Contemplation on Little Big Muff
Ken Ueno
About this work:
...can you tell me about the title? i was thinking about the quality of sound of the amplified cello. distorted. distorted through a Russian guitar pedal (it’s called a “Big Muff”). what’s cool is that amplification works to make more apparent the inherent qualities in the physicality of sound which, without amplification, we are less aware: it brings out the internal beatings (and therefore the tempos) within certain intervals; it allows for the possibility of bringing out different overtones from changing only the bowing position; it brings out the artifacts of production noise. these qualities I find beautiful and in contrast to the hierarchical dominance of pitch/harmony in western Classical music. and there is a temporality necessary to make these elements cognitively focused, therefore the “contemplation.”
This pieces was written for the ‘cello + percussion duo, Odd Appetite (Ha-Yang Kim + Nathan Davis).
Year composed: 2000
Duration: 00:13:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: ,1 Percussion (General) soloist(s), ,1 Vibraphone soloist(s), ,1 Drum Set soloist(s), ,1 Cello soloist(s)
Instrumentation notes: amplified 'cello + perc. + boombox