Stone Guitar (2005)
For amplified electric guitar and stone
Two realizations: Stone Guitar with TIG Welder and Four Stone Guitars
Duration determined by the performers
An economical score turns the slow movement of a stone across amplified guitar strings into two related works: a solo accompanied by a recording of a TIG welder, and a four-guitar spatial realization surrounding the audience.
SCORE
With a stone, trace the strings of the guitar slowly from bridge to nut.
The performer places a stone against the strings and moves it slowly along their length. The stone is not used as a pick or as an object with which to strike the guitar. The action is closer to caressing—or tickling—the strings. I usually demonstrate the physical gesture when introducing the piece to a performer.
STONE GUITAR WITH TIG WELDER
The one-guitar realization is accompanied by my recording of a tungsten inert gas welder. I captured the welder in the sculpture studio at the Atlantic Center for the Arts during a residency with Robert Ashley. During the performance, the guitarist adjusts the amplified guitar level to blend with the recording.
I may have tested an early version informally during Blow Hard, a fundraising event at Dorsch Gallery, but the composition was not created for that event and I do not consider it the premiere.
When guitarist Seth Josel came to Miami to perform during Subtropics 18 in 2006, he asked whether I had a guitar piece that he might include in a CD project he was developing. I taught him Stone Guitar with TIG Welder and demonstrated how the stone should move across the strings.
Seth gave the first public performance of this version at Tonic in New York City on November 12, 2006. His performance was subsequently released under the title Stoned Guitar/TIG Welder on The Stroke that Kills, published by New World Records in 2008.
Although the recorded title introduces another possible meaning, the original title is Stone Guitar: “stone” is the object used to play the instrument.
The Stroke that Kills — New World Records | CD liner notes
FOUR STONE GUITARS
I later expanded the piece into Four Stone Guitars, with one guitarist assigned to each channel of a four-channel system.
In live performances, four guitar amplifiers are placed onstage. Each amplifier is captured by a microphone and routed to one of four speakers surrounding the audience.
Seth also created a version by recording all four guitar parts himself and sending me the individual recordings, which I mixed in stereo.
SELECTED PERFORMANCES
November 12, 2006
Stone Guitar with TIG Welder
Seth Josel, electric guitar
Tonic, New York City
First public performance of the one-guitar version
February 28, 2009
Four Stone Guitars
Gustavo Matamoros, Russell Frehling, Davey Williams and René Barge
Subtropics 20
Miami Beach High School Auditorium, Miami Beach
November 12, 2015
Four Stone Guitars
Performed by the inlets ensemble as part of its three-part series ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS
Audiotheque, Miami Beach
November 19, 2015
Four Stone Guitars
Festival Punto de Encuentro
Valencia, Spain
Performers not identified in the surviving program
All performances of Four Stone Guitars were presented in four channels.