With its antecedents in ephemeral electronic instrument improvisation along with the overtly unapologetic vernacular influence of Pink Floyd, “Lunar Eclipse” for laptop computer ensemble by Jeremy C. Baguyos was completed as a fixed and replicable composition in December of 2010. Like other works for more egalitarian and inclusive laptop ensembles, the score does not require specialized computer music training; laptop performers of this work can be drawn from general ranks of willing and daring performers. Jeremy Baguyos designed, coded, and implemented the work in MAX/MSP, an API for audio and music programming. The robust Max/MSP patches are executed bug-free in the Max/MSP runtime environment available for free from cycling74. However, laptop parts nos. 4-6 may realize their parts with a consumer-level media player like iTunes to play back sound effects/voiceovers. Only the performer of Laptop part No. 1 would benefit from any specialized Max/MSP and computer music training (mainly for understanding and executing LFOs, filter sweeps, toggles, faders, and tables in an artistic fashion). The other laptop parts need only laptop players with musical sensibility and no fear of computers as instruments. The work was conceived and partially completed at a workshop for laptop ensemble performers/composers at the 2010 International Computer Music Conference in June of 2010, received its workshop performance in November of 2010, was fully tested, documented, and recorded in December of 2010, and was formally premiered at the 2011 Electronic Music Midwest electronic music festival after passing a competitively peer-reviewed blind screening process.
Recording Date: December 28, 2010
Recording Location: Post-production studio of the University of Nebraska, Omaha, Department of Music, Omaha, Nebraska
Ensemble Type: Laptop Ensemble
Duration: 0:05:19
Performer: AAJENT
About the Music
Composer: Jeremy Castro Baguyos
Instrumentation: Six (6) Laptop Computers
Place of Composition: Post-production studio of the University of Nebraska, Omaha, Department of Music, Omaha, Nebraska
Date Composed: December 28, 2010
Place First Performed: Kansas City, Kansas
Date First Performed: September 30, 2011
Score: available here
Music Styles: Interactive Computer Music
"Lunar Eclipse" for laptop ensemble is unapologetically inspired by Pink Floyd. In a recent performance of the entire “Dark Side of the Moon” album by Ensemble A.M.I. at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, I felt that the laptop players were stifled by the demands of an audience who wanted to hear an exact replication of the album. This work was created so that electronic musicians could improvise and stretch their imaginations on gestures inspired by "Speak to Me" and "On the Run" without the constraints of Baby Boomers wanting to relive their youth. The other important lunar eclipse reference refers to the Dec. 21, 2010 winter solstice that coincided with the most recent lunar eclipse, the same day I started writing the final stage of the composition. Other moon references include text from "Pierrot Lunaire" and the Apollo 11 moon landing. The score and any suggested hardware/software technology implementation is only a starting point, and it is hoped that the performers can feel, all at once, liberated to improvise, grounded in both an established formal structure and established historical context, and most importantly, a cultural mediation.
Lunar Eclipse