WHALE is an original piece for double bass, motion-sensing bow, and electronics.

Excerpt 1 (Dean St. Rooftop)

Program notes (from premiere at SPLICE Institute, Kalamazoo, MI, June 29 2024)

Whales communicate with each other in ways that we cannot possibly comprehend. I imagine that to even begin to understand the meaning behind their beautiful songs, we must attempt the impossible task of living the life of a whale. When I began developing my piece, WHALE, I was inspired by this idea of an unintelligible language that is particular to the one speaking it. As a bass player, I find that the movement of my bow is typically a byproduct of the sound I wish to create, with the majority of motion existing in service of that sound. In developing my own language system as a solo electroacoustic improviser, I wanted to extend the expressiveness of the motion of the bow off of the instrument. I developed the MagicBow3 for this purpose. Using data from the bow’s motion through space, the MagicBow3 digitally processes the sound of the bass in real time. I aim to create a language system that is particular to my experience playing the bass, one that draws parallels between the large, majestic beings of bass and whale.

Excerpt 2 (SPLICE Institute)

Excerpt 3 (SPLICE Institute)

Full Performance (SPLICE Institute)