SWELL
for Solo Percussion with Electronics
Christina Rusnak
ã Copyright 2022 Christina Rusnak Rusnak Music Press
All rights reserved Internationally
Photograph by Christina Rusnak
SWELL – Notes
Duration: ~ 9 or so minutes
Waterways recurrently fluctuate between Swelling and Receding impacting their adjacent landscapes. Inspired by the landscape of the Columbia River Slough, SWELL walks the listener through the dynamic experience of a landscape preceding and during a Swell.
Performance Notes:
An Aleatoric piece, SWELL, with pre-recorded fixed media, walks the performer through a timeline of exploratory experiences. Through the specified instrumentation, and in conjunction with the recording, the performer is essentially the storyteller interpreting the composer/writer’s words, emotions and actions.
Premiere of SWELL, at the Women of the Land presentation; August 20, 2022 7pm PDT
Performer, Meg Morrow
Acknowledgements:
This piece was made possible by Merridawn Duckler and Blackfish Gallery in Portland Oregon. Blackfish Gallery’s presentation of an in-gallery and outdoor exhibit and performance of Land Art - an art movement begun in the 1960’s as seen through a 21st century lens. Gallery members and invited artists join the Native American visual arts community in presenting works that challenge, reflect, and enlarge the artist role in land use, land challenges, imagination, and environment in the Pacific Northwest. The “Sighted Land” exhibit includes a gallery show and outdoor, interactive sited work on four acres of farming, forest, and private wetlands in the East Columbia/ Blue Heron neighborhood August: 13, 20, and 27, 2022.
I want to thank photographer and videographer, Duncan Takeru Reid who provided the audio of the Pacific Tree Frog, also known as the Pacific Chorus Frog http://www.duncanreid.org
SWELL
Inspired by the Landscape of the Columbia Slough
Percussion Solo with Electronics
Christina Rusnak
INSTRUMENTATION
Woodblocks – High and Low
Grasses
Small Suspended Cymbal (soft yarn mallets and bow)
Wooden Wind Chimes
Djembe or Conga (wire brushes & hand)
Drum Sticks (as instrument)
Concert Bass Drum (or standard bass drum) + mallet and superball)
Marimba
Thunder Sheet (beater TBD)
Tam-Tam + gong beater
ELECTRONIC Sounds
Frog sounds
Water Trickling
Active Water
Rusnak Music Press (BMI)
TIMING and STORYLINE (approximate)
0:00 Frog audio recording starts – You’re in the wooded wetlands an acre or so from the slough
0:30 Strike woodblock softly & intermittently – first one, then two
0:45-1:20 Sound of gentle breeze begins then stops – very intermittent – interspersed with woodblock
1:20-1:35 Sound of Stream begins very softly – You turn to listen – branches breaking (strike sticks) beneath your feet (wire brush on djembe/conga)
The frog sounds begin to recede
1:35-2:15 You are walking toward the sound of the water, through the woodsWooden Wind Chimes - through the grasses (drum, grasses and woodblocks)
Amplitude of Stream audio increases slowly
2:15ish Upon arrival to the slough, bow the cymbal (long pause)
2:30ish
Other tinkling sounds as the light reflects on the water
2:45ish Instrument sounds dissipate, audio water sound remains.
3:00ish
Marimba begins low - The water is calm / placid – the electronic sound of the stream falls to background
True improvisation begins; the marimba is the water, it ebbs and flows for 2 to 2½ min.
Sounds from the edges of the waterway intersperse; grasses, wind, branches. (Adding bird calls from the wings of the gallery)
5:15ish Add Wind chimes; Djembe with wire brush and hand? Grasses
How well can you intersect those with the Marimba
5:45ish Come back to Marimba – a little more intensity – distant thunder; Grasses more intense. Marimba slows down. More Djembe here with hand
6:30ish
7:00ish
Bow cymbal – wait, bow again – wait -
Slow roll of bass drum
Marimba resumes with more urgency – more swelling
Wind beginning to whip up
Drag superball across bass drum head
Audio Sound of active water begins slowly, in background
7:15-8:15 Performer utilizes breadth of Marimba range – including Xylo effects in upper register, and large swells in lower range
8:15-9:00+ Audio of active water increases
Begin discordant Chords in Marimba – Thunder sheet with sticks – Wood blocks
Bass Drum – build sound to fever pitch. BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!
Pause - Strike Tam-ta
Over next 20+ seconds let sound dissipate.
Rusnak Music Press (BMI)
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CHRISTINA RUSNAK
Christina Rusnak is a composer, explorer and cultural catalyst who draws inspiration from the world around her. She seeks to integrate a sense of context into her music from a variety of sources including landscape, culture, history, ecology and art, she strives to communicate something meaningful about the human experience through music to both performers and the audience.
Rusnak’s pieces range from grade 1 to professional levels and includes solo works, chamber, orchestra, wind band, flex band pieces as well as jazz, women’s choir, electroacoustic works, and film. An avid hiker, Ms. Rusnak she has been commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service, The National Park Service, and Oregon State Parks with over dozen pieces inspired by experiences in their landscapes. In 2019, she led the renowned Composing in the Wilderness Seminar at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. Her work has been performed across the country, and internationally.
She earned dual graduate degrees in Composition and Arts Leadership from the University of North Texas in 2010. To intersect her passion for music with place and culture, she received a post-graduate certification in Cultural Planning in 2017 from the University of British Columbia.
In addition to composing, she has served as Sound Art Curator for the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum, as Executive Director for Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia, on the board of Signal Fire Arts and currently serves as the President of the International Alliance for Women in Music (IAWM).
Her essays on music and advocacy can be found on LandscapeMusic.org, New Music Box, and Oregon Arts Watch. Her works are available from Amazon, Naxos and Parma Recordings, with her scores available through her website http://christinarusnak.com and various distributors.
http://christinarusnak.com
