Change Ringing

Description:

Change Ringing takes its pitch material from the spectral analyses of six beautiful bronze bells, which have been cast by my collaborator, Peter Shenai. These bells mathematically correspond to the “bell-curve” representations of mean temperatures at 17 year periods over the last century. Struck in order, they voice incremental changes in pitch and timbre, thereby expressing sonically the phenomenon commonly known as “global warming”. Each of the six sections of Change Ringing corresponds to one of these bells. All pitch material is derived from the bells’ inharmonic spectra which, in their original form, signal the beginning of each section. The remainder of the pitch material in each section derives from the sum and difference tones of the corresponding spectrum, the sum and difference tones of the resultant frequencies, and so on. The sections are organized thus: Bell 2, Bell 3, Bell 4, Bell 5, Bell 6, Bell 1. The final section therefore pulls the narrative back to a time before the the rapid increase in global temperature begun at Bell 2. Between Bell 5 and Bell 6, there is a solo for Bells 2, 3, 4, and 5.

Full Scoring:

3 Violins
3 Violas
2 Violoncellos
Contrabass

Percussion