The UUUUT Experiment (< 65dB)

Greetings Sound Addicts,

Mark your calendars…The UUUUT Experiment (<65dB) returns on Sunday, Juuuune 21 at 8:00pm.

UUUUT is an experiment in making music through unstructured improvisation, the use of found objects, extended techniques, laptops, robotics and a projected decibel meter. All musicians, artists and sound addicts in general are welcome to participate or simply come and experience the event. The performance is free and open to the public.

There are no rules, save one: the overall sound pressure level should not exceed 65dB for any extended period (where the weakest sound heard is 0dB). A decibel meter will monitor the sound level and trigger a warning light visible to all participants if the threshold is exceeded. Otherwise, any instrument or sound-maker is allowed.

The UUUUT Experiment is sociological as much as it is musical, and results will most certainly be a function of the participants and audience members present. Any society has rules to prevent anarchy, chaos and to facilitate survival and perhaps progress. It has been suggested by others and has also been my experience, that “free” improvisation quite often leads to “walls of sound” or “painfully dense sound textures” that continue to the point of exhaustion by the perfomers or the listeners. While these sonorities can be interesting, it is not the direction anticipated in this project. The <65dB rule is intended to act as a sort of “rule of law,” to disuade musical “looting,” to encourage a sensitivity to the sound of others and to be more aware of the consensual sound being created. The measurable and objective nature of the rule precludes emphasizing the perceptions of any one individual. However, it has been my experience that within this quantifiable spectrum of dynamic range, the perceived range of human hearing is expanded to fill the entire sonic field.

The result of all this? A series of collaborative sound pieces: Un-authored, Un-claimed, Un-repeatable and perpetually dynamic. Visit http://www.philipmantione.com/uuuut.html for a detailed description, audio documentation, and list of past perfomers and their comments.

NOTE for Performers: Please bring extra mics, cables, adaptors and stands if you have them. Set-up starts at 6:30pm. THANKS!

See you on then!

N.B. – The title is inspired by a quote by percussionist Jamie Muir from the book Improvisation by Derek Bailey (pg.96), in which he talks about “Undiscovered/Unidentified/Unclaimed/Unexplored Territory…the future if only you can see it.” Muir uses an interesting metaphor of the antique shop (things already found), the junk store (things already collected) and the rubbish dump (neither found or collected, but actually rejected)…the latter yielding the most possibilities. It is reminiscent of the quote by Emerson: “… in every work of genius, one recognizes their own rejected ideas … they return with a sort of alienated majesty.”

For more information, contact Phil Mantione at 505/466.4832 or email music at philipmantione dot com.