Five pieces for guitar and live electronics

Ronald Bruce Smith, Northeastern University

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Compositions for guitar and electronics. Audio recording available at http://www.ronaldbrucesmith.com/

Abstract

Five Pieces for Guitar and Live Electronics was commissioned under a UC Discovery grant from the University of California’s Industry-University Cooperative Research Program (IUCRP) and Gibson Guitar Corporation. It was made possible through the support of the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), Department of Music, University of California, Berkeley. The aim of the commission was to incorporate into a concert piece for solo guitar the guitar centered software technology that researchers there had developed. These effects were developed in the Max/MSP environment and I make use of a number of them as well as a few other things that are not in that specific package.

The composition consists of five short pieces and, as might be gathered by the title of each piece, it is reflective of our current time of conflict. Much of the music in this composition requires a high-level of guitar virtuosity. It was written with the outstanding technique and musicianship of David Tanenbaum in mind.