Outdoor Warnings Score

Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/9306t0552

Abstract

Commissioned by Dakota Corbliss and Matthew Castner. For alto saxophone, horn in F, and fixed media.

Program Note
Outdoor Warnings is based on a variety of different outdoor warnings from natural to artificial sources, including elk bugles, coyote calls, throat singing, Islamic calls to prayer, bicycle bells, protests, phone calls, and nuclear warning alarms. The horn and alto saxophone interface freely and expressively with these sampled sounds, creating a dark and foreboding sonic landscape. The piece is inspired by two outdoor sounds in particular—one is the outdoor warning system alarm in Boulder, Colorado, which woke me up one spring morning at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. The second is the haunting call of an elk bull, which I had heard when recently travelling to Rocky Mountain National Park. The sounds reminded me of each other, although the function of each sound is drastically different. I thought that both sounds, when combined, perfectly encapsulated the collective fear everyone was experiencing at the outbreak.

Creator