Ben Fuhrman

Fort Collins Quartet

Ben — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 01:04:28 +0000

Well, I’m [somewhat] settled in at ART342 in Fort Collins and have been getting down to work on my second piece for sax quartet and computer. For now, let’s just call it the Fort Collins Quartet, although I’ll probably rename it later.

Below are conceptual sketches for two of the three movements. The basic idea is to sample sounds from three locations; the “colony” (meaning the artists’ space), the city, and the CSU campus. Having been fueled by massive amounts of caffeine (having an all-in-one espresso grinder/roaster/foamer helps), I’ve been remarkably productive.

Songs of a Mute Voice

Ben — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:19:43 +0000

Well, I’m finally done with Songs of a Mute Voice. The score has been posted along with a copy of the studio realization (zipped for convenience). I’ll post the patches for it after the premier by Jeff Loeffert in January.

Colorado

Ben — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 17:25:39 +0000

Well, it’s official. I’ve been appointed composer in residence for the Fall 2010 session at ART342 in Fort Collins, CO. While there, I’ll be working on my second piece for sax quartet and computer. Basically, Erebus part 2 – just without the infamous “waterboarding” movement.

In the meantime, I need to finish the computer programming for Songs of a Mute Voice. Everything’s pretty much there except for the interface. And the fact that the sampler keeps crashing. And the compressor is acting up. Chalk a couple up to modular design.

Two Charts

Ben — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 21:12:34 +0000

I’ve added two jazz charts I’m doing with the Arab Jazz Ensemble; they’re called Fusion Dance, and Summer Breezes. Charts are on the “Scores” page and include guitar chord diagrams. Also, don’t read too much into the titles – I had to call them something, and I didn’t have a lot of time to come up with anything more interesting.

Kalamazoo College

Ben — Fri, 21 May 2010 17:42:36 +0000

Well, the lecture at Kalamazoo College didn’t exactly go as I planned – mostly because I quickly moved off notes and into a practical demonstration of PureData. As promised, here are the original notes I had prepared and planned to talk about.

Kalamazoo College Lecture

Pastorale Americanus

Ben — Mon, 17 May 2010 00:00:17 +0000

New piece under Audio – here’s the program notes.

I watch way too much television. Unfortunately, in the course of my channel surfing, I have occasionally come across various idiots ranting about how the country has been changed and how they want to take it back – usually to an idealized version of how they believe the ‘50’s were. In other words, a time when women stayed at home, illegal immigrants were soviet defectors, and everyone voted republican because they were told to on Sunday morning in church. Basically an idiotic “precious moments” or Thomas Kinkade piece of emotional treacle meant to depict a just-post-agrarian Utopia.

Unfortunately, I also read books – including those damn history ones that people are always complaining about. As a result, I’m well aware of the fact that while Norman Rockwell was painting his covers for the Saturday Evening Post a few minor events were happening vis a vis civil rights era violence and oppression, assassinations, and several wars. With that in mind, I composed Pastorale Americanusa as a confrontation between the imagined nostalgia with the historical reality. So while light and soothing music and sounds of summer capitalism may be present, the menacing background leaves no doubt that the fantasy is in perpetual danger of collapsing under the weight of reality.

Patches, Patches, and More Patches

Ben — Sun, 09 May 2010 22:53:32 +0000

In honor of Mother’s Day [not really, just coincidentally] I’ve added some of my more recent Max/MSP patches to the site. They include:

AfterLIVE – a sample looper with speed adjustment controls (basically the big brother of Groove Monkey).

F(Seq)2 – a patch that creates random sequences of notes for your pleasure.

Granulator – which takes a signal (or sample) and frags it.

SetGen – which creates [and plays!] atonal series for the budding composer to use as a point of departure in their works.

I should also mention that I’ve included an updated version of the Bag of Tricks patch (call it 2.0) that replaces the subtractive synth with my Particle Forge program. That, along with the AfterLIVE and Granulator programs were used quite extensively in creating Cumulus Refractions. Anyway, get them while they’re hot.

Cumulus Refractions

Ben — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:49:31 +0000

New piece posted under “Audio” today called Cumulus Refractions. It features a ton of programming, plus a little bit of that acoustic performing I occasionally do. Program notes follow.

Cumulus Refractions is about speed – or rather, what happens when something is slowed down to incredible levels and contrasted with sounds recorded at their natural velocities. Sound samples were collected and slowed down before being granulated to create static clouds of millisecond long fragments, indistinguishable from their original source. Over these textures, instruments both live and processed are superimposed and arranged in a contrasting [gradually accelerating and decelerating] manner, occasionally synchronizing with the computer edited sounds. Eventually, these mergers give way to areas dominated by electronic materials and accelerating rates of events, before coming to rest in one final cloud of sound punctuated with a brief accelerando in the live instruments.

The relationship between the acoustic and electronic forces is not just based on speed and density though. The electronic segments are primarily composed of samples of the live instruments (and a few other things found lying around my studio), manipulated into new forms, and then controlled by the pitch and volume of other live instruments. The end result is a subtle and evolving look at the speed and contrast of materials from the acoustic and electronic realms.

Life, Missouri, and Recording.

Ben — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:57:17 +0000

Heading down to Warrensburg, MO tomorrow morning for a performance of Hypnos by the always entertaining Geoff Deibel. When I get back it’s back into the studio to record some more with the Arab jazz ensemble (name still undecided) for the EP. I’ll be performing with them on April 17th as part of the REACH Art Studio benefit in Lansing, MI.

My Max/MSP-fu is Strong

Ben — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:39:12 +0000

Added a new patch today called Groove Monkey. It’s now available for your downloading pleasure. Enjoy.