Branic Howard is a Composer, so recognized by Portland State University upon recent completion of his Bachelor’s Degree. Currently, he attends Syracuse, where he is on track to a PHD. Most classical music lovers assume that to be recognized as a composer by a major university means traditional, standardized conceptions of sound. Not so! Branic is indeed part of a new generation of composers. In this “composition”, Branic electronically mixes live strings and clarinet simultaneously performing isolated rooms. Each performer is unaware of what the other is doing, but they each have a “score” based upon fragments of time described by squarish shapes. This type of direction makes certain that not a single player, even the composer, can accurately predict what is going to happen in the composition. It is a game of chance. This sort of composition is loosely based upon John Cage and David Tudor’s classic, “Indeterminacy”.
- KBOO