Compositions
Click on a title to learn more about each project
Instrument and electronics
Duration: ca 6'52"
Instrumentation: toy piano and fixed electronics
Composed: 2013
Details: Ordered Table uses a fixed electronic part and a live toy piano, amplified so that it is equal to the electronic part in the concert setting. The alignment of the toy piano and electronics is important as there are derivative echos in the electronics part.
Ordered Table uses all of the pitches of the toy piano segmented into two whole tone groupings, to create a counterpoint part heard in the toy piano. The electronics are initially derivative and tightly coupled. Later the electronics evolve into a unique voice. The work was conceived while sailing from San Francisco to Mexico and completed at the request of Keith Kirchoff upon returning to land in 2012. The title refers to a demonstration by the composer wherein a compositional act is performed by ordering objects on the table.
The title is a reflection of the compositional process and a larger observation about humans and how perceive order. With every large or small pile of things on a surface, such as a table, there is an order. That order could reflect the patterns of usage, or simply be the eye of the viewer imposing an order. The electronics part of this piece is a collection of material derived from the toy piano part and ordered by the composer/observer.
Duration: ca 17'56"
Instrumentation: viola, live sampling and fixed electronics
Composed: 2011
Details: Fish Affected by Dreams utilizes live viola, processed viola and fixed electronic material. The fixed material is made from recorded viola sounds and synthesized sounds. The viola material is set within and accompanied by the electronic material. Composed between 2009 and 2011. Commissioned by Shannon McCue.
Since dreaming is the free association the brain goes into during the phase of sleep where nutrients are being loaded into the brain, fish do indeed dream. Fish dream about the things they see, smell, taste, fear and enjoy while being awake. Dreaming that you go to a fish market means pleasure and joy. Seeing decayed and rotting fish at the fish market indicates distress that will come in the disguise of happiness. Fish dreaming about boundless fields of kelp means pleasure and joy. Dreaming of rotting and decayed humans floating in the ocean indicates distress that will come in the disguise of happiness.
This recording is taken from the premier performance given by violist Shannon McCue on January 21, 2011 @ the UCSB multicultural center.
Duration: ca 11'23"
Instrumentation: Piano, electronics and wii remote
Composed: 2009
Production Details: in vitro oink is a composition by Christopher Jette for piano, electronics (both precomposed and generative) and wii controller. Keith Kirchoff is the performer in this video and the person who commissioned this piece. in vitro oink and a paper on the composition were presented at ICMC 2011 in Huddersfield, UK. A paper was also published in eConact on in vitro oink.
The performers movements are tracked by the wii controller and this data is used as a basis for generative material. The piano part is derived from an analysis of the small granular sounds that are the building blocks for this piece. The title is a reference to the event in November 2009, where scientists from the Netherlands created meat in the lab, from living cells.
The video is of Keith Kirchoff performing the original version in 2009.
A revised version of Vitro Oink was released as part "The Electro-Acoustic Piano, Vol. One", available on IVO iTunes and IVO cdbaby
The following video is the 2011 ICMC performance
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Duration: 7'48"
Instrumentation: solo trombone live processing and fixed media
Composed: 2007
Details: This composition was commissioned by Mark Broschinsky on the occasion of his Doctoral recital at Manhattan School of Music. The composition was first performed in Santa Barbara in the spring of 2007 and the in New York in the fall. The electronics of this piece are presented in a four channel array so that the decomposed spectrum of the trombone might be reassembled by the listener. The following is a recording of Mark Broshinsky at the premier.
susoñe was performed by trombonist Michele Lomuto as part of Italian Association of Musical Informatics 2011. The following is taken from the at performance.
Duration: 4'40"
Instrumentation: Player Piano
Composed: 2008
Production : A work for player piano controlled by computer.
Chamber
Duration: 10'06"
Instrumentation: Trombone and Percussion (1 Bass Drum, 2 Timpani, 3 Roto Toms, Vibraphone, 5 Gongs, 2 Suspended Cymbals)
Composed: 2004
Recording Details: Mark Broshinsky Trombonist, Rick Urban Percussionist, Jordan Hall 11-2004.
Duration: 17'03"
Instrumentation: Violin, Viola & Cello
Composed: 2007
Recording Details: Recorded live at the Pescadrome in Santa Barbara, CA. 1-2007
Notes: This durations of the performers sounds is controlled by the length of their exhalation. The performers are deprived of the ability to hear. In these ways, neither the composer, nor the performers are in direct control of what the listener experiences.
Duration:16'08"
Instrumentation: Violin, Viola, Cello & Piano
Composed: 2005
Recording Details: This piece posits the acoustic beats that are generated by a piano as a rhythmic pulse for the other instruments. The listener is invited to contrast the pulse that they perceive with those that the string players project. This piece was first presented in Cambridge MA on the occasion of my graduation from the New England Conservatory for my good friend and mentor Holly at a concert presented in her home.
Duration: 8'46"
Instrumentation: voice, trumpet, trombone, bass clarinet and electronics
Composed: 2009
Recording Details: The recording is taken from the NYC premier at The Tank on March 15, 2009.
Duration: 9'36"
Instrumentation: For four string players.
Composed: 2008
Details: This work uses an abstract notation unique to this composition. The string players are given indications of what string and which direction they must glissando in and an indication of when to start, relative to other members of the ensemble. The work is dedicated to James Orsher . The recording is taken from a performance at Karl Geiringer Hall in February of 2008 and uses violin, viola, cello and double bass.
Duration: 3'20"
Instrumentation: flute, violin, viola, cello and guitar
Composed: 2007
Details: This recording is taken from a performance in November 2011 at Karl Geiringer Hall in Santa Barbara.
Duration: 17'03"
Instrumentation: trumpet, trombone, piano and percussion
Composed: 2006
Details: This work was commissioned by trumpet player Brian Chin and premiered in Seattle in 2006. The work is inspired by a contemplation of different types of listening. The broad and evolution of sound in this composition is intended to present a space in which the listener can contemplate the subtle shifts in the sounds that are presented. In removing the high energy drive of rapidly shifting sounds, the listener is free to contemplate and connect the various sound events that occur into a fabric derived from his or her own relationship to the sounds. This space allows the listener to think about the sounds as well as the type of listening that is occurring.
Duration: 4'16"
Instrumentation: marimba, vibraphone, xylephone, toms, crotales and break drums (or other metals)
Composed: 2011
Details: The ensemble is comprised of three percussionists. Each player has a set of 3 toms, tuned low medium and high. Player one has 3 toms and a vibraphone. Player two has 3 toms, xylophone, 2 brakes one high and one low and two crotales one high and one low. Player three has 3 toms and a marimba.
The work is derived from several Grateful Dead concert recordings of The Other One, the central ones being the August 13, 1975 show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and the May 22, 1977 show at the Sportatorium in Pembroke Pines Florida. To produce the score, audio is selected and segmented. These clips are then translated into a list of frequencies and amplitudes through the use of a Fast Fourier transform. The resulting material is used as the basis for the score. The direct translation and interpolations between different sections pitch and rhythmic collections was assembled. This material has been manipulated with algorithms and by hand. The resulting score is not identifiable as derivative. Still the unique acoustic characteristics that define the performance, the acoustics of the venue and the recording serve to constrain the end result. Just a black and white photograph captures light and form this work investigates the acoustic characteristics of a place and a series of sounds.
This recording is a midi mock up of the composition.
Duration: 6'23"
Instrumentation: flute, oboe, bass clarinet, piano, violin, viola and cello
Composed: 2011
Details: An extension of the earlier anOtherOne percussion trio, anOtherTwo uses the same base material that has been reorchestrated and and somewhat recomposed. The goal for this project was the continued development of the material and an exploration of different timbral colors. The notes for anOtherOne state
"The work is derived from several Grateful Dead concert recordings of The Other One, the central ones being the August 13, 1975 show at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco and the May 22, 1977 show at the Sportatorium in Pembroke Pines Florida. To produce the score, audio is selected and segmented. These clips are then translated into a list of frequencies and amplitudes through the use of a Fast Fourier transform. The resulting material is used as the basis for the score. The direct translation and interpolations between different sections pitch and rhythmic collections was assembled. This material has been manipulated with algorithms and by hand. The resulting score is not identifiable as derivative. Still the unique acoustic characteristics that define the performance, the acoustics of the venue and the recording serve to constrain the end result. Just a black and white photograph captures light and form this work investigates the acoustic characteristics of a place and a series of sounds."
This recording is a midi mock up of the composition.
Duration: 5'46"
Instrumentation: trombone quartet
Composed: 2013
Recording Details: Recorded live at the Gershwin Hotel, NYC. 3-2013
Notes: Written for the Guidonian Hand Trombone Quartet. FeedbackTree posits a line drawing tree shape created with a procedural drawing program. The tree form is rotated horizonatlly and positioned over the range of the trombone (a score diagram reveals this). Dividing the material among four players, a continuous gliss is the underlying concept. Branching and polyrhythmic textural algorithms.
Electronic
Duration: 8'53"
Instrumentation: electronic
Composed: 2011
Details: The primary sound materials are recordings of Tape Loop Echo Feedback of an analog impulse generator. The Studer tape machine and the impulse generator were controlled by Christopher Jette while the mixing and the equalization were controlled by Curtis Roads. ToLEtFony was premiered on 01.21.2011 in Santa Barbara.
Duration: 7'40"
Instrumentation: electronic
Composed: 2008
Production Details:This composition is a means of exploring the various means of moving between layers of sounds. The sounds can be divided into several realms; transients, drones recognizable gestures and those that are not recognized. The compositional goal is to explore how the different layers of sounds, juxtapositions of sounds and the various morphologies can provide the listener with the indications of a continually altering virtual space.
Duration: 3'06"
Instrumentation: electronic
Composed: 2010
Details: This work uses the weather data for 2000-2011 as reported by the NOAA weather buoys in the Santa Barbara channel. This data used to create sound waves, which were then compiled and manipulated. The translation is not precise, but rather using the data as a source at the most basic level, the samples of the sound files.
A detailed account of the creation of this work can be found at this website.
Duration: 6'11"
Instrumentation: electronic
Composed: 2008
Details: Arduous utilizes recorded and synthesized sounds which are joined and contrasted to articulate different sonic spaces. The sounds were recorded in Montana, Chicago, Boston and Santa Barbara. The work was realized in Santa Barbara in 2007/2008.
Solo Instrument
Duration: 7'23"
Instrumentation: Solo Viola
Composed: 2004
Recording Details: Wendy Richman Violist, Brown Hall (NEC) 4-2004
Duration: 3’51”
Instrumentation: Solo Piano
Composed: 2002
Details: The four movements are entitled
1. TRIPART
2. DAYLEE
3.INSERVARIATION
4. BU DE SEA
This performance was recorded in Jordan Hall 4-2005 by pianist Yvonne Lee on the occasion of 4 Piano Miniatures winning the NEC Piano Department Contemporary Music Competition.
Duration: 8'13"
Instrumentation: Solo Violin
Composed: 2003-2005
Recording Details: Ben Russell Violinist, Brown Hall (NEC) 4-2005. The four movements are titled
- Oviolitwn
- Revio Hinte
- NevioLino
- Fovol Inuri
Duration: 0’ 30"
Instrumentation: violin
Composed: 2008
Details: Created for a series of 30 second pieces performed by violinist Johnny Chang.
Multimedia
www.lovelyweather.com is a web-based interactive audio-visual installation. This work, part of a series titled LovelyWeather, uses a database of field recordings and digital photographs taken along a nature walk in the Ellwood Mesa area to form a virtual audio-visual space navigable by computer mouse. www.lovelyweather.com examines the relationship between the methods of navigation used in web-based media and the process of exploration that an artist and audience experience in the creation, presentation, and interpretation of an artwork.
In this work, the user is presented with a collage of environmental sounds and a rectangular frame containing a set of irregularly distributed images. Larger background images overlap and blend with each other, while smaller more distinct foreground images sit in front of the background. The sound layers function similarly, with a set of distinct foreground sound "objects" played over a consistent although changing background sound "field." Moving the computer mouse, the user navigates within a single virtual location. Clicking on an image transports the user to a different location entirely as images and sounds fade and new ones are introduced. As the user travels to various locations, the user is presented with a varied level of abstraction so that their attention shifts focus between the natural environment represented and the virtual, composed quality of the project itself.
www.lovelyweather.com draws inspiration from the field of soundscape composition (particularly the "Presque Rien" series by Luc Ferrari), interactive computer works ("riverIsland" by digital poet John Cayley), and theoretical works on the continuum of representational and abstract art including Wassily Kandinski's "Concerning the Spiritual in Art." The project is sponsored by the UCSB Inderdisciplinary Humanities Center Visual Performing and Media Arts Award. Both project and poseter were presented at ICMC 2010 in Stonybrok NY.
An abstract interaction of strong visual, corporal and sonic gestures, conducted all by the rythm of the lungs.
Based on the series of “Breathing Drawings” and the artist book “flock” by Alejandro Casazi. Lungen is a multilayered performance piece, created by Bianca Brigidi and Alejandro Casazi, awarded with the “Visual, Performing and Media Arts Award”, provided by The Interdisciplinary Humanities Center (IHC), University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). The interconnection of dance (performed by Ekaterina Zharinova), sound (Christopher Jette, and singers) and drawing (Casazi) is based on an empathic repetitive movement, sound and time: the breathing.
Serving as a prelude to the performance and as a testing ground for ideas, the following video introduces the aesthetic of the sound and visual material.
Clips from the performance.
SoundLines is the motion of the body into sound. A grayscale version of a live video matrix is read in two changing horizontal positions. These lines become waveforms forming the basis for the scored sound improvisation. The dancer’s movements change the waveform, shaping pitch and timbre. Just as a guitar string is plucked by a pick and the wooden body shapes and amplifies the sound, the dancer's movement actuates sound, resonating in physical space. SoundLines explores the human body interacting with digital space and reveals the implied forces that, like gravity or resistance, constrain movement. This work was developed collaboratively by Christopher Jette and Katharine Hawthorne.
F.A.T/LAB is a collective that works towards choreographed performative culinary experiences. F.A.T/LAB stands for Food, Art and Technology. F.A.T/LAB consists of choreographing different disciplines on a basic, yet complex activity, eating. Three main characters compose it: The Visuals, The Sounds and Tastes. It could be considered a maximalist dinner, in which and overstimulation of different senses collide on every dish, every taste, every element. F.A.T/LAB alters the spatial qualities of the location, where the performance takes place. Visual and sonic alterations are synchronized with the food, smell and tastes, which are previously designed by the F.A.T/LAB group.
F.A.T/LAB works towards an experimental language through a multi-channel assimilation.
It is all focused on the experience of the spectator and the complex presentation of over stimulating pieces.
The video component was created by Angus Forbes and the sound was created by Christopher Jette. The work was created for a concert at the Palo Alto Childrens Center celebrating the the theme of "Farenheit 451."
An interactive installation that features a dynamically growing collection of cellphone images visually sequenced according to contributors' metadata and text tags. The public is invited to send photos taken on their cell phones adding tags to describe the images. These images are organized by a database which uses the images’ tags to search and retrieve other associative images from the online Flickr photo sharing website. The gallery installation consists of 4 animations that groups and presents the images in different ways.
Four unique algorithems were developed to compliment the visual presentation.
Exhibition History: Poznan Biennale (2010); Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley (2010); Wellesley College, Wellesley (2009); Beall Center for Art & Technology, Irvine (2009); East Michigan University, Ypsilanti (2008); Theatre Poitiers Inaugural Event, France (2008); National Academy of Sciences, Washington (2007); Pari Nadimi Gallery, Toronto (2006)
Production credit: George Legrady, concept development, project management, and visualization; Angus Graeme Forbes, systems engineer and visualization; Christopher Jette, composition and sonification.
The work is a visual/sonic portrait, constructed with detached elements that address physicality, sensuality and movement. This video is the result of a collaboration between Alejandro Casazi (visuals) and Christopher Jette (sound and conceptual design).
Other
electronic performance
A Max/MSP program developed for improvisational musical typing. The built in microphone is used to collect audio data from the sonic typing envirnment. When the amplitude of the typing acitvity passes a set of given amplitudes, the relatively loud audio and surrounding material is played back. Layers of these are used to construct a sonic texture. Video of the hands of the typing improvisor is projected, along with the text that is typed.
This video is taken from a performance at Shotwell Studios in San Francisco CA, December 18, 2010.
Discography
Joe Tempelton - USSA - An album of improvised music by duo LOPHER (Christopher Jette and Luke Thomas Taylor). Available for download.
Apophenia - An EP of improvised electronic music, featuring Christopher Jette and Scott Cazan. Available through khalija records
The Electro Acoustic Piano - A digital album of piano and electronic music performed by Keith Kirchoff. Available through iTunes (for purchase) and cdbaby (for free)
electropology - An album of improvised electronic music available for download.
Waldorf Statlir - A limited edition black compact disk and handmade case.