[b]-contained Katharine Norman

for clarinet and digitally-processed sound

confined ->
enclosed ->
implied ->
revealed

All the recorded material in this piece was created from an initial recording of the note ‘b’, played on clarinet. This note, less than a second long, is looped and played continuously throughout, though sometimes the original is almost inaudible, masked by its various incarnations and developments. The player doesn’t actually get to play a ‘b’ until the final section of the piece. Instead, the live clarinet gradually incorporates pitches to either side of this elusive goal, which it surrounds or ‘contains’ and — at the same time — strives to reach. We seek to contain what we seek to escape.

I wrote this piece for an exhibition of sculpture and craft pieces, on the theme of ‘Containers’. It was first performed, by Paul Roe, at Galway Arts Festival, in 2000.

  • Year of composition: 2000
  • Software used: The digital part was made using CoolEdit and (mostly) Ross Bencina’s Audiomulch.
  • Duration of the submitted work: 7:47
  • Production: Home

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