Bang on a Can

In my compositions, I generally start with the keyboard first. Then I often do improvisational work with percussionist Christine Bard and guitarist Roger Kleier, and parts of this piece were developed in our trio. As to the title, The Manufacture of Tangled Ivory, refers to the keys of the piano. And tangled was a way of describing the detuned and altered piano sounds that I've been exploring for a long time. The notes are actually displaced on the keyboard. In this piece, I tried to increase the density and layers of these sounds and see what kind of contrast I could bring out. In the beginning solo keyboard part, some parts are rubato and others sound like a player piano, fast and mechanical. In fact, the piece incorporates metallic, factory sounds, like some of the music of the Russian avant garde composers from the early part of this century. That's where manufacture comes from. I was also thinking somewhat about my grandmother. She moved from Poland to the lower east side in New York at about the same time these composers were working in Russia. And she worked in sweatshops and factories. I've been in New York for three years, and I'm about in the same neighborhood. But the differences between her experience and mine are so vast.