Continuities (1997)
for custom glove controller and interactive electronics

"Continuities" represents an essay in interactive electronics using gestural controllers. The piece was conceived as an extended reading of a short text, a poem by the American poet Archie R. Ammons titled "Continuity". In my sonic interpretation, this exploration is directed towards sound sources derived solely from spoken-word recordings of the text; phonetic units of the poem are recombined and developed through sound synthesis and live performance techniques using a custom glove controller I recently designed and built at IRCAM.

"Continuities" consists of six "scenes", each of which comprise a unique world of sonic elements accessible via the glove controller (worn on the right hand). Every gesture--variation in fingertip pressure, rotation of the wrist, and acceleration of the arm--is mapped onto control of the musical material. The performance is a voyage through the very corporeal material of the spoken word; thus the physical gesture is, in a sense, a "reading" of the poem.

In addition to the glove controller, an infrared motion controller is used with the left hand to control global behavior and remapping of glove parameters. In the end, the system becomes a uniquely expressive instrument, as the components of Ammons' poem are deconstructed, recombined, and ultimately transformed."Continuities" was commissioned by the Teatro Carlo Felice dell'Opera di Genova, in Genoa, Italy.