Sundayalysis

These pieces mainly date back to the late eighties when I was working on a diploma in radio production, and early nineties when I was finishing a BMus in Composition. Performed on a Roland W30 Music Workstation, a Yamaha DX7, a Yamaha CS40M analog synth, and a SoundBlaster AWE sound card. Sequenced using Cakewalk software on a Windows PC. Recorded using a Fostex 350 Recording Mixer, a Fostex Model 80 reel-to-reel tape recorder, a Korg DRV-2000 digital reverb, and a Realist microphone.

"Dance For Mixolydian Algorithms" was composed in 1985 and originally scored for piano, Yamaha DX7, and Yamaha RX15 percussion synth. Rerecorded in 2000 using the Yamaha DX7 and my computer's sound card.

"43222" is a piece in which I deliberately made the metre difficult to pin down, although the title suggests one interpretation: four 8th notes, then a group of three, then three groups of two.

"Sundayalysis" is a decomposition of sound samples all taken one Sunday morning, featuring the Gregorian Chant Choir of Calgary (in which I sang), and sounds from the tower bells of Christ Church, Elbow Park, where I was once a ringer.

"Paranoid Androids" uses the weird over-compressed end of a normal electric piano sample as a percussion instrument, to which I added wailing dischords. We danced around listening to it over and over the day I first recorded it.

"Eastern Desert Stereotype" uses the stereotypic scales and instrumentation of middle-Eastern music, except that the instrument sounds have been modified a little.

"FiveBeat" explores the possibilities of subdividing the quarter note into five equal subdivisions (a "dash-dotted quarter note") rather than the traditional 2, 3, or 4.

"Siv Tango" and "Siv Polka" were composed for Don Filipchuk's short animated film, "Vacuum Siv", and accompany Siv dancing around his house with his new vacuum cleaner while the vacuum sucks up everything he owns.

"The Kitchen Stirs at Dawn" is a piece for waking up to. Listen for a ticking clock, percolating coffee, and the inevitable alarm clock.

"Glow in the Rear View Mirror" is Inspired by "Vignettes" by Lee Sebel. The glow in the title is receding city lights. Occasionally you'll hear traffic in the opposing lane.

"Morning" and "Evening" are two versions of a Mozart Sonatina, composed for a Canadian Cancer Society educational video.

"Six, Five" switches metre back and forth between 6/4 and 5/4, and is scored for piano and bass. For live performances I rescored it for two pianos.

"Cycling - the Sane Solution" was written for a one-minute public service announcement about cycling. Listen for the shifts between the carefree cyclist and the aggravated motorist.

"Carol of the Bells" is a version of the Christmas carol composed by Mykola Leontovych, but using non-traditional instruments (such as my sampled voice).

"CTSR March" started its life as a sketch for computer game music, but got a makeover for a student video about the Cinema, Television, Stage, and Radio Arts program at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

"O Canada Ragtime" is an upbeat version of Canada's national anthem, which was originally composed by Calixa Lavallée. This version was composed for a one-minute television sounder.