Contextualizing my self-idiom: the making of terminal

Abstract

This document serves as an accompanying manuscript to my improvisational percussion album, Terminal. This music comes after five years of study and performance, and is a recent demonstration of my current sound; three pieces that draw on the influences of stylistic pioneers. Improviser and scholar Mike Bullock labels this method using the term self-idiomatic music. In this concept, a musician develops a unique aesthetic by making decisions in the moment of performance, drawing on a personal vocabulary of sounds, and rules for their deployment. The music recorded on Terminal is based on a culmination of my musical life that blends elements of many genres and styles. I have been inspired by the noise of Jason Lescalleet, the deep listening and stillness of Pauline Oliveros and Morton Feldman, the harmonic clouds of Sarah Hennies, the textures and layers of AMM, the jazz-like improvisation of Anthony Braxton, and the sound installations of Olivia Block, among others. In this paper, I examine writings and compositions by these musicians, and describe how my interactions and experiences with them led me to discover my self-idiom.