Round Mountain for Brass Trio with Live Performance Graphics by Sam Stalos

Premier Performance May 30, 2007, UMass Amherst

Moffatt Williams, Trumpet Jean Martin-Williams, French Horn Mark Brit, Trombone

Our exposure to the tune Coming Round The Mountain is usually at a bright, snappy tempo, almost "ho-down'ish." Although the melody is certainly in a major key, there is a strange sense of melancholy in the tune that tugs at the tempo.

The melody originated as a work song during the 19th Century, sung by miners and slaves as a spiritual to synchronize their efforts and distract their minds from the backbreaking labor. This explains the "answer-response" or "heave-ho" structure.

The "she" in the lyrics, who comes "driving six white horses," is a metaphor for the angle of death coming to deliver them from their sorrowful plight. Without any knowledge of this history, the slow "bluesy" variation at the end of the piece was composed because it just felt right.

Round Mountain begins with a melodic round unrelated to Coming Round The Mountain. The melody is imbedded with a technique that solves a classic problem with using rounds: how to stop.

Playing Round Mountain calls for attention to accidentals, but listening to the piece doesn't seem to challenge the ear. After the round is presented, the melody is fragmented into different keys. For example, the first player may start the melody in F, but abruptly shifts to D on the third measure. In the meantime, the second player starts in F, and abruptly shifts to A on his third measure, while the third player, who starts again in F, makes a shift to C at his third measure. This staggered, fracturing and stacking technique gets shorter and shorter until the shifts happen with each phrase. Although the harmonic structure accumulates a stack of unrelated keys, the melody is so strong that our ear has no trouble following the tune. This same "fracturing" effect is performed on theComing Round The Mountain melody that appears towards the end of the piece.

Those in attendance at the ITG 2007 Conference saw the video performance graphics that were produced for Round Mountain and its companion piece, Round House. Excerpts from the live visualization graphics (called visualization) can be foundon this page.

What is unique to the graphic system demonstrated during the ITG Conference is that the video imagery followed the performers. In other words, the performers were in control of the timing and affectation of the visuals. In order to demonstrate this point, the composer walked away from the hardware during the concert to emphasize that no one was playing "Wizard of Oz" behind the screen.

A detailed brochure describing the software and hardware used in the conferencecan be located on this page.

It’s time for the computer science and the art department to join the music department.

The composer is offering to visit any organization or teaching institution that is interested in establishing a visualization course as part of its curriculum. Such a course would involve participation from the computer science department, the broadcast department for audio and video production techniques, and the art department for the visual aesthetics. In other words, the live, interactive visualization of music presents the classic challenge of combing technology and art.

Assistance in presenting the visualization program can be obtained by email.

A handout giving the costs of establishing a visualization program and some indication of the background and training necessary to initiate such a program can be downloaded here.