Pianofall
I had just broken my arm and gotten surgery, so the waterfall and piano recordings were both made with one hand
Pianofall is an impromptu project I started with some field recording equipment I had never used before. It all started with thinking how I could best use a binaural microphone I got my hands on from UCSD’s music department resources. I figured it would be cool to visit my go-to nature preserve (practically right in my backyard) and strap them on as I hiked down, across, and back out of a waterfall, planning a path that would lend itself to having a smooth rise and fall in sonic energy.
As always when it comes to listening through new microphones, I was extremely surprised to hear how differently the binaural mics captured sound, specifically directionality and atmosphere. On my first listen, I was taken right back to the preserve where I could almost see and feel myself turning my head, crouching and scampering across rocks, stepping left and right…all culminating to compose a sonic body which was constantly-shifting in what I felt was a pleasant, natural way. At a certain point in the recording just before I passed the crest of the waterfall, a plane began to fly slowly overhead in typical metropolitan fashion, providing a really pleasing swell in noise and size.
Listening back to this recording in its early stages brought me a form of energy that I still search for to guide me when going about my work. I was swept away by the experience of the recording, and pleased with myself for taking the patience to listen to the world around me with a different ear and mind. Instead of hearing the plane as the intrusive noise it usually embodied, it became harmonious, at least at this instant.
I remember being in the practice rooms trying to prepare piano pieces for something or another, and I just couldn’t hold this energy back from making me want to improvise. I carried a handheld Zoom recorder with me practically everywhere at the time, and decided to try to capture this moment with one quick take. Setting the mic underneath the piano, I pulled up my waterfall recording on my phone and put on my headphones, and the rest is for you to hear. There is no editing, mixing, or effects applied to the piano or waterfall parts whatsoever.
During seminars with Michelle Lou, an exceptional composer and experienced field-recordist, I was introduced to more field recordings, and learned about the variety of perspectives and approaches different sound artists have taken regarding their work. A couple of weeks passed since I had put Pianofall together, and by then I felt close to being able to decipher why the process was so engaging to me, and put into words why the experience was so appealing to me conceptually.
When it comes down to it, Pianofall is a simple combination of two distinctly different places and times. I like to consider the fact that the waterfall recording was a result of my unique interactions with nature and my environment, and the piano recording was another singular moment where I got to re-experience the waterfall trip expressively on the piano.