Lyrebird
Lyrebird consists of four movements. The title refers to the Australian bird of the same name notorious for its impeccable ability to mimic both artificial and natural sounds including construction sounds and digital cameras. This piece pushes the limits of quotation by using all found material from film and television scores and visual media to create a collage of “new” material.
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Percussion Quartet and Tap Dancer with Video Queues
Movement 1, “Lyrebird” uses direct quotation of film scores arranged together in a puzzle piece way so that each layers onto the previous purposefully. The tap dancer mimics the snare drum throughout. The visual aspects include original film footage of nature and the behind the scenes creation of the costuming used in the films for Movement 4. (ca. 4’ 58’’)
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Tap Duet with Fixed Audio and Video
Movement 2, “Moses Supposedly” is composed of clips from Singin’ in the Rain and other various television and movie clips spliced together in a rhythmic style that the tap dancers mimic. The chaos of this piece is to invoke the many connections that can be made between different art media. **This piece does not have a score since it was done through video editing and choreography, but a video is available. (ca. 3’ 26’’)
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Percussion Foley with Fixed Video
Movement 3 uses the film sound production technique of foley to create the sound effects and music for the classic silent film, Nosferatu. This piece takes away the mystery of ominous sounds in horror films and plays on audience expectations and predispositions. (ca. 6’ 56’’)
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Percussion Quartet with Video Queues
Movement 4 builds upon the concepts of the previous three movements in that it is composed of quotations but transforms them into a unique music and visual experience. The visual aspects of this piece are all original film works collaged together into a fluent mosaic of creative license. (ca. 10’ 08”)
Program Notes
