for
Clarinet, Pitch Transposer, Digital Delay,
Color/B&W Video, and Electronic Sound ..
(1983) .. 5:22
with Nick Markovich
This work requires an amplified clarinet connected to a pitch transposer, which is connected to a digital delay. The work was composed for the MXR Model 129 pitch transposer, which has four preset switches that the clarinetist can select by touch buttons. If a different pitch transposer is used, it should have regeneration and mix controls, and it should be able to transpose up or down an octave. A click-free bypass switch is also required.
Difficult.
This concert video explores the dynamics of ritual--its rhythms and feelings, its oscillation between the concrete world and other worlds. It is not designed to depict a literal or narrative ceremony. Rather, it offers scenes and sounds with fluctuating contrasts and interplay in perspective, movement, motion, texture, and representation. These juxtapositions evoke a heightened resonance of the uniquely musical feelings and forms that spring from ritual.
The score, to which the visuals were fitted, is in ternary form with a coda. Its sections are based on the Fibonacci number series, which derives from the golden ratio.
OPEN PDF FILE OF PERFORMANCE SCORE
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MUSICIANS WHO PERFORM “NIGHT FLAME RITUAL”
Burton Beerman, clarinet
Rebecca Chappell, clarinet
Mary A. Druhan, clarinet
F. Gerard Errante, clarinet
Gerald J. Farmer, clarinet
John C. Laughton, clarinet
Jeffrey Krieger, electronic cello
William Powell, clarinet
Ciro Scarponi, clarinet
CREDITS
AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Production, Direction, Music, Editing, Video, Image Processing, Sound, Audio Processing: Reynold Weidenaar
Celebrant: Nick Markovich
Recorded Tap Dancer: Paulette Sears
Recorded Clarinetist: F. Gerard Errante
16mm Camera and Direction of Location Footage for “No Tollkeeper at the Gate”: Meryl Bronstein
Assistant 16mm Camera: Christine Meyer
Assistant Location Sound: Judy Klein, Bobby Bakshi, Tim Harvey
Studio Audio Engineer: Bob Bielecki
Assistant Studio Audio Engineer: Ron Kuivila
Video Post-Production Engineer: Dan Epstein
Location assistance provided by the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting, New York City.
Video produced at, and production assistance provided by, the Experimental Television Center, Owego, N.Y. ETC video computer system and software design by David Jones and Paul Davis.
Studio audio production at, and production assistance provided by, ZBS Media, Fort Edward, N.Y.
Video Post-Production at Electronic Arts Intermix, New York, N.Y.
The Experimental Television Center and ZBS Media are supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
This work was supported by a Composer Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Special thanks to the Bowery Fire Watchers, Bowery at Stanton Street, New York City, December 17, 1982.
Copyright © 1983 by Magnetic Music Publishing Co. (ASCAP).
