Being in Time

Judith Shatin

Judith Shatin

General Info

Year: 2012
Duration: c. 8:15
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Judith Shatin
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II (optional)
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:

• Bass Drum
• Flexitone, bowed
• Glockenspiel (Waterphone)
• Maracas
• Marimba
• Snare Drum
• Suspended Cymbal, large and medium
• Tam-Tam, medium
• Temple Blocks (5)
• Timbales, high and low
• Vibraphone, bowed
• Wood Block, high and lows

Electronics

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Being in Time is a piece for wind ensemble, originally conceived as gesture-controlled interactive music and interactive video. But, it is much more than that! With a $21,000 grant from UVA’s Arts in Action program, this project involved a wonderful team. It started with my discussing the idea with my colleague Bill Pease, our director of bands. I had an idea that I thought would be exciting: to create a piece for wind ensemble with electronics, whose shape would be controlled by the conductor’s hand gestures, and a video which would interactively reflect the level and intensity of the live performance. This involved new elements on all fronts: I had never worked with this type of gestural control or with video. Further, I wanted to create an organic system, in which I would make the electronic music from recordings of student performers, and use the performers as the source of the video flow as well.

As I considered the concept of Being in Time, I thought about the relationship between time and place, and decided to make all the elements local in origin, in Charlottesville and the beautiful surrounding Blue Ridge region. I created the electronic music by processing recordings made of wind ensemble members. Meanwhile, the programming for the interactive visuals were developed by Paul Turowski in consultation with me, while I worked on the background video with composer and animator Joe Adkins. The images came from photos of Charlottesville and it night skies taken by Rachel Beaton and of the night sky and Blue Ridge area round Charlottesville by filmmaker Alex Reshnikov.

After some experimentation, it was determined that electronics controlled by the conductor was impractical, owing to the rapid and ongoing development of the technology. Therefore the current version of Being in Time relies on a separate electronics operator for the recorded sounds, rather than the conductor.

- Program Note by composer

Commercial Discography

None discovered thus far.

Media

• Audio: Genesis and Development

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

• University of Texas (Austin) Wind Ensemble (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 1 October 2017
• University of Virginia (Charlottesville) Wind Ensemble (William Pease, conductor) – 26 April 2015

Works for Winds by this Composer

• Being in Time (2012)

Resources

• Judith Shatin, personal correspondence, October 2017
• Judith Shatin website Accessed 3 October 2017