Colony (1994)                                                                                                                                                           

In this work I use a technique called "granular" synthesis.   A large number of small sounds are assembled in sound masses in a manner that parallels the work of pointillist painters who created images from small colored dots.   The frequencies, amplitudes, timbres, and distribution of the grains cause larger sound structures to emerge.

This work continues an interest in granular synthesis that dates from 1974 and was revived in 1993 with the composition of "The Voyage of the Golah Iota."   In 1974, I was inspired by the writings of Iannis Xenakis and by a conversion I had in Bowling Green, Ohio with one of his students, Bruce Rogers.   Bruce played me fragments of works in progress that exhibited sounds unlike anything I had heard before.   During the summer of 1974, I composed a series of studies I called "Particulations" using a FORTRAN program of my own design.   One of these pieces was included in a concert at the first International Conference on Computer Music at Michigan State University.