More stuff for Owen

I've done just a bit with the click track to hopefully aid in performance.  Because the metro does little to tell you where you are in the piece, I've added two measures of a timbale sound just before the start a few of the major sections.  This sound plays quarter notes in the two measures immediately before these sections.  Here are the measure numbers in which it plays...

51-52
74-75
89-90
127-128
152-153
173-174

Each of these will give you an accent on beat 1.

electronics only with the click track

electronics with live performance mock-up
(I've removed the pitch-bendy kettle solo because it differs from what you have in the part)

stuff for Owen mostly

all electronics plus fake evil robot Owen

all electronics plus fake robot Owen and the metronome 
(I also removed the pitch-bendy kettle solo because your notated part is quite a bit different from the improv recording that I have in the track)

all electronics with none of the live performance parts with the metronome.

refining the electronics

Again, I have four tracks for you today.  I dare say that this version is pretty close to what the finished product will be.  So I probably won't post a new version for some time unless I feel that I need to make some larger changes.


with the live performance mockup and electronics

with the live performance mockup, electronics, and metronome

electronics alone

electronics alone with metronome

more more more electronics

There's still one more shortish gap from 6:08-6:45 that I want to fill in, but otherwise the electronics are all in place.  I plan to refine them quite a bit, but the basic ideas and main events are where they're supposed to be.  I have four different mixes for you this time.

with the live performance mockup and electronics

with the live performance mockup, electronics, and metronome

electronics alone

electronics alone with metronome


I was trying to think of some titles today and came up with a couple that might be ok...


A Watched Pot

Pour Me Out

more more electronics

Here are some more electronics for the last 5 min. It's still pretty rough, but I think things are heading in the right direction. Some sections have no electronics so far, but I plan to include some pretty much everywhere except the brief section from 8:00 - 8:15 with the live whistle. I think it may be more effective by itself. I think I'm pretty much burned out for the day. I think my brain's too tired to make effective and productive decisions at this point. but I plan to pick it back up tomorrow morning.

Here here here you go...

nearly there

I've pretty much finished all of Owen's part and the transition into "middle of a riddle".  I think the timing for everything is pretty well set, though I may need to just do a bit of work on the practicality of Owen's part.  (it's fairly difficult... perhaps absurdly so)  Of course now I just need to work on roughing in the electronics for the last 3 minutes or so before "middle of a riddle" comes in.  As it stands, Owen will quit playing right around 9:45.  I'm not quite sure how much of "riddle" you want at the end, but there's nearly a minute's worth in this clip.  That puts us at 10:45 for the entire piece.

6:45 into the piece is were I see the climax.  It may seem a little weak right now without the electronics, but I think it will be pretty exhilarating.  (especially when Owen's hands are moving so fast that you can hardly even see them) .  So, with these screaming electronics, I imagined that this might be the moment for raining tea bags and flying circus Roz.  I'm going to try out using multiple re-pitched versions of teakettle whistles for this section, but I think it will need a bit more as well.  Also... the 6 seconds or so leading up to this should end up being a very satisfyingly dramatic transition once I'm finished with the electronics

btw
the short whistle that you hear around 8:00 will be played live by owen on his kettle's whistle.  (In this clip is a recording of that same whistle)

Here ya go...

aaand more electronics

here's a clip with the speech included

and here's one without speech

more electronics

Here's a clip from the work that I've done so far this morning.  I've added some electronics including a couple of clips from "what women want".  I haven't added any electronics past the 5 min mark so far, but I plan to incorporate something.

As far as the narrator audio clips are concerned...
I think they work as is, but I wonder if adding them implies too much social context or gender roles commentary.  The few that I have in there right now don't seem to point in any particular direction in terms of 50's gender stereotype critique.  I do wonder though if I need to have some kind of speech clip at the very beginning of the piece on top of the recorded whistling.  The first appearance of the narrator may seem very out of place because the first couple of minutes is mostly abstract musical gestures.  I'm not quite sure... Let me know what you think.

Here's the link

Up to 7 min now... sorta

I've roughed out the percussion part for the first 7 minutes.  This clip leads up to the end of section 3.

Tempo:
So far we have gone from 60bpm for the first section to 90bpm for the pulse section (section 2) Next will be the gonzo climax at 120 bpm.

There will be some kind of pause at the end of section 3 and a big short dramatic event then Owen goes nuts on all bowls, the tea kettle, and the whistle at the new tempo.   (I was thinking of utilizing the sextuplet interruptions in section 3 to initiate (or hint at) some kind of metric modulation)

Electronics:
I would like to experiment with distorting audio clips from the "what women want" video as the main component of the electronics.  (there's a link to that video in an earlier post)  I think we should be ok to use that audio under the terms of "fair use" and we won't have to worry about copyright issues.  I haven't included any electronics in the new material, but I think it would add a lot and I plan to experiment with that this evening or tomorrow morning.  Of course the main concern with this is coordinating the synchronization of live performance with prerecorded material.  But we'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Including the epilogue of "in the middle of a riddle", I think we might end up right around 10 min. total duration.

Here ya go...

In progress audio for the first 3:30

Obviously this is still pretty rough, but I thought you might want to hear the way some of this is shaping up.  The whistling at the beginning is just me whistling the melody from "in the middle of a riddle".  Then there's a huge 50's style big band hit that is stretched to create that eerie electronic ambiance later on.  I plan to add more to the electronic track for the last couple of minutes of this opening section, but nothing too intrusive.

Of course the tea kettle and bowls part will sound much better with Owen playing them and I would like to refine his part a bit more.  For the time being, I just approximated much of the live part so that you could hear the general pacing of it.  What you hear at the end of this clip is the transition from the pulse rhythmic material on bowl 5 to the tea kettle.  So basically this is the intro and section 1 with a bit of the transition between section 1 and section 2.  (as per the description of the 4 main sections that I posted a few days ago)

Here it is...

Kettle Plus Bowls 05-28-10

Tea Kettle Plus Bowls

mostly improvised - Tea Kettle Solo 05-28-10

Tea Kettle Solo

somewhat improvised - opening section Marbles and Co. 05-28-10

Opening Section - Marbles and Co.

Basic rough outline

- Intro
dialogue between Roz and Owen.  Loud audio outburst (obnoxious big band hit or something) interrupts and Owen begins rolling marble in the large bowl that he's holding.  Owen moves to his station.

Section 1 - Marbles and Co.
Owen maintains spinning marbles and unpacks his mixing bowl setup.  He begins to play the bowls and turns all but two of them over (to rim-down) along the way.  eventually he allows the marbles in bowl1 and bowl2 to lose momentum and we are left with a steady pulse on bowl5.  He is playing this bowl with a chopstick, allowing it to ring briefly and muting it with his hand in rhythm.

Sections 2 - Tea Kettle Solo
the pulse gradually shifts from bowl5 to the side of the tea kettle.  Owen begins to incorporate the metal lid and knob as a playing surface while maintaining the same steady pulse.  eventually he picks up the kettle with one hand and begins to play the bottom of it as well.  The kettle has a small amount of water in it, so there will be an eerie pitch-bending effect here.  He eventually sets down the kettle and returns to just playing a metronomic pulse on the side of the kettle.

Section 3 - Plus Bowls
At this point Owen will only be playing on the side of the kettle so now Roz could potentially stand on top through part or all of this section.  Owen begins to incorporate the bowls.  However, now they each carry their own individual pulse rate.  This section continually builds momentum and comes to a false climax just before a dramatic pause.  everything halts for 4 seconds or so during which time, Owen flips over the last two bowls, pulls the cap-whistle off of the tea kettle and puts the whistle in his mouth.  We are suddenly thrown into the next section.

Section 4 - Gonzo Climax
Owen wails on all bowls and the kettle with chopsticks now in a tempo that is 1.5 times the speed of the previous section.  He also incorporates the cap-whistle (which is quite loud btw) into the rhythmic texture.  I suspect that this may be a good section for the deluge of tea bags and flying trampoline leaps.

- Epilogue
Owen's wild wailing and whistle wielding wackiness eventually loses steam and the tempo slows very gradually.  "in the middle of a riddle" fades in at the new tempo and Owen briefly accompanies the song on his tea kettle.  He is then free to fade out his accompaniment and do Roz's bidding about the stage.

early ephemera

Prelinger archive list of films tagged "gender roles"

A few individual films that I found interesting.

Word to the Wives
Leave it to Roll-oh
American Women: Product Research
There are a couple of lines that I really like in this one.  Particularly the way he speaks them.

12:24
developing products that women want
12:42
Women really want

I'll keep combing through this stuff and post a few more of the ones I like.

Here's an idea

During the section where Owen is flipping the bowls over one by one, I could make my way over next to him and be doing some crouchy, leggy thing. Could he flip one of the bowls over to be put on my head, and then strike that one along with all the others as he plays them all rim down with the mallets? Might make an interesting image.

sections

controlled marble roll progresses from very slow to fast.
meanwhile, rim up soft mallet starts sparse to somewhat dense.
begin to flip bowls over one by one.
set down marble roll and allow to lose momentum naturally.
briefly use only soft mallets on all bowls rim down.
introduce stick strike and have mix of both soft and hard strike.
highlight pitchbend on bowl crest.
build to minor climax.
pause.
begin pulse on tea kettle.  (roz stands on tea kettle here?)
assign pulse value to each bowl?
evolve away from just tea kettle pulse.
return slowly to tea kettle pulse.
retard pulse to tempo of "in the middle of a riddle"
fade in crackled audio of "in the middle of a riddle" with simple patterns on bowls.

catagories of sounds

-tea kettle -
Strike top
Strike bottom
lid off/on
strike lid
pop spout
pitch bend (works best when struck on bottom)
whistle-cap

-metal mixing bowls-
roll marble slowly along inner crease (little pitch content, magnifies imperfections of the marble and bowl)
roll marble quickly along side wall (ringing quality with snare-roll effect)
spin with rim up on hard surface (wobble effect)
pronounced pitchbend effect can be achieved with small amount of water

strike on rim and mute with hand

strike with rim up on rim
strike with rim up on side wall
strike with rim up on bottom
strike with rim down on crest
strike with rim down on side wall
strike with rim down on crest with soft mallet (creates chinese gong effect and sometimes quick pitchbend)

Kettle and Bowls #2

Kettle and Bowls Clip #2

Kettle and Bowls #1

Kettle and Bowls Clip #1