CALIFORNIA MOODS was composed over a six week period
in Los Angeles when my intermedia performing arts ensemble was
in the area to present concerts, workshops and master classes.
I quickly developed a love/hate relationship with California's
ambiguous culture and learned to crave exposure to its two-faced ways the way one loves
chocolate then regrets eating it the next day. It is at once glitter and fluff and at the same time
all that is wonderful. It was fun playing with the simple ways that make up the city and it
was even more fun to leave; but once in a while I think back to those six weeks.
Nancy Drew
Can't be bought
Even though her perfume repels me
She pretends to be someone else
As I ask permission to photograph her
Between the suppliers with deep voices
In the city of Angeles of addiction
Where even sunlight refuses to touch the earth
And only neon grows the artificial grass
An entire city like a cheap hotel room
The walkers shiver in the heat
While the moon watches
Knowing its debt will be paid in time
When the shoreline slivers beneath the sand
It could have been worse
Its nice to have come
But even nicer to go.
CIRCLE DANCE (412,796 bytes .wav file)
for string quartet
CONCERTO I
for alto saxophone and taped instruments (1981)
The Concerto is the first of what was to be an ongoing series of works, but which only
includes two compositions to date.. The source material for the tape is primarily
composed of pre-recorded acoustical large ensemble sounds originally written as
incidental music to the Shakespearian play ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA and here
processed electronically, giving the illusion of an accompanying orchestra fitted with
microphones. A "purgatory" or middle world is thus created where one is never certain
which sounds are produced by the live saxophonist, which are the electronically
modified orchestra or which are purely electronic in origin.
CYCLE
for voice and computer
CYCLE is an art song in a long western vocal tradition, but substitutes the computer
tape for the usual piano as the voice's musical partner. The text to CYCLE
is written by the composer and concerns itself with the restraints
of womanhood, particularly as they relate to societal explanations
of motherhood. That the young woman is bound to her tasks from
birth, without flexibility. That she finds her identity in her relationship to others.
This work is the first of several works on similar issues. The character of the music
changes with the text to show the true multifaceted nature of womanhood,
changing from reserved and renaissance in nature, to plaintive, to strong willed
and disciplined, to childlike and without care.
THE DANCER
a video
THE DANCER is not about dance, but about a unique person who happens to be a dancer. It is
not about movement inherent in the framework of an art object, but it is about the small
movements of a personality. About the wisps of the wind blowing her hair and the depth of her
fragile smile. It is not about the gymnastic leaps and spins of technique but about the hurt, pain
and strength that allows us to prevail.
EVENING SONGS
for acoustic clarinet
EVENING SONGS for acoustic clarinet is published in an anothology of new clarinet
music by Milcreek Press (Los Angeles) compiled as a Festschrift for composer Barney
Childs. This work is intended as an opened ended collection of music for solo acoustic
clarinet that will grow with time. A performance can be any number of the movements in
any order.
FOR BARNEY
The movement is composed around a small fragment that derives its pitches from the
name Barney. Its moods reflect the ambiguous and often confusing character that is his.
A gruff and somewhat indifferent exterior, hiding the thoughtful and caring soul within.
DEVIL'S MUSIC
Those moments of devilishness, when boundaries are vague. When we sneak carefree
shouts and responsibility is a word shed like a snake's useless old skin. When we can be
close in childish ways that feels so good and we spend our lives returning to, even if for
just a moment.
DREAMING
That sub real level of consciousness. The state in which we seem to leave our bodies and
observe the ramblings around us. That state of super reality where we can confront our
primary being without the walls and dance that society insists on imposing.
MORNING SCENE
What glories does rebirth always bring? From the ashes of seemingly bottomless conflict
grows hope and goodness. From the darkness and depression of the night flowers the
song of the morning.
FOUR IN SIX (244,348 bytes .wav file)
for string quartet
MASKS
for electric clarinet and computer
There were the starlit, breathlessly warm summer nights. The moments when you are
surrounded only by virtue. Home from the battle when the armor can be removed. Those
special moments when you can be completely vulnerable. The joy, laughter, comfort of
union. And dreams when one could still dream. Only to know that the masks must be
put back on for tomorrow's wars.
MEDITATIONS
for electric clarinet, interactive computer and dancers (1994)
1. Holy Moments
2. Jive
3. The Garden
4. Again, jassing
(this work uses the CMT interface developed by Roger Dannenberg at
Carnegie-Mellon University for the generation of the computer part in C code)
The computer part, encompassing the voice module harmonies and sequences, are
written in C, using the toolkit developed at Carnegie-Mellon University for MIDI
handlers. The computer part is structured in such a way that it follows the clarinetist's
performance, modifying only certain notes, triggering sequences in response to certain
clarinet gestures and waiting for the clarinet part as necessary.
The softness of a new baby's skin
gently dipped in warmed water
like the light begging at the end
of the tunnel
she cried
but she cried for joy
for inside there is no pain
inside there is only the joy
of a wake
of jassing until the wail of the dawn
MOMENTS 1981
for two clarinets, two flutes and piano
MOMENTS 1981 abstractly expresses a time in my life of great personal conflict
but assert passions (lives in crisis) that are universal. As a windplayer only wind
instruments (with the support of the piano) could express such personal calls to
the fallen soul for me and still leave us with a sense of hope that is our birthright
as warriors.
In my dreams the wife slayers
Feast on my flesh
And down into hell is the only exit
In a moment of perfection
I am able to slay them
With misquotes from history
Now I understand
Yet to come
Is the best of all possible worlds.
NIGHT VISIONS
for electric clarinet, dancer and virtual reality videographics
Our works are small, metaphorical plays, miniature dramas in which the characters are the themes
which unfold their stories in time, allowing insight into their temperament. In its real form the
music is its own vision, its own truth. But the allegory allows us to move from the tangible play
to the intangible, exotic and often mystical expression of the music. NIGHT VISIONS is
about death. About not denying the reality of death. About the moment of reality when it can no
longer be ignored. Similar to the moment of the young deer, when it looks up to stare into the
barrel of the hunter's gun and starts to leap free as the hunter pulls the trigger. About that
moment when you look into the coffin and see death.
PRIMAL LANDSCAPES
for Electric Indian Flute and computer
Primal Landscapes uses as its sound sources for the computer the acoustic indian flute.
Almost all of the sounds for the computer are derived from samples of this instrument.
The work recalls unspoken moments in our hardwired pre-history and in those pre verbal
primitive feelings as children when we communicated only with our feelings and with
visual images, a time and skill most of us will lose to the cognitive, thoughtful and often
so-called adult stage of development.
RIGHTEOUS MOMENTS
(370,916 bytes .wav file)
for electric clarinet, electric percussion and dancer
I. Jivin' in the Mornin'
interlude: THE RITUAL
II. Whispers from the Singing Grass
interlude: AGAIN, THE RITUAL
III. Maiden's Dance
Postlude: THE FINAL RITUAL
We all
Want to pet the lions
And stare into the sun
But unfortunately
Remain chained to the counter as laborers
Particularly the overgrown boys
Who are blind and deaf.
Jivin'
Needs to be watched
Because its magic is its movement
Its shouting at the devil
Over the whispers of the fields
Drifting in the morning air
Desperately fighting
To breathe even once
Before evening comes.
The wild man romps in the attic
We feel his ritual
And the life that it gives
Over the three piece suits
Hairless bodies
And flat faces
Song
Unlocks his cage
If we dare.
SECRET GARDENS
for alto sax, percussion, woodwind quintet and tape
The garden, a metaphor for the enclosed space where the warrior rests, that protected
area where he can remove his heavy armor and be vulnerable to his most gentle
associates, that mythical space so well defined by Robert Bly in the contemporary
best seller Iron John that is reserved for the sharing of the most intimate gestures of his
true love; that special place with no mass, space or form that is all important to real
intimacy awaits us all if we can manage to shed the chains of shame that life has given
us and we carry to its door.
Nightscapes
death awaits the warrior's return from the garden as he puts back on his thick armor
and defenses to go again to battle, to fight, crawl, spit, claw and even lie and to carry
once again his shame. But not in the garden, in the sweetness of summer and in
the cold sting of winter's snow. Not in the shout that morning brings to the new day.
SHADES OF
for electric clarinet and dancer
On one level this work is a dialogue between dancer and clarinet, exchanging emotive
phrases defined by the colors of the individual movements. It is an intermedia
conversation between different arts, both finding idiomatic gestures that can be
understood in both art forms.
On another level, SHADES OF is about death. Not death as an evil and an unexpected
intruder into life, but death as a natural part of the cycle of all life. It reflects the
composer's involvement with understanding the death of his own father, more
specifically that moment of truth, that precise point in time when denial no longer works
and there is acceptance, however reluctant.
movement 1. White
movement 2. Blue
movement 3. Grey
movement 4. Red
WHISPERS
for tape alone (1996)
was composed with the Csound music programming computer environment originally
developed at MIT, Sound Forge sound editing application and a K2000 Sampler
with 24500 megs of sample ram.
Its characters are suggestive, giving us steams of feelings, issues and moments like a
floating day dream, our minds wondering from audio cloud to cloud, bringing to each of
us a personal meaning.
WIND WHISPERS, SOUNDS AND SHOUTS
for electric clarinet and computer
is about a special moment in time. A special quiet, unchallenged
moment. We observe fireflies cutting the darkness like fighter planes in combat, then long
periods of stillness, broken only by the rhythmic hum of insects. We passively watch the
streaking hints of dawn that turn into responsive sunlight, warming us. Reminding
us that goodness eventually comes again. And we slowly close our eyes. Smiling.
There were the starlit, breathlessly warm summer nights. The moments when you are
surrounded only by virtue. Home from the battle when the armor can be removed. Those
special moments when you can be completely vulnerable. The joy, laughter, comfort of
union. And dreams when one could still dream. Only to know that the masks must be
put back on for tomorrow's wars.
1. Holy Moments
2. Jive
3. The Garden
4. Again, jassing
(this work uses the CMT interface developed by Roger Dannenberg at
Carnegie-Mellon University for the generation of the computer part in C code)
The computer part, encompassing the voice module harmonies and sequences, are
written in C, using the toolkit developed at Carnegie-Mellon University for MIDI
handlers. The computer part is structured in such a way that it follows the clarinetist's
performance, modifying only certain notes, triggering sequences in response to certain
clarinet gestures and waiting for the clarinet part as necessary.
gently dipped in warmed water
like the light begging at the end
of the tunnel
she cried
but she cried for joy
for inside there is no pain
inside there is only the joy
of a wake
of jassing until the wail of the dawn
MOMENTS 1981 abstractly expresses a time in my life of great personal conflict
but assert passions (lives in crisis) that are universal. As a windplayer only wind
instruments (with the support of the piano) could express such personal calls to
the fallen soul for me and still leave us with a sense of hope that is our birthright
as warriors.
In my dreams the wife slayers
Feast on my flesh
And down into hell is the only exit
In a moment of perfection
I am able to slay them
With misquotes from history
Now I understand
Yet to come
Is the best of all possible worlds.
NIGHT VISIONS
for electric clarinet, dancer and virtual reality videographics
Our works are small, metaphorical plays, miniature dramas in which the characters are the themes
which unfold their stories in time, allowing insight into their temperament. In its real form the
music is its own vision, its own truth. But the allegory allows us to move from the tangible play
to the intangible, exotic and often mystical expression of the music. NIGHT VISIONS is
about death. About not denying the reality of death. About the moment of reality when it can no
longer be ignored. Similar to the moment of the young deer, when it looks up to stare into the
barrel of the hunter's gun and starts to leap free as the hunter pulls the trigger. About that
moment when you look into the coffin and see death.
PRIMAL LANDSCAPES
for Electric Indian Flute and computer
Primal Landscapes uses as its sound sources for the computer the acoustic indian flute.
Almost all of the sounds for the computer are derived from samples of this instrument.
The work recalls unspoken moments in our hardwired pre-history and in those pre verbal
primitive feelings as children when we communicated only with our feelings and with
visual images, a time and skill most of us will lose to the cognitive, thoughtful and often
so-called adult stage of development.
RIGHTEOUS MOMENTS (370,916 bytes .wav file)
for electric clarinet, electric percussion and dancer
I. Jivin' in the Mornin'
interlude: THE RITUAL
II. Whispers from the Singing Grass
interlude: AGAIN, THE RITUAL
III. Maiden's Dance
Postlude: THE FINAL RITUAL
We all
Want to pet the lions
And stare into the sun
But unfortunately
Remain chained to the counter as laborers
Particularly the overgrown boys
Who are blind and deaf.
Jivin'
Needs to be watched
Because its magic is its movement
Its shouting at the devil
Over the whispers of the fields
Drifting in the morning air
Desperately fighting
To breathe even once
Before evening comes.
The wild man romps in the attic
We feel his ritual
And the life that it gives
Over the three piece suits
Hairless bodies
And flat faces
Song
Unlocks his cage
If we dare.
SECRET GARDENS
for alto sax, percussion, woodwind quintet and tape
The garden, a metaphor for the enclosed space where the warrior rests, that protected
area where he can remove his heavy armor and be vulnerable to his most gentle
associates, that mythical space so well defined by Robert Bly in the contemporary
best seller Iron John that is reserved for the sharing of the most intimate gestures of his
true love; that special place with no mass, space or form that is all important to real
intimacy awaits us all if we can manage to shed the chains of shame that life has given
us and we carry to its door.
Nightscapes
death awaits the warrior's return from the garden as he puts back on his thick armor
and defenses to go again to battle, to fight, crawl, spit, claw and even lie and to carry
once again his shame. But not in the garden, in the sweetness of summer and in
the cold sting of winter's snow. Not in the shout that morning brings to the new day.
SHADES OF
for electric clarinet and dancer
On one level this work is a dialogue between dancer and clarinet, exchanging emotive
phrases defined by the colors of the individual movements. It is an intermedia
conversation between different arts, both finding idiomatic gestures that can be
understood in both art forms.
On another level, SHADES OF is about death. Not death as an evil and an unexpected
intruder into life, but death as a natural part of the cycle of all life. It reflects the
composer's involvement with understanding the death of his own father, more
specifically that moment of truth, that precise point in time when denial no longer works
and there is acceptance, however reluctant.
movement 1. White
movement 2. Blue
movement 3. Grey
movement 4. Red
WHISPERS
for tape alone (1996)
was composed with the Csound music programming computer environment originally
developed at MIT, Sound Forge sound editing application and a K2000 Sampler
with 24500 megs of sample ram.
Its characters are suggestive, giving us steams of feelings, issues and moments like a
floating day dream, our minds wondering from audio cloud to cloud, bringing to each of
us a personal meaning.
WIND WHISPERS, SOUNDS AND SHOUTS
for electric clarinet and computer
is about a special moment in time. A special quiet, unchallenged
moment. We observe fireflies cutting the darkness like fighter planes in combat, then long
periods of stillness, broken only by the rhythmic hum of insects. We passively watch the
streaking hints of dawn that turn into responsive sunlight, warming us. Reminding
us that goodness eventually comes again. And we slowly close our eyes. Smiling.
Want to pet the lions
And stare into the sun
But unfortunately
Remain chained to the counter as laborers
Particularly the overgrown boys
Who are blind and deaf.
Jivin'
Needs to be watched
Because its magic is its movement
Its shouting at the devil
Over the whispers of the fields
Drifting in the morning air
Desperately fighting
To breathe even once
Before evening comes.
The wild man romps in the attic
We feel his ritual
And the life that it gives
Over the three piece suits
Hairless bodies
And flat faces
Song
Unlocks his cage
If we dare.
SECRET GARDENS
for alto sax, percussion, woodwind quintet and tape
The garden, a metaphor for the enclosed space where the warrior rests, that protected
area where he can remove his heavy armor and be vulnerable to his most gentle
associates, that mythical space so well defined by Robert Bly in the contemporary
best seller Iron John that is reserved for the sharing of the most intimate gestures of his
true love; that special place with no mass, space or form that is all important to real
intimacy awaits us all if we can manage to shed the chains of shame that life has given
us and we carry to its door.
Nightscapes
death awaits the warrior's return from the garden as he puts back on his thick armor
and defenses to go again to battle, to fight, crawl, spit, claw and even lie and to carry
once again his shame. But not in the garden, in the sweetness of summer and in
the cold sting of winter's snow. Not in the shout that morning brings to the new day.
SHADES OF
for electric clarinet and dancer
On one level this work is a dialogue between dancer and clarinet, exchanging emotive
phrases defined by the colors of the individual movements. It is an intermedia
conversation between different arts, both finding idiomatic gestures that can be
understood in both art forms.
On another level, SHADES OF is about death. Not death as an evil and an unexpected
intruder into life, but death as a natural part of the cycle of all life. It reflects the
composer's involvement with understanding the death of his own father, more
specifically that moment of truth, that precise point in time when denial no longer works
and there is acceptance, however reluctant.
movement 1. White
movement 2. Blue
movement 3. Grey
movement 4. Red
WHISPERS
for tape alone (1996)
was composed with the Csound music programming computer environment originally
developed at MIT, Sound Forge sound editing application and a K2000 Sampler
with 24500 megs of sample ram.
Its characters are suggestive, giving us steams of feelings, issues and moments like a
floating day dream, our minds wondering from audio cloud to cloud, bringing to each of
us a personal meaning.
WIND WHISPERS, SOUNDS AND SHOUTS
for electric clarinet and computer
is about a special moment in time. A special quiet, unchallenged
moment. We observe fireflies cutting the darkness like fighter planes in combat, then long
periods of stillness, broken only by the rhythmic hum of insects. We passively watch the
streaking hints of dawn that turn into responsive sunlight, warming us. Reminding
us that goodness eventually comes again. And we slowly close our eyes. Smiling.
phrases defined by the colors of the individual movements. It is an intermedia
conversation between different arts, both finding idiomatic gestures that can be
understood in both art forms.
On another level, SHADES OF is about death. Not death as an evil and an unexpected
intruder into life, but death as a natural part of the cycle of all life. It reflects the
composer's involvement with understanding the death of his own father, more
specifically that moment of truth, that precise point in time when denial no longer works
and there is acceptance, however reluctant.
movement 1. White
movement 2. Blue
movement 3. Grey
movement 4. Red
was composed with the Csound music programming computer environment originally
developed at MIT, Sound Forge sound editing application and a K2000 Sampler
with 24500 megs of sample ram.
Its characters are suggestive, giving us steams of feelings, issues and moments like a
floating day dream, our minds wondering from audio cloud to cloud, bringing to each of
us a personal meaning.
is about a special moment in time. A special quiet, unchallenged
moment. We observe fireflies cutting the darkness like fighter planes in combat, then long
periods of stillness, broken only by the rhythmic hum of insects. We passively watch the
streaking hints of dawn that turn into responsive sunlight, warming us. Reminding
us that goodness eventually comes again. And we slowly close our eyes. Smiling.