BoxMan (for Trombone)
Part ofCrossfire13'
Trombone, Electronics
Required Hardware:
- Computer: at minimum Mac G4/400 with 264Mb RAM
- Max/MSP 5.1.9
- MOTU i/o audio card (or another multi-channal ADC/DAC, but you have to be able to set the samples per buffer to 64 or 128)
- 1 large condensor mic
- Mixing console with at least 4 outputs, corresponding with the 4 DAC outputs in Max/MSP
- 4 speakers
- External reverb unit for the trombone (optional, but highly recommended)
Program Note
BoxMan
BoxMan was composed for trombonist Miles Anderson originally in 1985-87 and was commis- sioned in part from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, and the La Jolla Museum for Contemporary Art. It is the second in the composer’s “Crossfire” series of works for soloist and his electronic image in both audio and video domains. The work is inspired by Japanese novelist Kobo Abe’s novel “The Box Man”, wherein the lead character is a thoroughly disenfranchised and nameless street person, living out a bizarre existence in a wholly alienating urban environment (Tokyo, circa 1960).
Musically speaking, five types of ‘behaviour’ were selected for the soloist; manic, threatening, introverted, aggressive, and lyrical, and these are juxtaposed throughout the work. On the technical level, all sounds are made by the trombonist; live, on the computer part, and through live electronic sound manipulation. The original electronics (outboard, stand-alone, rack-mounted, commercial ‘boxes’) were re-made, with programming by Eric Ona and David Kim-Boyle, with even more fixes and updates by Brett Masteller, and JT Rinker from 1999-2004, utilizing MAX/MSP and Macintosh G4 machines to replace the outdated outboard signal processing boxes. The ‘vintage’ quality of that older processing, and its capabilities, is deliberately retained with elaborations made in MSP. BoxMan is a fiercely virtuosic piece challenging the performer in every way imaginable- -technically, (range, speed, articulation, dynamics, endurance, synchronization with live and pre-recorded electronics, etc.), and perhaps more importantly, expressively. -DF
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BoxMan
BoxMan was composed for trombonist Miles Anderson originally in 1985-87 and was commis- sioned in part from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, and the La Jolla Museum for Contemporary Art. It is the second in the composer’s “Crossfire” series of works for soloist and his electronic image in both audio and video domains. The work is inspired by Japanese novelist Kobo Abe’s novel “The Box Man”, wherein the lead character is a thoroughly disenfranchised and nameless street person, living out a bizarre existence in a wholly alienating urban environment (Tokyo, circa 1960).
Musically speaking, five types of ‘behaviour’ were selected for the soloist; manic, threatening, introverted, aggressive, and lyrical, and these are juxtaposed throughout the work. On the technical level, all sounds are made by the trombonist; live, on the computer part, and through live electronic sound manipulation. The original electronics (outboard, stand-alone, rack-mounted, commercial ‘boxes’) were re-made, with programming by Eric Ona and David Kim-Boyle, with even more fixes and updates by Brett Masteller, and JT Rinker from 1999-2004, utilizing MAX/MSP and Macintosh G4 machines to replace the outdated outboard signal processing boxes. The ‘vintage’ quality of that older processing, and its capabilities, is deliberately retained with elaborations made in MSP. BoxMan is a fiercely virtuosic piece challenging the performer in every way imaginable- -technically, (range, speed, articulation, dynamics, endurance, synchronization with live and pre-recorded electronics, etc.), and perhaps more importantly, expressively. -DF