Cipher (2012)
Instrumentation: Baritone Saxophone
Electronics: Yes
Duration: 10'
Commissioned by Daniel Arkfeld, Allison Balcetis, Chris Blossom, Geoffrey Deibel, James Fusik, Jeffrey Heisler, Jeffrey Loeffert, Ryan Muncy, Nathan Nabb, Brian Ngo, Sean Patayanikorn, John Sampen, Rhonda Taylor, Beth Trimblet, and David Wegehaupt.
PURCHASE
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In writing Cipher, I wished to separate the mechanical means of producing sounds. The fingering and breath - physically unrelated but mutually dependent actions -work separately to encode and decode the intention of the player, like what cryptologists refer to as a "one-time pad". It is also influenced by my sonic interest in shortwave radio morse transmissions and number stations, which are still highly prevalent despite advances in communication technology. I find their sound to be strangely expressive and haunting, the seduction of a language I cannot hope to understand. A kind of double code, the content of these messages generally consists of strings of numbers and letters encoded into morse, but the meaning of these strings is enciphered and largely unbreakable.
In Cipher, the baritone saxophone serves as source, transmitter, and receiver. Percussive and pitched aspects of key noise and breath at times exchange places, with the press and release of saxophone keys taking on the role of a telegraph spark key, and delayed multiphonics creating the lonely background hum of an empty channel. The processing of the saxophone multiphonics, breath sounds, and the conversion of key noise to pitch are all done live, accompanied by a series of tapes cues which I recorded of shortwave morse communications.