MUSIC AT MILLS 86/87
February 28 / Saturday / 8 PM / Concert Hall FRED FRITH AND MARK TRAYLE
FRED FRITH: Improvisations
INTERMISSION
MARK TRAYLE: Field Burning Dream Boots (Mary Oliver, violin) XXX: Chain Gang Songs Long Division Live Sound: Jay Cloidt Slides: Tom Leeser
Tonight's concert is sponsored in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and by Meet the Composer, California.
NOTES
The rhythm of "Field Burning" is provided by a tape of Nelson Mandela's voice. His voice is never heard, but resonates with the electronics, driving them to greater degrees of instability. The "Chain Gang Songs" are video versions of pieces that I have performed over the last five years. The processing of the voice and live electronics are controlled by a variety of unique devices. The text is an intoxicated diatribe on oppression of various types, barely discernible through electronic processing designed to mask the speaking voice.
"Dream Boots" and "Long Division" are the first two installments in a series called "The Little Melody Book (Melodiebuchlein)." The melodies for the pieces in this series are generated by a computer-resident automata, then scored with a specific performer and instrument in mind. During performance, the computer analyzes instrumental pitch and amplitude and makes its responses heard through solenoid-driven percussion instruments. The third piece in this series, "Charm," will be premiered by violinist Sarah Willner on Monday, March 16, at 8:00 PM at Hertz Hall on the U.C. Berkeley campus. -M.T.
After six years of "de-constructing" guitars until they were scarcely recognizable as such, FRED FRITH has recently returned to his first instrument. The result could best be described as a period of "re-construction." He says:
"Improvising suggests many different kinds of discipline and many choices. When I played my home-made book-shelf instruments, the language of the guitar was virtually completely absent -- I was involved in a kind of crazy, break-neck dialogue with circumstances. but i learned how to react; I developed my intuition to a much finer degree.
"Returning to the guitar gave me both the security and the restrictions of a history and a vocabulary and yet after the "on-the-table" way of playing it feels like a tremendous release. My energies are more concentrated and I'm suddenly aware of my center of gravity -- it's been a good lesson!" -F.F.
MARK TRAYLE was born and raised on the West Coast. He attended the University of Oregon (B.A., 1977), and Mills College (M.A., 1982), studying composition with Robert Ashley, David Behrman and David Rosenboom. He has performed at the New Performance Gallery, the Lab, Club Nine, and the M.U.S.I.C. Festival in San Francisco. His work has also been heard at Inroads and the Music Barge in New York City. In the fall of 1983 he co-produced the Axiom' Axiom Music Series, a month-long festival featuring composers and performers from the Bay Area, and in 1985 collaborated with Maryanne Amacher at the Capp St. Project. Trayle is also a member (along with John Bischoff and Tim Perkis) of Zero Chat Chat, a live computer network band.
MARY OLIVER, violinist/composer, received an M.F.A. in violin performance from Mills College. She has premiered and performed works by Paul Dresher, Barbara Golden, Malcolm Goldstein, Larry Polansky, Steve Reich, Wendy Reid and Iannis Xenakis. She has performed locally at New Langton Arts, Herbst Theatre, Zellerbach Hall and The Lab, and will be performing her own music at The Lab May 13 and 14.
Typed by Cheryl Vega 8-17-95