Category Archives: Compositions

Nested Duets (2022)

Collaborators, Compositions, Research

In Nested Duets, an ensemble of any size and kind can improvise with one or more laptops running a generative music app. The computer has two roles:  it provides possible pitch choices for the human performers and creates accompanying electronic sounds. The performance instruction is on the computer screen. 

Download and Recording

DropBox Download: contains instructions and SuperCollider file

Performers: Kevin Declaire, Samuel Khalil, De’Andre Little, Jose Llanas, Logan Macka, Lucas Manther, James McCloskey, Joseph Mcelwain, Mal McNitt, Niko Poljanac-Leboeuf, Christopher Reid, Abby Thibodeau, Nathan Zonnevylle
Recording Team: Sinead Cassar, Kevin Declaire, Logan Macka, James McCloskey, Niko Poljanac-Leboeuf, Christopher Reid

Hardware and Software Requirements

  • Computer: PC or Mac. There can be one or more computers. In general, have one computer per 2-3 performers.
  • SuperCollider: Download and Install the app https://supercollider.github.io/downloads.html Mac users will need admin access to the computer to authorize the app
  • NestedDuets.scd file: Download NestedDuets.scd file from https://joowonpark.net/nestedduets
  • Amp and cable: Connect the amp to the computer. If the ensemble is miking the instruments, connect the output of the computer to the house mixer.

Running the Computer Part

  1. Open NesteDuets.scd in SuperCollider.
  2. Select Menu->Language->Evaluate File.
  3. For transposing instruments, enter the transposition in half-steps (positive number only).
  4. Press the “1. Click to start” button. You should hear sounds after a countdown. There is no need for a synchronized beginning when using multiple computers.
  5. When ending, press the “2. Running. Click to end” button. Wait for all sounds to end. Coordinate when to end the piece with the ensemble members.
  6. Press the “3. End. Click to reset” button to reset. Repeat steps 1-5 for replay.

Performance Instruction

  1. Improvise using the pitches displayed in the GUI.
  2. The pitch choices changes at a random pace after a countdown in the top-right corner of the GUI.
  3. Improvise dynamics and articulations.
  4. Make a noticeable change on the “downbeat” after the countdown.
  5. Play like an ambient track. Less is more. Blend in. Play complimentary sounds to the computer part.
  6. Percussionists can improvise freely in ambient style. Avoid making beats if possible.

Commission Info

Nested Duets was part of the 2022 Black Mountain College Radio Art program. 103.3 Asheville FM’s Lucid aired the piece on December 12, 2022. Electronic Music Ensemble of Wayne State (EMEWS) thanks BMC and 103.3 Asheville FM for the opportunity!

Music For Dance

Collaborators, Compositions, Research, , ,

I have been writing and performing electronic music for dance for more than a decade. I learned so much from choreographers, and I look forward to working with them more in the future. Here’s a documentation of my music for dance so far.

Improvisation with Megan Bridge at Philadelphia City Hall (2012)

My dance collaboration started as an improviser. Megan Bridge of the Fidget and I met in Philadelphia, and we had many improv sessions. May sessions I had with the dancers during my Philly years (2008-2014) made me a better musician and listener. Below is another improvisation project with Erick Montes, Eunjung Choi, and Guillermo Ortega Montes.

The strangest thing (2014)

When I moved to Oberlin, I was fortunate to work with Holly Handman-Lopez. I was involved in producing an evening-length show about the woman suffrage movement. My role was to compose music with a short deadline and multiple changes/edits. I learned how to communicate with choreographers and dance production staff. Unfortunately, I do not have footage of the actual performance, but below are a promo video (with someone else’s music) and a recording session of a piece used in the show.

In Detroit, my current stomping ground, I continue to work with the dancers with different roles. In 2021, I worked with IS/LAND as a technologist. I provided an electromagnetic instrument that made sounds as the dancers approach an object. I was happy to be a part of a production as non-composer or non-performer (but still as a musician)

Invisible Embrace by IS/LAND (2021)

Last April, Biba Bell and I collaborated to make a 60min site-specific piece for dance and electronic ensemble. My job was to make music and direct an ensemble consisting of nine electronic musicians. It was the largest work I have ever worked on in terms of the number of people involved. The documentation of the work was also excellent.

A Dream Is A House for remembering the future (2022)

My most recent collaboration is with Joori Jung of Artlab J. Through this collaboration, I worked with a Pansori singer to compose a 20min music. The collaboration also took me to a new stage. I never thought my music was going to be on an Asian Culture Showcase! The video documentation is on the way, but here are pictures of the rehearsal.

Dance and music are time-based arts, and dancers and musicians learn from each other. I am grateful that I had opportunities to work with excellent choreographers and improvisers. I look forward to doing more projects with movements! I am not a dancer myself, but I am studying the relationship between movement and sound. Check out the video below!

A DREAM IS A HOUSE for remembering the future

Collaborators, Compositions, Performances, Uncategorized, , ,


A DREAM IS A HOUSE for remembering the future from Biba bell on Vimeo.

A DREAM IS A HOUSE for remembering the future, created in collaboration by Biba Bell (Dance) and Joo Won Park (Music), is an hour-long immersive performance created for twenty-one Wayne State University (WSU) dancers and the WSU Electronic Music Ensemble in Minoru Yamasaki’s McGregor Conference Center atrium. A DREAM IS A HOUSE brings together sound, light, movement, embodiment, and storytelling together in the cathedral-esque modernism of Yamasaki’s architecture, evoking creative research driven by memory palaces, buildings as bodies, dream scenes, dancing with ghosts, and personal and collective ritual making. – from Vimeo site

My ensemble (EMEWS) and I worked with Biba and her Dance Class to make a site-specific, multi-channel piece over the Winter 2022 semester. The above is an excerpt of a 60-min piece. McGregor Hall’s architecture and acoustics were ideal for music and movement. I am happy about the result. The in-person experience was something unique, but Noah Eliott Morrison‘s team documented the essential experience of the piece in the video. 

Although EMEWS has worked on the piece since March, I started working on it in August 2021. Biba and I spent Fall 2021 trying ideas and finding voices. The video below is a shorter version of A DREAM…  presented at an end-of-semester showcase.

A dream is a house for remembering the future 12.07.21 from Biba bell on Vimeo.

The Fall version’s 15min stereo audio expanded to a 60-min piece for a laptop ensemble and a guitarist, each emitting sounds from a portable amp. The music evolved and adjusted every week as the choreography changed, and the ensemble ended up performing based on the score below.
I think music can have an altered life. I plan to perform an audio-only ensemble version in an upcoming show. Let’s see how it goes. 




Notes and Comments : Remix EP

Compositions, ,

I write notes and comments in books, journals, and PDFs. Underlines and scribbles of my thoughts do not change the work, but they help me remember what I liked most about the work and the artist. The four tracks in this album are the sonic equivalent of notes and comments. I highlighted the most memorable characteristics while trying my best to preserve the intent of the original piece. The last track is not a remix, but it is my way to document a few good things about the summer of 2020.

The original tracks are

Alex Koi, Last Goodbye (2020)
alexkoi.bandcamp.com/track/last-goodbye

Michael Malis, Imperfect Intervals IX – Gently, Freely (2021)
michaelmalis.bandcamp.com/track/imperfect-intervals-ix-gently-freely

Molly Jones, Solar Wind (2020)
mollyjones.bandcamp.com/track/solar-wind

Jienan Yuan, Invisible Embrace (2021)
youtu.be/7sU4ilzXnmg

* All tracks were used with the permission of the composers/publishers. Profits made from the sale will be distributed to the remixed artists.
* Overall mix of the EP is relatively low and uncompressed for quiet listening.

credits

released February 2, 2022

Molly Jones, Alex Koi, Michael Malis, & Jienan Yuan, composers
Joo Won Park, composer & remixer

Electronic Ensemble Repertoire

Compositions, Performances, , ,

Here are my compositions for electronic ensemble since 2016. They are categorized by the gears needed.

Laptops

Singaporean Crosswalk (2016)

Dubious Toppings (2019)

Sum and Difference (2021) *for remote rehearsal and performance

Laptops or Phones

Beat Matching (2018)

CML Suite (2020)

  • Info and score
  • Need: 3 or more computer, tablet, or phone. Amplification strongly recommended

Laptops and Acoustic Instruments

Nested Duets (2022)

Laptops With Controllers

PS Quartet No.1 (2017)

PS Quartet No. 2 (2019)

Electronic Instruments

On Off Fade (2019)

Seven Bird Watchers (2019)