Hassell

["RICK WALKER" <looppool@cruzio.com>]

Our beloved and dearly departed Dr. Richard Zvonar
toured with Hassell and told me that all of the
cool timbres he got that sound so electronic that he could produce
with the acoustic instrument by itself.

I've been playing a lot of pocket trumpet and flugelhorn this past year
(just beginning) but this comment got me to thinking about
the use of breathe and wind noise as a kind of faux 'synthesizer' element
in both brass playing and woodwind playing.

Instruments,  of course,  like the middleeastern Ney have such difficult 
embouchures
to use that they force a hell of a lot of air past the slit in the reed, 
forcing a very
breathy sound.

The amazing avant garde bass flautist (oh,  he hates that moniker and 
prefers flute player instead)
Robert Dick gets amazing wind controlled noises from his instrument and 
has 
an uncanny ability
to direct noise sounds to the one of 4 microphones that he puts on his 
custom bass flute.

Anyone intersested in instrumentalists who use their instruments in really 
creative extended
ways owe it to themselves to check out his work.

Anyway,  I've really been into getting the very breathiest (does this word 
sound suspiciously like
Steve Corell's 'truthiness'?  lol)  sound out of the trumpet.

Hassel is an amazing artist and amazingly ,  he is a minimalist.
It is much harder to be a minimalist and have a completely unique sound on 
an instrument.

..........he's and amazingly high bar to shoot for.

********
So this found sound looper's trumpet featured debut is at this years'
Woodstockhausen Festival of Esoteric Music on September 23rd in the Santa 
Cruz Redwood mountain forest.

I figured that since I have been playing drums for exactly 40 years this 
year and trumpet for under one year that I would
create a piece called the  Rick Walker Drum and Bugle Choir   and treat 
each 
instruments as a found sound object.
Wish me luck..............I'll literally be quaking in my boots while I 
attempt this piece.