PROGRAM NOTES

PROGRAM NOTES

A variety show in 3 parts

“WHY DO NOTHING WHEN YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING” was the driving quote for this concert. Before moving to New York for graduate school, I felt lost in what I wanted to do. I was working at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, and I had been considering dropping music altogether and attending pilot school. I wasn’t writing nearly as much music, and whenever I sat down to work, I would become bored and lazy, unable to accomplish anything. After moving to New York, I wanted to change this attitude and dive head-first into the music scene. This show is the culmination of that dive.

This capstone project showcases various genres that I have always loved, those I have recently discovered, and those I have recently reconnected with. The first part is based on the Western classical tradition of concert music, embracing my forever love of minimalism, percussion music, and folk music, and including my newfound love for guitar and electronic tracks. The second part is based on pop music, a love of mine that I have always tried to subdue but have recently fully embraced, including pop culture references, internet irony and absurdity, and an embrace of low-brow culture. This section includes hyperpop and IDM, genres that reshaped my writing and reestablished my love for pop and dance music, ambient improvisation, and indie guitar- two styles I have been eager to explore. Finally, the final “afterparty” section features dance music and DJing. I grew up obsessed with dance music, from Deadmau5 to Skrillex to Zedd. However, I turned away from it when I started pursuing traditional classical music out of fear that dance music was too low-brow or immature. It wasn't until a decade later that I recognized the significant impact the early 2010s dance music scene had on me. I have recently been embracing dance music in full force through electronic music synthesis, DJing, and raving my heart out when I’m not at work or school. 

Creating this world of classical, dance, and pop music has been a life-changing experience, and I cannot wait to continue down this path of open exploration and enjoyment of music, no matter how high-brow or low-brow it may be.

-M. Turner McCabe / BITCH ASS WHORE / N0ne

MUSIC FOR MANUAL ARPEGGIATORS

I continually do not know how to be an artist. At least, that’s what that voice in my head tells me. I sometimes feel lost when creating, just following the sounds, harmonies, and melodies in my head until the music sounds the way I want it to. It makes me wonder if my creations are intentional, if there is value and meaning behind those sounds in my head. Sometimes, it holds me back from doing what I always want to do, telling myself “It’s not deep enough” or “It’s not smart enough.” I still haven’t found the right balance, and I don’t think I ever will, but that’s what being an artist is. Does anyone really know what they’re doing? “Music for Manual Arpeggiators” is me trying to figure all of that out. Featuring my biggest artistic inspirations, conveyed through varying and layered arpeggios from some familiar works.

Working with Phoebe June Carr, an amazing poet and muse of mine, helped me wander through this landscape of artistry and confusion. The balance between artistry and mundanity, finding beauty in everything, and taking on the world like it’s my own. There is no holding back. Cut my art through the thicket. Fall in love with your sacred wound.

OUR BODIES ARE HEAVENLY TOOLS

“Well, you have the possibility with electronic music to generate any texture in theory and any sound, so why would any musician want to limit themselves? You want to work with the most powerful tools you can work with, and in the past that may have been the piano or a guitar, but now I think the power of software synthesizers is something that all musicians, I would think, would want to harness.” -SOPHIE, 2018

“OUR BODIES ARE HEAVENLY TOOLS” is dedicated to the late SOPHIE, a pioneer of electronic music, a pillar of the trans and queer community, and the musician who forever changed the way I approach music. May she rest peacefully.

CONCRETE TREES

I was born and raised in Johnson City, Tennessee, in the heart of Appalachia. Appalachian culture and heritage is the foundation of my life. I would not be who I am without it. The way I talk, the way I act, the way I work, the way I approach music, it is all because of the mountains. After moving to New York, I started to fall in love with Appalachia more and more, maybe as a way of coping with moving out of the mountains for the first time. I kept returning to all these memories: growing up on the lake, driving through windy mountain passes, and spending time with family and friends. These memories became more and more foundational for who I am today, like living trees turning into concrete statues.

When I began writing for my master’s thesis, I wanted a piece that reflected on Appalachia and this feeling of memories turning into roots. I wanted to pay homage to the Appalachians before me who built up the area through hardships and perseverance through their own words. Through research, I discovered the “Michael and Carrie Nobel Kline Collection” at Berea College, which houses voice recordings and interviews of numerous individuals across Appalachia, primarily West Virginia. These recordings tell the stories of many Appalachians before me and how they paved the path for a culture that defines me through and through.

Minimalism was my first love of classical music. I remember listening to “Glassworks” in my bathroom at 15 years old and thinking that this would change everything for me and my music. The whirling, overlapping, complicated textures matched with the harmonic and rhythmic simplicity fascinated me in so many ways. Since then, minimalism has made its way into almost any work of mine, whether that be the patience of listening to two rhythms interact with each other over time or the hyperactive motion contrasted with the lack of motion within the harmony.

“Afterimage” is my full embrace of minimalism, featuring looping arpeggios, repeated patterns, and an emphasis on chordal structure. The electronic track for this piece was produced using only analog equipment, including the Reface CS that you will see in “Music #3.”

AFTERIMAGE

YOU’VE GOT THEM IN THE PALM OF YOUR FUCKING HANDS, DO IT

During my undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee, I was introduced to all types of new music, but the up-and-coming genre called “hyperpop” ended up standing out to me. This fast and energetic amalgamation of sounds, arpeggios, and harmonies felt like Philip Glass on crack. I was listening to artists such as A. G. Cook, Charli xcx, and 100 gecs nonstop, like a euphoric club drug I could not escape. Not long after this discovery, the COVID-19 pandemic came around, and there was a huge shift in music. Most music scenes scrounged to put together concerts and events over Zoom and struggled to stay afloat. Meanwhile, hyperpop, whose origins predominantly originate from the internet, was a thriving scene. From Minecraft music festivals to “speed-running” making albums, new artists were popping up in every corner of the internet, all exploring new mediums of sound and music while embracing the chaotic culture of the internet.

“you’ve got them in the palm of your fucking hands, DO IT” is the final track off my first EP under BITCH ASS WHORE, titled “i came to ny to fuck.” This EP was my first project devoted to making boundary-pushing and overly energetic club hyperpop. The EP primarily consists of drum-only tracks, reflecting my background in percussion and drumline; however, the final track is devoid of drums, incorporating fun and simple pop chord structures with rhythmic play inspired by the internet and hyperpop’s chaotic unpredictability.

Thank you to my amazing roommate and artist, Michelle Rembert, for bringing the nightlife and queer culture of Bushwick to this piece.

“Silkscreen Easter Egg” is a continuation of my journey through electronic music production, into a more focused approach towards sound synthesis. Another one of my big inspirations as a creative is the music and artistry of Aphex Twin and IDM. This amalgamation of organized drums and synthesized sounds felt like a percussion ensemble piece that had taken steroids while getting a coffee enema. But there was also this lack of seriousness. Aphex Twin was, notably, a troll, even going on record to say that he has no idea what he’s doing when he’s composing. I love this line between intention and pointlessness, creativity and cacophony, music and artistry that deceives the listener, making it hard to discern whether the work or the artist is serious or not. 

Throughout my graduate degree, I had a strong interest in music technology and took many sound synthesis classes. Through these classes, I began to have a deeper understanding of what appealed to me about artists like Aphex Twin and Autechre: purposeful sound design mixed with musicality and intention while also sticking to my creative guns and just having silly, good ole fashioned fun.

SILKSCREEN EASTER EGG

“Music #3” is the third installment of my “Music” series, aimed at sonic exploration and creativity through basic analog synthesis on my Reface CS.

MUSIC #3

STRANGER

“Lovers, Creators, Workers, Strangers,

Marker, Draw it, Farther, Stop it

I want to know you,

Stranger in the mirror.

I don’t know you,

A Stranger in my room.”

AN AFTERPARTY DJ SET WITH BITCH ASS WHORE

SOPHIE - Is It Cold In The Water

Doss - Jumpin’