Paula Matthusen · Composer

Written for percussion virtuosi Bonnie Whiting and Jennifer Torrence, the old language is the old language, with its lances and greaves, broken shields and hammered vowels involves the excitation of and interaction with feedback. The piece develops from previous work with feedback and live-sampling realized for the old language continues its dialogues in ordinary dust and similarly bears a title from the poetry of Peter Gizzi in his collection Archeophonics.

The piece operates largely by creating different resonances around microphones by using the cymbals to create differently shaped chambers. As such, the cymbals are never to be played conventionally, but instead are used so that each performer may generate their own feedback. The percussionists are encouraged to sing into the cymbals softly, at times, bending against the pitches of the feedback, or singing tones harmonically related to the emerging tones. The live-electronics are sampled and stretched so as to generate intriguing patterns.