Sarah Davachi flies into psychoacoustic space One could say that Sarah Davachi’s drone-based music is all about meditative states, or texture, or duration. But more than anything else, it’s about balance—between the theoretical and the practical, the material and the cerebral, the antique and the avant-garde, the[...] Read more

Sound Bite Alexander Varty Issue 122

Pierre Kwenders Dreams for the World “I grew up surrounded by music lovers. There was always music playing and people dancing. There was always a reason for a family gathering, and I was one of those kids always ready to dance. Whenever there was a family gathering, there was an acoustic guitar around and my uncle would[...] Read more

Sound Bite Chaka V. Grier Issue 142

Roxanne Nesbitt’s Sonic Investigations People often describe sound as something that reverberates outward into space, but the music of interdisciplinary artist Roxanne Nesbitt seems to move inward; it has an audiovisual geometry that focuses the eye and the ear, pulling you closer to the source. To perform her 2010 composition[...] Read more

Featured Article Sara Constant Issue 141

Seth A Smith’s Constant Interruption “I’ve always been a fan of silence. So, when I lost the ability to, you know, experience silence, I started looking at noise as a form of quiet in times when I needed some mental clarity,” reflects multidisciplinary artist Seth A Smith via email. Since 2019, he’s been[...] Read more

Sound Bite Andrew Patterson Issue 144

The Musical Lightness of Éric Normand The world of improvised music has spawned a core of musician–organizers who have built scenes and networks and record labels to support and extend the music. Few, however, have achieved what Éric Normand has, creating a hotbed of free improvisation in the relatively isolated[...] Read more

Featured Article Stuart Broomer Issue 126

Musicworks 129 - Winter 2017 BUY THE WINTER 2017 PRINT ISSUE OR THE PRINT+CD ISSUE FROM OUR NEW SHOP!    Take a peek at what's between the covers and the tracklist on the CD:   ON THE COVER: Geronimo Inutiq   The music and media art of Geronimo Inutiq recently[...] Read more

Featured Article

The Avian is the Message Songbirds have a secret language. This is something I did not fully appreciate until recently, when I became immersed in their world. What may be music to our ears is bird-speak—a mating call, an aural fence, or simple prattle to stay in touch. There are people who can understand bird[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Su Rynard Issue 122

Knoxville, Tennessee FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY   As with any American city, the dominant feature of the Knoxville soundscape is the almighty car. With an extension of the interstate zooming only a few blocks from downtown, and a multi-lane surface road separating the University of[...] Read more

Sonic Geography Issue 107

Kristen Roos FULL-TEXT AVAILABLE IN PRINT EDITION ONLY.   Every musician in the world produces invisible waves when making music—such is the nature of sound. Relatively few musicians, however, are concerned with those waves once they are absorbed and processed by the auditory system of[...] Read more

Profile David Dacks Issue 106

The Genre of Morgan-Paige Morgan-Paige Melbourne was a child prodigy who started playing piano at three and singing and composing shortly afterwards. Soon she was winning piano competitions, and at sixteen she had her first composition published with SOCAN. It looked like she was heading for a glittering career as a[...] Read more

Sound Bite Mary Dickie Issue 138

Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m Ice cracking and melting; a forest by the coast; a dream; breath lingering in the cold air—these are some of the images that come to mind when listening to Vancouver composer Craig Aalders’ el8dEra 3m, the first-prize-winning composition in Musicworks’ 2016 annual[...] Read more

Sound Bite Daniel Glassman Issue 127