other players respond by playing an ascending sequence. If the Gherkin is held down then the players respond by playing an descending sequence.This CAMU is most often cued a few times in succession. If the 2 positions of the Gherkin follow each other the players usually repreat their previous sequence in reverse."
06:50 = up
06:52 = up
06:55 = down
07:07 = pulse for Debacle
This is listed under the "Counting" section. It's one of Neil's.
"A pulse is cued by a player pointing at the player designated to start the pulse while holding their wrist. After the pulse is started, each player plays a cycle fro the duration of a specific number of pulses. The number of pulses determining each player's cycle can be determined by the player or by a conductor's individualized hand sugnals. The more different the cycle numbers, the better. the player must play the same cycle repeatedly until someone cues an increase or decrease in pulses per cycle (either individually or collectively) or an increase in rests (either individually or collectively) - at wch point the player(s) can change their cycle either by just appropriately changing the 1 they've already been playing or by playing a new 1. This CAMU ends when a player points at the person playing the pulse & makes a lenghtwise slashing motion as if they're committing suicide - at wch point the pulse stops."
Since there's no additional cueing other than the initial one, none of the nuances gone into above should be explored. Since the pointing is to the left, the left-most player should be the pulse-setter.
07:42 = Hip-Shake
07:47 = Tremolo
The "Hip Shake" enables the addition of tremolo to the "Debcale".
08:20 = slitting wrist to end pulse for Debacle
08:32 = Vibrato
"Vibrato" is another simple one of mine:
"This is cued by a player crossing their arms in an "X" - ie: forming a "V" w/ the forearms. The players then play Vibrato - meaning playing w/ a slight ("microntonal") fluctuation in pitch or, perhaps, dynamic."
In the film, the "V" is more clearly delineated with direct-on-film marker, as has previously been done with the pulse & wrist-slit cues for the "Debacle". Since the "Debacle" has just ended, the playing is "free-form" with vibrato.
08:43 = Rewind/Playback
This is under "Miscellaneous". It's one of John Berndt's CAMUs:
"The cuer moves to the center, attracts the attention of the cued group, & makes a verey visible motion of cranking a big crank (eventually a "real" prop crank?) & then "lets it go". During the cranking back, the other players make failry quiet "backwards tape noises" w/ their voices, metally counting backwards through their last playing as much as possible. When the "crank is released", the players try as much as possible to recreate the sections of playing wch were "rewound" over - including entire CAMUs - & continue playing into "the present" unless the "operator" rewinds them again. Obviously this will be improbable to occur accurately, giving rise to the usual revisionist history (ie: variations of rewound sections). Multiple Realities? Parallel Universes?"
Neil & I (d) composed about 6/7ths of the CAMUS in equal parts. I was the one who usually explained them to the players & conducted the rehearsals. Neil's & my CAMUs were fairly practical. John's often weren't. This was one of the impractical ones that may've never been performed in front of a(n) (v)audience. Here a ratchet sound is added to the miming of cranking. As I recall, at some point it was agreed that using a ratchet (cog rattle) as the cueing device was acceptable. In attempting to respond correctly to this film, one should try to follow John's directions.
09:04 = Mysterious Preparation For An Ill-Timed Encore
"Mysterious Preparation For An Ill-Timed Encore" is one of John's simpler ones. It's under "Disrupting".
"Cued by a player stopping playing & leaving the space, other players follow them out of the playing area & disperse into surrounding areas until they can't see each other (on the street, perhaps), each do something furtive or enigmatic, & then return to the space to continue playing."
In the film's case, the door closing = silence. The players resume playing as soon as the next cue appears.
09:32 = Dispersal
"Dispersal" is another one of mine. It's categorized under "Counting".
"A player stands in the conductor position (ie: somewhat central & visible to the other players) & holds their upper arm flush to their body w/ their forearm pointing at a 90º angle from their body & w/ their hand in their fist. When this cuer is sure that all the players have noticed this cue, the cuer starts conducting increasingly dispersed accents.
"The conducting is as follows: piston/punch-like motion of fist forward to indicate 1st accent; piston forward: 2nd accent, fist up to shoulder (ie: foreram against upper arm) to indicate penultimate beat before next accent; 3rd accent, fist swung to [left] (ie: away from the body if right hand is used) to indicate the 2nd beat of this sequence, penultimate beat indication (as before); 4th accent, 2nd beat (as before), fist swing to left (across abdomen if right hand is used) to indicate the 3rd beat of this sequence, penultimate beat; 5th accent, 2nd beat, 3rd beat (as before), 4th beat (fist back to the [right]), penultimate beat; etc.. - Each new beat added per sequence is counted by having the forearm swing back & forth from left to right as before. The players are "free" to play however they want to duting the non-accented section(s) but must play the accent(s) in unison. The conductor ends this CAMU by leaving the conducting position & ceasing to function as the metronome."
I'm shown conducting. This was all shot using a16mm hand-crank Bolex with a limited amount of time possible per crank. That means that the conducting isn't as fluid as it would be in a live situation because of the awkwardness of the edits.
10:26 = trapese footage
Since the "Dispersal" CAMU has just ended, the players cen perform "free-form".
11:02 = Wreck
This is another CAMU of mine. It's categorized under "Disrupting".
"Players appear to lose control of their motor functions - sometimes knocking over their instruments & usually simulating falling to the ground. A siren often sounds & 1 or more player(s) may get "acrried away". At least 1 wine bottle & a clock have been broken during this 1."
Most or all of the above CAMU desriptions were written by me. In the MORE INFORMATION booklet they're not credited to particular people because the vibe of the project was very collaborative. Hence my difficulty in sometimes remembering who did what. Adding to the confusion are things like "Dialectical Immaterialism" having been named after a phrase of John's but having actually been co-composed by Neil & myself. Since the actual body of CAMUs consisted of over 60 elements that were subject to fairly complex rules that took a substantial amount of practice, this film version is deliberately highly simplified with much leeway to make realizations easier. Despite this, it's never been completely performed live.
This movie isn't a Score Movie, per se, but it shows the "OUR" Score Movie somewhat in use by the "Official" Project on our 1992 tour. Readers interested in witnessing the "Wreck" in action in that context should click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN5U7JANpRA&t=9m4s
URL: https://youtu.be/EN5U7JANpRA
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The "Official" Project was initiated by myself, in conjunction w/ instrument inventor Neil Feather, in BalTimOre w/ its 1st rehearsal on April 25, 1990. It was soon joined by Brian Wolle & Courtney McCullough. Brian, ever difficult, dropped out after the 1st gig (May 5, 1990) & was replace by Jake True & Laura A. Trueseal. That incarnation lasted for about 7 mnths & the group was reduced to a duo. That expanded to a big band in mid 1991. The big band recorded a record for Wafer Face Records & planned a 1992 tour to launch it. Record production dragged on & the tour went ahead (w/o the record) from the beginning of August to the beginning of September, 1992. For practical reasons, the band was reduced from its peak of 17 to the touring group of 4: myself (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE), Neil Feather, Peter Williams, & John Eaton - augmented by Rebecca Barten as the 16mm projectionist. Despite our all being employed, we had almost no money. Nonetheless, we managed to rent a U-Haul van wch we modified to hold our substantial amt of equipment & a bench/couch that we put behind the 2 front seats that came w/ the van. Our 1st gig was at an art school in Portland, Maine. Since we changed our name (according to formula) every time we played, we were "the "Official", August 4th, 1992E.V., Band that If You don't Hear Your Vital Organs will Shrivel Up & Disappear". Owen O'Toole, the publisher of our record-to-be & our Portland host, gave us ten 7" singles to take w/ us to give away. When we got to the Canadian border, we were interrogated for 3.5 hrs & were told that we'd have to pay $350 customs fees for the 10 singles we had & a few other items that we'd been planning to give away. We told them we'd rather turn back into the US. They told us we weren't allowed to. Surely that was illegal. This robbery left me w/ only a few dollars to live off of for the remainder of the tour. In Montréal, 3 of us appeared on radio stn CKUT as "the "Official", August 7th, 1992E.V., CKUT, Late Night Atrocity Exhibition Barkers". That program can be heard & downloaded from the Internet Archive here: http://archive.org/details/Radio1992 . Later that night we were joined by 3 more members of the big band: John Berndt, Scott Larson, & Eric Myers for our gig AT THE BIG ROCK CLUB Foufounes Electriques where we were "the "Official", August 7th, 1992E.V., Foufounes Electriques CosmoRobotic $350 Boxers". We moved on from there to Toronto where we made another (unrecorded) radio appearance (as "the "Official", August 11th, 1992E.V., Ersatz Ersatz Bahuteklangzeit 2000 ers") & then presented 2 shows as part of the Zerowork Jubilee at an after hrs club on a junkyard lot. John Cage having just died, both shows were dedicated to him: "the "Official", August 12th, 1992E.V., Zerowork Jubilee John Cage Cover Band Orchestra" & "the "Official", August 15th, 1992E.V., Morphing Center Orchestra w/ John Cage Interpreters". For the 2nd of these 2 I created a new piece to be conducted by dancers (an audience participatory one) & a national CacaNadaian prime time TV entertainment program came & videoed us. We crossed the border back into the US, stopping to show the customs people what we had left of our '$350' box of goodies. Something like $180 of the money stolen by them was refunded to me 2 yrs later. We went to the tiny town that my friends Miekal And & Liz Was had had parts of given to them in Wisconsin & performed in the abandoned high school gym as "the "Official", August 22nd, 1992E.V., Dreamtime Corroboree Comb Salespeople" where our (v)audience was mainly people from NYC. Next up was Denver, where Neil had lived for several yrs, to perform at a place that Neil performed at when he lived there, the Mercury Café. The Mercury had become a dinner theater in the meantime but we were allowed to play 2 gigs anyway as "the "Official", August 27th, 1992E.V., Mercury Café Neo-Re-Exciters" and as "the "Official", August 28th, 1992E.V., Mercury Café Neil-Re-Exciters". We wended our way to Missouri to become "the "Official", September 2nd, 1992E.V., Kansas City Artificial Intelligence 'tute Photo Studio Unknown Camera Obscura". Heading back home we stopped in Ohio to be "the "Official", September 5th, 1992E.V., Union Bar & Grill (Voted Athens Best Bar Live Music Featuring National Acts) Bug-Eyed H23 Visitors from Cronolytic Time". Our final gig was to be in Pittsburgh but was cancelled. Despite the fact that I'd been making vaudoes for 15 yrs by then I was STILL too poor to afford any camcorder other than a toy PXL camera. As such, documentation was sketchy & dependent upon getting footage from our hosts. The "Official Neoast Chair Didaction" movie featured here can also be witnessed separately elsewhere: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnpi3KF0Gc . Various audio cassettes + the VHS vaudeo tape that this movie is excerpted from are available here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/WdmUCatalog.html . Hard as it will be for some people to understand, I had rehearsed or played live this material at least 137 times BEFORE STARTING THE TOUR!! After the tour ended Neil, Courtney, & John Berndt dropped out of the group but agreed to stay until the release events. We continued along until our actual record release - wch happened during a blizzard in March of 1993. This project is quite possibly my favorite of the many sound collaborations I've been involved in over the yrs. I moved to Berlin in March, 1994 & reformed a German version of the group. By August of 1994, I was living in CacaNada where I created synthesizer/sampler/sequencer versions of some of the material & recorded "Official" solos but never performed them live. I've put very little documentation of this online b/c I feel that it wd greatly benefit by the more sophisticated editing equipment that I now have access to. Alas, I've moved on, of course, & finally decided to at least put this online knowing that I may never re-edit any of the vast footage that I have in my archive. - March 15, 2013E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: "Official" Project, experimental music, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Neil Feather, Peter Williams, John Eaton, Rebecca Barten, 1992, Portland Maine, Montréal, Toronto, Dreamtime Village, Denver, Mercury Café, Kansas City Missouri, Kansas City Art Institute, Athens Ohio, Union Bar & Grill, Canadian Customs, CKUT, Wafer Face Records, John Cage
6:08 = double projection of short Official left, OUR right - wch goes into just OUR & then.. Atavistic Electronics plays
7:28 = Imitative Unison
8:49 switches to show in Athens, OH, Atavistic Electronics still playing, film continues 'uninterupted' in background
9:04 = Wreck but we don't play it until 9:08 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN5U7JANpRA&t=9m4s
This movie isn't primarily a Score Movie but it incorporates the same cueing footage that "OUR" does.
"The 'Official' John Lennon's "Erection" As Blocking Our View Homage & Cheese Sandwich" - 1990-1995
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/nRqfWwHAdqA
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"The 'Official' John Lennon's "Erection" As Blocking Our View Homage & Cheese Sandwich" is my only feature-length 16mm movie. I began it in December 1990 (the same year that Neil Feather & I began the "Official Project" - our band that changed its name for every time we played - thusly having over 100 names). The film went through many incarnations. I have at least 7 of them on video (or, as I prefer, "vaudeo"). The version I presented here is the final feature-length version that I've recently salvaged & somewhat digitally improved. Unfortunately, in mid 1993, the warehouse that I was living in, where much of the film was shot & where I was editing it, was deluged by a sprinkler accident & the film was dowsed by water that eventually led to its being deteriorated by Vinegar Syndrome. The film, in its feature form, was finished in 1995 but has now deteriorated beyond a projectable state. I couldn't afford a sound print so it was always screened in the original w/ sound provided in various ways. I think its 1st screening was probably at the Orpheum Theater in BalTimOre on May 9 & 10, 1997. Neil & I provided a live soundtrack for a rear-screened projection that reversed the left-right orientation. The next screening, & the only 'correct' one, would've been at the San Francisco Art Institute under the aegis of the San Francisco Cinematheque on October 18, 1998. The sound would've come from a simultaneous playing of a VHS transfer of the 16mm. Unfortunately, the VHS player damaged the tape soundtrack so that was the one & only presentation of it in that form. Finally, on March 13, 2001, the 3 reels were screened simultaneously as a triple side-by-side projection at the Film Kitchen in the Melwood Screening Room at Pittsburgh Filmmakers in Pittsburgh. The soundtrack was specially designed for this occasion. The film was retired after that. This incarnation of it was made by using the best elements of 3 different 16mm-to-VHS transfers & then boosting the sound & improving the brightness. Alas, the original film had much better color & subtlety of lighting than these VHS transfers could ever show. Those portions of the soundtrack that were generated electronically were done by myself using a sampler/sequencer, 2 wave-table synthesizers, & an algorithm synthesizer. Many of the members of the big band incarnation of the 'Official' Project are presented giving brief solos. The overall project was one of my 3 most ambitious direct-on-film films - all made around the same time. The other 2 were "Bob Cobbing" & "Diszey Spots". - November 24, 2014 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Official Project, found footage, direct-on-film, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Neil Feather, Vermin Supreme, experimental music, CAMUs, Peter Williams, Courtney McCullough, Scott Larson, Uncle An, Chris Astier, Dawn Culbertson, John Berndt
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This is the 1st of the Score Movies to incorporate somewhat conventional notation.
"Reductionism 6 + Interpretive Duncing + Artifacts" - 1997-2011
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/0MkMFpaZGOU
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"Reductionism 6 + Interpretive Duncing + Artifacts" still showing 2 frames superimposed as result of video persistance-of-vision optical illusion
- the top & bottom wave forms show the shape of an Artifact
The evolution of this piece of Low Classical Usic is more than a bit labyrinthian to go into. From 1997 to 1998 I co-organized a series of CircumSubstantial Playings in Pennsylvania that involved site & circumstantial specificity. These were recorded & excerpts from them were published as side 1 of a tape called "A Year of Sundays" (see 3rd series, 018 here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/WdmUCatalog.html) & the 2nd side was a more elaborate computer edit using recordings from the same sessions + 2 more from Baltimore. This computer edit was then used, w/ the assistance of composer Warren Burt in Australia in 2000, to drive a Pitch-to-MIDI converter to create a monophonic conventionally notated score that I called "Reductionism (A Year of Sundays w/ Mono)". Back in Pittsburgh, I used a different Pitch-to-MIDI converter & the same "Yr of Sundays (computer edit)" driver to generate 6 new recordings using piano sounds & samples from the original Yr of Sundays sessions (Reductionisms 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (take 1) & 5 (take 2)). These were then meticulously edited together to create "Interpretive Duncing" (you can hear this @: http://www.archive.org/details/Piano_Illiterature_Vol_II_of_II - it's currently (Sept, 2011) in a somewhat incorrect state that I may or may not eventually replace w/ the correct version). "Reductionism 6" then became the score generated by the 1st MIDI file (slightly revised) in combination with the (eventually revised) "Interpretive Duncing". I primitively (& laboriously) animated the score so that the (M)Usicians cd read it from the same source while listening to the prerecorded "ID" part. 5 reliable & conventional-notation-savvy collaborators (Ben Opie: alto sax, Roger Dannenberg: trumpet, Ben Harris: violin, Kenny Haney: Bb clarinet, Kerrith Livengood: alto flute) then agreed to attempt to play this monstrosity. When I recorded the 1st rehearsal, technical vagaries resulted in noisy artifacts that I then took wave-form pictures of which I then incorporated both the sound & visuals from into the animated score & then modified the instructions to accommodate them. After 3 rehearsals, the piece was premiered @ Garfield Artworks in Pittsburgh on July 25, 2011. The venue was hot & poorly ventilated, various technical problems were frustrating (I forgot the DVD player remote, the projection quality was poor, one player stepped on something that caused a loss of the prerecorded sound for a short bit, etc, etc), but the (M)Usicians persevered. This movie is a quasi-documentary of the 3 rehearsals & the premier edited in a way that takes liberties w/ any ultimate accuracy of the way the piece 'should sound'. - September 28, 2011 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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""Spectral Evidence" trailer" (as performed by Lungs, Face, Feet)" - 2011
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/PFtodKMQpXE
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""Spectral Evidence" trailer: still from "Verse 3" - note "Verse 3" written in white at top central
"Spectral Evidence" trailer: In September 2011, my g-friend of the time & I went to Massachusetts for various vacation-like activities & I shot, as usual, a movie. At 1st, the working title for the movie was "MASS" because I liked the ambiguity between the state name & the heft of physicality but I didn't want to explore the ambiguity of "mass" as a religious ceremony (besides I'd already used masses as soundtracks in another movie). SO, after I learned about the "Spectral Evidence", ie: the 'evidence' of dreams & visions, that'd been used in the Salem (& elsewhere) witch trials of 1692, I decided that that was a much better title. The 1st edit I made using this footage was with the "Sync'd 4" program in mind, created by Pittsburgh filmmaker Mike Maraden, that I'd been invited to be a part of. "Sync'd" is a series in which Pittsburgh moviemakers are invited to contribute a silent movie to have a soundtrack created for it & played live by Pittsburgh musicians. "Sync'd 4" was scheduled to be in the 30th annual Three Rivers Film Festival created by the wonderful Pittsburgh Filmmakers. The musicians for this event were "Gangwish" (percussion & electronics from Sam Pace) & "Lungs Face Feet" (a cumbia inspired band w/ mostly brass & percussion). Liking both of them I was delighted. Knowing that song structure is what's most familiar to many musicians I decided to up the ante by making my movie conform to a much more complicated song structure than usual & to label each part to make this clear. I figured that regardless of whether the musicians met the challenge or not the results wd create an interesting counterpoint of sorts. "Lungs Face Feet" were chosen by Mike to make the soundtrack for my movie &, even though they felt like they hurried their process more than they would've liked, I think they did a great job! This is a trailer because there's now a feature length version of "Spectral Evidence" culled from much of the same footage (& more) that also has the editing of its visuals deeply created around its soundtrack. "Spectral Evidence" is my 100TH FEATURE!! - something that one would imagine would make make movie scholars sit up & take notice of me. They won't. I'm too lunatic fringe & my movies are too lo-budget. The members & instrumentation for this occasion for "Lungs Face Feet" were: Aaron Lindberg: tuba, Ben Grubb: alto sax, whistling, weather radio, H. Caleb Gamble: trumpet, Jesse Phillips: drums, percussion, flugelhorn, Mika Metz: baritone horn, Rick Kolling: accordion, Korg synthesizer. - November 12, 2011 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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"Ben Opie" - 2012
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/JQ_-qIxS-fE
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still from the 2nd half of "Ben Opie"
Ben Opie is my oldest friend in Pittsburgh. His band, Watershed 5tet, played at the 14 Karat Cabaret in BalTimOre sometime between 1992 & 1994. I was in the audience & loved the music. Then Ben & co went to the bookstore that I co-owned, Normal's, & we got to know each other better. When I moved to Pittsburgh in January of 1996, Ben was 1 of the 1st people I started collaborating with. Ben's a fantastic reed player & an all-around great musician (not to mention an extremely nice guy). In fact, I think that 2 of the solos I've had the pleasure of hearing/seeing Ben perform have possibly been the 2 best sax solos I've ever heard ANYONE play - & I listen to a lot of music. One of these was @ the Space Gallery & one was a part of the "why are music series" organized by Johan Nystrom @ Monk's Gallery. When I was asked by Mike Maraden to contribute a silent movie to November 30, 2012's "Sync'd 5" (in the Strip District in PGH) & was told that Ben wd be 1 of the musicians providing a live soundtrack for it, I immediately decided to make a film that wd be a score for Ben & also a sortof retrospective homage to him. With this in mind, I cataloged all the footage that I have of him playing music (spanning 15 yrs) & organized it in chronological order. I then took a saxophone fingering chart & built the movie around matching footage from my Opie archive w/ each note of the alto sax range (as represented in the chart - excluding notes off-the-chart). The silent version of the result was projected at Sync'd 5 with Ben playing live & I shot footage of this that was then combined w/ the silent version to produce the movie as presented here. - December 2, 2012 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
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"A Catamaran Animist Vigor" is my current favorite Score Movie. It may seem excessive to have so many reelevant movies presented here (including 2 rehearsals) but the idea is to be thorough & to show everything available online. The most important of these is the performance of the piece at "Babyland": https://youtu.be/cn3U055X-2U
"A Catamaran Animist Vigor" shortest version - 2009-2014
Vimeo channel URL: https://vimeo.com/96111445
This is a teaser for a Score Movie of mine that's much longer. The movie is the score for its soundtrack. For more information about the early phases of this piece, see my short documentary: "Mark Dixon's Selectric Piano". If you're interested in seeing the full score for performance or review's sake, please contact "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE at: idioideo at verizon dot net.
Tags: Score Movie, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, experimental music, anagrams, experimental movie
"Mark Dixon's Selectric Piano"
URL: https://youtu.be/3x6AJ6ssJsk
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Mark Dixon & Fred Snider made an interface between an IBM Selectric typewriter & a piano. There's a one-to-one correspondence between the 88 Selectric key positions & the 88 piano keys. Typing a typewriter key plays a note. Mark's friends Bart Trotman & Jodi Staley typed special texts that I'd created so that they'd play the Selectric Piano & I videoed the results w/ 2 camcorders. During the part where Bart's typing, I manipulated a sampler (w/ samples that I'd made) & a sampler/mixer. Since both the texts were unusual & formally narrow-focus, both Bart & Jodi found them very challenging to type. This short edit of a feature-length document of the process explains this some more & shows a bit of the whole project. For more on the Selectric Piano: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gylEJcBzVmk&feature=related - June 18, 2010E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Bart Trotman, Invisible, Ou, SELECTRIC Piano, Mark Dixon, Jodi
Staley, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, remote-controlled piano, OuLiPo, PoLiOu,
Fred Snider, Selectric typewriter
""A Catamaran Animist Vigor" @ Babyland - January 24, 2015"
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: https://youtu.be/cn3U055X-2U
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still from beginning of full version of "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" Score Movie
The genesis of "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" is probably rooted in the fall of 2009. My friend the ever-inventive Mark Dixon had told me about his Selectric Piano - a typewriter that would play an 88 key electric piano. I started thinking about what text(s) I'd want to type on it. The idea of anagrams of "Anagrammatic Variations" appealed to me. I used an online generator to generate so many of them that the text file result was difficult to open. I narrowed it down to just the anagrams with "Catamaran" & "Catamarans" in them. In 2010. I went to visit Mark & to use the Selectric Piano. His associate Bart Trotman was generous & open enough to type the anagrams for me while I manipulated MIDI-activated electronics. Several movies were made of the results - images of catamarans were added to the mix. In 2014, I screened this by now dense movie at Abandoned Store while a group of 5 improvisors played. I shot footage of this. I went to great lengths to notate what the corresponding pitches were for each of the anagrams. The original movie + the Abandoned Store footage + the notation were combined into a Score Movie - a movie that gives instructions for the live creation of its own soundtrack. I rallied the musicians for playing this. We rehearsed. Finally, on Saturday, January 24, 2015, we presented the Score Movie to an attentive & excellent (v)audience at Babyland while the following 5 performed the score: Matt Aelmore (French horn), Roger Dannenberg (Laptop 'piano'), Kenny Haney (Bb clarinet), Brian Riordan (Laptop samples), tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (Percussion samples). The (M)Usic? Imagine an aleatoric minimalist/maximalist live musique concrete based on word-play & oh-so-much-more. This YouTube version isn't the complete piece, it's just the 'meat of the matter'. "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" was then followed by a performance by Anita Sphinx, a performance redolent of that same day's Summit Against Racism. The movie from that will also be posted on onesownthoughts' YouTube channel. Stay tuned. - February 2, 2015 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Selectric Piano, anagrams, Score Movie, experimental music, Low Classical Usic, Matt Aelmore, Roger Dannenberg, Kenny Haney, Brian Riordan, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
"A Catamaran Animist Vigor" rehearsal 1 - 2009-2014
part 1: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Real":
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/cC5d-SriB6Y
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"A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time" is a quasi-documentary of the 1st rehearsal of my "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" Score Movie in the basement of Abandoned Store on Monday, October 13, 2014. The excellent & open-minded musicians who've been generous enough to provide their skills for this were: Matt Aelmore: French Horn, Roger Dannenberg: Laptop 'piano' chords, Kenny Haney: Bb Clarinet, Joey Molinaro: Spray-Paint Cans, & Brian Riordan: Laptop samples. The movie of the rehearsal has been broken into 3 parts for YouTube presentation: This, the 1st part, is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Real"; the 2nd part is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Jumping Backwards"; & the 3rd part is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Jumping Forwards". "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" is a formal piece most likely to be appreciated by people in search of unusual pattern recognition for its own sake & for the sake of the cross-referential mindset it helps induce. In rehearsal, the projected Score Movie that the realizers are reading from proceeded somewhat accurately, impeded by some freezes, until it was over 3/4s done when it skipped backwards dramatically. This 1st part quasi-documents the rehearsal up to right before this jump. The title is taken from a joking comment made by Roger Dannenberg at the end of the rehearsal. For a full appreciation of the practical & philosophical significance of his comment all 3 parts of this should be witnessed in their entirety. This is my 110th feature-length movie. According to an email that I received from the Guinness Book of World Records, as of a year & 1/2 ago, 110 features was the record number made by one director. With this movie I have presumably tied that record. It seems somehow appropriate, therefore, that this 110th feature of mine is, therefore, a document of making the most of technical malfunctions. - October 23, 2014E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
part 2: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Jumping Backwards"
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/O2ToDm0HfKc
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"A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time" is a quasi-documentary of the 1st rehearsal of my "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" Score Movie in the basement of Abandoned Store on Monday, October 13, 2014. The excellent & open-minded musicians who've been generous enough to provide their skills for this were: Matt Aelmore: French Horn, Roger Dannenberg: Laptop 'piano' chords, Kenny Haney: Bb Clarinet, Joey Molinaro: Spray-Paint Cans, & Brian Riordan: Laptop samples. The movie of the rehearsal has been broken into 3 parts for YouTube presentation: This, the 2nd part, is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Jumping Backwards" & the title references the unintentional repetition of the score thanks to a technical error; the 1st part is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Real"; & the 3rd part is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Jumping Forwards". "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" is a formal piece most likely to be appreciated by people in search of unusual pattern recognition for its own sake & for the sake of the cross-referential mindset it helps induce. In rehearsal, the projected Score Movie that the realizers are reading from proceeded somewhat accurately, impeded by some freezes, until it was over 3/4s done when it skipped backwards dramatically. This 2nd part quasi-documents the rehearsal after this happened without my realizing it. The title is taken from a joking comment made by Roger Dannenberg at the end of the rehearsal. For a full appreciation of the practical & philosophical significance of his comment all 3 parts of this should be witnessed in their entirety. This is my 110th feature-length movie. According to an email that I received from the Guinness Book of World Records, as of a year & 1/2 ago, 110 features was the record number made by one director. With this movie I have presumably tied that record. It seems somehow appropriate, therefore, that this 110th feature of mine is, therefore, a document of making the most of technical malfunctions. - October 23, 2014E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE 23, 2014E.V. notes from
tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
part 3:"A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Jumping Forwards"
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/Bh9p5Io83OQ
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"A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time" is a quasi-documentary
of the 1st rehearsal of my "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" Score Movie
in the basement of Abandoned Store on Monday, October 13, 2014. The excellent
& open-minded musicians who've been generous enough to provide their
skills for this were: Matt Aelmore: French Horn, Roger Dannenberg: Laptop
'piano' chords, Kenny Haney: Bb Clarinet, Joey Molinaro: Spray-Paint Cans,
& Brian Riordan: Laptop samples. The movie of the rehearsal has been
broken into 3 parts for YouTube presentation: This, the 3rd part, is called:
"A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Jumping Forwards" &
the title references mu insertion of the Score Movie that the rehearsal
never got to because of a technical error with the DVD player + the end
of the rehearsal & a relevant story from John Cage re David Tudor; the
1st part is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____ Time: Real";
& the 2nd part is called: "A Map Between Real Time & _____
Time: Jumping Backwards". "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" is
a formal piece most likely to be appreciated by people in search of unusual
pattern recognition for its own sake & for the sake of the cross-referential
mindset it helps induce. In rehearsal, the projected Score Movie that the
realizers are reading from proceeded somewhat accurately, impeded by some
freezes, until it was over 3/4s done when it skipped backwards dramatically.
This 3rd part quasi-documents the rehearsal after I finally realized something
was definitely wrong. The title is taken from a joking comment made by Roger
Dannenberg at the end of the rehearsal. For a full appreciation of the practical
& philosophical significance of his comment all 3 parts of this should
be witnessed in their entirety. This is my 110th feature-length movie. According
to an email that I received from the Guinness Book of World Records, as
of a year & 1/2 ago, 110 features was the record number made by one
director. With this movie I have presumably tied that record. It seems somehow
appropriate, therefore, that this 110th feature of mine is, therefore, a
document of making the most of technical malfunctions. - October 23, 2014E.V.
notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
""A Catamaran Animist Vigor" rehearsal 2" - 2009-2014
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: http://youtu.be/9JueavuM5m0
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"A Catamaran Animist Vigor" is an anagram of "Anagrammatic Variations". In 2010, I used Mark Dixon's Selectric Piano to generate sound from the typing of 195 Anagram Phrases generated by "Anagrammatic Variations" that included the word "Catamaran". This project has gone thru various phases that eventually resulted in the "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" Score Movie that contains a pitch multi-set for every Anagram Phrase. I'm currently working toward a public performance of this score. Fortunately, I've found 4 fellow travelers: Brian Riordan: Laptop samples, Roger Dannenberg: Laptop 'piano' chords, Kenny Haney: Bb Clarinet, & Matt Aelmore: French Horn. Here's footage from our 2nd rehearsal in wch I flesh out the minimally desired quintet by playing Percussion samples. The rehearsal happened at Who Unit? in Pittsburgh on Sunday, November 9, 2014. I tend to think of the (d) composition as Yet-Another Pattern Recognition Thrill-Ride so if you can relate to that concept this might just be for you. One cd say that this is 'cubism' in a way that Cubism never really was. One cd also say that this is a Pointillist Cage Mix performed LIVE (not really). One cd say that an interesting feature of this is the way the tempo changes from Anagram Phrase to Anagram Phrase. Maybe it's even enough outside the box enough to be a unique experience for YOU. Whatever. I want to be paid to perform this piece w/ these guys SOMEWHERE. There aren't that many pieces where the (v)audience can witness the score while it's being performed. Pay us for it, you know you can afford it & it's better for you than booze. - November 10, 2014 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: experimental music, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, anagrams, Low Classical usic, Matt Aelmore, Roger Dannenberg, Kenny Haney, Brian Riordan`
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"Beau Jest" @ Sync'd 7" - 2015
onesownthoughts YouTube channel URL: https://youtu.be/Z8WNrhWKdJ0
"Beau Jest" @ Sync'd 7: "Sync'd" is an annual screening event in Pittsburgh founded & organized by Michael Maradan. Mike solicits silent movies from local moviemakers & recruits 2 different groups to play soundtracks for the movies. Mike 1st asked me to be a participant in Sync'd 4 in 2011. I didn't want to just make a silent movie without giving any thought to the circumstances it was to be screened in. Since I'd already made some "Score Movies" (movies meant to be the score for the production of its soundtrack) I decided to make another one in that series as a way of strengthening that body of work & of not just taking the soundtrack for granted as 'whatever'. SO, I made ""Spectral Evidence" trailer". Since I knew that my friends in the band "Lungs, Face, Feet" would be performing the soundtrack for it I tailored it somewhat for them. Mike invited me back the next year for Sync'd 5 & I made something even more tailored for the performer: "Ben Opie". For Sync'd 7 I designed "Beau Jest" for performers that I didn't know, "Sun Cycles". Sun Cycles is a duo & I picked them as my preferred soundtrack producer because I thought their instrumentation would work well with what I had in mind. Since I didn't know the performers I made Beau Jest a much more open form piece, taking air guitar playing as an inspiration, so that I wouldn't be too demanding. As it turned out, one half of Sun Cycles was sick & didn't perform so the instrumentation was guitar-centric & much more minimal than what I had in mind. No matter, Sun Cycles did a pretty good job anyway &, as the old saying goes, one half of Sun Cycles is better than nothing. - November 28, 2015 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Sync'd 7, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Beau Jest, Sun Cycles, Michael Maradan, 3 Rivers Film Festival
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"Endangered Languages, Endangered Ideas, Endangered Cultures" is the 3rd of my 'operas' & the most ambitious one so far. It's also unfinished & likely to remain so. As such, the Score Movie aspect of it is unfinished. Basically, every Roman Numeral is intended to refer to a specific action for the players. My hope is to have 30 players of various ages & skill levels. My further hope is to have a somewhat elaborate stage setting that I'll have to build myself. I did actually build a shop for the purpose of this manufacture but the whole process has taken so long & been so labor-intensive that, at age 68, I don't know how much more I can stand. Naturally, I've moved on to other more compelling projects. Nonetheless, what has made it online & onto CD is very substantial.
488. a. ""EL" IP"
- a quasi-documentary about the development of the ELsoftware for my 'opera' entitled "Endangered Languages, Endangered Cultures, Endangered Ideas"
- software conceived of by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- software developed by Roger Dannenberg with assistance from Tianyang Feng & Wynne Yao
- 1st footage shot February 7, 2016
- edit finished May 19, 2017
- 1700X1275 (4/3) HD
- 1:23:45
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/fiAVrCNtKvQ
b. ""EL" IP (abridged)"
- the above version reduced to a single presentation of the 1st 6 paragraphs of the temporary libretto taken from the book entitled "Vanishing Voices - the extinction of the world's languages" by Daniel Nettle & Suzanne Romaine & my review thereof
- 12:06
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/ELIPabridged
502. a. "MM 76 RELEASE"
- shot using 4 cameras on Friday, October 13, 2017, at the Glitter Box Theater by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE with one additional iPhone provided by Noah Rectenwald of his section
- performers in order of appearance: Noah Rectenwald; Warren Burt; Ben Opie; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE & Meg Graham; How Things Are Made (Matt Aelrmore & David Bernabo); Mike Boyd
- 1:28:38
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/XuoZopfS4CQ
b. "MM 76 RELEASE (medium rare)"
- 39:33
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/MM76RELEASEmediumRare
c. "MM 76 RELEASE (well done)"
- 12:24
- on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/241244343
564. "UNDERAPPRECIATED Day 3"
- a document of the 3rd day of the UNDERAPPRECIATED MOVIEMAKERS FESTIVAL followed by Florian Cramer & Dick Turner brainstorming at Who Unit?. Work & explication was presented by Skizz Cyzyk; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE; & Florian Cramer
- Thanks to the Glitter Box Theater for being affordable for lunatic fringe types such as myself
- shot August 3, 2018, by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE & Florian Cramer
- edited by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE; edit finished September 10, 2018
- 1:00:32
- Custom HD 1920WX1440H
- uploaded to the Internet Archive starting September 10, 2018: https://archive.org/details/UNDERAPPRECIATEDDay3
624. "Endangered Languages, Endangered Cultures, Endangered Ideas"
- a 'primitive', but satisfactory, presentation of tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's 3rd 'opera'
- 2k, 60p
- 2:19:21
- mainly made from 2016-2017
- 'finished' & uploaded in mid-June,2020
- because this is so high-definition (215.07GB) it had to be broken into its 4 acts to upload to my onesownthoughts YouTube channel:
- "Endangered Languages, Endangered Cultures, Endangered Ideas, Act 1" - 2k, 60p - 25:44 - 32:19GB - https://youtu.be/IYifS4vFq-Y
- "Endangered Languages, Endangered Cultures, Endangered Ideas, Act 2" - 2k, 60p - 46:45 - 62:08GB - https://youtu.be/XSsiSqC0T1Q
- "Endangered Languages, Endangered Cultures, Endangered Ideas, Act 3" - 2k, 60p - 54:23 - 93.56GB - https://youtu.be/xHWJH07x0Fo
- "Endangered Languages, Endangered Cultures, Endangered Ideas, Act 4" - 2k, 60p - 12:29 - 27.25GB - https://youtu.be/MC9LAlcXtoI
********************
667. a. "Catatonias"
- using a Colab notebook animation made by Ryan Broughman of the "catanoia" & "catatonias" sections of my "Anagrammatic Variations" text
- my 9th Score Movie, this is the silent version - I'm anticipating other versions with soundtracks added
- 2K, 60fps, Stereo
- edit finished December 18, 2021
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/DAYkTbdx3Kw
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/Catatonias
"Catatonias": Back near the beginning of 2021 my friend & collaborator Ryan Broughman discovered Colab notebooks that can be accessed online for generating AI animations from texts. I had previously made a series of movies using anagrams of "Anagrammatic Variations" as generative material. E.G.: I'd taken all the anagrams with the words "catamaran" & "catamarans" & worked from there. This resulted in a piece called "A Catamaran Animist Vigor" that was projected & performed as a Score Movie at a place called Babyland on January 24, 2015. A movie of this is on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: http://youtu.be/cn3U055X-2U . Ryan took texts from the Anagrammatic Variations that used the words "catatonia" & "catatonias" & used those anagrams to generate an 8+ minute AI animation. Since these animations have the text used as a subtitle at the bottom I cropped the animation to eliminate them. The animations also tend to present words in the body of these images. I edited out the main section like that. That left roughly 6 minutes. I sped this up to 2 minutes. I took one minute & then typed the countdown text over that & used keying to make the numbers 'transparent'. I took the remaining minute & had that revealed through the 'transparency'. I then added the simple (but difficult to perform) text score: "Play the number of notes specified per second" - i.e.: 60 notes in the 1st second on down to only one note in the last second. I further specified that the "Even numbers = naturals, Odd numbers = accidentals. Glissandi & chords are encouraged." SO, in the 1st second, 60 "white keys" are to be played. If the player is playing a 61 note electronic keyboard then they could play a glissando using only white keys from the low C2 to the high C7 to get the 1st 36 notes & then run downward stopping at A4 to get the remaining 24 notes. If they wanted to change technique for the next second they could play a black key tone cluster incorporating all 25 of them in quick succession followed by a smaller tone cluster of the 9 to equal 59 total. Naturally, this is a bit harrowing but it is doable. Having multiple performers makes things even more interesting. This is my 9th Score Movie. The 1st was made in 1983.
"Catatonias" was made for Mike Maradan's "Sync'd" series. Mike asks Pittsburgh moviemakers to make silent movies & then he picks people to perform soundtracks for them. In this instance, he specified that they be one minute long. Most, if not all, of the other participants make movies that're silent without taking into consideration the way the movie will function as a score. I've made 3 movies for "Sync'd" in the past. All of them have been intended to function as scores. Unlike the original Sync'd presentations, these aren't live shows, "they're uploaded to the Sync'd Instagram Page (@syncdpgh) where they loop." Unfortunately, Mike rejected this - apparently on the grounds that my specifying that this would be best played by a classically trained avant-garde keyboardist was more than he could, or wanted to, cope with.
- December 18, 2021 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: animation, Score Movie, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Ryan Broughman, Sync'd, Colab notebook
675. "Aww, C'mon.. It's not THAT Hard!"
- 2k, 60p, Stereo
- 23:21
- edit finished March 3, 2022
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/aviIOsGMJHI
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/aww-cmon
"Aww, C'mon.. It's not THAT Hard!": Mike Maradan, In Pittsburgh, started a series called "Sync'd" many years ago for which he invites local moviemakers to make a silent movie & then he invites local musicians to play a soundtrack for them. I participated in Sync'd 4, 5, & 7. These were live events & were always great fun. For these, I made a type of movie that I call "Score Movies", movies meant to function as scores for the production of their own soundtracks. In December, 2021, Mike invited me to participate in an upcoming online Sync'd for which all of the movies were requested to be a minute long. I made a Score Movie called "Catatonias" which consists of a countdown from 60 to 1 in which each number of the countdown is also the number of notes to be played in that second. Mike rejected the movie saying something to the effect that he wouldn't be able to meet the musical demands I was making. SO, I made this movie to demonstrate that, yes, while performing the piece is a bit hard, it's not IMPOSSIBLE. I just watched the whole movie through from beginning to end & found it completely interesting. I doubt that many people will agree with me about that one but, oh well, I've always said that I think I'm a GREAT moviemaker.. I just can't find anyone to agree with me. - March 3, 2022E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Catatonias, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Score Movies, Sync'd, 21st century music, 21st century usic, experimental music, experimental usic, usic, problem solving
676. a. "Catatonias (Welch) (with stills)"
- soundtrack realization & stills from Adam Welch; Score Movie & March 6, 2022, edit from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- 1:00
- 2048 X 1440, 60fps, Stereo
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/X25EoB28B9w
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/catatonias-welch
"Catatonias (Welch) (with stills)": In December of 2021 I made a one minute Score Movie called "Catatonias" at the request of Mike Maradan for his "Sync'd" series. Since Mike's series involves having musicians add music to silent movies & since my movie is a bit of a challenge to the musicians, Mike rejected it as too difficult. I knew realizing it wasn't impossible so I made my own realization on March 1, 2022. On March 4, 2022, Adam Welch sent me his own realization + some relevant stills of its making. With Adam's permission I then made this version in which I interspersed his stills, shifted the original into a vertically larger space, & added the new title/credit. Adam has my deep appreciation for taking this challenge seriously. I'm happy to be able to add his version to the small pool of realizations of Score Movies of mine. - March 6, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Adam Welch, apiano, apiano with Adam Welch, Catatonias, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Score Movie, Score Movies
b. "Catatonias (Welch)"
- soundtrack realization from Adam Welch, stills removed at Adam's request; edit & original score concept from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- 1:00
- 2048 X 1440, 60fps, Stereo
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/gFeEvdyseaA
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/catatonias-welch_202203
"Catatonias (Welch)": In December of 2021 I made a one minute Score Movie called "Catatonias" at the request of Mike Maradan for his "Sync'd" series. Since Mike's series involves having musicians add music to silent movies & since my movie is a bit of a challenge to the musicians, Mike rejected it as too difficult. I knew realizing it wasn't impossible so I made my own realization on March 1, 2022. On March 4, 2022, Adam Welch sent me his own realization + some relevant stills of its making. With Adam's permission I then made this version in which I interspersed his stills, shifted the original into a vertically larger space, & added the new title/credit. Adam preferred a version without his stills interpolated so I compromised & made this 'purist' version without the stills & renamed the initial version "Catatonias (Welch) (with stills)". Adam has my deep appreciation for taking this challenge seriously. I'm happy to be able to add his version to the small pool of realizations of Score Movies of mine. - March 6, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Adam Welch, apiano, apiano with Adam Welch, Catatonias, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Score Movie, Score Movies
677. "Catatonias (Turner)"
- countup score orchestral realization from Dick Turner; re-edit & original from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- 1:00
- 2048 X 1440, 60p
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/EUZDZzh9aTg
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/catatonias-turner
"Catatonias (Turner)": In December of 2021, I was asked by Mike Maradan to contribute a one minute silent movie to contribute to his ongoing "Sync'd" series. This series solicits movies & then has musicians make the soundtrack for it. "Catatonias" is the 4th movie I've made for Mike. All 4 of my movies for Sync'd have been what I call "Score Movies", movies intended to be the score for the production of their soundtrack. For "Catatonias" I specified that Mike wd probably have to have classically trained musicians who play avant-garde repertoire. I offered to try to find them if Mike didn't know anyone appropriate. Mike rejected the movie saying something to the effect that he didn't think he'd be able to do what I wanted. I put the silent movie online & notified the 160 people on my (M)Usic email list about its existence. A few people replied essentially telling me that they, personally, wdn't be able to perform such a thing. The general feeling seemed to be that it was 'impossible'. I then wrote an article called "Existing Outside the Box" that I posted on Medium that partially addressed why it IS possible. Then, on March 1, I made a movie of me demonstrating how I'd personally perform it & put that movie online w/ the realization edited in near the end. Once again, I informed people on my (M)Usic list (& 1 other email list) about this demonstration. My friend Adam Welch then made a realization of "Catatonias" on March 4, 2022, which I made the movie version of & put online - continuing my notification process as usual. NOW, on March 8, 2022, my friend Dick Turner has made this notated orchestral version with the countdown (decrescendo) turned into a countup (not quite a crescendo) & I've remade the original Score Movie to match his progression. Coincidentally, 2 friends of mine wrote me suggesting just such a reversal. Dick's audio realization of this is made possible by the MuseScore app. I'm delighted with Dick's realization partially because I'd been thinking about how fun it would be to make a new realization for non-piano sounds &, then, VOILA!, Dick made this!! It's fascinating to me how quickly this simple piece went from being 'impossible' to now having THREE realizations. I welcome more realizations & will be happy to continue uploading them to YouTube & the Internet Archive. - March 8, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Catatonias, Score Movie, Dick Turner, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, realizations, orchestra
680. a. "Catatonias (t,ac 1)"
- my (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's) 1st realization of the "Catatonias" Score Movie
- 1:00 - 2K 60p, Stereo
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Ee6-UEkV2jU
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/catatonias-tac-1
"Catatonias (t,ac 1)": In December, 2021, I created the Score Movie entitled "Catatonias" which provides a countdown from 60 to 1 & specifies that each counted-down second should have the number of notes represented by the countdown number. It's further specified that the even numbers should be "naturals" & the odds should be "accidentals". Since asking for 60 notes in one second seemed extremely difficult to people who were thinking that one player had to produce all 60 notes 'live', I made a movie on March 1, 2022, of my showing one possible way to realize this score. That demonstration movie is called "Aww, C'mon.. It's not THAT hard!" & the realization is presented near the end. That version is now detached, here, as a separate movie. On March 4, 2022, Adam Welch made a version & I turned that into 2 movies. On March 8, 2022, Dick Turner made an orchestral version for a reversed score, a countUP. Dick wanted to be able to hear these 3 versions back-to-back in a playlist on YouTube. 3 versions didn't seem like enough to me so today, March 11, 2022, I made 2 more versions: one in which there's neither a countDOWN or a countUP but one in which the seconds are jumbled around so that the numbers are all still there but not in a linear order. The 2nd of the March 11, 2022, versions maintains 60 seconds (one of the fixed parameters) but eliminates some numbers, repeats others, &, once again, has a jumbling. I used "Catatonias (t,ac 1)" as the raw material for this re-editing. In case it isn't glaringly obvious, "t,ac" = "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE". - March 11, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Score Movies, Catatonias, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
b. "Catatonias (t,ac 2)"
- my (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's) 2nd realization of the "Catatonias" Score Movie
- 1:00 - 2K 60p, Stereo
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/7rwijpN0seA
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/catatonias-tac-2
"Catatonias (t,ac 2)": In December, 2021, I created the Score Movie entitled "Catatonias" which provides a countdown from 60 to 1 & specifies that each counted-down second should have the number of notes represented by the countdown number. It's further specified that the even numbers should be "naturals" & the odds should be "accidentals". Since asking for 60 notes in one second seemed extremely difficult to people who were thinking that one player had to produce all 60 notes 'live', I made a movie on March 1, 2022, of my showing one possible way to realize this score. That demonstration movie is called "Aww, C'mon.. It's not THAT hard!" & the realization is presented near the end. That version is now detached as a separate movie. On March 4, 2022, Adam Welch made a version & I turned that into 2 movies. On March 8, 2022, Dick Turner made an orchestral version for a reversed score, a countUP. Dick wanted to be able to hear these 3 versions back-to-back in a playlist on YouTube. 3 versions didn't seem like enough to me so today, March 11, 2022, I made 2 more versions: one in which there's neither a countDOWN or a countUP but one in which the seconds are jumbled around so that the numbers are all still there but not in a linear order. The 2nd of the March 11, 2022, versions maintains 60 seconds (one of the fixed parameters) but eliminates some numbers, repeats others, &, once again, has a jumbling. I used "Catatonias (t,ac 1)" as the raw material for this re-editing. In case it isn't glaringly obvious, "t,ac" = "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE". - March 11, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Score Movies, Catatonias, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
c. "Catatonias (t,ac 3)"
- my (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's) 3rd realization of the "Catatonias" Score Movie
- 1:00 - 2K 60p, Stereo
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/VPC2WYF3ChI
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/catatonias-tac-3
"Catatonias (t,ac 3)": In December, 2021, I created the Score Movie entitled "Catatonias" which provides a countdown from 60 to 1 & specifies that each counted-down second should have the number of notes represented by the countdown number. It's further specified that the even numbers should be "naturals" & the odds should be "accidentals". Since asking for 60 notes in one second seemed extremely difficult to people who were thinking that one player had to produce all 60 notes 'live', I made a movie on March 1, 2022, of my showing one possible way to realize this score. That demonstration movie is called "Aww, C'mon.. It's not THAT hard!" & the realization is presented near the end. That version is now detached as a separate movie. On March 4, 2022, Adam Welch made a version & I turned that into 2 movies. On March 8, 2022, Dick Turner made an orchestral version for a reversed score, a countUP. Dick wanted to be able to hear these 3 versions back-to-back in a playlist on YouTube. 3 versions didn't seem like enough to me so today, March 11, 2022, I made 2 more versions: one in which there's neither a countDOWN or a countUP but one in which the seconds are jumbled around so that the numbers are all still there but not in a linear order. The 2nd of the March 11, 2022, versions maintains 60 seconds (one of the fixed parameters) but eliminates some numbers, repeats others, &, once again, has a jumbling. I used "Catatonias (t,ac 1)" as the raw material for this re-editing. In case it isn't glaringly obvious, "t,ac" = "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE". - March 11, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Score Movies, Catatonias, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
681. a. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie"
- 1920 X 1440, 30fps, Stereo
- 1:26:49
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/YBYB_jfJR0s
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/consciousness-expansion-score-movie
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie": I've been making "Score Movies", movies meant to function as the scores for the production of their soundtracks, since 1983 ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/MyScoreMovies.html ). This is my 10th one made in 39 years. It took me roughly 17 months to get it into this form. Whether it'll ever be performed remains to be heard. I certainly hope it will be, I think it's a Magnum Opus.
It has a long & complicated history: starting in October, 2020, I hired someone to build an extension on my house, the primary purpose of which was to double the size of my (M)Usic Rm. The builder didn't work out so I had to resort to building it myself. I had some help from Kenny Haney & Ross Nugent as well as a few other friends & a hired electrician. By the beginning of July, 2021, the (M)Usic Rm expansion was more or less done & I recorded by 1st duet in there w/ my long-term collaborator Ben Opie. I decided to stop shooting footage of the ongoing process after exactly a year had elapsed in mid-October, 2021.
In the meantime I made 8 movies documenting this process totaling something like 16 hours' worth, having shot as much as 700 hours' worth of footage, maybe even more. I edited all the 8 edits down to a summary edit a little over 3 hours long. Then I took THAT edit & edited it down to this, removing all sound irrelevant to the score (although that might not be obvious given that I left in a small flock of geese & a passing train, etc). I went through every shot & thought of single descriptive words for most of them. Then I picked a music term to associate with each of these descriptions. THEN I composed motifs & made titles to explain it all (actually the players get even more detail than appears in the movie). The score's longer than I'd hoped it would be but trimming it down any further seems like overkill.
- March 20, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: experimental usic, experimental music, 21st century music, Score Movie, DIY, construction, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
b. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie (revised)"
- 1920 X 1440, 30fps, Stereo
- 1:19:54
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/OoyP35lrIhI
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/expansion-score-revised
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie (revised)": This is basically the same piece as the 'unrevised' original ( https://youtu.be/YBYB_jfJR0s ;
https://archive.org/details/consciousness-expansion-score-movie ) except that I removed 6:55 of introductory text. I leave the original online both for curious scholars & because the 1st rehearsal ( https://youtu.be/CcOyfj3SGvc ;
https://archive.org/details/expansion-score-rehearsal-1 ) was working off of that original score. Future rehearsals will work off this revised one.
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie": I've been making "Score Movies", movies meant to function as the scores for the production of their soundtracks, since 1983 ( http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/MyScoreMovies.html ). This is my 10th one made in 39 years. It took me roughly 17 months to get it into this form. I'm working towards getting it performed now. I certainly hope it will be, I think it's a Magnum Opus.
It has a long & complicated history: starting in October, 2020, I hired someone to build an extension on my house, the primary purpose of which was to double the size of my (M)Usic Rm. The builder didn't work out so I had to resort to building it myself. I had some help from Kenny Haney & Ross Nugent as well as a few other friends & a hired electrician. By the beginning of July, 2021, the (M)Usic Rm expansion was more or less done & I recorded by 1st duet in there w/ my long-term collaborator Ben Opie. I decided to stop shooting footage of the ongoing process after exactly a year had elapsed in mid-October, 2021.
In the meantime I made 8 movies documenting this process totaling something like 16 hours' worth, having shot as much as 700 hours' worth of footage, maybe even more. I edited all the 8 edits down to a summary edit a little over 3 hours long. Then I took THAT edit & edited it down to this, removing all sound irrelevant to the score (although that might not be obvious given that I left in a small flock of geese & a passing train, etc). I went through every shot & thought of single descriptive words for most of them. Then I picked a music term to associate with each of these descriptions. THEN I composed motifs & made titles to explain it all (actually the players get even more detail than appears in the movie).
- April 28, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: experimental usic, experimental music, 21st century music, Score Movie, DIY, construction, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE
c. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie (revised) (w/ soundtrack)"
- 1920 X 1440, 30fps, Stereo
- 1:20:05
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/4K92-fx6PAs
- on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/expansion-score-revised-sound
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie (revised) (w/ soundtrack)": In October, 2020, I hired someone to build an extension on my house. They got the job started but I had to let them go when something they guaranteed me they could get done in 3 weeks still wasn't done after 7 weeks. After that, I was mostly on my own except for the occasional help of a few friends: most notably Ross Nugent. By the beginning of July, the upstairs (M)Usic Rm extension was done to the point of being usable. After a year, in mid-October, 2021, I decided to stop documenting the construction. I made a total of 9 movies about this process. Then I distilled the last of these into the Score Movie version, the version that functions as the score for the production of its own soundtrack. Next I recruited 4 players to produce that soundtrack along with me: Ben Opie, Eric Lipsky, Jeff Weston, & Devin Sherman. This movie is the Score Movie version with the 2nd rehearsal sound & player credits added on. The next step is to find a venue that will support our presenting this piece live, as it's intended to be presented - with a large projection & the players visible on the sides of the stage. - June 8, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Score Movies, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, construction, DIY, experimental music, experimental usic, Low Classical Usic, Ben Opie, Eric Lipsky, Jeff Weston, Devin Sherman, motifs, expression markings, experimental moviemaking
684. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Rehearsal 1"
- featuring: Ben Opie: alto sax, percussion; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: building, d composing, moviemaking, keyboard, electronics, percussion; Eric Lipsky: cello
- 1080p, 29.97fps, Stereo
- 1:53:47
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/CcOyfj3SGvc
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/expansion-score-rehearsal-1
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Rehearsal 1": From October, 2020 to October, 2021, I made movies documenting the building of an extension on my house, mostly by myself. I eventually edited the hundreds of hours of footage down to a 1:26:51 Score Movie, a movie meant to function as the score for the production of its soundtrack. For the Score Movie I translated the physical activities of the construction into musical expression notation. Then I composed six 4 second long motifs to act as the building blocks that the expression markings would influence. Given that, as always, my goal has been to produce something formally intensely self-referential &, therefore, self-reinforcing, & to produce something significantly unlike other work that I'm aware of currently in existence, & to challenge myself to go beyond my habitual playing capabilities, the result is quite difficult at the same time that it's, hopefully, strangely liberating. Fortunately for me, I have friends & acquaintances who I play with who're open-minded enough & disciplined enough to be willing to try to navigate through this conceptual obstacle course. The 1st to agree was my longest-lasting collaborator, the phenomenal musician, Ben Opie. 2nd was a person that I've also known for a long time but who I rarely see, the only cellist I know personally who likes to play his instrument standing so that he can move better with it, Eric Lipsky. These were the 2 collaborators I was so extremely privileged to be able to have this 1st rehearsal with. As is so often the case with such work of mine, I don't really expect this movie to be of much interest to anyone but the most extreme music geek nerd scholar. I deliberately present this work while it's still very much in-progress because the laboriousness of trying to make it right strikes me as important regardless of how few other people would agree with me. - April 27, 2022E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: Score Movie, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Ben Opie, Eric Lipsky, DIY, construction, experimental music, Low Classical Usic
686. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Rehearsal 2"
- featuring: Ben Opie: alto sax, percussion; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: building, d composing, moviemaking, keyboard, electronics, percussion; Jeff Weston: contrabass, percussion; Eric Lipsky: cello, percussion; Devin Sherman: guitar, percussion
- 1080p HD, 30p, Stereo
- 1:39:39
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/-BTZFFPTuCs
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/expansion-score-rehearsal-2
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Rehearsal 2": From October, 2020, to October 2021, I built, in conjunction with some other people, an extension onto my house - primarily to double the size of my (M)Usic Room. I also made multiple movies documenting this project - including my uses of the room when it was done. I reduced a massive amount of footage into what I call a "Score Movie" with the intention of having the movie be the score for the production of its sound track. This was the 2nd rehearsal of the score, the 1st one with the full group: Ben Opie: alto sax, percussion; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: keyboard, electronics, percussion, schalmei; Jeff Weston: contrabass, percussion; Eric Lipsky: cello, percussion; Devin Sherman: guitar, percussion. The piece's uniqueness, for me, is its translation of physical labor to expression markings. The purpose isn't to produce program music, it isn't to produce illustrative music to reinforce the action of the movie. Instead, its purpose is to create a parallel experience that contributes to the notion of Consciousness Expansion. All in all, I must compliment the players on taking the piece so seriously & on their phenomenal musicianship. The piece is still rough at this stage but I find it strangely beautiful - as if it's ecstatic discimbobulated urban whirling dervish music played by paying rapt attention to the construction of one's environment (which it is). - May 18, 2022E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: building, consciousness expansion, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Ben
Opie, Jeff Weston, Eric Lipsky, Devin Sherman, experimental usic, experimental
music, Low Classical Usic, 21st century music, Score Movie
687. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Show Reel"
- featuring: Ben Opie: alto sax, percussion; tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE: building, d composing, moviemaking, keyboard, electronics, percussion; Jeff Weston: contrabass, percussion; Eric Lipsky: cello, percussion; Devin Sherman: guitar, percussion
- 1080p, 30p, Stereo
- 3:24
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/JXlMeQ2_QhE
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/consciousness-expansion-score-movie-show-reel
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie Show Reel": I built an addition on my house to serve as an extension of my (M)Usic Room. I documented this building. I made a Score Movie out of the documentation meant to notate the production of its soundtrack. I recruited 4 players: Ben Opie, Jeff Weston, Eric Lipsky, & Devin Sherman to perform the piece with me. In performance the Score Movie is meant to be projected large with the players off to the sides watching & responding to it. In this Show Reel 6 examples are given of how the players do this. In these examples, the Score Movie is somewhat small & usually to the upper left so that the players can be featured prominently. The full performance is roughly one hour & 20 minutes long. This Show Reel was created to give prospective curators & their venues a sample of what the piece is like in the hope that we might be able to present it at their space. For more information about my previous performances go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/MereOutlineIndex.html . For recent Personal Favorites go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/MereOutlineFavorites3.html . Descriptions, photographs, & links to relevant movies are provided. - May 19, 2022E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: building, making, Score Movie, experimental music, experimental usic, Low Classical Usic, tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Ben Opie, Jeff Weston, Eric Lipsky, Devin Sherman
695. "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie @ Art Rat Studios"
- 1:24:57
- 1990 X 1440, 25fps, Stereo
- shot at Art Rat Studios, Roanoke, VA, on August 13, 2022
- edit finished August 16, 2022
- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/VQy-6Su-JUI
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/2022-highest-128k
- Art Rat Ralph Eaton's footage: https://youtu.be/IVip-ASP-JM
"Consciousness Expansion Score Movie @ Art Rat Studios": On June 12, 2022, I performed at Art Rat Studios in Roanoke, VA, for the 1st time w/ "88 Instruments" (on my onesownthoughst YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/VhlLWRvMG8g
- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/roanokeydokey-directors-glut ). I was delighted to find many kindred spirits there. Since my presentation was appreciated it was rapidly agreed that I'd return for a longer performance. SO, On Saturday, August 13, 2022, Eric Lipsky, Devin Sherman, & I (tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE) presented the premier of "Consciousness Expansion Score Movie". Eric played, cello, guiro, & Tibetan cowbell; Devin played guitar & cymbal; & I played ASR-X Pro sampler, micro-Korg synthesizer, Korg Kronos sampler, crotales, bongos, devil's fiddle, ratchet, Chinese gong, vibra-slap, & flex-a-tone. This was documented with 8 cameras, one of them operated by Ralph of Art Rat.
The piece consists of a movie used as a score for the production of its soundtrack. The Score Movie is a distillation of something like 700 hours of footage of my building an addition onto my house for the main purpose of doubling the size of my (M)Usic Room. The physical actions shown are accompanied by musical notation, primarily expression markings, that seemed somehow parallel to or roughly equivalent to these actions.
All in all, it was a phenomenal premier. Devin & Eric both contributed generously to the event, investing themselves heavily in it in support of my vision. I am deeply grateful to them. The playing was a challenge but I feel that we did an excellent job. It was as if we'd been airdropped onto a moving roller coaster, entrusted with the task of painting & oiling it as it moved with a prodigious speed (OK, so I exaggerate a tad). Thanks go to Ralph Eaton & Bill Counihan of Art Rat for the pleasant art ratmosphere.
- August 17, 2022 notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
Tags: tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, Art Rat Studios, Consciousness Expansion, Consciousness Expansion Score Movie, Eric Lipsky, Devin Sherman, DIY, building, experimental music, experimental usic, Roanoke, August 13 2022
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