Artist Statement
Jeremy Muller and guests will perform musical works that utilize innovative visual elements. These works include Blackwater: the little prince, For snare drums, mobile devices, and animation. The electronic accompaniment part I created primarily turns the audience’s phones into speakers for a completely immersive experience with omnidirectional sound. In Blackwater, the solo instruments are the two snare drums while the electronic part is an extension of that sound using only filtered or downsampled noise. Blackwater is about the infamous private mercenary army founded by Erik Prince, its war crimes, and how “endless wars” is a business model in the 21st century. The choice of snare drums is because of its long history and association with war – this became a historical choice as well as a timbral choice to represent the brutality of war.
The next two pieces will be works for percussion ensemble, Music for Botany and Omónoia. Music for Botany uses only hand-held instruments (maracas and caxixís) that are entirely made of various types of plant material. Omónoia is a percussion quartet for snare drums and a multitude of implements. The score uses Greek constellations as the basis for the graphic score. Performers organize the pieces to create a completely unique realization of the work. See the score examples below. The final piece will be Orbitals for solo clarinet and mobile phones. The solo clarinet is accompanied only by generated sounds on the audience cell phones. Thanks to mobile technology it is possible to perform an electroacoustic work like this without the need for electricity. But in addition to the audience participation and essentially turning their phones into multiple small, granular speakers, the phones emit changing light pulses that synchronize with the music in various ways. The phones are basically performing their own “score” to the music with audio/visual elements. In addition to the audience phones there will be 10 small inexpensive tablets to help with accompanying sound and to surround the performer.
Artist Bio
Jeremy Muller is active as a percussionist, composer, and multimedia artist. He’s been described as “highly creative” by Take Effect and has performed as a featured soloist at many venues throughout the United States, Canada, and Australia. Jeremy’s music often incorporates interactive technology and generative graphic scores. The way of spinning out musical ideas is something that is woven into the DNA of Jeremy’s music.