Concert Cuts by Troy Schafer

Transcript:

[Begin theme music]

Welcome to Concert Cuts a series in which for each installment, I dig into the archives to present three performances of the past and present them with conjecture and anecdotes of no small amusement. I’m Troy Schafer, inviting you to allow this bumper to stretch out for a moment before I return to discuss my first find of the evening.

Let’s set our time machines back to 12/1/2004, my very first colloquium performance in Michelson Hall at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, a fiery young undergraduate, I had just come across the study of acoustic ecology and was eager to share my findings with the world, given the noise pollution inherent to dormitory life and college practice rooms, I devised an act of subtle rebellion that would set the stage for my remaining time in the music department. As a protest to the mandatory living quarters and limited practice space options, I piped live sound into the performance hall from three locations where administration deemed my study permissible. I believe that in this recording you’ll hear my struggle with the university, for acoustic autonomy and performative unlikeliness. My accompanist was Theresa Mrnik, this is Dmitri Kabalevsky’s Allegro Molto E Con Brio from his Violin Concerto in C Major, op 48.

Next, we’re travelling to the Pivot Arts Festival in downtown Chicago. On 6/19/ 2013, I was joined by the founder of the Creative Living Center, the sound artist and all around renaissance man Nicholas Davis. We performed a blistering duet with amplified violins and broken stereo equipment which I’ve since titled Man is Deaf, Nature Is immutable. Following, we’ll depart from our program to the location where we’re all headed, the funeral home. On 7/162018, alongside my mother and sister, I performed one of my grandmother’s favorite songs, a popular tune from the Great American Songbook, an aestheticized version of Harold Arlen’s Over The Rainbow.

This production is available on all major streaming platforms. Audio Mastering and technical support comes from Nathaniel Ritter:

I welcome your thoughts about any part of this program, or about experimental music performance in general. Contact me at troyallenschafer@gmail.com You can follow my Facebook page and my updates on Instagram by searching for my name.

I’m Troy Schafer, inviting you to join me again for the next edition of Concert Cuts.

Electro-acoustic and neoclassical explorations from Northern Wisconsin. Founding member, primary instrumentalist, and vocalist for Kinit Her, Rain Drinkers and Wyrding - he lends his songwriting, engineering, production, and performance to a multitude of other projects including Pod Cast, Burial Hex, Spiral Joy Band, The World On Higher Downs, and Wormsblood.

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