M & M in (m)E is for prepared bass violin with each string tuned to an "E" (the A and D-strings require special stops). A special contact microphone, a Pinch Mike, has been developed for this piece. The notated sound is continuous (bow never leaves strings), didgeridoo-like, and accompanied by a video of the same duration. The piece is amplified to create a wall of sound using a minimum of 2 large speakers. The video should be projected large at the front of the performance space with the performer silhouetted to one side. The piece has a duration of about 14 minutes and 30 seconds.

The video portion of M & M in (m)E is comprised of rhythmic mappings of 2 bathroom fixtures found in my parent's backyard in November of 1999. Having been away from my childhood home for 30 years, I was drawn to their old familiarity, roughness and re-contextualized beauty, and so I decided to map their surfaces as I have many other objects before. A few days later, while videotaping, my Zenn concentration was accompanied by all sorts of childhood memories and then suddenly by the sound of a neighbor barking at his dog while spying me. As the lense skipped over an "M & M" imprint on the back of the sink, letters which I first observed through the camera, my thoughts jumped to a teenage love and her circle of friends for which I had invented a nickname--an inexplicable non-sequitur which had caught on. As I continued videotaping, I toyed with the idea that this nickname, the M & M girls, had been a clairevoyant leap to the back of this sink 30 years hence. Silly indeed.

M & M in (m)E is edited and processed to act as a counterpoint to the sound which is made using a cyclical bowing technique on a bass violin with all its strings tuned to "E". Esthetically it has more in common with Australian aboriginal music than western music as simple melodies and subdivided rhythms do not occur. The flow of the video is made to shift rhythmically from "still to still," but also to include subtle, jagged, and eyelike shiftings within established frames. These jaunty freeze-frame episodes, representing a kind of time-shared cognition, are interrupted by free flowing frames revealing an unfolding of natural time. Thusly, and within the larger context of rhythmically shifting frames, and the occasional interjection of a scant narrative (my thoughts while taping), a rich, loud, tonal and gritty wall of sound, is effected from the not so docile double bass.

A cyclical, rough bowing is used throughout as indicated by the following detail which represents a general description of a recurring cycle. The bow never leaves the strings during the piece.

This technique is realized by placing the tip of the bow near the bridge while gradually moving upward bringing out the natural overtones of the strings. Just before the bow length is exhausted, and before the finger board is encountered, push the bow directly perpendicular to the string(s) causing a raspy sound while gradually effecting a reversal of the bow direction. Here, begin a descent toward the bridge and as the bow length is again exhausted, gradually move it perpendicular to the strings to achieve a yet another raspy sound while approaching the bridge. Each cell, within the given duration, receives one of these cycles and as the bow migrates from the lower to upper strings throughout the piece, variances in this technique, even to the extent of creating figure eights instead of circles, are acceptable.

The piece should be played as accurately as possible, but it is better move too slow and to have to jump ahead to the points cued from video in the score. If, however, you pass these points before they appear in the video, continue playing cell after cell on the same pair of strings moving smoothly back to the cue point and the new pair of strings when the cue appears. At the end of the piece, if you are behind, simply fade with the final credit. If you are ahead, go to the top of the page while continuing to play on the E and A-strings, and then fade with the credits. You may wish to add additional cues from video.