Metal & Glass Ensemble is a Boston-based improvisational group with rotating membership. We create acoustic drone-based music with bowed cymbals and other metal objects, and glasses tuned to a just-intoned 23-note octave. This just scale, employing whole-number ratios akin to a natural harmonic overtone series, is the only formal tuning used in the group. The bowed metal generates its own shifting but interrelated pitch classes, while the instrumental players contribute using a variety of microtonal intonations. In this way the music is liberated from the 12-tone equal-tempered octave, and explores a broad spectrum of harmonic relationships. The ensemble uses a structured improvisational scheme (such as a chart or graphic score) to give each performance a specific form. In some cases the structure is conceptual, expressed through verbal imagery. The music itself evolves gradually over time, often conveying a meditative quality.
