Oboe and fixed media electronics

Program note:

Tinker is inspired by the book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard: in particular, the sentence that ends “it will shear, loose, launch, winnow, grind.” Each of these words—shear, loose, launch, winnow, and grind—is represented by a different kind of music and corresponds with its own formal section. The electronic sounds in the piece are produced entirely from nature samples that were altered to sound synthesized, mechanical, and unrecognizable, and from audio samples taken from various public domain films and speeches (yes Orson Welles narrated a public domain nature documentary!). The music was also written so that it could be played alongside the song “I Want to Be Well” by Sufjan Stevens and sound more-or-less agreeable.

Written for the 2025 Splice Summer Institute.