Logic Project #1 - Birdsongs

Most of the last week has been spent working on two composition projects: (1) my thesis and (2) my first assigned project in a class titled Music Technology II (which you can read about in this post).  While I'm not quite done with my thesis (understatement of the post), I have completed the electronic music assignment, which is good news because it is due tomorrow.

The project, as stated in this assignment sheet was "to create 2 distinctly contrasting pieces, each of approximately 1:00 - 1:30 total duration, that spring from a process of discovery in getting to know Logic."  (Logic is the software we are learning how to use in the class.  As I've described it before, it's the fancier version of GarageBand.)

Using only sounds of birds that live locally (in the Park River Watershed), I created two short works: I'm calling the first "Haunted House" and the second "A Day in the Life."  The program notes and recordings for both are below.

“Haunted House”

In today’s extremely modernized world, it is often easy to forget what exists “beneath” our cities – namely, the natural landscape on which all urban constructs rest.  Luckily, efforts are being made to raise awareness of our surrounding natural habitats.  The purpose of these efforts is not just to ensure adequate preservation, but also to establish newfound links to nature.  As the website for the North Branch Park River Watershed Management Plan explains, “Cities across the United States are beginning to rediscover their connections to rivers and waterways.”   In Hartford specifically, “the reconnection… to the Connecticut River is a prime local example of the benefits that can be reaped from re-connecting people with the river.”

The aforementioned website also points out that the Park River has “helped shape the culture and character of Hartford.”  Indeed, the greatest American author of his time—Mark Twain—not only commissioned a house to be built along the river, but also spent the happiest and most productive years of his life living and writing there.

In this spirit of creativity and being more aware of our natural surroundings, I used this compositional opportunity to create the ambience of a spooky haunted house.  Some sounds were designed with specific ideas in mind, like the crickets chirping and the owls hooting.  Other sounds, however, are more abstract, and their classification is pliable by the listener’s imagination.  All sounds, including the green-warbler-based cross between an organ and a Theremin, are derived exclusively from birdsongs heard in the North Branch Park River Watershed.

(scroll down to access the recording...)

“A Day in the Life”

As noted on the website for the North Branch Park River Watershed Management Plan , due to the fact that the lower portion of the river flows underground (through a manmade flood control conduit), the river is “unseen and often forgotten by many residents of the City of Hartford.”  As a resident of Hartford myself, in composing this short piece I am, in part, seeking to bring a greater awareness to the presence of the North Branch Park River and to the birds that live there.  To achieve this goal, I decided to “narrate” a possible typical day by exclusively using sounds made by some of the birds that utilize the Park River Watershed.

The day begins as the subject of the narrative is sound asleep.  An alarm clock signals that morning has arrived, and our subject quickly showers before hopping in the car to head to work.  At the office, it is business as usual.  Colleagues are hard at work carrying out their various tasks amid the hum of office machines and the general bustle of productivity.  When the workday has concluded, the subject heads back home with the rush hour traffic.  Needing a little time to decompress, the subject turns on the radio for a bit.  Soon, night has fallen, and our subject washes up before setting the alarm clock for the following morning and drifting off to sleep.