John F Paul Music
Electronic Music
from I.P.E.M.
Supported by a fellowship from the Belgian American Education Foundation, I worked for a year at the Institute for Psycho-acoustics and Electronic Music in Ghent, Belgium. While there I completed 4 works. The source material for 3 works (White on Grey, Before the Sea of Glass, and Trivial Pursuits) was generated on an EMS Synthi 100. The material for the 4th work (Just a piece of wood) came from recordings of me playing my violin.
My host at I.P.E.M. was Lucien Goethals.
The primary synthesizer at IPEM
in Ghent, Belgium
My host at IPEM: composer and director Lucien Goethals
The primary synthesizer at IPEM
The Music
White on Grey
Seagulls against the grey clouds of a Belgian winter. The continuum of colors. The weight of history: inquisition, wars, conquest.
Before the sea of glass
Infinite loops. Filter resonances.
"And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal..." Revelation 4
Trivial Pursuits
Classic synthesized game sounds arranged in fugal sections. A satiric take at contemporary life. The simple morphing into a vortex of chaos.
The irony of this piece is not lost on me, as I would five years later take a job writing music and creating sound effects for videogames.
Just a piece of wood
Snippets of violin tapping, plucks and hits.
