Shapeshifting
by Christopher TignorShapeshfting was my first work developed using my new hybrid violin / percussion technique for digitally processed tuning forks.
Every tuning fork gesture begins with me striking percussion and then resonating the fork against the bridge of my violin.
There, its singular pitch conducts through my pickup into the computer. Using custom
software, intimate melodies spring from this single note, transposing and delaying the original tone. By switching between melodies with a pedal, I weave the framework of this song's evolving narrative.
The unique shape of each six note melody begins with either the tuning fork's A, or one of the plucked violin notes (D or E). When I chose the latter, the melody shifts up or down by a fifth. Shifting these melodic shapes up, down, and morphing them on the fly drives the work.
At the bookends, these shapes breathe deeply, punctuated by drum hits. In the middle, they coalesce into multi-layered grooves.
