About

Dream Steps is a short modular composition. The performer chooses how many of the ten available fragments to play and in which order, as well as how long to pause between them. The centre motif of the piece is the recurring middle C unison created using a double stop. Other melodic material is used to contextualise this sound. Within each C unison, directions are given using graphic pitch notation to guide the tuning of the note, which modulates the interference between the two Cs and creates timbral development over the course of each long tone.

Additional resources

Technique Explanation & Demonstration

Collaborative Activity

Further listening

Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) explored microtonal tonal pitch deviations around unisons.

Many works by Cat Hope also explore unisons, drones, and microtonal deviations. Many of Hope’s animated scores are to be found via the Decibel ScorePlayer application on iPad.

About Josh

Josh Winestock is an Australian composer, improviser and multi-instrumentalist based in Sydney. He recently completed a Bachelor of Music in Composition at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. As a composer he has worked with ensembles including the Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, Conservatorium Saxophone Orchestra and the Australian Youth Orchestra, and has written a variety of chamber music, vocal music and large ensemble music, including a concertino for saxophone and wind orchestra. He is part of various improvising groups and collectives, including a project he helped to found, Ensemble Onsombl, and has more recently started exploring collaboration with physical theatre artists. He is also involved in choirs and activist community music making. He is the guitarist and a founding member of young amplified chamber group Spiral.

About Phoebe

Australian violist Phoebe Green is active in her artistic practice as a performer, improvisor, researcher, curator, and advocate. In a vocation where the close dialogue with composers is intrinsic to a meaningful performance outcome, Phoebe has commissioned numerous works for viola and other instruments from composers including David Chisholm, Helen Gifford, Wally Gunn, Michael Kieran Harvey, Lisa Illean, Alistair Noble, and James Rushford. Phoebe performs in solo, chamber and orchestral contexts, and has a duo with percussionist Leah Scholes. In 2014 Phoebe attended the 47th International Summer Course for New Music in Darmstadt, Germany, and was awarded the Stipendienpreis for Interpretation. In 2018 Phoebe completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at Griffith University.