ABOUT

Music and the Score: Notation as Art

STATEMENT

I am a composer, a performer, and a visual artist. My process is rooted in the appreciation of sonic events, organized in time to illuminate hidden properties or appreciate a noise for what it is. I find beauty in unearthing elements of what a sound inherently and unforgivingly is. As a result, I focus on varying mediums and techniques to unearth properties in producing sounds and the listening experience that working only in one artistic facet could not uncover.

The score of a musical work is fascinating. As a composer, I spend hundreds of hours alone with a score to unearth and present the uniqueness of every sound. I consider the physicality of a sound, both in the depth of overtones and frequencies and in the most minuscule human motions it takes to produce them. I consider texture, the harsh and grinding color of the cellist utilizing overpressured bowing, and the intimate fragility of the flutist's unstable multiphonic. I consider shape, from violent rhythmic gestures to light, lyrical flurries. I consider form, how various larger blocks made up of colors, textures, layers, and rhythms work together to highlight every unique aspect of a sound. I consider the weight of each and every observance I make, and I ensure every mark in the score best reveals the essence of a sound.

The audience I am writing for will never see this score.

In visual art, there is most often a directness of communication to the audience. The painter creates a work, and the audience views the work. By contrast, the composer writes the score, the performers interpret the score, and the audience hears that interpretation. Because the focus is on creating sound, the physical work that I, the composer, create is viewed as a tool to produce art. But I always wondered, why can't the score be the work? Why can't the intricate and detailed notations be appreciated for their visual properties? Why can't the score be notated purely for notation's sake? As a composer, a saxophonist, and a visual artist, my love and disdain for the score acts as the catalyst to my creative process.

Now, utilizing my decades of musical training, I am using visual mediums to reimagine the score and expanding its role as a musical tool. The multisensory experience in attending a concert, listening to a recording, or even singing in a shower, is as unique as any artwork. However, these experiences only last as long as the event itself. My visual works aim to capture the uniqueness of musical structures, aesthetics, and concepts. Meanwhile, my musical work focuses on altering the performer's relationship with the score and notation to change our perception of the production of sounds in temporal space.

The concept of Augenmusik, German for Eyemusic, roots back to the 12th century, in which composers altered elements of notation, providing insight into the spirit of the performance. In the 1950s, composers in the New York School began using purely graphic notation, most notably in Earle Brown's December 1952. The goal of these Graphic Scores was to liberate performers from the constraints of notation and make them active participants in the creation of the music. In this spirit, my artistic works begin in two facets: allowing non-musicians to appreciate the score for its pure notation, devoid of sound, and allowing musicians to reimagine their physical relationship to sounds and the weighted history those sounds entail.

I believe my compositions and performances, both visual and audible, work in tandem to challenge our preconceived relationships with sound and music.

BIO

Kevin Baldwin (Boston, MA) is a visual artist, composer, and saxophonist with extensive training in modern and experimental techniques. As a saxophonist, Kevin has traveled and performed as a soloist and in ensembles internationally, including Canada, France, Italy, and China. The New York Times called one of Kevin's performances "…precise and energetic…" Kevin has performed with numerous ensembles such as Iktus+, Ensemble Mise-en, Hotel Elefant, Qubit, Tempus Continuum Ensemble, and Inverted Space. Kevin has made a career championing modern saxophone and performance techniques; he utilizes these skills to commission and premiere a wide array of new works in solo and chamber settings. 

As a composer, Kevin has received commissions and several other premieres from ensembles and individuals such as Martha Cargo, Anne H. Goldberg-Baldwin, andPlay, loadbang, and Ensemble SurPlus. Kevin has received awards and commissions in recent years, including at Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart, Germany, which culminated in the premiere of a new work for Ensemble SurPlus. Other important commissions include body and... and... for bass flute and an untitled work for piano; both will appear on upcoming albums. Extended instrumental techniques and noise timbres perforate his works and often become primary material, asking performers to alter their mindsets of the traditional performance paradigm. Coinciding with experiments in instrumental technique, Kevin has worked heavily with notation and the visual aesthetics of his scores to utilize semiology to change the performer's relationship between the score and sounds. Kevin's research in critical theory and the music of Edgard Varèse inspired his compositional process of "Unearthing Material." This process aims to reveal layers of material buried within the surface aesthetic of previous sonic elements. 

Experiments with the visual elements of notation lead to a commission for the Inverted Space Ensemble through the Paul R. Judy Center for Innovation and Research Grant. The work, titled focal point for wandering [eyes], created four graphic scores reorienting notation elements for a quartet of performers to interpret. This project, exhibited at Common Area Maintenance in Seattle, WA, began further exhibitions and collaborations exploring the visual elements of musical notation.

In addition to his artistic career, Kevin is a Lecturer in Music Theory at Northeastern University and a Contributing Writer for I Care If You Listen. Kevin received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Composition from the University of Washington in 2018 and since moved to the greater Boston area. He received his M.M in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Dr. Paul Cohen in saxophone, and Dr. Reiko Fueting in composition. Kevin earned his B.M. in Music Education and Music Composition at the University of the Pacific. He studied primarily with Dr. François Rose and Dr. Robert Coburn in composition and David Henderson in saxophone. 

EDUCATION

Doctorate of Music, Music Composition
University of Washington, Seattle, WA (2018)

Masters in Music, Contemporary Performance
Manhattan School of Music, New York City, NY (2012)

Bachelors of Music, Music Composition & Music Education
University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA (2010)

FESTIVALS & GROUP EXHIBITONS

Graphic Scores: on notation, Modo Yoga, Seattle, WA (July 1 - September 30, 2017)
Graphic Scores: on notation, Belltown Art Walk, Seattle, WA (February 2 - March 30, 2017)
<untitled exhibition>, Local Color, Seattle, WA (March 1 - April 30, 2017)
Exhibition and Concert Series: Graphic Parts, Common Area Maintenance, Seattle, WA (March 1 - April 15, 2016)

MUSIC PERFORMANCES (SELECTED)

Exponential, by Sky Macklay - Hotel Elefante, Arete Venue, New York, NY (2019)
Coming Together, by Fredric Rzewski - On The Boards, Seattle, WA (2016)
Anubis et Nout, by Gerard Grisey - The Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, WA (2015)
Chemins IV, by Luciano Berio - Ensemble Mise-en, The Italian Cultural Institute, New York, NY (2014)
Localized Corrosion, by Phillippe Hurrel - Iktus Plus, Galapagos Art Space, New York, NY (2014)
Inception: The Music of Eneko Vadillo-Perez - Tactus Ensemble, Symphony Space, New York, NY (2012)

MUSIC COMMISSIONS (SELECTED)

body and… and… for solo bass flute - Leanna Keith, Seattle, WA (2018)
riss for bass clarinet, trumpet, trombone, and voice - Loadbang, New York, NY (2016)
voiceless, [this body] is filled for piccolo/alto flute and prepared tabletop guitar - Keith/Larson Duo, Seattle, WA (2015)
the armless clock understands time [ii] for alto flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano - Ensemble Surplus, Stuttgart, GE
sub//tect for violin and viola - andPlay, New York, NY (2014)
Transfigured Pulse for hichiriki, sho, and biwa - Institute for Medieval Japanese Studies, Columbia University, New York, NY (2011)

TALKS & CONFERENCES

Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA (2020)
Lecture: Graphic Scores: Composing, Performing, and Interpreting
Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA (2020)
Lecture: The Life and Influence of Erik Satie
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY (2020)
Lecture: Unearthing: Experiencing the Sound Mass Beneath the Music
Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA (2018)
Lecture: Unearthing: Experiencing the Sound Mass Beneath the Music
Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA (2018)
Performance Lecture: Writing for the Saxophone
Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, GE (2015)
Presentation: the armless clock understands time [ii], I walked into a void//mute
Manhattan School of Music (2014)
Presentation: the armless clock understands time [ii]
SoundSCAPE Music Festival, Maccagno, IT (2011)
Masterclass Presentation: Solitary Confinement
North American Saxophone Alliance Regional Conference, Albuquerque, NM (2009)
Performance Lecture: Saxophone and electronics

AWARDS, FESTIVALS and RESIDENCIES

International Society of Experimental Art Juried Exhibition, St. Alberta, Alberta, CAN (2020)
Honorable Mention: expansion, exhale (2017) - 16”x20” ink on paper
Alki Art Festival, Alki, WA (2017)
National Student Electronic Music Event, Baton Rouge, LA (2017)
Cornish College of the Arts, Ensemble in Residence (with Inverted Space Ensemble), Seattle, WA (2016)
Earle Brown Music Foundation Grant (2016)
Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, GE (2015)
The Field, Synthesis-Aesthetics Project, Emerging Artist-in-Residence, New York City, NY (2011)
SoundSCAPE New Music Festival, Maccagno, IT (2011)

PRESS & REVIEWS

“…absolutely incredible!" Bacon, Kevin - Instagram, May 5, 2020
”…playful, suspensefully bucolic…” Lucid Culture, March 9, 2013
”…precise, energetic…” Kozinn, Allan - New York Times, March 23, 2011