The Well of Fancy Dry (1999)
for solo flute with Max/MSP
for Carol Morgan

duration: 7 minutes 30 seconds
download score (as pdf - 286 KB)
performance materials are available on request

Well of Fancy Dry, movement one – Julie Skolnik, flute

Well of Fancy Dry, movement two – Julie Skolnik, flute

Well of Fancy Dry, movement three – Julie Skolnik, flute

Program Notes
Perhaps its only human nature, but I'm often motivated by what I can't seemingly have. That's the case with this piece. I wanted counterpoint in the instrumental writing despite the fact that this work is for solo flute. The time honored method for producing this illusion of multiple melodic lines is through registral juxtapositions, and I've followed that practice in the extreme here—particularly in the opening movement. The electronics make literal that feature of the composition.

Second, I wanted the combination of flute and electronics to defy accepted notions of space. Just as your depth perception relies on having two eyes, it's commonly accepted that biaural hearing allows you to place sounds in space. My presumption here is that having two ears only confuses matters, and makes locating the flute's spatial placement that much more of a challenge.

In performance, the sound of the flute always activates the electronics (pay no attention to the wo/man behind the curtain, s/he's just babysitting the equipment.) In the first movement, the flute's sound is divided into three registers (high, middle, & low), percussive sounds, and soft sounds. Each of these is processed separately. The contrapuntal lines are algorithmically generated in the next two movements. In the second, the flute plays against recordings of itself. The computer listens for hints of phrases to record and later reassembles these fragments into new lines. The final movement uses a synthesized resonant model of a tubular bell to construct a gamelan-like accompaniment.

Performance History
March 2002
Solo recital, Patty Monson, flute

March 2001
University of Chicago
Caroline Pitman, flute

March 2000
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the US, SeamusY2K National Conference, University of North Texas, Denton

April 1999
University of Iowa as part of the
Society for Electro-Acoustic Music American Music Week.

Oct. 1999
American Composers Forum Sonic Circuits Series, Clark University, Worcester, MA