penumbra (2014)

Penumbra is an interdisciplinary composition for solo percussionist/performer, interactive video projections, and electronic music created in collaboration with Terry Longshore. With visual inspiration drawn from traditional and contemporary shadow play practices combined with the iconography of percussion performance, Penumbra focuses on the human form situated in a technologically saturated atmosphere. Penumbra explores the gestural implications of percussion performance, as well as the audience’s expectations about how physical gestures and percussion manifest in sound and image. The percussionist performs behind a three-channel rear-projection video array. The resulting dramatically wide aspect ratio (approximately 6 feet tall by 24 feet wide) allows for numerous possibilities for spatial composition, dynamic movement of projected images from side to side, and interaction of the percussionist’s shadow with computer generated imagery. Similarly, the percussionist wears a wireless microphone while performing. This allows for the live manipulation of audio - integrating the acoustic sounds with sounds of electronic origin. Additionally, the incoming audio stream is analyzed and applied to various video parameters - making parallels between image and sound.