Fire
In September, 2017, my friends who have the group called "How Things Are Made" were seeking pieces to perform. They had specific parameters that I basically ignored when I came up with "Fire". Matt Aelmore, one of the members of HTAM, & I then corresponded about the unworkability of the piece. The piece & the edited correspondence are below. It was my intention to follow-up on Matt's requests but, apparently, the project slipped my mind & I never did.
Almost exactly a year later, on September 15, 2018, HTAM released on BandCamp "Season 3, Episode 13" which starts off with "Fire Fighter Boots" credited to me as the composer. While I'm happy to be somehow associated with this excellent release, as far as I can tell the piece has nothing to do with my "Fire" except for the clomping of the boots.
- September 29, 2018, notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
"Fire"
- by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE
- September 16, 2017
Matt plays a note one half-step higher than the conventional upper limit of the French horn range. He may play it staccato or held or in whatever way he feels so inclined (including using minute pitch bends & other more timbre-altering techniques) as long as he stays basically around the same pitch - deviating by no more than a quarter tone. This sound should be mutated through pitch shifting. Ideally, the pitch-shifting should be controlled by a foot-switch that cycles through a pre-set sequence of different pitch-shifting settings & this foot switch should be played by Matt. The pitches that're shifted to should be within the normal range of the French horn but don't have to be chromatic. E.G.: the sequence can be 24 notes going from C to G to C to G to 8 notes in close proximity to G but microtonallly so to D to G, etc.. It doesn't matter what the pitches are as long as they're within normal French horn range. I can provide specific pitches if you like. Matt should be struggling somewhat to produce his pitch one half-step higher than the ordinary upper-range limit & this struggle should be heard in the resultant pitch-shited notes. These pitch-shifted notes should then be used to trigger ONE SAMPLE of President Trump saying "but". I can provide the sample if you choose to accept this challenge.
If this piece is NOT to be performed in front of an audience then it should be performed in front of a camera set to a wide enough angle to show Matt entirely & the full action that occurs in front of him performed by Brian & David. That means it may have to be 4/3 instead of the more usual 16/9. It can even be 4/4 (I.E.: an exact square shot). The SINGLE one-take shot should be head-on only - with the parameters carefully set.
Brian & David should have 2 piles of bricks. One pile should be large & the bricks should be dark-colored. The other pile should be smaller & the bricks should be light-colored. There can be 4 piles of bricks if that makes things easier (2 piles of the same type for each performer). The piles of bricks can either be neatly off-shot or messily on-shot. If it's the latter, the colors should be intermingled in such a way that it's not obvious to the viewer that their difference is significant.
Within the parameters of the shot, DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MATT, Brian & David are to build a wall, 'bricking Matt in'. David & Brian should be blocking the viewer's perception of the wall & of Matt. Their business is the main visual focus but Matt should be seen - especially his struggle to play only his one pitch over & over. The bricks should be arranged so that the light colored bricks form the word "Rump" or "RUMP" within a field of dark bricks but this should not be obvious to the viewer until Brian & David leave the shot. David & Brian don't leave the shot until the entire shot, including the view of Matt, is blocked by the brick wall. The sound of the bricking-in should be audible & somewhat dramatized, Matt's sound & the sound of the bricking whould be roughly equal but each can briefly drown-out the other.
Matt can be seated in a chair or on the floor a safe distance away from the bricks, he doesn't have to be close. The best arrangement is one in which everyone's safety is maximized. If Matt's on the floor far from the wall then the wall needn't be very high if the shot's arranged carefully. Brian's & David's bodies don't have to be fully shown in the shot, they can just be seen truncated.
OBVIOUSLY, I hope, the bricks will be laid without mortar (in the interest of speed) & should, therefore, be arranged carefully enough to NOT FALL OVER ON THE PLAYERS. If this is impractical & some sort of adhering substance must be used, then the piece should go on as long as necessary in order to complete the wall. Assuming this will only be performed in front of a camera & not an audience the resultant video can then be sped-up to make the piece as long (or short) as you want it to be.
IDEALLY, the performers should wear Fire Fighter Boots during this & be otherwise naked (except for work gloves for Brian & David). HOWEVER, if this is something that the performers don't want to do for whatever reason then wearing Fire Fighter Boots & whatever other clothing they choose - with, perhaps, a preference for rugged clothing that protects their body from harm from the rough labor.
The piece ends when the wall blocks the view of Matt entirely & Brian & David leave the shot to reveal the word "Rump" (or "RUMP").
Say 2. (C'est tout!)
Matt Aelmore
Re: the outline of my score "Fire"
To: Amir-ul Kafirs
Hi tENT,
This is a fun idea, but a lot of it is not possible for this project. The four major rules are:
1.This is a live audio recording project. (no video)
2.We can only spend 30 minutes total for rehearsing and recording your piece. (so your piece can be 30 minutes long if you don't need any extensive setup or rehearsal)
3.You can provide an instrument for us if we don't currently have it.
4.We record in isolation (no audience, including you)
See the comments below. Purple text is for ideas that could work. Red text for things that won't. Pink text for explanation. Let me know if you have any questions and any new ideas.
Best,
Matt
Amir-ul Kafirs
Re: the outline of my score "Fire"
To: Matt Aelmore
1st, THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO REPLY IN DETAIL. I knew I wasn't following your guidelines but since I'd been laying in bed in the middle of the night imagining this before I read the guidelines I decided to write the idea down & pass it along anyway. I'll think about it & get back to you. In the meantime, I've added a few basically barely neither-here-nor-there notes below.
Matt plays a note one half-step higher than the conventional upper limit of the French horn range. He may play it staccato or held or in whatever way he feels so inclined (including using minute pitch bends & other more timbre-altering techniques) as long as he stays basically around the same pitch - deviating by no more than a quarter tone. This sound should be mutated through pitch shifting. Ideally, the pitch-shifting should be controlled by a foot-switch that cycles through a pre-set sequence of different pitch-shifting settings & this foot switch should be played by Matt. The pitches that're shifted to should be within the normal range of the French horn but don't have to be chromatic. E.G.: the sequence can be 24 notes going from C to G to C to G to 8 notes in close proximity to G but microtonallly so to D to G, etc.. It doesn't matter what the pitches are as long as they're within normal French horn range. I can provide specific pitches if you like. Matt should be struggling somewhat to produce his pitch one half-step higher than the ordinary upper-range limit & this struggle should be heard in the resultant pitch-shited notes. (What you're going for here is possible, but we won't have time to write an actual program controlled by a foot pedal. Brian can do the pitch shifting live within the boundaries you've set here.)
I've done this before using my MultiVerb with a foot pedal & it's already programmed for this purpose & ready to go so it doesn't require any computer programming. Alas, the last few times I've tried to use the MultiVerb it seemed to be on its last elegs so that's a moot point.
These pitch-shifted notes should then be used to trigger ONE SAMPLE of President Trump saying "but". I can provide the sample if you choose to accept this challenge. (Yes, please provide the sample as an audio file.)
Easy enough.
If this piece is NOT to be performed in front of an audience then it should be performed in front of a camera set to a wide enough angle to show Matt entirely & the full action that occurs in front of him performed by Brian & David. That means it may have to be 4/3 instead of the more usual 16/9. It can even be 4/4 (I.E.: an exact square shot). The SINGLE one-take shot should be head-on only - with the parameters carefully set. (no video is possible, nor a live audience)
That, of course, is where everything falls apart because the piece is meant to be theatrical & doesn't really work without its visual element.
Brian & David should have 2 piles of bricks. One pile should be large & the bricks should be dark-colored. The other pile should be smaller & the bricks should be light-colored. There can be 4 piles of bricks if that makes things easier (2 piles of the same type for each performer). The piles of bricks can either be neatly off-shot or messily on-shot. If it's the latter, the colors should be intermingled in such a way that it's not obvious to the viewer that their difference is significant. (no video. We don't have bricks, so you'd have to provide them or allow us to come up with a substitute.)
Yeah, I was willing to provide the bricks if I can afford to do so at the time. That part's vaguely doable but because of the no video aspect pointless.
Within the parameters of the shot, DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF MATT, Brian & David are to build a wall, 'bricking Matt in'. David & Brian should be blocking the viewer's perception of the wall & of Matt. Their business is the main visual focus but Matt should be seen - especially his struggle to play only his one pitch over & over. The bricks should be arranged so that the light colored bricks form the word "Rump" or "RUMP" within a field of dark bricks but this should not be obvious to the viewer until Brian & David leave the shot. David & Brian don't leave the shot until the entire shot, including the view of Matt, is blocked by the brick wall. (no video) The sound of the bricking-in should be audible & somewhat dramatized, Matt's sound & the sound of the bricking whould be roughly equal but each can briefly drown-out the other. (as long as you can give us bricks)
Matt can be seated in a chair or on the floor a safe distance away from the bricks, he doesn't have to be close. The best arrangement is one in which everyone's safety is maximized. If Matt's on the floor far from the wall then the wall needn't be very high if the shot's arranged carefully. Brian's & David's bodies don't have to be fully shown in the shot, they can just be seen truncated. (no video)
( Assuming this will only be performed in front of a camera & not an audience the resultant video can then be sped-up to make the piece as long (or short) as you want it to be. (no video or live audience)
IDEALLY, the performers should wear Fire Fighter Boots during this & be otherwise naked (except for work gloves for Brian & David). HOWEVER, if this is something that the performers don't want to do for whatever reason then wearing Fire Fighter Boots & whatever other clothing they choose - with, perhaps, a preference for rugged clothing that protects their body from harm from the rough labor. (we don't have fire fighter boots. Wearing costumes wouldn't be very useful for an audio project.)
I have a fire fighter friend that I was imagining getting them from. I was imagining them as more than just costume since they'd make clomping sounds, etc..
-
idioideo at verizon dot net
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE (d) compositions index
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE Audiography page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewee page
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE as Interviewer index
to the tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE movie-making "Press: Criticism, Interviews, Reviews" home-page
to the "tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - Sprocket Scientist" home-page
to the "FLICKER" home-page for the alternative cinematic experience
to find out more about why the S.P.C.S.M.E.F. (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Sea Monkeys by Experimental Filmmakers) is so important
for info on tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE's tape/CD publishing label: WIdémoUTH
to see an underdeveloped site re the N.A.A.M.C.P. (National Association for the Advancement of Multi-Colored Peoples)