Remote Livestream #4:
Night/Light
PROGRAM
Want to read more about the technology involved in these performances?
Check out our new resources page!
Check out our new resources page!
A note: Since standard choral conducting does not work for live remote performance (in fact, it could be detrimental, due to the latency!), we have dubbed the artistic leaders of each piece "semiconductors." While not conducting in the traditional sense, our semiconductors give important cues to help the ensemble stay together, a task made more complicated in this medium. The term "semiconductor" is also a referential nod to the electronic nature of this performance. Thanks to our semiconductors for learning how best to lead an ensemble in this new world!
"Oure Light in Oure Night"
by Adrienne Inglis
Text by Julian of Norwich from The Shewings of Julian of Norwich, Part III, LXXXIII, lines 3362-3364
semiconductor: the score!
(world premiere)
Composed by Adrienne Inglis (ASCAP) while sheltering in place during the coronavirus pandemic, "Oure Light in Oure Night" (2020) sets text by Julian of Norwich for voices with a nature soundtrack. The video format is designed especially for use by choirs singing remotely on an online platform such as Zoom, Cleanfeed, Jamulus, or other. Text is from The Shewings of Julian of Norwich, Part III LXXXIII lines 3362-3364: “Thus I saw and understode that our feith is oure light in our night, which light is God, our endless day.” The soundtrack of night sounds changing to dawn reflects the message of hope in Julian’s text. Beginning with the sounds of dusk, the whispered words blend with insect sounds. The modal aleatoric passages create an atmosphere of echoing bells as voices overlap. As night passes into day, the modality changes and the insect night sounds shift to the dawn chorus of birds. Born in about 1343 in Norwich, England, Julian survived the Black Plague as a girl of six. She became an anchoress at St. Julian’s Church in Norwich where she lived in prayerful seclusion. In 1373, she became very sick at age 30. Near the point of death, a curate showed her a crucifix for comfort. She then experienced a series of intense visions of Christ and recovered from her illness to write eloquently about her “shewings.” Her beautiful Medieval English words reassure us with the hope that our faith in God is our light in times of trouble.
TEXT
Thus I saw and understode that oure feith is oure light in oure night, which light is God, oure endless day.
"Mask"
by Perry Townsend
poem by Perry Townsend
semiconductor: Perry Townsend
(world premiere)
Since the COVID crisis began, artists have searched for ways to give voice to the experience we’ve been plunged into. In the C4 Network, several of our composers have written such pieces, while we collectively tried to figure out how to sing together live, from our remote locations. Karen Siegel’s “Here I Am” explores the hopeful beacons we sent to each other during extreme lockdown. In Brian Mountford’s “The Next Child Waits,” set to a Sandburg poem, the city itself also waits. Jamie Klenetsky Fay’s “Neighbors at 7” celebrates the nightly ritual of honoring frontline medical workers, waving to neighbors in the process. David See’s “Hey / Keep In Touch” gives a wistful and comical nod to things we miss about our pre-COVID lives.
Sometime in May while thinking about this, a poem came tumbling out, which I was pretty sure should become a piece. The topic is one of several hotly debated ones to emerge from this crisis – mask wearing. In the piece, two repeated motifs suggest potential ideas around the phrases “I wear it” and “I don’t wear it.” There are also moments of lightness, depicting some annoying aspects of masks – the smells, the fogged glasses, the very strangeness of it. Transitions between verses incorporate sounds within the word “mask” itself, set to gauzy choral clusters. The piece is harshly critical of those who refuse to wear masks. To be clear, this does NOT include those with legitimate health issues related to mask wearing.
My eternal gratitude to the musicians of C4 and Inversion for wrapping their mitts around a difficult piece, in addition to all the tech demands of remote singing. This piece is quite rhythmic without the freedoms of aleatory style, so we’ve had to rely on a clicktrack and very low latency settings in Jamulus to keep ourselves together. Hope you enjoy.
~ Perry Townsend
TEXT
mm-aa-ss-kk
i wear it
i wear it
i don’t wear it
it itches
i wear it
i don’t wear it
it smells funny
i wear it
mm-aa-ss-kk
i don’t wear it for me
i wear it for you
it feels weird
i wear it
i wear it because
it matters if i infect you
i feel imposed upon
i don’t wear it
mm-aa-
i don’t wear it
because i can’t be bothered
if i infect you
if i hurt you
if i kill you
mm-aa-
i wear it
i wear it
it fogs my glasses
i wear it
it’s kind of annoying
i wear it
i wear it
i freaking wear it
"Ostinato, Chords, and Vocalise"
by Timothy Brown
semiconductor: Melissa Wozniak
(world premiere)
"Ostinato, Chords, and Vocalise" started out as an exercise in creating new a cappella vocal music appropriate for the group live-stream performances C4 and our sister ensembles have been experimenting with since the arrival of the pandemic. The largest hurdle in this electronic approach has been bypassing the need for exactness in rhythm, entrances, and cut offs which is next to impossible with the latency inherent in the medium.
The piece is structured very simply with a two tone oscillation in a few voices - the “Ostinato” - a series of eight jazz influenced “Chords” for the choir, each of which accommodates the oscillation pair, and a loosely defined “Vocalise” for soloist.
The piece remains textless because, it occurred to me after the musical ideas were fleshed out, any words I might select would be imposed upon the pure sound nature of the concept, and would make the piece “mean something” to the listener that wasn’t intended.
It’s my hope that audiences will accept it as a simple expression of beauty in an ugly time.
~ Timothy Brown
"Demon"
by Matthew Brown
text from Marcus 6:9
semiconductor: Joshua Chai
“Demon” was written and premiered on Saturday, October 15, 2015, presented to an audience of film and video game composers as a demonstration of novel vocal techniques. My challenge to myself was to write a piece with zero specified pitches or texts; previously, I had experimented with such techniques only within the context of more “traditional” choral pieces, such as “Pacem.” As the piece began to take shape, I realized that the addition of an appropriately spine-tingling text would complement the sound world which was emerging. The Latin included in the piece is taken from a biblical story of demon possession. Asked for a name, the response is: “Our name is Legion, for we are many.”
Although this piece may be performed with smaller choirs, perhaps even as few as eight or twelve, I imagine it becoming increasingly effective (and impactful) with greater numbers, given the techniques employed. (A Roman legion consisted of about five thousand men at the time of the story, for what it’s worth!)
~ Matthew Brown
TEXT
Legio nomen mihi
(Our name is Legion)
Est multi sumus
(For we are many)
by Adrienne Inglis
Text by Julian of Norwich from The Shewings of Julian of Norwich, Part III, LXXXIII, lines 3362-3364
semiconductor: the score!
(world premiere)
Composed by Adrienne Inglis (ASCAP) while sheltering in place during the coronavirus pandemic, "Oure Light in Oure Night" (2020) sets text by Julian of Norwich for voices with a nature soundtrack. The video format is designed especially for use by choirs singing remotely on an online platform such as Zoom, Cleanfeed, Jamulus, or other. Text is from The Shewings of Julian of Norwich, Part III LXXXIII lines 3362-3364: “Thus I saw and understode that our feith is oure light in our night, which light is God, our endless day.” The soundtrack of night sounds changing to dawn reflects the message of hope in Julian’s text. Beginning with the sounds of dusk, the whispered words blend with insect sounds. The modal aleatoric passages create an atmosphere of echoing bells as voices overlap. As night passes into day, the modality changes and the insect night sounds shift to the dawn chorus of birds. Born in about 1343 in Norwich, England, Julian survived the Black Plague as a girl of six. She became an anchoress at St. Julian’s Church in Norwich where she lived in prayerful seclusion. In 1373, she became very sick at age 30. Near the point of death, a curate showed her a crucifix for comfort. She then experienced a series of intense visions of Christ and recovered from her illness to write eloquently about her “shewings.” Her beautiful Medieval English words reassure us with the hope that our faith in God is our light in times of trouble.
TEXT
Thus I saw and understode that oure feith is oure light in oure night, which light is God, oure endless day.
"Mask"
by Perry Townsend
poem by Perry Townsend
semiconductor: Perry Townsend
(world premiere)
Since the COVID crisis began, artists have searched for ways to give voice to the experience we’ve been plunged into. In the C4 Network, several of our composers have written such pieces, while we collectively tried to figure out how to sing together live, from our remote locations. Karen Siegel’s “Here I Am” explores the hopeful beacons we sent to each other during extreme lockdown. In Brian Mountford’s “The Next Child Waits,” set to a Sandburg poem, the city itself also waits. Jamie Klenetsky Fay’s “Neighbors at 7” celebrates the nightly ritual of honoring frontline medical workers, waving to neighbors in the process. David See’s “Hey / Keep In Touch” gives a wistful and comical nod to things we miss about our pre-COVID lives.
Sometime in May while thinking about this, a poem came tumbling out, which I was pretty sure should become a piece. The topic is one of several hotly debated ones to emerge from this crisis – mask wearing. In the piece, two repeated motifs suggest potential ideas around the phrases “I wear it” and “I don’t wear it.” There are also moments of lightness, depicting some annoying aspects of masks – the smells, the fogged glasses, the very strangeness of it. Transitions between verses incorporate sounds within the word “mask” itself, set to gauzy choral clusters. The piece is harshly critical of those who refuse to wear masks. To be clear, this does NOT include those with legitimate health issues related to mask wearing.
My eternal gratitude to the musicians of C4 and Inversion for wrapping their mitts around a difficult piece, in addition to all the tech demands of remote singing. This piece is quite rhythmic without the freedoms of aleatory style, so we’ve had to rely on a clicktrack and very low latency settings in Jamulus to keep ourselves together. Hope you enjoy.
~ Perry Townsend
TEXT
mm-aa-ss-kk
i wear it
i wear it
i don’t wear it
it itches
i wear it
i don’t wear it
it smells funny
i wear it
mm-aa-ss-kk
i don’t wear it for me
i wear it for you
it feels weird
i wear it
i wear it because
it matters if i infect you
i feel imposed upon
i don’t wear it
mm-aa-
i don’t wear it
because i can’t be bothered
if i infect you
if i hurt you
if i kill you
mm-aa-
i wear it
i wear it
it fogs my glasses
i wear it
it’s kind of annoying
i wear it
i wear it
i freaking wear it
"Ostinato, Chords, and Vocalise"
by Timothy Brown
semiconductor: Melissa Wozniak
(world premiere)
"Ostinato, Chords, and Vocalise" started out as an exercise in creating new a cappella vocal music appropriate for the group live-stream performances C4 and our sister ensembles have been experimenting with since the arrival of the pandemic. The largest hurdle in this electronic approach has been bypassing the need for exactness in rhythm, entrances, and cut offs which is next to impossible with the latency inherent in the medium.
The piece is structured very simply with a two tone oscillation in a few voices - the “Ostinato” - a series of eight jazz influenced “Chords” for the choir, each of which accommodates the oscillation pair, and a loosely defined “Vocalise” for soloist.
The piece remains textless because, it occurred to me after the musical ideas were fleshed out, any words I might select would be imposed upon the pure sound nature of the concept, and would make the piece “mean something” to the listener that wasn’t intended.
It’s my hope that audiences will accept it as a simple expression of beauty in an ugly time.
~ Timothy Brown
"Demon"
by Matthew Brown
text from Marcus 6:9
semiconductor: Joshua Chai
“Demon” was written and premiered on Saturday, October 15, 2015, presented to an audience of film and video game composers as a demonstration of novel vocal techniques. My challenge to myself was to write a piece with zero specified pitches or texts; previously, I had experimented with such techniques only within the context of more “traditional” choral pieces, such as “Pacem.” As the piece began to take shape, I realized that the addition of an appropriately spine-tingling text would complement the sound world which was emerging. The Latin included in the piece is taken from a biblical story of demon possession. Asked for a name, the response is: “Our name is Legion, for we are many.”
Although this piece may be performed with smaller choirs, perhaps even as few as eight or twelve, I imagine it becoming increasingly effective (and impactful) with greater numbers, given the techniques employed. (A Roman legion consisted of about five thousand men at the time of the story, for what it’s worth!)
~ Matthew Brown
TEXT
Legio nomen mihi
(Our name is Legion)
Est multi sumus
(For we are many)
C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective Members & Guests Performing:
Daniel Andor-Ardó
Stephanie K. Andrews (Inversion Ensemble)
Bonnie Bogovich (Inversion Ensemble)
Colin Britt (C4 alum)
Timothy Brown
Claudia Carroll (Inversion Ensemble)
Joshua Chai (Inversion Ensemble)
Alissa Floyd (Inversion Ensemble)
Adrienne Inglis (Inversion Ensemble)
Angela Irving (Inversion Ensemble)
Brian Mountford
David See
Karen Siegel
Perry Townsend
Sam Wise (Inversion Ensemble)
Melissa Wozniak
Daniel Andor-Ardó
Stephanie K. Andrews (Inversion Ensemble)
Bonnie Bogovich (Inversion Ensemble)
Colin Britt (C4 alum)
Timothy Brown
Claudia Carroll (Inversion Ensemble)
Joshua Chai (Inversion Ensemble)
Alissa Floyd (Inversion Ensemble)
Adrienne Inglis (Inversion Ensemble)
Angela Irving (Inversion Ensemble)
Brian Mountford
David See
Karen Siegel
Perry Townsend
Sam Wise (Inversion Ensemble)
Melissa Wozniak
Feel like supporting C4's ongoing exploration of live remote choral performance? Our Venmo virtual tip jar can be found at @c4ensemble! (Donations can also be made via credit card through our website, as well as through PayPal at [email protected].)
Thank you for your support!
Thank you for your support!
