01/03/2015 (Continuous Resonance Solo Improvisation)

Neil Welch, Continuous Resonance Project
Date: 01/03/2015
Location: The bathroom in my home in Clinton, WA (Whidbey Island)
Instrument: Tenor saxophone / Harmon Mute and a small length of cloth.

Notes:

During this improvisation I explored the use of key clacking interwoven with selected muted fingerings. My aim was to create an improvisatory environment which could pull the listener intimately close to me or push them further away into the depths of the room. I alternated between crisper, harder attacks in the key clacking and more muted attacks. I varied the clacking tempos to make these transitions all the more stark in comparison to one another, while also selecting melodic colors that would compliment the percussive attacks (by having rhythmic motion on their own accord), or by selecting sounds which had little to no rhythmic qualities but simply floated on top of the clacking. 

The image accompanying today’s post by Anselm Kiefer from the series “The Cauterization of the Rural District of Buchen.” (1974)