A NEW MEDIUM
The idea behind Every Sound is captured in Oscar Wilde's eternal hot take regarding sound and the imagination. "The sweet suggestion of sound unlocks the door at which Imagination itself had knocked in vain." Indeed, the suggestion of sound ferries us to worlds, aesthetics, and ideas that we otherwise may have never unearthed.
Composers have been casting multiple melodies, songs, works, etc. simultaneously in aesthetic accordance or opposition for generations. But applying this sensibility to the 21st century ushers our search for fresh new sounds into the digital realm. Enter YouTube. YouTube enables anyone to explore pieces of music, cultural events, any other conceivable content. It also enables anyone to play multiple videos at once in different tabs or from different devices which compounds the possibilities of soundscapes.
EXPRESSION without technique
As a classical musician, I often find myself hyper-fixated on technical execution. The idea behind Every Sound is that we can abandon that fixation without compromising expression. This platform allows the interactive synthesis of 21st century content in a way that is accessible, completely divorced from the chains of the technical execution, and still filled with the expressive wonder we seek from art. This convergence is where Every Sound is breaking new ground.
The collection
Over the past year I have been discovering and cataloguing various combinations that work in this medium. I've curated my favorite starting points for each element and framed program notes for each one. The results range from absurd to affecting, from contemplative to chaotic.
Five of my favorite YouTube combination pieces are featured ( 1944, Tchaikovsky², The Opposite Sax, Obscenity in D♭, and 52 Hz. ) Each element of each piece has thoughtfully curated start times linked. But the nature of this platform also allows any user or viewer to choose different places to start the lineup of videos and discover new fields of possibilities.
The gesture of this new medium can be may also include elements of performance. Two pieces ( Counting Trees and Faux Pas de Deux ) feature my own playing at its most vulnerable: right in the middle of a spiral of anxiety, and immediately after the loss of a family member. Both of these pieces include my own playing captured via voice memo in these moments of vulnerability, and both include the essential element of “playing something else at the same time.”
I sincerely hope you enjoy the Every Sound experience and I invite you to keep your ears, mind, and sense of imagination open.