256Hz

Instrumentation:

Solo performer

Set of 8 tuning forks (ostensibly a C Major scale)

6 microphones (4 on microphone stands, 1 suspended from ceiling, 1 headset)

Duration: 11’

World Premiere: January 10 2025 as part of Playtime, Trafic in Bern, Switzerland

Program notes:

Does the body serve the sound, or does sound serve the body? A tuning fork only reaches its highly useful potential when it interacts with another body or object. Placing a tuning fork to your ear, you hear its precise pitch. Placing a tuning fork to an injured limb, doctors can detect subtle breaks and fractures. Connecting a tuning fork to a rotating mirror as part of his experiment set-up, Albert Michelson was able to take measurements of the speed of light. In this respect, 256Hz is not a solo but a dialogue. Who is the true instrument? The forks? The performer? Or, perhaps, the microphones?