Arnold Dreyblatt
Encyclopedia
Arnold Dreyblatt is an American
composer
and visual artist. He studied music with Pauline Oliveros
, La Monte Young
, Alvin Lucier
and media art with Steina and Woody Vasulka
. He has been based in Berlin
, Germany
since 1984. In 2007, he was elected to the German Academy of Art (Akademie der Künste
, Berlin).
In his installations, performances and media works, Dreyblatt creates complex textual and spatial metaphors for memory which function as a media discourse on recollection and the archive. His installations, public artworks and performances have been exhibited and staged extensively in Europe. "Dreyblatt's project, maintains its edge--and its importance for the rethinking of identity, history, culture, and memory--by refusing to retreat from or transcend [...] public, archival traces." - Jeffrey Wallen, Hampshire College
.
Among the second generation of New York minimal
composers, Arnold Dreyblatt has developed a unique approach to composition and music performance. He has invented a set of new and original instruments, performance techniques, and a system of tuning. His compositions are based on harmonic
s, and thus just intonation
, played either through a bowing technique he developed for his modified bass, and other modified and conventional instruments which he specially tuned
. He originally used a steady pulse
provided by the bow
ing motion on his bass (placing his music in the minimal
category), but he eventually added many more instruments and more rhythm
ic variety.
In 1998 he was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Grants to Artists Award.
Dreyblatt's mother, Lucille Wallenrod
(1918–1998), was a painter.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and visual artist. He studied music with Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....
, La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
, Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and...
and media art with Steina and Woody Vasulka
Steina and Woody Vasulka
Steina Vasulka and Woody Vasulka are pioneers of video art, having practiced in the genre since its early days in the late 1960s....
. He has been based in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
since 1984. In 2007, he was elected to the German Academy of Art (Akademie der Künste
Akademie der Künste
The Akademie der Künste, Berlin is an arts institution in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1696 by Elector Frederick III of Brandenburg as the Prussian Academy of Arts, an academic institution where members could meet and discuss and share ideas...
, Berlin).
In his installations, performances and media works, Dreyblatt creates complex textual and spatial metaphors for memory which function as a media discourse on recollection and the archive. His installations, public artworks and performances have been exhibited and staged extensively in Europe. "Dreyblatt's project, maintains its edge--and its importance for the rethinking of identity, history, culture, and memory--by refusing to retreat from or transcend [...] public, archival traces." - Jeffrey Wallen, Hampshire College
Hampshire College
Hampshire College is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1965 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley: Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts...
.
Among the second generation of New York minimal
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
composers, Arnold Dreyblatt has developed a unique approach to composition and music performance. He has invented a set of new and original instruments, performance techniques, and a system of tuning. His compositions are based on harmonic
Harmonic
A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is f, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc. The harmonics have the property that they are all periodic at the fundamental...
s, and thus just intonation
Just intonation
In music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of small whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval. The two notes in any just interval are members of the same harmonic series...
, played either through a bowing technique he developed for his modified bass, and other modified and conventional instruments which he specially tuned
Musical tuning
In music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
. He originally used a steady pulse
Pulse (music)
In music and music theory, the pulse or tactus consists of beats in a series of identical yet distinct periodic short-duration stimuli perceived as points in time occurring at the mensural level...
provided by the bow
Bow (music)
In music, a bow is moved across some part of a musical instrument, causing vibration which the instrument emits as sound. The vast majority of bows are used with string instruments, although some bows are used with musical saws and other bowed idiophones....
ing motion on his bass (placing his music in the minimal
Minimalist music
Minimal music is a style of music associated with the work of American composers La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass. It originated in the New York Downtown scene of the 1960s and was initially viewed as a form of experimental music called the New York Hypnotic School....
category), but he eventually added many more instruments and more rhythm
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
ic variety.
In 1998 he was awarded a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Foundation for Contemporary Arts , originally known as Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, is a nonprofit based foundation in New York City founded by artists Jasper Johns , John Cage, Elaine de Kooning and others in 1963. FCA offers financial support and recognition to contemporary...
Grants to Artists Award.
Dreyblatt's mother, Lucille Wallenrod
Lucille Wallenrod
Lucille Wallenrod was a Long Island woman artist who was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Freeport, Long Island. She studied at the W.P.A. Art Class , Nassau Art League , the American Artists School , and with Sol Wilson at the Art Students League of New York...
(1918–1998), was a painter.
Discography
- Resonant Relations, Cantaloupe Music, CD, 2008
- Live at Federal Hall, Table of the ElementsTable of the ElementsTable of the Elements is an American record label. It concentrates on re-released and specially recorded experimental music, including many of the great avant garde musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries — John Cale, Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, for instance — as well as...
, CD, 2006 - Lapse, Table of the ElementsTable of the ElementsTable of the Elements is an American record label. It concentrates on re-released and specially recorded experimental music, including many of the great avant garde musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries — John Cale, Tony Conrad and La Monte Young, for instance — as well as...
, LP, 2004 - The Adding Machine, Cantaloupe Music, CD, 2002
- Escalator on “Renegade Heaven, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Cantaloupe Music, CD, 2000
- The Sound of One String – Previously Unreleased Live Recordings 1979-1992, Table of the Elements, CD, 1998
- Animal Magnetism, Tzadik RecordsTzadik RecordsTzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
, CD - a haymisch groove, Extraplatte, Vienna, CD, 1994
- Propellers in Love, and “High Life” , HatART, CD, 1986
- Nodal Excitation, India NavigationIndia NavigationIndia Navigation was an American independent record label that was active from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Founded by corporate lawyer Bob Cummins, the label specialized in jazz music, particularly avant-garde jazz.-Discography:...
Records, LP, 1982