Hey all,
This is your TA Charlie. I’m just writing to let you know that I’m available every Thursday from 2-3pm in room 125 (Lincoln Hall) if you need assistance with class work. Don’t hesitate to stop by if you want some extra help.
Best, Charlie
Paul Lansky and Layering
I was initially introduced to Paul Lansky’s music a few years ago, beginning with Idle Chatter. Immediately, I was both attracted to it and blissfully unaware of the monumental effort required to create a piece like this 30 years ago. But now, after browsing around a bit and reading about the process of working with a room-sized computer and punch cards, I feel a new found appreciation for the depth he was able to achieve. Certainly, an even slightly less complex piece would have saved hours and hours of work. I found some of this information about Lansky’s process in the article posted below, which offers an analysis of the three Idle Chatter pieces and a few interesting anecdotes about Lansky’s music.
Here is the link to that article: http://www.popmatters.com/column/141865-idle-chatter-about-paul-lanskys-notjustmoreidlechatter/
Those pieces aside, I wanted to post another piece of his titled Table’s Clear. To my ears, this piece sounds a good deal like Idle Chatter, except the acoustic content comes from recordings of children playing percussion instruments instead of his wife’s voice. Both pieces share a surprising depth of layers. The seemingly complex “macro groove” is served by a number of smaller “micro grooves” if you could even consider them grooves at the micro level. Additionally, the timbral material remains quite static throughout the piece. Again, matching Idle Chatter. According to the above article, Lansky intentionally sought out a complex layering of material thinking that it would better maintain the interest of audiences over multiple listens. The more I think about this tendency, the more I seem to notice it in his music.
Here is a link to Table’s Clear: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDzMabty6QI
Charlie