Bone piece is an 8 channel sound performance for amplified bones, bells, and computer. The first performance of this work was in March of 2017, as a part of the Talbertronics Festival at Oberlin Conservatory.
In its original conception, Bone Piece was designed to be performed on the final day of the installation The Wishing Goat, an installation that invites participants into a room with a goat skull where they are asked to speak their wish to the goat skull. Their wishes are then altered sonically and added to a collection of the previous wishes that are then spatialized using an 8 channel speaker array. On the final day, the wishes are then “released” during the performance of Bone Piece (video above).
Since the initial performance, there have been many instances where I have been invited to perform Bone Piece without the installation, including NIME 2018 and a performance at Oakland University in Rochester, MI in fall of 2019.
Technical Information
This piece relies on sampling sound input from bone, bell, and voice that are then sent into a Max patch that records and loops sound input. The samples are then processed to alter their timbre, creating a distorted and retuned sound that disguises and alters the speech input. The system can handle up to 48 distinct sound layers before sounds are overwritten.
Bone is an interesting substance to work with, as they alter and filter frequencies depending on their density and structure.