a poet you must become
for Oboe, Fixed Sound, and Field Recordings
Created with & for Kyle Bruckmann by Dana Reason
Premiere Concert Performance: Peavy Forest Science Center, Oregon State University November 17, 2023
By encapsulating the dynamic relationship between humanity and the environment and utilizing both raw and manipulated field recordings, bird songs and architectural resonances to depict the complexity of lived experiences and distorted realities, ‘a poet you must become’ invites both the performer and the audience to reflect upon the interplay of tensions among the human, the organic, the synthetic, the virtual, the natural, and the sublime.
‘a poet you must become’ embodies quantum time, space, and sound. Jittery phonons; a halted linear universe; an electric overdrive. Tracing displaced memories and the immediacy of rupture. Is everything quantum?
Influenced by a diverse range of sources, including Couperin’s musical ornamentation, musica secreta (the secret ensemble of female musicians and the nuns of Ferrara, as researched by Laurie Stras), ‘Field Book of Wild Birds and Their Music’ by F. Schuyler Mathews, and literary works by Etel Adnan ‘Journey to Mount Tamalpais’ and Joan Didion’s ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’ and ‘The White Album’, as well as techniques and breath usage from the Honkyoku school of shakuhachi, the performer is tasked with shaping a multi-dimensional sonic experience in real-time. The result is an immersive auditory journey that blurs the boundaries between self, iterative musics, and public spaces, offering a profound exploration of the quantum nature of existence. This work is best experienced without visual distractions and with low ambient lighting. Summer/Fall 2022 (Field Recordings & Research); Summer 2023 (Score & Additional Field Recordings); Additional Max-MSP Programming: Mike Gao- Limited Edition Score 2023
Dana Reason 