Instrumentation: Soprano saxophone, two laptops & 4 channel sound

Programmatic information: 

Programme notes provided by composer.

Introduction:

Phonosaxis has been composed for Abraham Mennen. Recent work with insects (particularly
mosquitoes), provides an important departure point for the composer who has spent some time now
working with recordings of malaria-free Anopholes gambiae (A. gambiae). Studies of the insects
has revealed that they respond to very specific changes in wingbeat frequencies during mating and
other forms of insect taxis. In nature, this is referred to as phonotaxis. The work is thus a play on the
words ‘saxophone’ and ‘phonotaxis’ forming phonosaxis. The broad concept is then that the
interplay between the instrumentalist and the computers mimics the natural response found in
nature of the insects during phonotaxis.

Composition:

The work is structured as if it is hanging mobile where each element is suspended from a central
point and moving around randomly. All the musical elements depend entirely on the interaction
between the solo saxophone and two computer performers. The saxophone plays a central role,
providing fundamental carrier frequencies that are used with modulating frequencies provided by
the laptop performers in order to mimic the behaviour of the insects in nature i.e., if the
fundamental frequency of the wingbeats are changed by alternating carrier waves, then the insects
behave accordingly. In an example, the probability of male mosquitoes moving toward the signal
source increases as the carrier frequency changes from 200 to 260 Hz. The fundamental frequencies
of the female and male mosquitoes respectively are 1kHz and 955Hz. This gives a mean of 900Hz,
or A5 quarter-sharp. In fact, these frequencies provide the core carrier frequency range of the entire
work around which the saxophone interaction is structured and is represented by this short motif:

The idea is that the listener should experience the sonic behaviour of the insects that is driven by a quasi-improvisatory interaction and music making by all the performers in the piece.