Gone Fishing

Gone Fishing is an evening-length concert-theatre work presented for my MFA thesis at CalArts. The concert contained ten works, half solo compositions and half collaborative compositions between myself and friends. The binding element of all of these works were Field Recordings that I took in three contrasting regions of the United States: Southwestern California, Central Appalachia, and Southern Appalachia.

Framed as a site of mourning for the sounds of a decaying environment, the concert allowed audiences to engage with the work in whatever way they personally chose or felt comfortable with. Performances took place in the center of the space in a quadraphonic audio setup. Pillows and chairs were set up on the outer ring to allow the audience to lie down, get up, walk around, draw, or even sleep if they wished to. Each composition dealt with the relationship between ourselves as individuals, the ecology of the world around us, and the decay of these environments happening in real, observable time. The goal of the pieces was not about giving the audience scientific, observable fact or information about this decay, but rather providing space for people to process the incredible loss we are currently experiencing due to human activity driven by forces of western colonialism, industrialization, globalization, and capitalism .

The composition process began with the Field Recordings and each work iterated on specific recordings in different capacities. Playback, electronic manipulation of the recordings, pitched instrumentation, dronescapes, and noise were all used to create a dense dramaturgy of sound which weaved throughout the full concert.

The project was broken into three parts, each dealing with recordings of a different ecological region.

Part 1: Los Angeles County, Southwest California

Tongva, Chumash, and Fernandeño Tataviam Land

HUMUS and The Same Loop of Rain for Five to Seven Minutessolo compositions

Dusk and A Survey of Fast Flowing Streamssolo compositions
A Currently Untitled Field Recording Piecewith Maddi Baird

Part 2: Rabun County Georgia, Southern Appalachia

Cherokee Land

Dusk and A Survey of Fast Flowing Streamssolo compositions
CHIRPwith Rachel Epperly
The Swimming Hole at Betty’s Creekwith June Higgins

Part 3: Central Appalichian Region, Various locations

Haudenosaunee, Shawnee, and Munsee Lenape Land

Dawnperformed with Zac Burgenbauch and Nate Ramer

Griefwith Yolanda-Tianyi Shao

Disparate ConversationsFixed Media Composition