My piece is called “In the club: 2nd Shot” and it is based on the code related to Alcohol Dependence.
I used a dance beat to make this song because I have a love-hate relationship with clubs. The experience of going out to a club with friends demands the imbibing spirits in copious quantities in order to “have a good time”. The problem is, when I do, I have a GREAT time yet the shallow emptiness of club-going still is always quite clear to me. I used to simply despise the idea of clubs. Dancing and drinking in dark rooms crammed full of sweaty delirious bodies all slaves to a common beat and rhythm. However after I was dragged along to a few clubs throughout SF, I fell in love with the idea. Dance Clubs, at least the ones that are themed, are little fabricated urban oases nestled beneath the looming commercial buildings of the big city. Waiting in line to get in, the muted music from within thumps like a heartbeat and when those doors open and you step inside, you are greeted with a whole new world, carefully fabricated, delicately synthesized for optimum “dancing and drinking”. One shot. Two Shots. Eight Shots. The heavy beat of the music, the smell of carnal human beings mingling, is so easily complemented with alcohol, perhaps to lubricate social interaction, or maybe to simply cleanse the palate from all the “dark” and the “dank”. Clubs are the commercial manifestation of this generations hedonism and for this reason, I still despise them. However, I cannot help but love them as well for they are also a new-fangled technologically-superior dreamscape with state of the art sound systems, intricate lighting, and mind-boggling DJ’s. A dreamscape that grants access to the disillusioned, desensitized, and emotionally subjugated youth of this world; only for $20 or $5 if they’re on the guestlist.
The beat is a standard 4/4 130bpm beat that I created.
I then laid out all the GCAT notes as quarter notes and tracked where the Thymidine fell in the sequence. I then added a high hat with delay for every “T” to create the beats clap.
The Guanine and Cytosine both were played as they were and the Adenosine was played as Ab. Everything was improvised on my violin at its regular register and 2 octaves down for the lower bass register.