TIMARA Concert Brings Innovation to Studio 2

TIMARA Shares Experiments With Campus

Perhaps the most pressing question posed by the impressive inaugural TIMARA concert of the Fall 2000 semester was: why were approximately 50 audience members crammed into the confines of studio 2 instead of luxuriously spreading out in the more traditional Warner concert Hall? The quick answer, provided by composer Mario Diaz de Léon was, "we're stupid," but a more process-based explanation was given by senior composers Peter Blasser and Raja Das: since the program originally included only three pieces, Conservatory policy deemed the event too small for Warner.

Issues of elbow room aside, the informal and intimate mood created by this setting was complemented perfectly by the music, andthe experience was a refreshing change from the sometimes stiff procession of "serious" pieces encouraged by Warner's atmosphere. Blasser said he hopes this concert, to which three pieces were added at the last minute ‹ including an introductory piece he said was "typical of what it sounds like when TIMARA students get together and improvise" ‹ will be a model for other concerts throughout the year featuring more improvisation, a looser structure, and more student input. If future concerts are indeed like this one, TIMARA looks to be a vibrant and exciting force on the campus music scene.

After the walk-in music performed by Das and Blasser, the first "official" piece of the night got underway: "rt-event" by Das and Blasser, an entrancing blend of c-sound tones and more traditional beats, featuring each on a computer. Das said his part, mainly beats, was created by sequencing drum loops and then triggering them with a half-second delay, producing a distortion that made the whole piece sound much more organic than computer compositions traditionally do.

Starting with a tabla-like beat, a slow bring-up of a distorted cymbal/electro noise and anvil beats over a bassy rumble allowed the basic beat progression to morph into a playful groove reminiscent of a toy piano. This broke down into the sound of sets of silverware dropped from a great height with tiny boot stomps keeping the rhythm, gradually bringing in the strangled sound of a cutoff whistle blast. The final transition into a sort of breakbeat-played-through-a-toilet highlighted the impressive sound of a mass of ping-pong balls falling down stairs, before the whole thing faded out.

After this, still more people were herded into the studio before de Léon's piece, "Study for Voices I & II," got underway. A playback, this piece concerned itself largely with the manipulation, distortion and layering of voices, reminiscent of the Aphex Twin "Ventolin" remix featuring a creepy array of people laughing. De Léon's piece similarly evoked an emotional response, but went on slightly too long for the voices to stay fresh and real.

It started off intriguingly, with what seemed to be a slowed-down recording of wolves tumbling in an array of washing machines. These random tonalities created some interesting chord changes, and when the background howl got chopped up, it all began to sound like crying. Some audience members found themselves sympathizing, even choked up. This was punctuated somewhat by a noise like frantic squeaking laid over highway sounds, but the feeling did not really die out until the first movement soldiered on somewhat past its prime. By the time the ambient chords of the second movement revved up, the voices breaking into the mix felt like a let down. While this piece could have used a little more forward motion, there were nonetheless some very exciting elements.

Two videos followed, by Das ("Aftermath") andBlasser ("The People in Elyria 4/12/00"). They proved to be a study in contrast. Das' piece used the music and particularly the initial image of soldiers walking across a battlefield at night, the beats timed to the explosions. The subsequent experimentations with still photos and color washes were less impressive, but still very effective.

Blasser's piece, on the other hand, used juxtaposition of images with music to evoke appreciative laughter from the audience. Made up of eight or nine shots of people in Elyria, the music featured vocals, which were overlaid as subtitles on the film itself. The first shot, a man changing the fittings on two pipes, sported the subtitle "Can I touch your...hair?", while the second had a man in a worksuit declaring "You know I'm gonna walk to my truck/you know I'm gonna show you my butt." Later scenes explored the theme of voyeurism and paranoia, the onscreen subjects being asked questions like "Who's the boy with the Coke? Why is he watching me?" This all led up to the inexplicably hilarious final shot of two men slowly rising, giddy smiles on their faces, while the music rose and rose with the tinkly certainty of a carousel spinning into overdrive.

Following this, the stragglers were called back in for the second video playback, after which a final composition of Das' was played back, a funky exercise featuring an all-dancing c-sound/Yamaha horn section. It was nice to see that a TIMARA concert could be ended with a CD thrown in at the last minute, and it bodes well for future experiences.