(dis)Locations

for Eb alto saxophone (2007)
or for Eb alto and Bb tenor saxophones (2 players)
with computer sound and video (optional audio-only version)
duration is 13′

(dis)Locations (2007) explores the musical instrument as a displaced terrain.  A saxophone was disassembled and its parts were physically scattered in the Virginia forest. The video documents the discovery, gathering and reassembly of the instrument from dislocated fragments in the fall leaves. Audio dislocation mirrors this process by relocating the listener inside the body of the fractured saxophone. The instrument was recorded listening to itself by playing one saxophone at another and recording the sound of the first saxophone from the inside of the second. Like the disassembled saxophone, these sounds were then separated into smaller parts. Using the body of the instrument in this way, (dis)Locations explores issues of embodiment and displacement. (dis)Locations was commissioned by Michael Straus.

The version for alto and tenor was created at the request of Mike Straus so that he and Burtner could perform it together on tour.

score excerpt

video still