Do-It-Yourself Music: The Dragon Curveball

Join FEDStage Director and Artist-in-Residence Kevin Joest and brass ensemble eGALitarian as they workshop a brand new piece of music, an algorithm that places the compositional emphasis on the performers themselves. Over the course of four sessions this summer, we will delve into the machine that has been “coded” to produce endless variations unique to the individual ensembles and musicians. Kevin says of the work:

“This idea began life as a process piece where all musical building blocks (pitches, rhythms, etc.) were determined, then fed into a recursive algorithm to create something endlessly new, yet familiar. As I defined these elements, I realized that an infinite number of pieces could be generated using this method, ultimately leading me to the conclusion that these generative rules could be the work itself. After ensemble members provide the necessary inputs - average ages, month of the concert, how many instruments a specific person…