Gerrymander was commissioned by F. Gerard Errante, which inspired the title. However, I thought the name was musically appropriate, as well. The essence of gerrymandering is the creation of election districts of unusual, sometimes bizarre shapes, in order to include or exclude specific blocks of voters. In this case, I tried to take the clarinet on an interesting musical path, with some unexpected twists and turns, partly for purely musical reasons, and partly to include specific effects and techniques I wanted to try. The piece features a variety of real-time DSP effects applied to the clarinet, written in MAX/MSP. The player generates most of the electronic accompaniment himself, which is captured and processed by the computer. I also used sounds derived from clarinet samples provided by Gerry Errante and Ann McCutchan, and bassoon samples made by Carolyn Beck. Various techniques are employed to control the computer part, including pitch tracking and score following, as well as a simple MIDI foot pedal.
Included on the CDÂ Music from SEAMUS volume 20. Also on Centaur CRC 2672, Third Practice: Commissions and Premiers.
