BABEL ON LAPTOP QUARTET

Babel On is a work for laptop ensemble, performed through an application originally created for my installation, Library of Babel. This application generates random assortments of letters and punctuation, which can then be “read” and pronounced out loud through speakers. Default letter pronunciations can be replaced with custom recordings live, and digital signal processing can be toggled on and off or set to trigger when certain letters are read. Babel On uses this application to sonically imitate the Tower of Babel myth: a unified sonic language in the beginning fractures and crumbles apart, replaced by unique sound palettes for each individual in the ensemble before starting a journey once more towards unified communication.​

YOU/I VIBRAPHONE, VIOLONCELLO, FIXED MEDIA

​You/I aims to explore individualism and unification as a spectrum, with the cello and vibraphone working with and against each other as well as the fixed media created from robotic pronunciations of four words: "you," "human," "unified," and "I."

VESICA FLUTE AND VIOLONCELLO

Vesica was inspired by the Vesica Pisces, a sacred geometrical figure commonly seen in Venn diagrams showing where two become one. Vesica sonically represents this phenomena, with the flute and cello creating a duet of two cyclical forces fluctuating between individuality and unity.

NOTHING TO SEE/HEAR ​PERCUSSION DUET/QUARTET

Nothing to See/Hear is a sound meditation piece focusing on the seemingly infinite tonal intricacies within players performing sounding octaves. By asking performers to play "until you no longer hear the notes themselves", NtS/H seeks to reveal to the performers and their audience how much can truly be controlled in performance

MESSIER 67 ORCHESTRA/WIND ENSEMBLE

​Messier 67, named after a nearby star system studied for stellar evolution, is a fanfare reminiscent of Holst's planets featuring a strong percussion and brass section.

FIVES WOODWIND QUINTET

Fives, for woodwind quintet, explores the various different relationships found in a pentagram, many of which are also explored in the graphic on the front cover of the score for the work.

WELCOME ​PERCUSSION TRIO

Welcome is based upon Metatron’s Cube, a sacred geometrical figure said to contain the blueprint for all that exists in the universe. All platonic solids, studied for their mathematical beauty and symmetry and theorized by Plato to exist in all the classical elements, exist within the cube. If everything shares a part of this cube as a commonality, rejection does not naturally exist.
For access to scores and other resources, please contact the composer by means of the contact form or emailing jbtubbs@crimson.ua.edu