Sometimes I improvise on toy piano with plinkTHUNKSqwak: John Dierker, clarinets and Michael Formanek, bass.
Influences
Aphex Twin, Béla Bartók, Bauhaus, Harrison Birtwistle, Bjork, Chemical Brothers, Chen Yi, George Crumb, Morton Feldman, P.J. Harvey, Laika, György Ligeti, Gustav Mahler, Massive Attack, Olivier Messiaen, Thelonious Monk, Nine Inch Nails, Parlaiment, Danilo Perez, Radiohead, David Rakowski, Maurice Ravel, Steve Reich, R.E.M., Kaija Saariaho, Giacinto Scelsi, Bent Sørensen, Toru Takemitsu, Talking Heads, Augusta Read Thomas, Jukka Tiensuu, Tricky, Ken Ueno, Claude Vivier, Olly Wilson, Iannis Xenakis, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Sounds Like
Dramatic. Experimental new sounds with long melodies and drone-based stases alternating with funk/punk grooves in asymmetrical and changing meters. Give a listen and let me know what you think.
"wild, unsettling, spine-tingling ... a yummy, curdly tonality."
--Soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw on Some Details of Hell
My music is about exploding boundaries in the continuing search for transcendence. These metamorphoses manifest themselves through the physical instrumentation, the musical development of material and the dramatic through-line of the compositions. I envision a pitch-universe inclusive of all aesthetics, exploring the common ground between microtonal modulations and crunchy dissonances. Throughout my music, natural phenomena are reflected in melodies reminiscent of bird calls and in pulsing yet unpredictable rhythms similar to tidal wave patterns. Disjointed moments of pure sound coalesce into regions of clarity defined by funk-style grooves or long sinuous melodies. I seek to create works with a high degree of energy gleaned from my early avidity for experimental post-punk goth and progressive musicians like Bauhaus, Joy Division and Brian Eno, which inspired my interest in art music. The drama of performance and narration is always foremost in my mind, reflecting my years working in theater as a director, producer and stagehand. My deep love for the visual arts has led me to collaborate on multi-media installation works and performance art.
Composer David Smooke currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland, where he teaches music theory and composition at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. His honors include those from the Maryland State Arts Council, BMI (William Schuman Prize for Most Outstanding Score, BMI Student Composer Awards) , the National Association of Composers USA, the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, SCI/ASCAP (Regional Winner) and the Tampa Bay Composers’ Forum. He has composed commissions for groups and individuals including the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), CUBE, Quintet Attacca, pianist Amy Briggs, bassoonist Michael Parker-Harley (of Alarm Will Sound), bassist Jeffrey Weisner (of the National Symphony Orchestra), toy pianist Phyllis Chen (of ICE), and cellist/singer Victoria Bass, and has worked with such ensembles and performers as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Pacifica String Quartet, eighth blackbird, the California E.A.R Unit, the University of Chicago Contemporary Chamber Players (now called Contempo), Syzygy (the Rice University faculty new music ensemble), the University of Iowa Center for New Music, conductor Cliff Colnot, and cellist/singer Jody Redhage. His music has been featured on festivals including those hosted by Queens College (Aaron Copland School of Music), Rice University, Northwestern University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Louisiana State University, the University of Iowa, S.U.N.Y. Buffalo, Bowdoin College, Bard Collage and East Carolina University. Previously he taught music theory as Visiting Assistant Professor at Ohio University; and music composition, history and theory at the Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University—where he was nominated for a Roosevelt Recognition Award for Excellence in Teaching—and at the Merit School of Music. He has also taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, the Birch Creek Music Performance Center and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony Workshops.
David performs improvisations and original works on various instruments including toy piano. He plays free improvisations on toy piano in the trio plinkTHUNKSqwak with bassist Michael Formanek and clarinetist/bass clarinetist John Dierker. He has improvised as part of pieces by interdisciplinary artist Mayumi Ishino at venues in New York City, Philadlphia and Virginia. He is currently building larger pieces utilizing electronic processing of toy piano, microtonally-tuned autoharp and other instruments.
He received an M.M. degree from the Peabody Conservatory, a B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, where he received the Century Fellowship, the highest fellowship offered by the Humanities Division. His composition teachers have included Shulamit Ran, Marta Ptaszynska, David Rakowski, Robert Hall Lewis, Ronald Caltabiano and Richard Wernick..
Hello, It's always a pleasure to contact my friends, first thanks for your friendship and hope all is well. if you have time, there are some new videos on my page. Life is beautiful. All the best - Pat.
"At last a follow up to Janette Mason's sparkling debut as leader. Alien Left Hand ....was well worth the wait…” Production **** Performance**** -- BBC Music Magazine
“…an album fizzing with fresh ideas and delights, an exhilarating musical journey .. with brilliantly original writing and inspired playing…” -- Helen Mayhew
"Every track from the rhythmic ‘NY Cab Ride’ and restless ‘4 Wheel Drive’ to the brooding ‘Mae’s Song’ has a terrific hook but it’s the way Mason switches tempo and moods that makes ALH great fun. " -- Diva Magazine
understanding the individual pain of others is sometimes to painful for an other individual to touch and that is frightening ... what i mean is that someone whose life is not traumatized and brutalized as a regular sequence of every day events unconsciously seeks the camouflage and shelter of apathy and banality from the reality of such devastating anguish and terror ...
but the spirit of young people who are used as sex slaves in the systematized global industry of human trafficking is now reaching out to the human fellowship in hope and desperation and through technology ...
it is scary when humanity turns a blind eye to this horror ... its like ignoring genocide whilst it is happening ...
what i am asking is that if you hear the cry of these young people who are existing in an environment of torture and brutality each and every day that you then please do not turn away from them ...
please reach deeply into your heart and soul and please in 2009 join a movement or become a part of an event that challenges modern slavery in the 21st century ... colin
Hi! Great music on here. I really liked the piece with voice you presented at seminar, and am really impressed with the music on your page. I'm studying with Hersch at peabody. I look forward to your 20th cent. styles class :)
David - What a wonderfully Lynchian picture! Lynch would have used a red lampshade, but still, the thoroughly surreal, vaguely terrifying quality is there!
Dear David: Thanks for the add. I liked the colorful instrumentation and narrative linear gestures in the pieces you've posted. Wonder what you would think of some of things on my site. Looking forward to hearing more of your work - gil.
