JTTP 2003

Jeu de temps / Times Play, CEC+SAN

Submissions / Soumissions

Jury

Winners / Gagnants

1. Martin Bédard
2. Nicolas Bernier
3. Ryan Patterson
4. Olivier Bélanger
5. Jean-Marc Pelletier (ex æquo / tie)
6. David Evans (ex æquo / tie)

CD CACHE 2003

Sponsors and Awards / Prix et donateurs

Notes - Bios

Freida Abtan - the maiden, the mother, the crone (2002) 5:34

"The maiden, the mother, the crone" was composed as a series of embedded sounds and compositions for a digital web installation entitled "der Wunderkammer". The installation is set up over three levels: a nursery, a bedroom, and an infirmirary. The user explores these digital spaces, randomly triggering related sounds, continuing loops, and short compositions relating to the space's theme. This piece tours the installation.

Freida Abtan is a musician and artist living in Montreal, Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Mathematics (1999) from the University of Waterloo, and is currently studying digital image and sound in the fine arts at Concordia University.

Jamie Allen - Piano for Prepared Music (2003) 7:35

Piano for Prepared Music is the musical epitaph of a disused upright piano. It also makes use of sound material recorded at a dog show and at Greenock High School in Greenock, Scotland. No minimalists were harmed in the making of the piece.

Jamie Allen is a boy from Windsor, Ontario who now lives in Glasgow. He is not fond of silence or quiet people, but still likes starring contests. He studies (among other things) composition with Nick Fells and Graham Hair at the University of Glasgow. Jamie makes noise and noise making things with his hands and head.

Olivier Beaudet - Entre un et deux (2003) 6:48

La pièce que je vous présente, intitulée ´Entre un et deuxª, exprime pour moi la distance qui se tient entre deux êtres; je peux comprendre l'autre, mais je ne le connais pas. Il vit sur la même planète, mais il a son monde et j'ai le mien... même les pairs me semblent ainsi divisées. Le verbe ´écouterª est la plus petite distance qui peut se trouver entre deux individus - voici six minutes et quarante-huit de mon angoisse.

Né à Marieville en 1980, pratiquant maintenant la profession d'infirmier depuis 2 ans, j'ai toujours eu un intérêt pour la musique même si je n'ai jamais suivit de formation. Je compose de la musique dans presque tout mes temps libres depuis l'âge de 13 ans(ou du moins j'expérimente), chassant ainsi mes démons. Une idée est bien peu utile si elle demeure dans la tête, comme un virus elle a besoin d'hôtes.

Martin Bédard - Check-point (partie 1) (2003) 8:00 SOCAN

Check-point s'est avant tout une métaphore de la nuit... une proposition entre la réalité et la fiction. Elle dépeint des lieux possibles et des paysages vraisemblables. Une pièce basée sur la dialectique du temps et des espaces.

Check-point s'est avant tout la nuit...celle d'avant une aurore d'une terreur insoutenable. Une somme d'instants cristalisés qui s'achemine vers le tout dernier lieu...celui qu'on ne peut dépasser. Né en 1970 à Québec. Diplômé de l'Université Laval en composition instrumentale. Diplômé du Conservatoire de musique de Québec en électroacoustique.

Présentement je complète une maîtrise en électroacoustique au conservatoire de musique de Montréal avec le compositeur Yves Daoust. Je m'apprête à effectuer une résidence de composition au Centre de création musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX) en septembre prochain à Paris. La création de cette pièce par le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) se fera dans le cadre de MUSMIX 2004 une collaboration NEM, RÉSEAUX des arts médiatiques et le musée d'art contemporain de Montréal.

L'expression par le phénomène sonore au travers d'une architecture sonore porteuse de savoir et de sens reste ma plus grande préoccupation artistique.

I was born in Québec in 1970... After studying instrumental composition, I turned to electroacoustics... I am currently studying at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal with Yves Daoust... My compositions are also in the instrumental and mixed domains, as well as the electroacoustic... The sonic universe of "pop"‚ from my adolescence follows me everywhere...

Olivier Bélanger - Douce tempête du matin (2003) 7:59

Cette pièce se veut une ode à la paix en ces temps où la folie et l'illusion prennent souvent le dessus sur le respect et la bienséance. Elle est composé de matériaux à évolution très lente provenant de synthèse ou de bruit de souffle. C'est une pièce d'ambience qui veut laisser le temps à l'auditeur de voyager dans son propre imaginaire.

Olivier Bélanger est étudiant à la maîtrise en composition électroacoustique à l'université de Montréal sous la direction de Jean Piché et de Caroline Traube. Ses travaux de recherche portent sur la compréhension et la réalisation de modèles physiques d'instruments de musique. Il travaille présentement à la réalisation d'une synthèse de la voix parlée. Musicalement, il explore depuis quelques années les possibilités de la musique électronique improvisée, synthèse et traitement de signal en temps réel. Impliqué au niveau technique à la réalisation de concerts, il assume depuis trois ans la direction technique des évènements organisés par les société de concerts Réseaux et Codes D'accès.

Nicolas Bernier - Tous les parapluies sont à Madagascar (2003) 6:39

Au coin Henri-Julien et Des Pins, un mur de brique rouge portait un des graffitis les plus simples mais des plus poétiques de la ville. Il y était inscrit "All the umbrellas in London". Ce graffiti n'est plus puisqu'il était destiné, comme tant d'autres, à se faire effacer. J'espère un jour retrouver mes parapluies...

Nicolas Bernier est un autre mélomane. Il est né en 1977 à Ottawa (curieusement). Il ne se sent pas très confortable avec l'écriture de note biographique mais étudie , malgré cela, la composition électroacoustique à l'Université de Montréal.

Benjamin Bourque - Camalonte (2003) 4:05

Camalonte est une adaptation sonore tirée du film Camalonte par Marco Sassano. Cette pièce démontre le paradoxe médiatique et technologique que nous subissons, tous et chacun, dans l'ordre sociétaire actuel.

Benjamin Bourque poursuit ses études à l'Université Concordia et se spécialise dans la conception sonore destiné à l'image.

Student in Concordia University in fine arts (ea).

Andrew Brown / Andrew Waller - Eat My Radio (2003) 7:58

The piece uses Radio as raw material. Using intricate editing and digital signal processing the material is reordered, forming a new structure. Derivative of the new order in which the material was collected and utilized. This stucture reflects the waywardness of any pass through the AM or FM dial.

Working out of a home studio in Toronto, both have recorded independantly for several years and collaboratively for the past two.

Bertrand Bry-Marfaing - The Rain (2003) 7:47

L'objectif que je me suis fixé en débutant le travail sur cette pièce est le contrôle de la qualité sonore. Je travaille depuis le début sur un format en 24-bit par 96 kHz, à partir de sources sonores soigneusement enregistrées. De plus, la pièce a été composée pour un système quadraphonique. Cette version stéréo est amputée de sa résolution initiale ainsi que de sa spatialisation d'origine. 

J'ai voulu, avec cette oeuvre, utiliser relativement peu de sources sonores, mais les varier suffisamment pour avoir une variété de matériel pour maintenir l'intérêt de l'auditeur jusqu'à la fin. Le titre final m'est apparu lorsque la pièce fut presque terminée. L'est à la pluie que m'a fait penser cette composition. Une pluie vue sous différents angles, avec différentes optiques.

Bertrand a plusieurs cordes à son arc. Il a eut des formations en théâtre, en musique, en cinéma, et voilà qu'il termine un programme en électroacoustique. Il a fait des bandes sonores autant pour le théâtre, la danse que le cinéma. L'électroacoustique est pour lui un moyen de recherche et d'expérimentation sensorielle.

Shawn Caza - YesTourDay (2002) 1:59

Consider the idea of struggle an eternal entity. Where what exists is the result of differing liquid opinions meeting and soildifying. The aesthetics of the piece is derived from a determination to make the chaos work. We are then left with contemplation on that abstract plain where sound meets thought.

Shawn is an emerging multi-media artist with a special interest in sound compostions incorporating live field recordings and carefully orchestrated contrapuntal style layered editing.

Manuel Chantre - Monde d'enfant (2002-03) 2:36

L'enfant goûte, écoute, manipule, regarde et imite la réalité. Les choses du quotidien et les banalités sont pour lui des découvertes importantes. Ses sens réagissent aux moindres stimulis. Pour l'adulte, il est difficile de saisir les raisons qui suscitent de telles attitudes imprévisibles. Dans cette pièce, l'imaginaire s'entremêle à la réalité. Un enfant joue avec un violon; c'est un dialogue entre deux sources sonores comparables pour leur timbre. Merci à Jason Hutt le violoniste et Raphaël Jeudy pour son expressivité.

Née en 1978 à Québec, Manuel Chantre est présentement étudiant en musique électroacoustique à l'Université de Concordia. Après avoir étudié l'électronique et obtenu un baccalauréat en anthropologie culturelle à l'Université Laval, il se consacre essentiellement à la composition musicale. La danse, le théâtre, la vidéo et la musique électronique sont des domaines dans lesquels il a composé.

Eric Cheng - Do Not Open, Do Not Enter (2003) 5:15

By nature, humans are curious and seek to explore the unfamiliar. There are, however, consequences to this curiosity; one's action of exploration may result in the intrusion on another. This piece, through its structure and sound design, is meant to illustrate the conflict between exploration and intrusion. Eric

Cheng is an undergraduate in psychology and is also studying electroacoustic music at the University of Alberta.

Jef Chippewa / João Miguel Pais - breathe (2003) 0:36

one possible interpretation of a pre-defined formal/sonic plan prescribed by samuel beckett for his play breath… a composition employing unmediated cultural heritage – be it form, technique, recorded sounds – might be better appreciated as an analytical methodology to the understanding of the source rather than a composition in its own right. when, through its mediation, recognition of the source identity is somewhat blurred, even obliterated, a context can be developed in which the existence of the new work is not justified simply through umbilical reference to the original. thanks to christian billian for providing some of the sound materials. ein herzliches dankeschön an monika sonntag für ihre mitwirkung.

Canadian composer jef chippewa is particularily interested in questions of cultural awareness and identity in regards to the composer’s responsibility in inheriting or appropriating cultural heritage. Understanding the impossibility of definitive articulation or comprehension of cultural identity does not justify conscious ignorance of any of its aspects. Nor does it excuse irresponsibility in cultural appropriation, and this applies equally to the appropriation of one’s “own” culture (cultural heritage) as to that of another culture or sub-culture (“external influences”).

His compositions have been performed in such concert series and festivals as EuCuE (Montréal), Darmstadt Ferienkurse, FUTURA (acousmatic festival, Crest, France) and the ISCM World New Music Days (Stuttgart, 2006). His work can be heard on CD, notably on Cache 2000, a compilation of the top-placing works in a competition organised by the Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC).

Since 2005, he is the Administrative co-Director of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community, Canada’s national association for electroacoustic music.

Alison Chung-Yan - Pause...Perchance to Hear (2003) 7:03 SOCAN

Pause... Perchance to Hear is an expression of the intangible pleas of a ravaged environment & the cries that are often submerged beneath the unceasing traffic of human activity. It is a piece that asks us to consider what may be lost in failing to stop and listen.

Alison Chung-Yan is an Ottawa-based composer and media artist. She has scored independent short films that have premiered at the National Arts Centre and on the WTN television network. A recent graduate of Carleton University's Sonic Design program, she is currently creating sound art installations for galleries and the Internet.

Jeff Cowan - Rhetoric (2003) 3:33

This piece began its composition in March of 2003 and is heavily influenced from the Middle-Eastern conflicts that culminated over the 2002-03 winter months. The work draws largely on a presidential address that George W. Bush made shortly after the infamous attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Over the course of the composition, the vocal excerpts have been spliced, processed and equalized in various ways to create the illusion of a number of different broadcasts. It is of great concern of mine that citizens become more informed of the manipulative power of the media and this is why these particular key phrases were chosen. "Rhetoric" aims to chronologically reenact the events and political procedures that took place over these two years. The beginning of the piece sees a growth of chaos and tension much like that which took place during and after 9/11. Next comes a transition section acting as a premonition or a calm before the war. Then as the piece unfolds, many processed sounds are used to paint a montage of the sounds of battle and destruction. This cannot relinquish what has take place but I feel it provides yet another much needed voice of concern.

Jeff Cowan is a recent graduate of the Concordia University Electro-Acoustics program. An avid musician, Jeff has studied Jazz at McGill University as well and is currently playing and recording various styles of jazz and rock influenced music. Jeff came to Concordia to experience the technical and electronic aspects of music that the Electro-Acoustic and sound recording program have to offer. Jeff's compositional style is subtle lean more towards soundscape.

Grant Davidson Ford - Divine Current (2003) 5:53 SOCAN

Divine Current is an exploration down the kinetic chain, an esoteric description of the journey energy makes as it moves towards emerging consciousness. It is the Authors belief that all life is an expression of energy and all creation the instrument of Divine Currents.

Ford has been working with sound in the studio since 86, but only on a Mac since 2000. He is high school - low school, old school - new school, out school - in school. He believes in the renewal of spirit through inner exploration and embraces paradox as truth where ever it can be found.

Milena Droumeva - Magic Words (2002) 5:09

"Magic Words" is centred entirely around vocal material. It is a hypnotic exploration of the unconscious, based on the poem "Sleep Is Such An Intricate Machine":

Silence is black flowers.
Sleep is such an intricate machine
Hypnotized,
I hear the colours of
The sun. If only
I could wake up

And say those magic words.

I first took an introductory sound recording and acoustics class at Simon Fraser University in 2001. My first composition was a dreamscape, entitled "Sleep Is Such An Intricate Machine" This piece was entirely derived from 3 seconds of pendulum ticking. In my later work in 2002, I composed "Magic Words," which is the piece entering the contest. Also, the same year I composed a piece entitled "Soundbite Society," which is a combination of a first-person story and a soundscape - type composition with a social commentary about cell phones, the public sphere and classical music. My last project, in 2003, is a three-part historical composition. In it, I was trying to explore the history of my home country — Bulgaria — as I hear it, all the way back to V Century BC. However, in so doing I discovered the universality of history, and from there emerged the title: "History Repeating." I am continuing my sound composition work this summer, as well as, exploring more applied research and theory topics in Acoustics and Acoustic Ecology at Simon Fraser University.

Pierre-Olivier Dufresne - Le Décret (2003) 2:59

La nature possède des mouvements aux forces sublimes, plus ou moins domptées par l'Homme. Les phénomènes physiques, tant mécaniques qu'organiques furent mes sources d'inspirations. Les arbres à cames, l'air comprimé, la dilatation du fer par la chaleur, les fréquences des cordes vocales seront ici en symbiose. En hommage à l'Homme, mais surtout à Dame Nature.

À l'origine, cette pièce sert d'interlude pour une chorégraphie d'Ingrid Falaise. La première version portait alors le nom de ´La Décrépitude Décrétéeª pour son côté agressif prédominant. En raison du caractère pessimiste, cette deuxième version, améliorée, porte maintenant le nom de ´Le Décretª, définitivement plus représentatif du thème; l'évolution de l'Homme par son contrôle des phénomènes physiques.

Étudiant en musique électroacoustique à l'université Concordia, Pierre-Olivier Dufresne est avant tout violoniste. Il a complété un DEC en avionique pour en connaître davantage sur l'électronique audio. Sa composition puise ses sources dans des ¨soundscapes¨ décortiqués et dans ses divers groupes musicaux.

David Evans - The Voice of Angels (2003) 8:00

"The Voice of Angels" was featured in the 2003 SFU concert event "Electro-Voices. It is a spiritual soundscape journey featuring (among other things) church bells, their resonant properties, and the angelic voices one may find within.

Growing up, music has always been a part of my life. My father was a multi-instrumentalist and musician, and in my youth I took up piano, drumming, playing in a band, and music composition utilizing sythesizers. In high school, I won the Grade 11/12 Music Composition Achievement Award for one of my pieces, "Rainforest".

More recently, I have been studying Electro-Acoustic music composition at Simon Fraser University under professor Barry Truax.

Lisa Gasior - Heaven & Hell in Paradise (2003) 5:13

In the beautiful Bahamas, the people are friendly and the weather is gorgeous. It is the perfect paradise getaway to escape the grind of the work-a-day week. There is a different groove in paradise but it isn't all heaven. A walk through the market sees two opposing factions at work: the religious beliefs of the locals versus their competition in the commercial world. All the while, nature is struggling to exist in conjunction with the tourist industry.

Lisa Gasior is completing her bachelor's degree in Communications, Journalism and Electroacoustics at Concordia University. She hopes to pursue graduate studies, work in sound for film and find beautiful soundscapes wherever she goes.

Daniel Heïkalo - La Terre Brûlée (The Scorched Earth) (2003) 7:54 SOCAN

Une oeuvre composée en février et mars 2003 qui utilise comme base un thème composé en 2002. C'est une oeuvre sombre en réponse aux menaces de guerre omniprésentes à ce moment et qui me plongèrent dans une profonde tristesse, un désespoir en l'avenir de l'humanité, et une rage en face de tant de stupidité et d'ignorance.

Daniel Heïkalo est compositeur notemment pour le théâtre, la radio et la danse. Il oeuvre sérieusement dans le domaine de la musique électroacoustique depuis 2000

A work composed in February-March 2003, in a state of despair in view of world events leading to the Irak war. A musical soundscape of my sadness in the face of all the forces of cruely, greed, and stupidity at work.

Daniel Heïkalo is a composer, sound designer, and arranger for theatre, radio, film and dance, and has produced scores for CBC and Radio-Canada, and theatre companies, such as the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Wolfville, where he worked from 1995 to 2000 creating effects and music for twelve of their plays. As a professional sound technician and recording engineer, he records acoustic and electro-acoustic compositions in his studio.Heïkalo composes electroacoustic music since 2000 and has released a CD of four such compositions in 2001. The CD is called:Endroits Inquiétants and was released on his own imprint: Heïkalo Sound Productions.

Adis Husejnagic - Toque Libre (2003) 7:58

Elizabeth Knudson - Type A (2002) 5:35

"Type A" is a sound-object piece, which was composed using only two sound sources: a long, hollow plastic tube and an old-fashioned typewriter. It was realized using both analog and digital studio equipment. The sounds were processed in many different ways, including (analog) tape loops, pitch shifting, filtering, echo, reverb, and granulation.

Elizabeth Knudson has just completed her 4th year of the music program at Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts. She has studied acoustic composition with David MacIntyre, Owen Underhill and Janet Danielson, as well as electroacoustic composition with Barry Truax, Martin Gotfrit and Arne Eigenfeldt. She has had two pieces read by the Chor Leoni Men's Choir, one piece performed by Vancouver's Drosera Ensemble, as well as many other compositions performed by both professional and student ensembles at SFU. She has also collaborated on several SFU theater productions, providing live music for two Black Box plays, as well as electroacoustic music for one mainstage production. In addition to composing, Elizabeth's other love is the cello, and she is currently studying with Sue Round (of the Vancouver New Music/Vancouver Opera). She hopes to continue her musical education after getting her BFA at Simon Fraser, and plans to continue composing (both acoustic and electroacoustic music) for small ensembles, theater, and independent film around Vancouver.

Michael Konkin - New Uluru Rain (2001) 7:59

Michael Konkin (Surrey, 1975) est étudiant en musique et communications avec Barry Truax à l’université Simon Fraser. Il a composé différentes œuvres électroacoustiques, ambiantes et pour le cinéma.

New Uluru Rain is a musical composition, a changing soundscape, and a desert metaphor; a reinterpretation of a rare summer storm in an electroacoustic musical format. Also composed as an eight-channel piece, it was inspired by the natural counterpoint and dynamic motion of a changing landscape. The rhetorical oxymoron of accessible yet abstract yet recognizable composing, was a central theme in its inception.

It was created through a collage of computer transformation processes of several sound sources, including an Australian didgeridoo, voice, a number of orchestral instruments, and a rainfall backdrop.

Michael Konkin currently attends the School for the Contemporary Arts, at Simon Fraser University. His past includes a background in music and computer technology, and has composed for various acoustic and electroacoustic media.

Félix Lachance - Échidna (2003) 7:56

Exploration à l'intérieur de soi-même, vers une sorte de sanctuaire intérieur et caché, dans lequel siège le plus mystérieux de la personne humaine.

Formation à l'Université Concordia. Évolue parallèlement à travers l'électroacoustique et les percussions.

John Lam - Meet Me In Matrix (2003) 5:35

The theme of this piece is working around with the idea between the real and the virtual, in an imaginative way. Some of the sources recordings I used for this piece include: newspaper, books, door, and my voice.

John Lam (b.1978) is a third year music student at the School for the Contemporary Arts under Simon Fraser University. This is his first attempt in entering any electroacoustic music competition. His professors include Barry Truax and Martin Gotfrit.

Sarah MacDougall - One of many slaves (2003) 7:01

Her piece "One of many slaves" was inspired by a Swedish song called "Kung Keops pyramid" by the Swedish Hoola Bandoola band. She translated the text of the original Swedish song into English and used the text as the focus of the piece. "One of many slaves" is a social commentary of today through metaphors of past times.

Sarah Macdougall was born in Sweden but moved to Vancouver in 2001 to study music composition at Simon Fraser University. She has varied experience in music including songwriting, instrumental composition, writing music for film and performing with her guitar. She has also worked as a sound engineer independently for some time.

Mark MacIntosh - March 19, 2003 (just another day) (2003) 6:34

The piece is a reaction to Mr. Bush's announcement of the United States' war with Iraq, and uses parts of his speech on March 19, as well as a portion of a live feed from Bagdad TV as they reported the first night of bombing. I also used snippets of a CBC Newsworld's documentary on Iraq that aired a few weeks later. The other sounds used are "concrete" sounds that were then treated.

Mathieu Marcoux - Une théorie sur le sommeil paradoxale (2003) 7:36 SOCAN

"Une théorie sur le sommeil paradoxale"; c'est comme un chapitre dans un bouquin de Delerme; ça jongle avec les mots, les sons, leurs sens et le sujet en est terriblement banal.

Réalisé la 3eme semaine de l'an deux milles trois dans le "Lilla Studion" de la Musikhogskolan vid Göteborg Universitet.

MATHIEU MARCOUX (1975) a grandi en Abitibi. Suite à des études au Conservatoire de musique de Montréal en composition électroacoustique avec Yves Daoust et instrumental avec Serge Provost, il poursuit sa formation avec Ake Parmerud à la Musikhogskolan de Göteborg. Marcoux a été finaliste aux concours de Bourges (2001), Radio-Canada (2001), YESA-CEC (2000) et de la fondation SOCAN (1999).

Mathieu Marcoux (1975) studied electroacoustic composition with Yves Daoust and instrumental composition with Serge Provost at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal. In 1998, he receieved a grant from the OFQJ that allowed him to attend the IRCAM summer academy. In 1999, he was awarded the second prize in the SOCAN competition for young composers, for "Corporation". In the same year, his works were presented in the "Elektra" concerts, presented by ACREQ, and in "Rien a Voir", produced by Reseaux. Mathieu Marcoux was finalist in the CBC Young Composers’ Competition and received a mention in the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Competition in the residence category.

Owen McDonnell - Playn (2003) 5:23

An exploration of figure ground relationships. The relationships that obtain between two planes. The character of the sounds that occupy each plane and the exchange rate between those personalities. Techniques used were a combination of musique concrete and modern DSP.

I was born in Edmonton, Alberta on November 30, 1977. I grew up in a suburb called Leduc, where I completed High School. I moved to Edmonton and became a student at the University of Alberta, where I have completed a degree in arts with a major in music. I have focussed on composition and theory there, and studied the same for a year at Mcgill through an exchange program. My compositional interests are quite broad, and now that I have completed my undergraduated degree I hope to continue studying composition as a graduate student. Other interests include sex, homebrewing, and hockey.

Beth McElmoyle - No Joke (2003) 1:55

Using her laugh as the subject in No Joke, Beth decided to focus on the innate rhythms in the recordings. No Joke takes the listener from unprocessed clips of laughing through a processed cycle of loops and ends with a little joke.

Beth McElmoyle is currently studying to complete her BFA in Music at SFU. Recently enamoured by electroacoustic possibilities, she has been exploring recorded works and creating her own productions for her weekly radio show at CJSF 90.1 FM. Beth is very interested in the human voice and vocal music. She started singing as a young girl and continued the passion to complete a diploma in Jazz Studies at Malaspina University-College.

Colin McGuire - Etude on a Beep and a Drill (2003) 6:12 SOCAN

It was a fine reading week morning at around 8:00 a.m. when they decided to start drilling into the concrete balconies of my apartment building. Infuriated, I rose to the challenge and attempted valiantly to tame the savage drilling by turning it into Musique Concrete. I was swiftly thwarted by a beeping mini-disc but regained my composure and struck a coup de grace with a deft burst of audio processing. Etude on a Beep and a Drill was created entirely from samples of two aberrant concrete drills and a beep from a recalcitrant Sony MZ-707 manipulated inside the Reason and Cubase virtual studio environments.

Colin McGuire is a Master's candidate in composition at York University in Toronto. He intends to defend his world music flavoured, dance inspired, electroacoustic thesis in the summer of 2003.

Martin Messier - a-symbiose (2003) 7:59

La forme est improbable : les mots les plus simples, les plus dépouillés, les plus purs, les phrases les moins arrangées, les moins construites, mais les plus épurées, essentielles, suffiront.

Martin Messier a étudié la batterie avec Philippe Keyser pendant plus de trois années. Il est maintenant étudiant à l'Université de Montréal où il étudie la composition électroacoustique avec Robert Normandeau et Jean Piché.

Martin Messier studied percussion with Philippe Keyser for more than three years. He is now a student at l’Université de Montréal, where he is studying electroacoustic composition with Robert Normandeau and Jean Piché.

Henry J. Ng - I Closed My Eyes... And Saw Myself Running (Altered Version) (2003) 8:00

The German film lola rennt, presents us with a problem and three different solutions where each subsequent solution becomes more successful.

The problem presented here is the interaction between the live instrument and the tape. It seems that mixed media pieces are less successful if the live instrument and tape are in two distinct sonic worlds.

I decided to write a piece that takes on the form of the film, where the third solution is the most successful.

All sounds are derived from the cello.

Henry is entering his final year of an undergraduate Composition degree at McGill University.

David Ogborn - Queen & McCaul (2003) 3:04 SOCAN

April 8th, 2003 was a grey day and a sombre mood - many of the assembled protestors no doubt pondering that the massive outpouring of public opinion against the war had failed to prevent the slaughter. As we passed the corner of Queen & McCaul in downtown Toronto, a truck driver blew his horn in solidarity with the march. This piece is based on that sound.

Born in Australia, David Ogborn came under the spell of composition while growing up in Winnipeg. Since succumbing entirely, he has studied the art with Michael Matthews, David Scott, Christos Hatzis and Gary Kulesha.

Ryan Patterson - Little Red Wagon (2003) 7:59

This piece focuses on the development of gestures and objects while maintaining a relatively smooth progression. It is comprised of three sections, each building a higher climax than the previous section. The thread connecting the three sections is a slowly accelerating pitch shifted loop, inaudible much of the time, and often unrecognizable. This loop is the backbone of the piece, from which the rest of the objects hang. As the work progresses, the "backbone" becomes increasingly important and more discernible as a separate part. The steady acceleration of this sound also helps to build the climax of the work.

Born and raised in Saskatoon Saskatchewan, Ryan Patterson began studying music at a young age, and was playing guitar in a profesional top 40 rock band by age 15. During this time Ryan also began to develope a strong interest in recording and music technology. After studying Political Science at the Univeristy of Calgay, Ryan moved to Montreal to complete a BFA in Electroacoustics and Music Technology at Concordia Univeristy.

Jean-Marc Pelletier - Tashikara (2003) 7:49

Tashikara, hameau de la côte Pacifique Japonaise, vif de rossignols à l' heure du jour et opaque d'insectes la nuit. Tashikara, aux montagnes grugées par la mer et les miniers, où les chants de carnaval se lovent dans le vacarme oppressant des grillons d'été.

Tashikara a été réalisée aux studios d'IAMAS, à Ôgaki, Japon, en avril 2003.

Né à St-Sauveur-des-Monts, Québec, en 1976. Étudie la composition électroacoustique à l'Université Concordia avec Ned Bouhalassa, Laurie Radford et Mark Corwin. Déménage au Japon en 1999, où il enseigne l'anglais avant de travailler dans une agence de publicité. Fait présentement une maîtrise en arts médiatiques à l'Institute of Advanced Media Arts & Sciences (IAMAS) sous la direction du compositeur Masahiro Miwa.

Timothy Pickett - The Sine Wave Conspiracy (2003) 4:25

This piece uses simple elements - such as sine waves - to create subtleties. I have created 83 wave-forms, all only slightly different from each other, enabling me to lend a "naturalness" to each electronic instrument. These conspire with the help of FM and homemade granular pyramids, toward a seamless gradation of sound, from the pure and transparent to the rich and complex. Likewise, the harmony ranges from the pristine to the dark and features such subtleties as modulation by quarter-tone (32:33). All frequencies are determined by acoustical proportions and the durations utilize variously graded number series, creating polyrhythms and tempo changes.

Timothy Pickett is currently pursuing a DMA in Composition at the University of British Columbia, where his pricipal teachers have been Keith Hamel and Michael Tenzer. He holds composition degrees (MM 1995 and BM 1990) from the New England Conservatory of Music, where his principal teachers were Robert DiDomenica and Malcolm Peyton. His fusion of contemporary classical with jazz and Latin music has been warmly received at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Alice Tully Hall, the Cosmos Club, the Round Top and Bar Harbor Music Festivals, the Wednesday Noon-Hour and Sonic Boom series in Vancouver, and other places.

Matthew Rogers - Man and Machine (2003) 7:59 SOCAN

Man and Machine is an exploration into the contrasts and similarities of humans and computers. It shows that each is capable of something that the other isn't. It was composed using computer generated sounds, and live instruments.

Matthew Rogers is a student in the composition program at U.B.C. He has studied with Mark Armanini, Eugene Wilson, and Stephen Chatman. He has recently been commissioned by The Vancouver Chinese Music Ensemble, and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The mental images that music is able to create is of great interest to Matthew as he continues to explore the connection between images and sound.

James Schidlowsky - ...und gefundenes Band (2001) 4:33 SOCAN

A lightly treated binaural field recording made on a magical and mild winter's night in Montréal later meets a heavily treated quarter-inch tape fragment found by the roadside. Why this forced meeting? Not sure. Also, the traces of footsteps have been removed. Only machines remain, yet this was very much composed primarily on location by a human. Sometimes treatments & distortions can lead to almost-melodies which were never there.

James Schidlowsky's solo work explores sounds and atmospheres using mainly field recordings, radio waves and interference, low-pass filtering in full effect. He is associated with the muzik aktiv and notype labels.

Nick Storring - last floating away helium balloon (2001-02) 5:00

"last floating away helium balloon" is a piece based entirely on cassettes I had recently recovered, that contained recordings of myself making music between the ages of 4-8. Because I often seek a sense of childlike creative spontaneity through composing, I found the idea of concretely referencing my childhood as quite appealling on a symbolic level.

Nick Storring was born in Kitchener, Ont., in 1981 and began cello lessons at age four. He credits his early training in the Suzuki method with encouraging his interests in composition and improvisation, because of its focus on listening.

Nick currently studies composition with Peter Hatch in Wilfrid Laurier University's music program and is doing a directed study in improvisation with Glenn Buhr. Electroacoustics remain his primary focus. His piece "I am casting your shadow," derived entirely from cello sounds, was played at the 2003 Open Ears Festival in Kitchener, while "last floating-away helium balloon" was featured on the 2003 Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony New Orchestra series.

Nick has also been active as an improvisor on cello, performing in a variety of large and small ensembles. Alongside Jascha Narveson (on laptop/tablas), he performed live music for an adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with Kitchener's Theatre and Company. He was also a member of the first two versions of WLU's Improv Concerts Ensemble under Glenn Buhr.

Phil Thomson - soft(2) (2002) 4:23 SOCAN

"soft(2)" is an excerpt from a longer work which takes as its source data files digitally converted to audio.

Phil Thomson is a Vancouver composer/sound artist currently pursuing an MFA at Simon Fraser University.

Kristy Trinier - Belfast : 24 hours in 24 seconds (2003) 0:24

Functioning as a human instrument, an artist volunteered her sonic existence to record the sounds of daily life 24 hours per day for one day in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The accumulated sounds were compressed into a composition of 24 seconds to allow the sound of the day to be heard in relative terms. This composition was realized within the context of a larger research project, the 365soundproject, where the artist records an entire year and compress the sound material into 365 seconds.

Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Kristy Trinier is currently a participant in the Master's Degree in Fine Arts program at the Dutch Art Institute in the Netherlands, working primarily with sound art and sculpture installation. She has previously completed a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts at the University of Victoria, Canada.

Eldad Tsabary - Bendicho juez de la verdad (2000) 7:39 ASCAP

Spanish speakers may notice immediately that despite its familiar sound, the title of the piece is not really Español; it is a Jewish Ladino funeral blessing „Blessed is the Righteous Judge‰, a blessing that represents acceptance of God's word whether good or bad - with joy. The piece comprises three sections, the first and last representing birth and death respectively and being essentially similar although set in opposite directions. Life is represented in the middle section, which is, therefore, more linear, lively, humorous, intellectual, emotional, and capricious. Throughout the piece, the trombone melody is either extracted from, based upon, or in the spirit of the original Sephardic chant melody of this blessing. The electronic part is spiced with vocodered text elements of the chant.

A native of Israel, Eldad Tsabary (1969) has lived in New York City between 1996 and 2002, where he established his style composing electro-acoustic and chamber music. His music has been played in concerts at various locations including Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and Stanford University's CCRMA. During this period he collaborated with musicians Haim Avitsur, Robert Cuckson, the Cygnus Ensemble, and others. His music was broadcast at UMBC's art@radio, published by Wrong Note Media, and recorded under JAZZIS.

Eldad received his education at the GSUC/CUNY, the Mannes College of Music, and Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music in Israel. He studied composition under David Loeb, David Del Tredici, and David Olan.

Recently, Eldad has moved to Montréal, Canada where he carries on his musical endeavors.

Shane Turner - fuzzy edge (2003) 5:27

The result of several improvisation sessions utilizing chains of feedback and delay, this piece was intended as an homage to futurism. The sounds of the futurist orchestra are worked into machine-like rhythms and timbres, occasionally bordering on the edge of the recognizable.

Computer music has become more than a hobby for Shane over the past few years. He moved to Montréal in 2002 because of the vibrant electronic music scene in the city, and is currently studying electroacoustics at Concordia University.

Patrick S. Underwood - Cloistered (2003) 5:39

Cloistered was composed using only my voice as the soul source. With it I endeavor to portray the dualities between solitude and gregariousness as well as order and chaos through the juxtaposition of monastic-like sounds and coarse, abstract sounds. Also, this piece explores the richness, diversity and power a single voice can possess.

Patrick S. Underwood received a diploma in music from Kwantlen University College and currently divides his time between the studies of history and music at Simon Fraser University.

Michael Vincent - Beauty turns quickly to him, shocked (2003) 5:07

This piece is influenced by the Taoist doctrine of Yin and Yang, which results in the sonic materialisation of the relationship between the beautiful, and the unbeautiful. It employs narrative techniques amidst an acousmatic texture, that attempt to encapsulate and incite the complex, contextual relationships that mark our world's current tumultuous times.

Michael Vincent (b. 1976) is both a student and composer living in the diverse city of Montreal. Michael is an extremely diverse artist, composing in many forms which include electroacoustics, mixed media, and traditional instrumental models. He is currently finishing a BFA degree in Music Theory and Composition at Concordia University, and plans begin graduate studies in composition the near future.

Andrew Watson - Lateral Realization (2003) 6:37 SOCAN

"If there is a solution to the problem, there is no need to worry. If there is no solution, then there is no sense in worrying either." To keep one's frame of mind in the face of frustration can sometimes be most difficult. Even after attempting several approaches, coming to terms with the reality of the obstacle is not always obvious. The paths one goes down in despair are often absurd, but can also prove to be very enlightening regardless of their success with the task at hand.

This piece is composed of a number of improvisations on instruments and electronic devices that have been arranged on multitrack.

Andrew Watson is a musician living in Montreal. A graduate from Concordia University, he has been focusing on developing a unique voice using an improvised and live approach to electroacoustic music.

Ben Wilson - Sublimate (2002) 6:14

The primary compositional basis of Sublimate is concerned with the idea of chemical sublimation, wherein a substance in solid form transforms to a gas directly, bypassing a liquid state. Gradually the substance begins to evaporate and we hear delicate events that eventually escalate to a dense texture of varied sounds. As the solid’s mass decreases, the evaporation increases and the end result is a complete transformation to a gaseous state.

I thought the combination of sustained plucked events and shorter spastic ones related to the steady state of an inert solid and the frenetic movement of atoms in a gas. It also seemed similar to substances in outer space; dense nebular clouds of immense complexity where no single element stands out, but a grouping of distinct objects creates the image or illusion of a larger singular object.

Other aspects of the transformation could be seen in melting ice or dissolving substances either on a micro level (cubes in a glass of water) or macro level (icebergs in the ocean). The melting is not a smooth seamless process. There are instances where larger parts break off or the process slows down at times.

Possibly the ear singles out certain events from within a texture just as the eye can track for a moment a single speck of dust in a room before losing sight of it and then grasping onto another speck.

Sublimate was constructed using Karplus-Strong, Additive and FM Synthesis Csound instruments, Convolution, Mutation, Varispeed and Phase Vocoder processing within SoundHack and multi-tracking in Pro Tools.

Ben Wilson is a Vancouver-based composer, performer and improvisor of acoustic and electronic music. He plays drum machine and electronics in the groups Hospital, Broken Record Chamber and Particle Burn. He also leads and plays electric guitar in the chamber jazz quintet Elk. Wilson has appeared on several CDs and is a co-founder of Noisebludgeon Recordings, an independent label focusing on experimental electronic and noise music. In addition to touring Japan, Australia, British Columbia and Washington, he has performed live with Broken Record Chamber at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (Quebec 2001) and in Montréal on CBC Radio 2’s Brave New Waves. He currently studies electroacoustic music with Barry Truax and composition at Simon Fraser University.

Support

Jeu de temps / Times Play (JTTP) est rendu possible grâce à une association stimulant la recherche et la créativité canadienne en électroacoustique établie avec l’université Concordia en 1986. La CEC reconnaît également le support du Conseil des Arts du Canada, qui a investi l’année dernière 20,1 millions dans les lettres et l’édition dans l’ensemble du Canada. Merci aussi aux membres de la CEC, qui ont aimablement fourni de l’aide financière au projet, et à PeP pour son aide constante à la production.

Jeu de temps / Times Play (JTTP) is made possible thanks to a partnership fostering research and creativity in Canadian electroacoustics established with Concordia University in 1986. The CEC also gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada. Thanks are also due to CEC Members, who have graciously provided further financial support to the project, and to the PeP team for continued production assistance.