[llllllllll] (Haptic Study no. 1)

for quartet, fixed media, and video
2023

click to view score

originally written for Hai Quartet, for the 2023 Ostrobothnian Contemporary Music Festival (Carola Bauckholt masterclass), Oulu, Finland

In [llllllllll] (Haptic Study no. 1), each instrument is assigned both a “keystroke” and a rhythmic subdivision (4, 5, and 6-tuplets) which corresponds to a synchronized text animation, mimicking the haptic experience of typing. The animation and the music are then layered twice more, preserving the exact pattern but mapping each keystroke (and thus its sound and rhythmic sub-unit) to a new one. The result is a heterophony that appears both messy and ordered; a gestalt of timbre, rhythm, and visual effect.
—JZ

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

October 8, 2023: performed on concert “Future is Now,” Ostrobothnian Contemporary Music Festival (Oulu, Finland) by Hai Quartet (Maritta Manner, piano; Klaara Vasara, clarinet; Antto Tunkkari, cello; Annaroosa Lampela, trombone)

May 23, 2025: University of Washington Modern Music Ensemble, Meany Hall (Seattle, WA).