Duet for Flute and Vibraphone, 10’

About the piece:
Noise Floor (of an Ear) takes as its foundation recordings made of my tinnitus at the Hudspeth Lab of Sensory Neuroscience.

Although the vibraphone is tuned slightly sharp, most of these frequencies land between the equal temperament tuned bars. In order to push the beating effects I am after, I have attempted to increase the air pressure with microtonal indications in the flute part which match the exact pitches from my ear recordings. These are marked in the score + and - above the marked pitches as indications to bend notes in smaller or larger amounts knowing that exact pitches are not achievable or required.

Creating a sense of pulsating stasis, the tempo is slow and steady, guided by the length of a bow, the length of a breath, the natural pacing of an extended technique- and listening along the edges of silence. Some of the passages however are unrelenting in their intensity, with the aim of drowning out the possibility of achieving silence.

You will find dynamic markers are mostly absent from the score, some playing techniques will, out of necessity, dictate their own such as a jet whistle (needing to be loud in order to be played), or the need for an accented hit with a mallet in order to dampen down the tone bar with a rubber mallet to achieve the buzzing sound.

Other dynamics were decided on with musicians in rehearsals

The piece has no defined duration, although Iexpect it might last around 9-10mins