Winter Luminaria with Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars, December 21, 2022 presented by @nyufacultyhousing Happenings with Make Music Winter. Photos: Bob Krasner
#TiltedAxes @tiltedaxes @bobkrasnertoo @bobkrasner @makemusicday @makemusicny @voxamplification @nyscouncilonthearts @nyculture
#TiltedAxes performs Elisa Corona Aguilar‘s piece “Invasive Species” outside Veselka :: Beceлкa and the Ukrainian National Center in NYC on May 1st. A choir of electric guitar EBows filled up 2nd Ave. with tones of healing and reflection. The city stopped for a moment. Incredible.
This performance was part of “Beltane on B” presented by Hekate Café & Elixir Lounge and Lucky on B.
“I am honored to find out today that I received a 2020-2021 cash award from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. The award, from the Adjunct Professional Development Grant Award Fund, is to further develop my work via Remote Recording Workshops in the composition, performance, and public engagement of our mobile electric guitar project Tilted Axes for its 10th anniversary.
The created work will be used to address community concerns (i.e. the use of public spaces), global concerns (i.e. climate change and renewable energy), and future concerns (i.e. space exploration and unforeseen discoveries). Above all, it’s about connecting as humans, creating music together, and moving it out into the world.”
Patrick Grant #art #music #science #tiltedaxes
Remote Recording Workshops Spring ’21
Opt. 1: Thursday nights, April 8, 15, 22 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm EDT
Opt. 2: Sunday afternoons, April 11, 18, 25 from 1:00pm to 2:30pm EDT
These will all be conducted over Zoom – details TBA
APPLY NOW: https://forms.gle/otvLTMQkXuaRyH9S8
These spring courses are for new participants who did not attend any previous workshops. Placement is limited.
These courses are FREE to accepted participants. Fees are funded by the generous supporters of Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars. These courses are given by Patrick Grant, composer, performer, and educator.
The aim of these workshops is to teach recording techniques as a participant in collaborative online projects either as a performer or a producer. A basic understanding of the physics of sound, acoustics, and microphones will be given. We will use the audio application Ableton LIVE as a Digital Audio Workstation as well as a compositional tool for all styles of music.
*** Through this work we can grow our creative community beyond the limitations we all experience. ***
The course is designed for Mac and PC users, laptops or desktops. Sorry, no tablets or smart phones. You must have a working audio interface to participate. This should be set up and running before we begin. If you require help, you should ask for assistance, but there’s plenty of resources out there for you.
If you need to purchase a good audio interface, we recommend the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, but there many you can chose from.
For this course you can use an electric guitar, electric bass, electronic keyboard, or a good microphone and/or an acoustic instrument of your choice to participate. We just want you to use something that will make recording fun for you.
As stated above, we use Ableton LIVE as our default software. It works equally well on Mac or PC. If you need a copy of Ableton, you can download and use a functioning FREE trial version for 90 days at https://www.ableton.com/
The course syllabus is:
SESSION 1 – The Basic Physics of Sound – checking your interface, setting levels, creating and using a template for Tilted Axes (and other projects), initial recording, multiple takes, bouncing out your audio, Assignment A.
SESSION 2 – Acoustics: The Behavior of Sound in a Room – Post-Production, FX = Frequency, Dynamics, and Time, creating a multitrack recording, editing, panning, bouncing out your edited audio, Assignment B.
SESSION 3 – Microphones – miking techniques, multi-track recording over Zoom, extended editing techniques, paths toward more creative composition, the completion of the course.
Upon completion, participants will receive a number of professional and university level resources to take with them.
NOTE: Space is limited and these workshops often go into a waiting list. As a courtesy to all other applicants, please only apply if you intend on being at all three sessions. Sorry, partial attendance does not work for this course.
Some good words from Remote Recording Workshop participants:
http://www.peppergreenmedia.com/RRW_goodwords.pdf
APPLY NOW: https://forms.gle/otvLTMQkXuaRyH9S8
I am happy to find out that I received a 2019-2020 cash award from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. The award, from the Adjunct Professional Development Fund, is to further develop my work with mobile electric guitar ensembles in composition, performance, and public engagement. As a medium, the work will be used to address community concerns (i.e. the use of public spaces), global concerns (i.e. climate change and renewable energy), and future concerns (i.e. space exploration and unforeseen discoveries). Above all, it’s about creating music together and moving it out into the world. Thank you, NYU! – Patrick Grant
#art #music #science #tiltedaxes
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars
Originally printed in THE VILLAGER – December, 2018
Angela Babin and other members of the “Tilted Axes” performance group jammed on electric guitars on “Cold Moon Consort” in Sasaki Garden at N.Y.U.’s Washington Square Village, between Bleecker and W. Third Sts. and Mercer St. and LaGuardia Place, before making their way to “The Cube” at Astor Place. Photos by Bob Krasner (L to R: Sean Satin, Angela Babin, Chad Ossman)
BY BOB KRASNER | If you feel the need to simplify composer Patrick Grant’s long-running “Tilted Axes” project, you could call it a marching band for electric guitars. But given the complexity of the compositions and the dedication of the musicians, that description falls way short.
The latest performance of Grant’s “Music for Mobile Electric Guitars” was realized by 24 musicians, including Grant, on the winter solstice, in the Sasaki Garden at Washington Square Village, “The Alamo” at Astor Place a.k.a. “The Cube” and the streets between.
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars – Cold Moon Consort (Patrick Grant center with, L to R, Chad Ossman, Michael Fisher, Sam Weisberg, Sean Satin, Dan Cooper, Howie Kenty).
The event was commissioned by Faculty Housing Happenings at New York University — where Grant is a professor — as part of “Make Music New York.” The confab featured music evenly divided between older pieces, structured improvisations and premieres written specifically for Friday night.
Getting ready to move out from Sasaki Garden. (L to R: John Halo, Howie Kenty, Dylan Sparrow)
One of the new pieces, “Tiltinnabulation,” was written to include another Make Music group, “Bell By Bell.” According to Tom Peyton, the leader of that multigenerational group of bell ringers, they were notified that their path might cross with “Tilted Axes” and they were given the choice of avoiding each other or playing together.
“Tilted Axes” performers playing their “axes” (blues lingo for guitars) while crossing Broadway on their way to “The Alamo” at Astor Place. (L to R: Gene Ardor, John Lovaas, Aileen Bunch, Jason Napier, Angela Babin)
Happily, they chose to do two numbers together at “The Cube” and the result was a perfect combo of chiming guitars and bells. Guitarist Angela Babin, a “Tilted Axes” veteran, called the collaboration “fabulous!”
“It was like a ‘West Side Story’ gang meet-up, with music and camaraderie and solstice celebration love,” she said.
Composer Patrick Grant at “The Alamo” with his “Tilted Axes” performance group.
Carrying an electric guitar and an amp through the streets while playing somewhat complex music is a daunting task, but the participants found it more than worthwhile.
“The universal joy of the people we encountered on our parade route caused me to transcend the discomfort I felt at not being fully in command of the music, the weight on my back and shoulders,” David Demnitz said.
Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars – Cold Moon Consort (front row seated L to R: Howie Kenty, Sarah Metivier Schadt, Jocelyn Gonzales, Jason Napier, Chad Ossman, Harry Scott, Sean Satin; middle row seated L to R: Sky Matthews, John Lovaas, Leslie Stevens, Patrick Grant, Robert Morton, Gene Ardor, Kevin Pfeiffer; back row standing L to R: Caitlin Cawley, Dan Cooper, Aileen Bunch, Sam Weisberg, Dylan Sparrow, Michael Fisher, John Halo, Angela Babin, David Demnitz, Reinaldo Perez, Jeremy Nesse, Jon Clancy)
Sam Weisberg voiced a similar sentiment, noting, “It’s a rush like no other. It was so worth the chronic right-shoulder pain!”
Grant made it through the balmy evening with a case of laryngitis that forced him to hoarsely whisper directions to bassist Sarah Metivier Schadt, who amply conveyed his instructions to the crew.
“Tilted Axes cuts musical pathways through the urban landscape, turning neighborhoods into their own sonic narratives. Since its inception, Grant has produced a number of Tilted Axes processions in various cities upon three continents.”
“There are many unforeseen elements that we could never have predicted,” Grant reflected. “We’re thinking on our feet, we’re performing live, we’re adjusting to the public in real time. Being there, mobile, right up against the public, brings out musical choices that we’d never come up with in rehearsal. There’s nothing like it.”
Onlookers concurred.
“The public went nuts, in a good way!” Grant enthused. “We couldn’t be happier.”
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“THIS.IS.HUGE. – I’m SO grateful to Ultimate Guitar and its 12 million subscribers for letting me answer questions about Tilted Axes, Make Music Winter, NYU, Guitar Craft & Circles, Balinese gamelan, Vox amps, and group dynamics, small and large.” – PG
Read the interview HERE
Winter Luminaria with Tilted Axes: Cold Moon Consort
Make Music Winter NYC – Dec. 21
Winter Luminaria with Tilted Axes: Cold Moon Consort
Sasaki Garden in Washington Square Village through Greenwich Village and back. Event begins at 5:00pm and runs 120 minutes.
ALL new & returning guitarists MUST apply via this form:
https://goo.gl/forms/nCoH54rSa7lQtiRA2
Positions in the ensemble are limited. Please apply ASAP. Please share.
Composer Patrick Grant and Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars, in partnership with NYU Faculty Housing Happenings, present an evening of innovative musical performance featuring a procession through Greenwich Village that begins and ends with a solstice soundscape in honor of Sasaki Garden set aglow with enchanting lights. The evening’s musical commission is titled “Cold Moon Consort” in reference to 2018’s winter solstice and the December full moon occurring within the same day. Arrive at Sasaki Garden at 5:00pm and receive a small flashlight to participate in the spectacle and illuminate the performance route.
WHEN & WHERE:
The music procession kicks off in Sasaki Garden, located in Washington Square Village, just north of Bleecker Street and west of Mercer Street, at 5:00pm and wends its way throughout Greenwich Village before returning to the garden for the finale.
HOW TO JOIN:
Just arrive at Sasaki Garden by 5:00pm to receive a small flashlight to participate in the spectacle and illuminate the performance route!
ABOUT THE PROGRAM CREATOR, COMPOSER AND CONDUCTOR:
Tilted Axes was created in 2011 for the inaugural Make Music Winter festival by Detroit-born, NYC-based composer/performer Patrick Grant. Tilted Axes cuts musical pathways through the urban landscape, turning neighborhoods into their own sonic narratives. Since its inception, Grant has produced a number of Tilted Axes processions in various cities upon three continents.
ABOUT NYU FACULTY HOUSING HAPPENINGS:
NYU Faculty Housing Happenings include occasional open to the public community events designed to celebrate outdoor spaces on the superblocks headlined by Sasaki Garden, one of the finest modernist landscapes in the city. Recommended by the Superblock Stewardship Advisory Committee, community events are generously supported by Provost Katherine E. Fleming and organized by Erin Donnelly, Community Liaison, Office of Faculty Housing & Residential Services. More info at https://www.nyu.edu/faculty/faculty-housing/happenings/Winter_Luminaria.html
The creator of Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars discusses his recent album A Sequence of Waves and his Detroit Music Awards nomination for Outstanding Classical Recording.
“Only classical compositions and that kind of inter-related album architecture could pull together elements of rock, world, and techno into a cohesive whole that goes beyond mere pastiche and that is integrated into its core.” Ljubinko Zivkovic chats to experimental / prog musician Patrick Grant.
Read the complete interview HERE
If you’ve been following along with us, you may have noticed that on the MMiX Festival performance schedule, we have something called Chronotronic Wonder Transducer on the bill. What in the hay is a “Chronotronic Wonder Transducer” you say? Well, you’re in for a treat, because CWT is a group of interactive sonic & visual artists who have banded together and agreed to bring their installations and projects to the MMiX Festival. We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce them to you:
JOE MARIGLIO
Joe Mariglio is a composer and artist whose practice spans many mediums. He is often labeled an electronic musician, but does not really understand the term, since the vast majority of music has been electronic for some time. Some of Joe’s work deals with problems surrounding the mediation of experiences. Joe is also interested in networks, human and otherwise, structured improvisation, and narrative forms. He enjoys baking bread, meditating, and building guitar pedals. He documents his process at www.joemariglio.com.
AMY KHOSHBIN
Amy Khoshbin is a Brooklyn based multimedia artist from Texas. Her work explores perceptions on both micro and macro levels as well as dialogues between the body, technology, and the physical environment. Amy’s performances, videos, sculptural objects, and wearable technologies question how we create meaning through exploring memories, the senses, and unexpected narratives. She performs music around NYC with Michael Clemow as “And Um Yeah.” More of her work is available at these websites: www.tinyscissors.com & semiotech.org.
MIKE CLEMOW
Michael Clemow is a sound designer and performance artist living in Brooklyn, NY. A graduate of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program at the Tisch School of the Arts, his work has been shown at The Tank (New York, NY), Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY), Diapason (Brooklyn, NY), and others. He is interested in the use of technology to construct scenarios in which specific connections between the senses are exposed and used to generate symbolic languages through creative activation. Michael is a founding member of Semiotech, an organization researching technology for the performing arts.
TED HAYES
Ted Hayes is a Brooklyn, New York artist and composer whose works span from installation or “spatial art” to novel musical instruments to experimental opera. Most recently he invented a system of “space eggs” that wirelessly and intuitively control beat-repeating on live vocals. His interests lie in the affective dimension of space and object: bringing the poetry out of a place and inspiring new poetries with our cultural artifacts. He is a graduate of the University of Florida School of Architecture and a current student of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. His work has been performed and exhibited at The Arts Center in St. Petersburg, FL, ISSUE Project Room and Monkeytown in Brooklyn, the New York Center for Art & Media Studies, and more. See his blog at http://log.liminastudio.com for much more information!
STEVEN LITT
Steven Litt is a recent graduate of the Interactive Telecommunications Program of NYU. He is the creator of CrudBox, a robotic rhythm machine that controls electronic or electromechanical devices, amplifying their sounds in real time. His work mixes the raw, abrasive sounds of noise and electroacoustic music with the rhythms of electronic dance music. He is an artist, designer, and musician. He currently lives in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
You’ll find the artists of Chronotronic Wonder Transducer at the MMiX Festival’s free exhibit space on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (Oct 8,9, and 10) from 6:00 to 7:45 PM, where they’ll demonstrate their projects and installations, and you can ask questions or try interacting with their work yourself. Then on Sunday, October 11th at 6:30, Chronotronic will kick off the last night of MMiX with experimental musical & visual performances you won’t want to miss. In an upcoming post, we’ll provide more information on their individual pieces. Stay tuned!
– Jocelyn
The MMiXdown 