Steven Bryant

Had a final recording session for the backing material last night, courtesy of the indefatigable Ariana K. After the last rehearsal, we decided to slow the tempo down from 136 to 126 - it locks in better there (if you ever use MIDI instruments to mock up a piece, you'll always end up pushing the tempo a little too much - remember that). This of course meant I needed to re-record some of what...

Rehearsal was decent last night - the players will own their parts by the concert, but I'm worried about the computer. Works fine at home. Take it to rehearsal, plug it in to the exact same gear, same cables, same EVERYTHING, and it suddenly freaks out about a few piddly aux sends to some delays and granular effects, and 2 (count'em TWO) audio tracks. Not like I'm pushing it here.

Somehow the...

Just finished the parts. Finished writing the piece about 5:30am this morning. Long night. Barely coherent.

Second rehearsal is tonight. Much laptop programming to do before then.

Time to go to work...

Had a short rehearsal today to see how some of the electronics will work, and for the players to see the music for the first time (I still don't have the piece finished, but I'm closing in on it). It's going to be a fun piece - it uses some of the same types of rhythmic interplay between groupings of 4 and 3 16th notes that I used in RedLine, but not quite as difficult. I hope to finish the...

Ru-pei got stuck in traffic last night, so I recorded her tonight, followed by Yumi on violin. Special thanks to both of them for sight-reading on demand in front of the mic - you both rock! I have some good material on hand now, and just need to finish the piece in, oh, about 36 hours. First rehearsal is Sunday, 2pm. I've written precisely 1'28" at this point - I have a feeling it's going...

First rehearsal is Sunday, and I'm not quite halfway finished. Egad. Here's a screenshot of the Digital Performer file - not really that interesting, but it's all I've got right now...

Veo Lux screenshot - April 7th, 2005

That's mostly automation - the laptop will be making very little actual sound - it just adds delay and gate/stutter/distortion/etc effects to the string quartet.

Tonight:...

Frantically working on Veo Lux for amplified string quartet and electronics. The premiere is Friday night, April 22nd, at The Allen Room at Jazz@Lincoln Center in New York. The hall is incredible - it has a 50-foot glass wall behind the stage looking out over Colubmus Circle and Central Park. The concert is FREE, so if you're anywhere near the area, you should come. More info here. Note,...

Went to the Dallas Symphony concert Friday night to check out Cindy McTee's new piece, Einstein's Dream, for string orchestra, percussion, and pre-recorded electronics. I studied with Cindy during my MM at UNT, so it was great to see her and get the privilege of hearing one of her world premieres.

This was a very different piece from her - extremely restrained, quiet, dreamlike (on purpose,...