The composition inDelicate Balance (1989) is a computer music composition that exists at the unseen, imaginary barrier, at once on all sides, and always inside and outside. It contains found sounds, live and manipulated piano sounds, and representations of sounds from the inner ear and internal world. This work offers a perspective on contemporary existence utilizing the sounds that surround us.

inDelicate Balance was realized using a combination of digital software processing and mixing techniques, and real-time sampling, processing, and mixing systems. The entire inDelicate Balance is included in the SEAMUS Concert Recording Series. Somewhere between is published on the Electro Clips CD from empreintes Digitales. Room Views appears on the premiere CD from Leonardo Music Journal. The live performance version of inDelicate Balance had its premiere at the 1993 International Symposium on Electronic Art.

Each movement is characterized by the following poetic expressions:

Cloud to Clarity

Sound as music
   Sound as environment
      Sound as signification
         Sound as articulation

Somewhere between

Somewhere between this and that
   Somewhere between here and there
      Somewhere between then, now, and later

Room Talk

Sound present in the room,
   the Sound of one's Voice
      the sound of Memory.
Sounds from the inner being;
   Impressions from the Past and Present,
      Images of the Future.

Room Views

Views into the present,
   Views into the past,
      and the future always becoming itself,
         because of what it is,
            what it was, and
               what it has to be.
Unmemorable, unforgettable moments,
   and exquisitely insignificant details,
      like gentle ghosts, follow everywhere,
         aching to be more than what was
            left behind in the mist.

This composition was created while I was working on the Configurable Space project, a research initiative exploring future creative work environments, the creative process and the use of new technological resources to support artistic functions. The musical development of inDelicate Balance was captured sonically and visually, tracking the evolution of the composition from early sketches through completion of the work as a way of exploring the compositional process. Photographer Marion Gray photographed hundreds of images during this process, which became part of several published writings about the research, and several hybrid performance-presentations conveying the nature of the research appearing at festivals, conferences, universities and corporations.

Learn more about Configurable Space here.