Khene – 2009
Bad pun notwithstanding – these pieces use as their sound source a sample of my very bad khene playing. The khene, from Laos, is one of the oldest known free-reed instruments, pre-dating the more widely known harmonica and accordion. You can find some very good khene players on the web, which can demonstrate how the instrument is usually played. I was always intrigued by the tonal clusters I was able to create, playing it in my amateurish way.

Cloud Passages – 9:15
This piece utilizes a bed created by a real-time improv of 4 layered grain clusters of a single sample. I then went back to add a shorter part in the midsection, using a more fragmented manipulation of a short sequence of notes played on the khene

Phraseology – 8:43
A more choral-like variation, using the same sample as the bed above, but with no further ‘composing’ beyond the real-time improv of the grain clusters.