We start this Salon program with a wonderful introduction from Jan Michael Looking Wolf and his beautiful music: One Heart Salon Greeting (made especially for SOUNDBOX 6)!

[nowhere, nowhere] is a desktop documentary that explores the relationship between American suburban culture and its impacts on the environment and visuality of the American landscape.

This piece of music was originally for the play, now we see this work with an image he took on a trip (before Covid) to the Grand Canyon of people sitting in the evening. 

Float is a video work that includes sound, animations, and performances by many of the artists who participate in the studio program at Living Studios (Cornerstone Associates) of the Willamette Valley in collaboration with resident artist, Jill R Baker. Utilizing the medium of video to convene, recycle, and collaborate, we seek to weave the artists of Living Studios together as one audio-visual entity, while also extending our mobility and visibility through the community. Our sounds, marks, movements, objects, and environments flow from many sources, spaces, and times, converging in playful and unexpected performances and interactions. Float is a collaborative video featuring the visual work, sound, and performances of Lin Musick, Laura Bruyere, Bonnie Wald, Greg Persons, Alex Russnogle, Ryan Tevlin, Rodger Hancock, Dennis Baisinger, DJ Michelle, Anna Trammel, Mathew Brewster, with Rachel Mulder, Jill R Baker, Kelsey Davis Hamilton, and Angel Black. Our floating eye box seen in the video is an object and intermedia character for performance, interactions and exhibition.

Many people in the United States are disconnected from their environment: urban residents spend 90% of their time indoors inside confined climate-controlled spaces. In addition to being physically separated from the natural environment, much of human understanding of the world is inferred from data collected by satellites orbiting 22,000 miles away. Irish Bend Covered Bridge 2023 is a site-specific installation and live performance that uses internet-connected sensors, and real-time data sonification and visualization techniques to remix the sights and sounds of its local environment. Audio samples and visual material are collected from the environment and shaped by the weather data. Sound and video projection mapping will be presented on-site.

"Coursing Winds" was written/shot/ and edited on the Oregon Coast in Manzanita, April 2023

An interspecies collaboration with the Bombyx Mori (domestic silk worm moth) Video : Flutterings (2022): An interspecies collaboration with the domestic silk worm moth

Catherine Lee oboe with the SCI programmed by Taylor Brook  I have spent the past 4 summers raising domestic silkworm moths, and they have been a profound source of inspiration. I recorded this piece live using a single microphone placed directly in the box with the adult silk moths. This microphone captured both the buzzing of the male silk moth wings and my improvisation on oboe in response to them. These sounds were sent directly into the SCI, which listens, learns, and improvises with the sounds it has heard. 

Murky Waters is a creative data sonification of environmental and spore data at an index point in Klamath River. The video shown demonstrates a real-time rendering from a custom-built software application that reads twelve years of data (2009- 2021) and maps it to sound instruments. The data sonified includes water flow, temperature, and waterborne spore densities. Water flow data is mapped to the sounds of water droplets that become louder and denser as the flow increases. Temperature data is mapped to electronically-generated synthesized tones and wind sounds that increase in frequency as the temperature rises. In general, lower frequency content is more common in colder months, while higher frequency content is expected during warmer months. Waterborne spore density data is mapped to a Karplus string model, which at high rates creates several chaotic attacking sounds. At low rates of infection, the Karplus sound is less active and barely audible, yielding a calmer sonic landscape. When composing this piece, I aimed to create a hybrid between trackable data trends and emotional states that bring about calming and uncomfortable states depending on the amount of infection in the water. 

Reverie is an acousmatic composition by Leah Reid that leads the listener through an immersive fantasy centered around deconstructed music boxes. The work comprises eight sections that alternate between explorations of the music boxes’ gears and chimes. In the work, the music boxes’ sounds are pulled apart, exaggerated, expanded, and combined with other sounds whose timbres and textures are reminiscent of the original. As the piece unfolds, the timbres increase in spectral and textural density, and the associations become more and more fantastical. Gears are transformed into zippers, coins, chainsaws, motorcycles, and fireworks, and the chimes morph into rainstorms, all sizes of bells, pianos, and more. The work is available in stereo and 8 channel versions.

A compilation of robot behavior and sound clips from the Oregon State University SHARE Lab's research on nonverbal robot expression.

To participate in the research, please see the Participant bios (Naomi Fitter), or check out the QR code at the entry to SOUNDBOX 6

Music and Video

I was inspired to record “Chasmic Surfacings” while listening online to field recordings of whale songs. The resounding pulses of the colossal fin whale are so low as to be almost out of the range of human hearing.  It stirred me to create a piece of music from a new  sonic perspective...a violin improvisation in duet with the thrilling tones produced by the largest animal of the sea. As I played my violin in my home studio, I imagined a whale in the deep ocean, her songs booming through the waters.

Died Tired Band Originally derived from the old Marines adage: “You can run, but you’ll just die tired,”  one might assume that their music has ominous undertones and potentially dark themes. Well, to Die Tired it is a punk rock way of saying, “Carpe diem!”      Being from various parts of the hills and streets of Pennsylvania, the members of Die Tired all bring their own specific flare and personality to the music. Each member has a slightly different taste in music, but in one way or another, these influences blend perfectly to breathe new life into some amazingly addictive alternative and pop rock sounds.      

Through four states, have I captured a view of our world.