Other Forests
2015
Program Note
I first heard David Tudor’s Rainforest over a decade ago in a sound art class with Paul DeMarinis. It stuck with me, this image of a forest of objects, each sounding its own individual voice in a larger ecosystem, vibrating slightly out of control. The idea of a simple action that transforms my relationship to the everyday has been central to my work since.
Initially the idea of putting on a piece called Rainforest here in L.A., amidst the worst drought in state history, seemed slightly ironic. The sound of rain is in itself a little exotic, here. I wanted to honor the elegance of Tudor’s set-up, as well as the specific context of this performance. Other Forests started with the idea of using string instruments as transduced objects as well as instruments played in a musical tradition. I assembled sounds from the local environment, real and fictional rainfall, ensemble rehearsals, and friends’ explanations of imaginary trees.
About Carolyn Chen
Carolyn Chen has made music for supermarket, demolition district, and the dark. Her work reconfigures the everyday to retune habits of our ears, through sound, text, light, image, and movement.…