sounding field

from Acoustic by Robert McClure

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about

sounding field is a piece for low brass trio written for Ohio University’s 3BASSO. The title refers not only to the practice of making sound but, more pointedly, to the practice of depth finding for a body of water. The piece employs a rigid pitch field across the combined ranges of the three instruments. As such, it is an exploration of this pitch field, eventually finding the outer reaches and hidden melodic quirks.

The formal aspects of sounding field were developed after a great deal of thinking about gyil (African xylophone) music and Classical Indian music. They are formally similar in that there can be an introduction in which the scale or pitch field is worked through improvisationally. This connection came to light after a conversation with composer, Asha Srinivasan, on her own Clasical Indian-inspired music. In gyil music, this introduction is called the piila and is meant to “warm up” the instrument. I think in both these contexts, this introduction also serves to slowly teach the audience about the work. In the case of sounding field, I’ve used the first section to teach the audience the pitch field that is used throughout the piece as well as important melodic ideas. The second and final section develops and explores these initial ideas against a driving, rhythmic texture.

credits

from Acoustic, released July 21, 2017
3BASSO:
Lucas Rego Borges, Tenor Trombone
Joseph Brown, Bass Trombone
Jason Roland Smith, Tuba

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Robert McClure Athens, Ohio

Robert McClure composes music for
people and computers. He holds a doctorate from Rice University. He has previously held positions at Soochow University and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He is currently an Associate Professor of Composition/Theory at Ohio University in Athens, OH. ... more

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