Buzz (2012)
Buzz was commissioned by the In the Soil Arts Festival, St. Catharines, ON, and performed on 27 April, 2012.
Buzz was written for an ensemble of four electric guitarists, three brass players, and three mobile ‘passive percussionists’. The guitarists sat in a tight circle in a clearing next to the Canada Hair Cloth Building, downtown St. Catharines, while their amplifiers, and the three brass players formed a larger concentric circle with a 30′ diameter. During the piece, the guitarists played various ringing plucked tones; meanwhile, the ‘passive percussionists’, each holding a live snare drum, would move according to the score through the field of sound of each amplifier, thereby activating the snare drums. The brass players, in a complementary way, used buzzing mutes to modify their sounds, comprising primarily held tones.
Buzz is dedicated to Beti Kamanga.
Joe Lapinski, Mark Clifford, Alex Ring, Jakub Zapotoczny (guitars); Heather Segger & Scott Thomson (trombones); Nicolas Buligan (trumpet)
A second version of Buzz was performed at the Great Hall, Toronto, as part of Art Spin, a bicycle art tour of west-end Toronto, on 28 June, 2012. The ensemble was Ken Aldcroft, Harley Card, Michelangelo Iaffaldano, John Russon & Steve Sladkowski (guitars).
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