Tag Archives: electroacoustic

How to Play a Solo Set

Research, , ,

I often prepare a set for solo show opportunities. A set is a performance practice of playing multiple pieces without significant pauses (i.e., no “set changes”). It is often long (30+ minutes), and the works presented within have a common theme or instrumentation. The ability to perform a solo set is helpful, if not essential, to electronic music performers in getting gigs and collaborative projects. A DJ set at music festivals is a good example of a set performance. 

I played a set consisting of seven original compositions at the 16th Strange Beautiful Music (SBM) Festival in September 2023.  I will use the recording of this particular set to show how I organize a 40-minute set. I hope the readers get a macro and micro-level insight into an electronic set performance, especially when read together with my analysis of solo set gears.

I go through four preparation steps for a set performance.

  1. Decide pieces
  2. Decide the order
  3. Practice transitions
  4. Practice sound check

I will explain the details of each step in the subsequent sections. Please refer to the chart below to see the overall timeline of the SBM set. The chart lists the estimated starting time and instrument used in each section.  

Link to Google Sheet version of the chart

Decide Pieces

The selection of pieces depends on external factors I cannot control. Examples are the total duration decided by the organizer, sound check time, and the venue’s equipment. Once I learn the external factors, I decide which pieces to include in a set. I was invited to perform for 40 minutes for the SBM at Andy Arts Center’s Hanger.  I had one hour of tech time with an excellent audiovisual team. Given this information, I decided to play the following pieces.

  • Scramble and Sort (2023) – for computer and drum machine
  • Page Turner’s Agony (2021) for computer and MIDI controller
  • Gums (2013) – for no-input mixer
  • Cobalt Vase (2019) – for drum machine
  • Func Step Mode (2019) – for no-input mixer and drum machine
  • Toccata (2009) – for computer and contact mic’ed objects
  • Elegy No 2 (2017) – for computer and melodica

Each piece in the set features uniquely electronic sound and instrument. All pieces involve improvisation, so the audience hears an event-specific version of the piece. The SMB performance also included a world premiere of Scramble and Sort – Adding an artistic risk prevents me from potential practice fatigue.

Decide the Order

The order of the pieces in a set should be carefully tweaked for seamless transitions between the pieces. A well-thought-out sequence of compositions keeps the audience engaged as well. My theme of the SBM set is to show multiple electronic instruments in different contexts, so the order of revealing different instruments and styles was a priority. I opened the set with Scramble and Sort as an appetizer – music with an easy-to-digest rhythm and the familiar sounds of a drum machine. The following two pieces, Page Turner’s Agony and Gums, had more abstract and timbre-based electronic sounds, featuring a MIDI controller and no-input mixer. Then, as a main course, Cobalt Vase, Func Step Mode, and Toccata feature an unconventional combination of familiar instruments. The sounds of these pieces were most aggressive and noisiest- they were not appropriate as opening pieces. As a palate cleanser, I ended the set with Elegy No. 2, a slow and minimalistic piece featuring melodica.

The visual elements are also a factor in deciding the order. One person playing an instrument with relatively little flexibility for an extended period is not exciting by default. I try to improve this by introducing new instruments for each piece. In the SBM set, a drum machine, no-input mixer, found objects on contact mic, and melodica were sequentially introduced. The above chart shows the order and amount of appearance of the instruments for a better insight. 

Practice Transitions

Smoothly connecting one piece’s ending to the next piece’s beginning is a concept I do not consider when composing a work.  But I am responsible for making the transition musically satisfying in a set. I want the audience to enjoy the process of timbral and stylistic changes in gradual motion. 

In music production, a crossfade function gradually transforms one sound into another (it is the equivalent of the cross dissolve in movie editors). Most of my practice for the set focuses on devising and practicing live crossfades. Because the order of the pieces could be unique to each gig, the crossfades are unique to each event.  I consider crossfades of significant length (2-3m), as heard five times in the SBM set, mini event-specific compositions. 

Practice Sound Check

Setting up and striking the gear should be part of the practice and preparation. A solo set often needs a suitcase full of cables and instruments. There is no time to think about signal flow during soundcheck.  It takes me a few hours to test all the gear and figure out the optimal configuration for every gig. When the configuration is finalized, I practice setting up and tearing down the equipment. I aim to be ready for the sound check within 30 minutes of arrival at the venue.  

Being as self-contained as possible in terms of gear increases efficiency. I packed all the gear and bought a folding table for the SBM set. The less time I spend on finding the right table and setting up the gear, the more time I can use during the allotted sound check to troubleshoot and tweak the sound for the room. For the SBM performance, I forgot the box of toys I use for Toccata at home. So, I finished the sound check early and picked up rocks, bolts, and other objects in the venue’s parking lot. I hope no one noticed my mild panic before and during the permanence.

Outro

Organizing and presenting a set is a skill that helped my career as an electronic music performer. A well-practiced set is suitable for tours, guest lectures, and festival performances for its efficiency and flexibility. Many collaborative opportunities came from meeting musicians and dancers from presenting in this format.  Audiences also experience music they heard from phones and computers in more intimate and focused contexts. As for artistic growth, curating a set allows me to improve and reimagine the existing works. Every set performance is a practice for a future show. Sometimes, transitions become seeds for new compositions. 

Work Catalog 2022

Compositions, Research, , ,

I made a list of my published and available works using Google Sheets. Click HERE to view. The work list already exists on joowonpark.net,  but the HTML format is difficult to sort, analyze, and assess. A catalog in spreadsheet format allows me to revise and manage the pieces with much more ease. The current file has the following information per piece: 

  • Title
  • Year Published: It is not the year the piece was composed but when it was available to the public. 
  • Instrumentation: Instrument names are alphabetized.  
  • Album: If the piece is a part of an album, the album title is available.
  • Co-Creation: Indicates if someone contributed during the composition/production process. Examples include co-composers, co-producers, choreographers, and theatre directors, but not performers.
  • Notes: Miscellaneous info. It could extend to another column in the spreadsheet.

Organization Principles

There are 121 pieces listed in the catalog as of December 2022. The number is more than the entries in my BMI catalog, which is currently 98, for the following reasons:

  • The Google Sheet catalog includes sound installations, recordings of free improvisations, and web projects that are tricky to register as compositions. 
  • Some are dance and theatre collaborations that require extra paperwork to register in BMI (feel free to correct me if I am wrong)

I also had to decide how to catalog 100 Strange Sounds and CMPE. The two were multi-year projects consisting of many short pieces. I had to choose to count them as two long compositions or 132 separate pieces. 

  • 100 Strange Sounds counts as one piece. It is a mosaic of individual entities with a common goal and theme, like Ik-Joong Kang’s Happy World.
  • Each CMPE-related EP, such as RMHS, ISJS, Piano Triplets, and Forms to Ponder, counts as one composition with multi movements. 

The most challenging part of cataloging was deciding what not to include. My principal guideline was whether the piece had online documentation.

  • Completed works not presented to the public are not listed. 
  • Published works without links are not in the catalog. Examples include
    • Premiered works without video or audio recording
    • Premiered works with missing concert programs, recordings, or scores. Most of the compositions during my graduate school years are in this category. 
    • Published works in a DVD or CD format only. My first published work is in this category.
    • A temporary exception is the pieces in the Fan Art album. Fan Art will be released in January 2023, and thus I put them into the catalog as placeholders.

Short Analysis

My productivity increased to a satisfactory level after graduate school. The number of presentable pieces per year was the lowest when I had the most time to work on music as a graduate student. Conversely, my productivity peaked when I had the least amount of time. I had a newborn baby and a first-grader to raise in 2015, but I released an album and was working on the next one. I accept that the pieces I made before 2009 were not good enough to get into conferences and invited shows. Also, I started using platforms like YouTube to facilitate sharing and documenting work after finishing school.

The number of album releases and large-scale works indicates that I work well with long-term projects. Creating an album with a theme keeps me in creative mode. Multi-movement electroacoustic work is fun. A single piece that requires an extended amount of time to gather sources or produce sounds positively challenges me. I will consider my experience in planning and executing long-term projects as my strength and continue developing it.

Co-creation accounts for about 30% of my creative output. I thought I preferred working alone, but the pi chart says I am not bad at collaborations. I am confident that I can tackle bigger projects involving multiple personnel in the future.

There are a few things to improve in the catalog. I want to record each piece’s duration to compare the effort I put into each work. I can also list performers who premiered the piece. The number of performances per piece can also be pertinent data for the catalog. Analysis of such data can show me where to concentrate my creative energy for the next few years.

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. 




Aphasia (2009) by Mark Applebaum – performed by Joo Won Park

Influences, Performances, Research, , ,

I got obsessed with Mark Applebaum’s Aphasia (2009) in the past two months. I perform my own music and often improvise, so studying and learning another composer’s piece with a score was challenging. But Applebaum is one of my electroacoustic heroes, and I have wanted to try Aphasia for a decade. After about two months of practice, I think I learned enough to enjoy performing it. Thank you for watching!

On Off Fade – Etudes for Electronic Music Ensemble No. 2

Compositions, Research, , ,

Link to Score

An electronic instrument can express a gradual or sudden change of timbre by twisting a knob or a slider. On Off Fade for an electronic ensemble is written to practice deliberately timed change in dynamics, density, and spectrum. The ensemble may consist of a percussion and three or more electronic devices. Specific models of electronic devices or previous experiences in an electronic ensemble are not required to perform this piece.


Instrumentation

Three or more electronic Instruments:

  • A machine that produces noise-like sound is preferred.
  • The performer should be able to control at least the volume and another parameter of the sound continuously. More the controllable parameters, better the instrument.
  • Examples of such devices include a radio, drum machine, no-input mixer, turntable, modular synthesizer, electronic metronome, circuit-bent toys,  and analog television.

One drumset OR drum machine:

  • A drumset consisting of a bass drum and a snare is ideal. Alternatively, one may use a drum machine that can trigger bass drum, snare, and rimshot sounds.
  • A drum machine should also be able to start and stop a preset rhythm.

Performance and Score Instruction
For an ideal balance of sound, adjust the volume of the instruments so that they do not overpower the drumset or the drum machine.
Notation for Electronics:

  • Regular notes and rests: start and stop the sound by increasing and decreasing the volume control. All notes should have a short attack and release time unless notated with crescendo or decrescendo. Respect the duration of the rests.
  • Notes with the + sign: change a parameter. For example, a synthesizer player can turn a filter knob. If there is more than one parameter control, feel free to change multiple parameters.
  • Crescendo and decrescendo: For regular notes, gradually change the volume control (a dynamic marking of n being no sound to ff being the loudest sound possible). For the + notes,  change a parameter.

Notation for Drumset or Drum machine:

  • At the absence of a conductor, the drummer cues the next section.
  • If a snare roll is not possible, trigger a preset rhythm in place of a snare roll.