Lines and Waves

The recordings presented here emerged from an Arts Works Residency at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. During the residency, I asked visitors to draw an image they’d like to have a musician turn into sound. I presented the visitors with grids and asked them to fill in a single cell. Initially, my plan was to combine individual contributions into curated scores, but I was delighted to discover that visitor enthusiasm exceeded my expectations. Folks almost always filled up all or most of the sheet with images, and each sheet felt like an independent, complete graphic score without any intervention from me needed. The contributors ranged from professional artists, like Carmina Eliason whose image is our cover art, to an infant doing his very first drawing on one of my sheets. Collected here are realizations of selected scores by Lucie Vítková and Giacomo Fiore, who were kind enough to come record in the museum gallery.
-Lanier

Lucie Vítková:
accordion, objects, vacuum cleaner, voice

Lucie Vítková is a composer, improviser and performer (accordion, hichiriki, synthesizer, voice and tap dance) from the Czech Republic. During her studies of composition at Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno (CZ), she has been a visiting scholar at Royal Conservatory in The Hague (NL), California Institute of the Arts in Valencia (USA), Universität der Künste in Berlin (D), Columbia University in New York, and in 2018 has transferred to the New York University. Her compositions focus on sonification (compositions based on abstract models derived from physical objects), while in her improvisation practice she explores characteristics of discrete spaces through the interaction between sound and movement. In her recent work, she is interested in the social-political aspects of music in relation to everyday life. She has been nominated for the 2017 Herb Alpert Awards in Arts and has put together two ensembles – NYC Constellation Ensemble (focused on musical behavior) and OPERA Ensemble (for singing instrumentalists).

www.vitkovalucie.com

Giacomo Fiore:
Parker Fly Classic E.Guitar (eBow and vibrato bridge)—Trombetta Tornita—Moog Minifooger Ring Mod—Lehle Volume Pedal—Montreal Assembly Count to Five—Hexe Revolver—Strymon Dig—Princeton 6G2

Italian-born guitarist and musicologist Giacomo Fiore lives and works in San Francisco. He has performed in Italy, France, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, and across the U.S., premiering more than two dozen new works for justly-tuned, electric, and classical guitars. Giacomo has released eight recordings for Cold Blue, Pinna, Spectropol, and Paper Garden Records, as well as his own label. As a scholar his research focuses on U.S. experimental music, intonation, and performance; he has published articles in Music Theory Spectrum, JSAM, and TEMPO, and writes regularly for Classical Guitar and the San Francisco Classical Voice. Currently Giacomo lectures on a wide range of historical topics at the San Francisco Conservatory, UC Santa Cruz, and the University of San Francisco.

www.giacomofiore.com

Lanier Sammons:
concept, collection, recording, mixing, mastering

Lanier Sammons is a composer, recordist, and educator based in Santa Cruz, CA. Lanier’s music often explores ideas like audience interactivity, improvisation, the intersection of popular and classical musics, and the pairing of electronic and acoustic sound. He serves as Assistant Professor of Recording and Technology at California State University, Monterey Bay teaching courses on music technology, composition, and a variety of other topics.

www.laniersammons.com

Carmina Eliason:
cover art
carminaeliason.com

Recorded at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
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Thanks:
Wes Modes, Stacey Marie Garcia, Nora Grant, Nanci Amaka, Carmina Eliason, Sasha Petrenko, Abigail Han, David Josephson and Josephson Microphones, Kenny Hill and Hill Guitar, and all the visitors to the gallery