Short Lived: for vocals, iPhone, and multichannel speaker array

Short Lived (2020) is a multichannel composition based around the text of a poem called “A Fleeting Image” by Avi Fleischer. Using spatialized granular synthesis, the piece engages with the poem’s themes of the fleeting and uncertain nature of life — a recording of the performer reciting the poem’s opening line is sliced into short grains of sound that are randomly selected and output to a random speaker in the space; in this way, the piece’s short lasting gestures are analogous to the short lasting nature of life, and the randomness of sound output represents life’s unpredictability.

To control the sound throughout the performance, I use an interface I designed in TouchOSC to incorporate the iPhone’s accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass data and map them to different parameters such as grain pitch, amplitude, grain length, rate, and spatialization.

--
Max Addae, vocals + iPhone instrument designer/performer

March 01, 2020
Fairchild Chapel - Oberlin, OH
Junior TIMARA Recital | Oberlin Conservatory of Music
--

"A Fleeting Image" by Avi Fleischer

So fleeting is this thing called life, we journey toward its end,
experiencing pieces of a puzzle we don't truly comprehend.

The hues of our emotion paint a picture of our past,
as we hurtle toward a destiny that is not meant to last.

Youth a canvas all in white, not knowing what awaits,
feel caresses of a brush that which we know as fate.

Love so very true in reds, that beat within our heart,
shadows black take form as hate, which tears the soul apart.

Greens of joy and happiness, lush grass beyond compare,
sadness, shrouded depths of blue, the waters of despair.

Yellow screams of agony and pain which we endure.
Guilt and shame are shades of grey, a torrential downpour.

Earthy brown desires are that for which we lust,
the loss of which comes with age, like chrome begins to rust.

The image changing constantly as time plods slowly on,
taking shape in many forms, as the twilight replaces dawn.

We look into a mirror for the answers which we seek,
but we find no consolation as our eyes grow dim and weak.

Source:

array