Category Archives: Improvisation

Dance of the Bells 2.0

Dance of the Bells was originally recorded in Junderground Studios in 2009 with an extended percussion set up comprised of:

Single and Double Gankoguis

Atoke Bells

Triangles

Cymbals

Medium Gong

Finger Cymbals

Wind Chimes

Assorted Hand Bells

The set up included two separate channel mics inputting into a pre-composed AudioMulch environment featuring separate parameters processing real-time granular synthesis. Visually, lighting was designed to especially feature layers of shadows intricately dancing as the performing arms struck the various metallic instruments. The performance followed a graphically-inspired score and was captured simultaneously by two cameras later mixed intentionally for the purpose of further displaying the dancing of shadows.

This updated version is inspired by my current work incorporating studies in well-being as related to the vagus nerve to composition and the notion that music can be specifically created for mindful and healthy participation beyond that of the traditional triumvirate of composer | performer | listener, a new Gebrauchsmusik, if you will, intended for helping people help self.

Clouds {if hedrons were dimensions calibrating}

Music and Video Composed by Jason Matthew Malli Fixed Media and Virtual Instruments Recorded by Jason Matthew Malli

“Clouds” explores vastness – vastness in human potential and vastness without regard to human beings at all. In the simplest sense, this work intends to evoke recollections of staring into vastness – the formations, textures, colors, rhythms, collisions, enveloping, commingling, charging, dissipating, and even absence. Clouds release as the sky breathes. Clouds massively reduce our very self to an appropriate scale of our worth, value, and purpose. We do matter, but no more than any other single self does. And if we allow ourselves to blend simply by stepping aside for another to pass first, we will see that our path is clear for an arrival that requires no certain time. After all, from the cosmos perspective, the moon and the sun share the clouds. “Clouds” was composed during the coronavirus epidemic and quarantine experience that permeates the lives of every Earth inhabitant. Conflict exists within controlling forces while fear and loss meander almost aimlessly inside each of us daily from dawn until dusk. Pause from this cycle, perhaps to repair or at least to take care. Get comfortable, if possible, with headphones, a large screen, and feet on the floor embracing good posture. Find the pulse and flow in this work and breathe within its accompaniment.

Peace.