over the cliff, descending

The music album’s title is based on common themes between the ongoing photo “over the cliff”, and a set of musical improvisations I recorded during November 2015 using my three mosesas, the 5C, 6C and 7C models.

In the ongoing photo poem,
I visit the edge of a cliff with my camera, witnessing such things as the morning sun revealing leaves caught on a log in a river at the bottom of a cliff. From the edge of the cliff, I see leaves, gradually turning colors, getting caught in the stream, branches becoming barren but preparing for next spring with buds. In the river, I see the current, the way it flows, bigger some days, smaller some days. When the leaves turned colors I could see them reflecting in the water, the current modifying what I could see.

I see the space, “over the cliff”, as a location of continual discovery and re-discovery.

When I make photos, I am fully present visually.
When I make music, I am fully present to sound.

The music is like looking over the cliff, descending and ascending in that the melodic phrases generally move downwards, but often going up especially with the harmonics. Like the photo poem, this series of pieces was oriented to discover and re-discover climbing down, up and around the pitch slope.

All of the pieces were recorded in November 2015.
The significance of the date is that I created my 7th mosesa, a bass version,
just at the end of July 2015, but it was not fully set up until early November.
It is different from my other instruments
in that it has three strings to work with rather than two.
.
The significance of the date is that I created the 7th mosesa, a bass version, just at the end of July 2015, but it was not fully set up until early November. It is different from my other instruments in that it has three strings to work with rather than two. Having three strings to work with caused me to re-think how to play all of my mosesas, the 5C, the 6C and the 7C. How high it should be set on the stand, how I should move around it when bowing or plucking, and very importantly, how to more actively use all of the strings. So I wanted to re-visit two older instruments and the new one doing free improvisations but using the mental image of moving down, up and around a slope.

So discovering and re-discovering a location
is a common theme between the music and the ongoing photo poem.
Another theme from previous albums
is embracing and celebrating
passing phenomena.

I hope that you enjoy this album, the music and the parallel, ongoing photo poem.

Please see the PDF Booklet which includes the above album notes, mosesa instrument views and an ongoing photo poem.

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Wilhelm Matthies
1-2-16