Organic Forms

[play] Organic Forms
2005

This piece was created on the UPIC system at CCMIX in Alfortville, France. When UPIC was invented, composers using the system would typically create a drawing and then listen to it, making changes as needed. Today, composers tend to listen as they go and the drawing aspect of the system is not emphasized. In this piece, I started with a drawing, inspired by the sorts of shapes that Xenakis used for his compositions. In order to add richness, I used a triangle wave for high sounds, a sawtooth wave for low – mid range sounds and a very short period square wave for very low sounds.

This is my second UPIC compositon and it may be my last.

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4 thoughts on “Organic Forms”

  1. christian lillicrap

    Hello Celeste
    I have just listened to your composition. I am a teacher and interested in exploring organic forms in music with students. I found your piece extraordinary. It took me into a very different inner space from other music. We are looking at Romanticism and its origins in the Greek idea of Chaos, also the Dionysian winning out over the Apollonian. We are investigating the idea that the true flowering of Romanticism is now.
    Do you have your drawing available to look at. I would like to see how it relates to the music.

    1. Les Post author

      I’m glad you like it.

      Sorry, no, I don’t have the drawing. It’s been a while, but I think that it was just controlling the pitch.

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