dirty bombs by ben hausman

Performed by Matchstick Percussion

Directed & Edited by Joshua Mallard

Audio-Visual Technician Han Hitchen

I grew up in a military family, constantly surrounded by the history of the wars our county has been a part of. As I grew with age I found myself fascinated, but terrified by the destructive world of nuclear power and our continuous temptation of fate.

I wrote dirty bombs in the early months of 2021, stuck inside from the bitter cold and the raging pandemic at the time. I was frustrated and worried with the situation at hand, and found my ability to express these thoughts through this piece.

dirty bombs has text throughout it, inspired by different moments in nuclear history. The piece opens with audio from news reports from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, a memorable source of anxiety through my upbringing. Later in the piece is text about what is often referred to as the “Devil Core Incident”, a failed experiment that led to fatal results in 1946. Finally, I reached out to many of my peers to share their thoughts and experiences about nuclear anxiety and how it has affected them.

I would like to give special thanks to: Drew Barnes, Kelley Louder, Douglas Nesler, Brice Sanborn, Lillian Sullivan, and McKenzie Squires, for each lending me their voice in this piece.

This would not have been possible without you all.

I hope you enjoy dirty bombs

benhausman.com

Rain Tree (1981) is a composition for three percussionists or keyboard players composed by Tōru Takemitsu (1930 – 1996).  Each percussionist plays crotales (small pitched cymbals) in addition to their marimba or vibraphone.  Rain Tree comes from a set of compositions by Takemitsu he called the “Waterscape” series.  Takemitsu provided an explanation to this series of works in the opening to the score of Rain Coming for chamber orchestra:

Rain Coming is one of a series of works by the composer inspired by the common theme of rain.  The complete collection entitled “Waterscape” includes other works, such as Garden Rain, scored for brass ensemble (’74), Rain Tree, composed for vibraphone and two marimbas (’81), and Rain Spell, for flute, clarinet, harp, piano and vibraphone (’82).  It was the composer’s intention to create a series of works, which like their subject, pass through various metamorphoses, culminating in a sea of tonality.

In addition, Takemitsu provides a statement at the beginning of the score to Rain Tree to set the mood for the piece:

It has been named the ‘rain tree’; for its abundant foliage continues to let fall rain drops collected from last night’s shower until well after the following midday.  Its hundreds of thousands of tiny leaves – finger-like – store up moisture while other trees dry up at once.  What an ingenious tree, isn’t it?

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Performed by Matchstick Percussion

Video and Sound by Joshua Mallard & Han Hitchen

Produced by Lee Hinkle & Corey Sittinger

Program notes by Lee Hinkle