Trigger
John Mayrose
About this work:
My recent improvisational work involves interacting with electronics using a MIDI guitar to “trigger” synthetic sounds generated by a computer. In these performances the audience only hears the electronic output, but from the stage, I experience the process of triggering sonically: the attack from the actual guitar mixes with the synthesized sounds, which seem to emanate from the vibrating strings. I became obsessed with the effect of two different timbres sounding the same pitches and rhythms, and the resultant sense of polyphony arose from essentially monophonic music. This discovery came at a crucial time in my work as a composer. I believe it is vital that an artist continually reevaluates his or her creative process, and concurrent with the incorporation of electronics into my improvisations, was a growing concern about my reliance on counterpoint to generate musical ideas in my compositions. The rediscovery of monophony was a way to expand my sonic palette and take my compositions to a new level.
Trigger is my first work to incorporate elements of interactive electronic music in an acoustic composition. Instead of treating the duo as two independent musicians, I envisioned a single performer using one instrument to trigger events in another. This approach is extremely applicable to guitar and violin, both string instruments with similar left hand techniques, but with drastically different methods of producing sound: the pluck of the guitar is percussive, but lacks sustain, while the bowing of the violin provides sustain with a nuance of timbre. By writing essentially the same music for both instruments, my goal was to create what sounds like a violin/guitar hybrid, a combinatorial timbre of the two instruments. After a brief solo introduction, the violin leads the first half of Trigger. Any deviation in the guitar’s incessant, pulsing drones is triggered the violin’s disjunct melodic interjections. With a slightly more relaxed tone, the guitar begins the second half of the work directing the violin through a reworking of previous material. The melodic fragments begin to smooth out and extend, and Trigger ends with both performers working in conjunction.
Year composed: 2005
Duration: 06:45:40
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Guitar Ensembles
Instrumentation: 1 Violin, 1 Guitar (Classical/Acoustic)