As far as I can remember, Music on a Budget started in 1992-93 as a collection of event scores sketched as experiments for future realization. Behind the series were a few pieces that aimed to find ways of exploring the inner sound of objects in transformation. a few others became simple and humorous psychological thrillers about music, economy, sound, language, and those things that tend to get lost in translation. The first five where usually performed as a collection during the nineties: 1. Variations on a Shoestring 2. Sound Consumption 3. More for Less or Time is Money 4. Pocket Change 5. Cheaper Imitation: Stars and Stripes Forever… More. Two more pieces where added still in 1993 after a couple of performances of the collection. These were, Like Music to my Ears, and Theme on a Shoestring. More on all of this later in this post
Variations on a Shoestring (1993)
Event Score:
With an amplified pen, write the word VARIATION several times on a white shoe lace and change the sound electronically with each “variation”
Subtropics Editions
This is one of the Music on a Budget pieces that has a video version created in 1995-96. Its narrative follows the classic musical notion of “theme & variations” but from a different perspective. In it, we see the word “variation” as it is written several times on a shoestring… its sound (from the pen’s perspective) is altered for each variation.
2004 video version of Sound Consumption from Music On A Budget
Sound Consumption (1993)
Event Score:
Amplify the sound of a burning match, or the sound of any object in transformation so the sound we hear is heard from the object’s perspective
Subtropics Editions
Early on, I used to perform all of these pieces live. Back then I would just fasten a wooden match to an old phonograph cartridge connected to a battery-powered Marshall mini-amp. I would light the match, listen and wait for the flame to get close to the cartridge to blow it out. And just like in the video, the sound would continue transformed into the crackling of cooling charcoal. In performance, the Music on a Budget pieces had a theatrical flavor to them and the sound of the small amplifier was fantastic for listening to the burning match.
The video realization (and the best known version) of this piece was created in 1996 by invitation from Thomas Bucker for In a Fishtank, a concert-long program designed for the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in New York City. That concert consisted of 11 pieces that, if played one at the time, would have lasted 1.5 hours. My time limit was 50 minutes. So I suggested to shorten the 1.5 hours to 50 minute by composing a timeline within which the pieces would overlap. With a six member ensemble and in the way the timeline resulted, it would have been impossible to perform all the pieces live in 50 minutes. So I decided to make video versions of both Sound Consumption and Variations on a Shoestring to free up some of the performers for other pieces.
Later in 2004, then artistic director at the Miami Performing Arts Center, Justin MacDonnell, asked me to offer a piece eh could present during a fundraiser for his organization. The video above is the 2004 version of the video.
More for Less or Time is Money, an all-star cast, second-and-a-half, 2003 performance featuring from right to left, Aislinn Quinn (Absolute Zero), keyboard; Chris Cutler (Henry Cow), drums; Gustavo Matamoros, conducting; Wojt3k Kucharczyk (Molr Drammaz), percussion; Enrique Jardinez (Absolute Zero), electric bass; and Pip Pyle (National Health, Absolute Zero), drums; Subtropics 14 Marathon, Space 742, Little Havana, Florida
More for Less or Time is Money (1993)
Event Score:
Collect a few loose coins from the audience and figure out how to give them the most music for their money
Subtropics Editions
In a situation where any number of musicians are available, this piece was created as an excuse to get a hold of a few coins from the audience to be able to perform Pocket Change (see below). Here are the instructions I wrote to follow:
1. tell the audience the next piece isn’t included in the price of admission, and collect only loose change from those who volunteer it
2. count the coins 3. hire the audience or available musicians to at minimum wage to be part of the orchestra or choir 3. device a formula that accounts for the number of musicians at the assigned rate that gives you a result in “seconds.” 4. make that the exact duration of a piece where at your signal the people you hired perform the most notes, using the widest range of pitches and timbral changes, as loud as possible
Subtropics Editions
Theme on a Shoestring (1993)
This became another way to collect loose coins for Pocket Change.
Event Score:
After performing Variations on a Shoestring, auction the shoelace to the person with the most coins
Photo by Juan Cabrera
Pocket Change (1993)
Event Score:
Spin a few coins of different denominations on an amplified surface. The piece ends when all of the coins have been spun
Subtropics Editions
Like Music to my Ears
Event Score:
Ask the audience to write on a loose piece of paper something that sounds like music to their ears. Ask them to spontaneously and on their own take turns reading them out loud
Subtropics Editions
Cheaper Imitation: Stars and Stripes Forever… More (1993)
Event Score:
By electronic means, change the pitch content of a recording of “Stars and Stripes Forever”
Subtropics Editions
Like with Fluxus, the pieces in Music on a Budget can be realized in a variety of ways and media. I first used to perform them as a group with a minimum of resources, tools and materials that included a phono cartridge, a contact mic, a 9 volt battery powered mini Marshall amplifier, wooden matches, shoe laces, pens, a portable cassette player, a pitch processing guitar pedal and a music stand. The fastening-screw phono cartridge I used then was given to me by Russell Frehling, who got it himself as a gift from David Tudor after his return from a trip to Japan in the early 80s
This pieces have been performed and or screened numerous times in Miami and abroad as part of performances and lectures I have given as special guest artist
Performance and Screening History
2005-12-07
Bring a Friend
Sound Consumption and Variations on a Shoestring
screenings
Roulette, New York City
2005-10-02
Music on a Budget Event
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
CubaCultur, Münster, Germany
2005-10-01
MeX
Sound Consumption and Variations on a Shoestring
screenings
Kuenstlerhause, Dortmund, Germany
2004-11-13
Performance Art in Contemporary America
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
Polk Museum, Lakeland, Florida
2003-03-01
Subtropics 15 Marathon
More for Less or Time is Money
performed by Aislinn Quinn (Absolute Zero), keyboard; Chris Cutler (Henry Cow), drums; Gustavo Matamoros, conducting; Wojt3k Kucharczyk (Molr Drammaz), percussion; Enrique Jardinez (Absolute Zero), electric bass; and Pip Pyle (National Health, Absolute Zero), drums
Space 742, Little Havana, Florida
1998-03-28
Subtropics 10 Festival
Sound Consumption and Variations on a Shoestring
screenings
Ambrosino Gallery, Miami, Florida
1997-03-05
Bonk Festival
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
1996-12-05
Interpretations Series: In a Fishtank
Music On A Budget
world premiere screenings of Variations on a Shoestring and Sound Consumption, plus performance of the remaining piece in the collection by Gustavo Matamoros, Thomas Buckner, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Davey Williams Jan Williams and Anthony de Mare
Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida
1995-04-29
Emit Series
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
Dali Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida
1994-09-09
Sound Portraits and Other Syntax Variations
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo, New York
1994-09-02
Sound Portraits and Other Syntax Variations
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
The Music Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1994-04-13
Subtropics 6 Festival: Samuel Beckett and Music on a Budget
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
Centre Gallery, Miami, Florida
1994-02-26
Explorations in Music Music Series
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, New Mexico
1994-02-25
Outpost Experimental Music Series
Music On A Budget
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
Outpost Performance Space, Albuquerque, New Mexico
1993-12-06
The New World Music Ensemble: For Sun Ra
Music On A Budget, world premiere
performed by Gustavo Matamoros
Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, FSU, Tallahassee, Florida