Paul Bailey: Music for Controllers VI (2009)
Paul Bailey: Music for Controllers VI (2009)
Music for Controllers VI by paul bailey
this track was based on a field recording i made of my last day of work before my “fall break” at CSUF (a one-week non paid work furlough). a few days later i improvised over the recording of my commute (from highland park to union station) with some materials of an earlier piece i made last spring (not getting fired is the new promotion). when it was finished i felt it was a little too minimal and forgot about it until about a week ago and when i listened to it again i realized it pretty accurately captured my dread of what this financial disaster has become in my life.
interestingly enough on that was the same day on my commute home the conductor on my amtrak route told me that she had lost about 75 daily commuters between san diego and los angeles from a year ago and it was pretty sad how so few of us were left. i know for me there aren’t many part time faculty left in the music department at CSUF and at this point it’s can get pretty depressing whenever i think about all of my friends who are out of work.
probably a little TMI, but yeah… i guess it is a bit dark.
spoken word piece based on twitter RSS feeds on the keywords “fired” and “job”. parts of this piece were originally contained in the piece “not getting fired is the new promotion” (2009)
made using ableton live, novation launchpad, korg kaossilator, iphone (buddha machine, srutibox), text-2-speech, and a field recording (zoom H2) of my morning commute (metro goldline from heritage square to union station; los angeles, ca 10/15/2009 (10 min)
Music for Solo Controller 1
finally getting around to making music with my launchpad and max/msp. getting the software and hardware to play nice with each other is still a challenge (the midi gets bogged down when 4 or more patterns are triggered), but overall i finally ‘get’ what all the hubub about the monome. i think my best description is that it’s bringing modular improvisation (that i’m very much into) very successfully into the a very programmable music machine that is easy for anybody to intuitively music with. (kinda like an very sophisticated orff instrument for adults)
this track was created using my novation launchpad, max/msp, nonome (monome emulator) and the polygome64 (P4/M2) inside of ableton live.
[soundcloud url="http://soundcloud.com/pbailey/music-for-solo-controller-1"]
Update: January 3, 2010
i just added a 2nd version that plays a little bit better with MIDI
end of the year housecleaning
i was enjoying a little extra time over the break and was able to upload some recordings from our late summer concerts that we played with the LANME.
here are our performances of Terry Riley’s “In C” and my “Principle of Sufficient Irritation”at our performances at collumbia (recording) college and in san pedro.
enjoy!
Terry Riley: In C (PBE and LANME Live at Columbia College)
Terry Riley: In C (PBE and LANME Live In San Pedro)
Paul Bailey: Principle of Sufficient Irritation (PBE and LANME Live In San Pedro)
LANME:
christina giacona, clarinet
patrick colon, violin
kelly haley-sibler, flute
james miller, voice
audrey snyder, cello
daniel formidoni, sound design
PBE performers included:
paul bailey, trombone
scott mcintosh, clarinet
matt menaged, bass guitar
ryan nunes, vibes
nicholas white, piano
Principle of Sufficient Irritation
some pieces you ‘compose’ and other come out fully formed. “Principle of Sufficient Irritation” (POSI) is one of those pieces that sprang out of me almost fully realized almost exactly 4 years ago. even though i’m just a part-time adjunct teaching monkey, fall has always been very busy for me and not really a good time to compose and by the time november rolls around i’m itching to get some new pieces written. thinking back in 2005 it’s pretty telling that i remember most of the details around this piece.
Background
i know i had some rehearsals coming up with the PBE and really wanted to get some pieces written, especially something modular and improvisatory. besides having played terry riley’s “In C” the lloyd rodgers group had been performing many of his very simple and effective ‘black book‘ improvisations. i had already written one decent modular improvisation (tong aesthetics from the music from summerland CD), and i really wanted to explore another approach than the large through-composed pieces that were common in the late 60’s and 70’s. the funny thing is that when POSI was created (we originally referred to it by the day it was created. 11/25/05 was the original title) the particulars really didn’t matter anymore, i just needed a piece for a rehearsal and using improvisation as process sounded like a great way to create something new in a short time.
Writing Process
the process creating POSI was pretty simple; play a lick on my trombone, plug it into the sequencer and loop it while i improvised another one. i pretty quickly realized that the first gesture worked so well in canon that it was almost a piece by itself and after the initial inspiration my only goal was to “make it change”. my luck/the god(s)/karma must have been smiling on me that day b/c although i have never been good at writing canons, that day i figured out that i’m pretty good at improvising them (at least in this modular style). the rest of the piece pretty much wrote itself and needless to say i was pretty excited for my upcoming rehearsal.
1st rehearsal
well… here’s where i tell you that i took it to rehearsal and the group ‘got it’ and we played it down the first time. but actually the group was pretty stumped and it took us 3-4 rehearsals to get the hang of it. and it took a few tries of figuring out how to move from section to section and what the “rules” of the piece are. the main thing i remember is that when we finally played it like it was in my head i had that feeling of completion and pure joy that i experienced when i first wrote it and immediately became the piece that we ended all rehearsals with promising a frolicking good time at the end of every rehearsal (and performance)
Improvisation, Performance and Recording
even though the licks are written out, one of the best feeling of performing a modular improvisation (like POSI) is the ability to not worry what to play, but how to play it. each performance is like you get to visit something musically familiar, but each time you can experience it differently. i think performing a modular improvisation is very similar to giving actors an outline for a scene and telling them what needs to occur.
this recording of POSI was our last take of a two day session and in which we were all pretty mentally tired and loopy. if you were listening to the piece while looking at the score i’m sure it would be pretty hard to follow along, but if you listened a few times you should be able to hear that we are basically playing variations of variations of what was originally written down. i think its a great example of the pure improvisatory and musical joy that the PBE creates during many of our live show and i know that getting it on tape in a semi-artificial studio setting (in which the vibes and clarinet were recorded in separate rooms without being to see anybody else) is a testament of the great musicianship of scott, ryan, carl, bruce and eric. overall the way we were playing that afternoon i think we could have recorded the album over the phone and still have captured a great performance.
enjoy,
paul
Principle of Sufficient Irritation (originally 11/25/05)
* Paul Bailey, Trombone
* Bruce Gallego, Electric Guitar
* Eric Hendrickson, Keyboards
* Scott McIntosh, Clarinet
* Ryan Nunes, Vibraphone
* Carl Stronach, Bass Guitar
Recorded and Mixed by Paul Bailey and Marlon Luna
Recorded at California State University Fullerton and Swing House Studios Hollywood
fireworks “you can trust” sold here
i was very surprised to get a mention in the new yorker online, so if you haven’t visited her before let me please introduce myself:
although i’m a “blogging composer” it’s probably easier to keep up with our bigger conversation with other wide range of very interesting and uniquely individual composers that i follow on twitter:
shane [...]
colon nancarrow on crack
MUSIC DADA (bara no kodoku) by ALONE TOGETHER
i found this track by the sound collage artist alone + together (yuki ota) on the soundcloud mp3 service/website. it made me think of colon nancarrow and what a time kyle gann would have trying to transcribe this.
i also want to point out that you can now “like” posts on this site. especially if you “like” what you hear please click away and i’m interested to see how it works as a feedback measurement tool (besides looking at page views)
i’m also going to be experimenting posting music on this site and others using the soundcloud service/website. right now most of their site is dance music, but there are some interesting groups like live improvisation, sound collage, and drone music.
if you are making music, for now i have created a few groups to post tracks;
an alt-classical group for DIY art music
and post-whatever group for all the music that doesn’t easily fit into either the art music or pop music continuum.
overall the site has a few hiccups (it can be pretty slow) and the search system is pretty rudimentary, but it seems like it could be a useful way to share music along a variety of similar interests and aesthetics.
if you check it out please let me know what you think at http://soundcloud.com/pbailey
and on a final note last week’s (oct 9-10) ImprovFriday+1 files are now up and shane cadman’s piece for the mighty noah bailey dowell was a very special standout this week. steve layton also made remix that afternoon of shane’s piece and the glitchy ostinato opening of my music for controllers III called chorale (the mighty)
check them all out at http://improvfriday.ning.com/
Music for Controllers III and IV
still trying to get my head around live improvisation using digital sound sources and controllers. these next two tracks were improvised live using ableton live/ korg/nanokey, buddha machine (iphone), and the korg kaossilator
Steve Layton also made a nice mashup of my Music for Controllers III and Shane Cadman’s very beautiful piece: “For the Mighty Noah Bailey Dowell”. Shane’s description of the piece follows:
“I know Noah Bailey Dowell and his family from a church we all used to go to. He is known as “The Mighty” and he died on 10.3.09 after a battle with a rare form of cancer – he was not quite 8 years old. He and his family are an inspiration. They are all mighty indeed!. This piece is for Noah. I don’t know what else to say.”
Shane Cadman
100909 – For the Mighty Noah Bailey Dowell
Steve Layton
listen and come join the fun at improvfriday.ning.com
Music for Controllers I
finally getting around to joining the ImprovFriday fun. here is my first submission.
Music for Controllers I
created using ableton live, buddha machine (iphone), korg kaossillator and nano-key
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Cheap Admiration
‘m really happy to finally release the first track from my upcoming PBE EP “Alt-Classical”
Cheap Admiration (2005), is a simple pop song (loosely based on a harmonic deconstruction) of Johann Pezel’s (1639-1694) Sonata Ciacona.
Around 1670 Pezel was the town stadtpfeifer (band director) in Leipzig and later in his career he applied and was turned down for the job of Cantor of St. Thomaskirche, a job that J.S. Bach would hold 50 years later.
Alt-Classical is:
DIY, open instrumentation, alternative venues, mix of amateur and professional performers, music lies somewhere between art music (music meant to be contemplated) and pop music (music meant for mass consumption).
Alt-Classical is the third CD/EP release from the Paul Bailey Ensemble
Paul Bailey Ensemble (PBE)
The Paul Bailey Ensemble (PBE) is an alt-classical garage band that plays the music of a variety of living and dead composers. The southern california group was created in 2002 as a DIY forum outside the usual and limited channels of art music presentation.
- Paul Bailey, Trombone
- Bruce Gallego, Electric Guitar
- Eric Hendrickson, Keyboards
- Scott McIntosh, Clarinet
- Ryan Nunes, Vibraphone
- Carl Stronach, Bass Guitar
Post-Whatever (2008)
post-whatever, 2008
modular improvisation for laptop (macbookpro/ableton live) and two players
1st reading/rehearsal 061208, paul bailey (macbookpro/abletonlive, trombone), bruce gallego (electric guitar) matt menaged (bass guitar)
Not Getting Fired Is the New Promotion (2009)
financial crisis + twitter + RSS feeds + text 2 speech + ableton live
Life (We Cannot Retrace Our Steps)
my long life, my long life
RETRACE OUR STEPS is essentially a secular oratorio; a collection of thoughts, feelings, and opinions about modern life (consumerism, idealism, and alienation)
Traditionally oratorios functioned as a musical sermon, coordinated to biblical calendar to enhance the worship service. by setting these conflicting themes in a non-narrative format allows the contradictions and grey areas to become illuminated.
Instead of creating an “official” set of PROGRAM NOTES to accompany this recording (like the ones you are reading right now) I decided that a GRAPHIC LIBRETTO would far better bridge the gap between the trepidation many people feel today when listening to ART MUSIC (music meant for contemplation)
listen and download RETRACE OUR STEPS I-IV:
act 1
retrace our steps, act I
act 2
retrace our steps, act II
act 3
retrace our steps, act III
act 4
retrace our steps, act IV
download graphic libretto and retrace our steps mp3’s (66mb zip file)
fearless leader
pbe live at csuf 092507
scott mcintosh, clarinet
bruce gallego, electric guitar
matt menaged, electric bass
eric hendrickson, piano
paul bailey, tbone
latest mp3’s from the csuf show and lacc show:
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lacc, 100207 cheap admiration fearless leader eye for optical theory principal of sufficient irritation principal of sufficient irritation sweater song |
csuf, 092507
fearless leader
eve for optical theory
principle of sufficient irritation
principal of sufficient irritation (with real quiet)
les moutons de panurge
