Field of Vision (2022) 60'

program note

Field of Vision is a large-scale site-specific work for Caramoor’s Sunken Garden and the surrounding grounds, featuring 36 percussionists directed by Doug Perkins. Performed on specially constructed and tuned percussion instruments, industrial metals, wood and gongs, Field of Vision is performed on extremely resonant instruments meant to produce a complex spectrum of overtones and resonances. The large number of percussionists and the vast playing field is meant to highlight perspective and the architectural movement of sound. I think of this perspective of sound a bit like moving from two-dimensional art to three-dimensional art. Sound isn’t a flat line — in Field of Vision it takes on multiple roles in space and time. The resulting waves of moving sound and varying densities are meant to induce a quasi-meditative, almost ecstatic state, in the listener as well as the performer.