Eight Tao Settings
for chorus, percussion, synthesizer, keyboard, and strings
date: 2023
duration: 36'
first performance: not yet premiered
availability: na
recording: na
detailed orchestration: SATB choir (=SSA solo); 4perc – synth.epf – 3vc.cb
NOTES
Sonically, Eight Tao Settings attempts to meld the different worlds of electronic, vocal, and percussion sounds. The tintinnabulation of triangles and high, pitched percussion embellish textural elements present in the synthesizer part. Woodblocks, clangorous pots and pans, and membranophones combine with drum machine and sequencer patterns to create propulsive rhythmic bursts and kaleidoscopic tapestries of sound. The vibraphone, adept in any of these various contexts, frequently works with the electric piano to reinforce the melodic and harmonic material reflected in the choral parts. The strings, while occasionally embellishing the rhythm, serve primarily as reinforcement of the low synthesizer parts, providing an acoustic enhancement to the electronic sound and a solid, bass fundamental that supports the shimmering harmonic structures present in the combinations of synthesizer and percussion.
During a particularly difficult time, a close friend gifted me a copy of the Tao te Ching. I consulted it occasionally and casually over the next several years until noticing that, whether by osmosis or personal predilection, the Tao’s framing of physical and spiritual existence mirrored much of what I had been thinking and intuiting via my own introspection. The chapters I chose to set as part of this work are among those that resonate most deeply with me. The piece is dedicated in memory of my friend, Brian Gager, who passed away in the summer of 2018.