A Single Decade Rosary

     Pater Noster, Ave Maria, Gloria Patri

Notes on the piece:

A Single Decade Rosary explores the idea of rosary prayer by using real-time signal processing to augment and compliment the vocalists.  On a formal level, the piece is structured around the idea of a single decade rosary bracelet, in that there are three sections of the piece, which each deal in turn with the three main prayers of the rosary. Each section’s text is reiterated a particular number of times, relating to the repetitions of that text in a full circle of rosary prayer. Some statements of the text are sung, while others take pace in the electronic output via manipulation of the singers and the use of pre-recorded samples.  On a representational level, my intent lies in the use of the electronics to help demonstrate the various physical and mental states of prayer. My impetus was the exploration of differences between what we speak versus what we think, what we express versus what we feel.  This can include great joy as well as great doubt, our physical questions as well as the answers we perceive only for ourselves. The signal processing for this piece was designed in the graphic control language Max/MSP.

This piece was composed at the request of Beth Willer for peformance by Lorelei Ensemble.


© Justin Casinghino 2013